Who let the freaks out?
Morning Fader. Welcome to DMC towers. Love the story about how the band’s name was created via your blagging guest lists and freebies into festivals interviewing big acts for a journalist who couldn’t be bothered going himself. What’s your best blag you pulled off backl then?
“Getting to hang out with ICE T on his tour bus at Reading Festival under the pretences of an interview, talking about b****es and guns and then going on stage with his crew for his set. Clueless kids pretending to be music journos. We really believed we could get away with anything and with that attitude, we usually did.”
You were all getting mashed at London’s finest clubs in the 90s, where might we have found you dribbling?
“The Blue Note, Hoxton Square where they had the original Metalheadz on Sunday nights…on Saturday they had the proto bigbeat/brithop thing. Wednesday night was Bukem’s night Speed at the Mars Bar off Charing Cross Road…Megatripolis on Thursdays at Heaven…Return to the Source at the Fridge…and in the very early days, Leave My Wife Alone at The Wag (which is now sadly an O’Neils) on Wardour Street and the Funkin Pussy at the Africa Centre in Covent Garden. Hip Hop, Trance, Drum n Bass… everything went in those days!”
You were all in bands after leaving school before forming the Cannons. What musical influences do you all bring to the band?
“Other than every dance scene London had to offer from 1995 to 1999 it was mostly Heavy Metal tbh! I subscribed to Kerrang(!) and had every album in their top 100 Metal albums of all time. We bonded over axe-gringing hair metal…which is ironic ‘cos 15 years later we are now working on a new album with Tommy Lee from Motley Crue on drums! All we need is a guest appearance from Slash and my teenage dreams are done.”
Huge tune smashing it’s way into the Buzz Chart this week, ‘Tiger Blood’ featuring Charlie Sheen, tell us about the track…
“Well when the Legend first had his flip-out last year, that interview he did was on non-stop play in the studio. Churchillian in its quotable aphorisms…we were messing about with a techy track and dropped it on top. It was so right for the clubs – there was some dubstep versions that sprung out etc. but this one worked so well for our crowds and Champion were up for putting it out. Actually originally as the second track on the Charlie Bit Me EP- us having a laugh on Youtube then making choons out of it.”
Down at DMC we are loving your booty mixes you send out…what’s coming next?
“A bump house/techy mix of Missy – ‘Work It’ – which has been working so well in our sets everywhere for the last year. I think we finally have to make it available. And an Outkaste one. And a Nina Simone one for the Oooold School. Then it’s time for some original LCs material.”
What is your current 10 you are spinning right now?
“Apart from our own Boots and remixes, we like to mix some old with the new…here’s a rough ten…
1) Reckless (With Your Love) (Tiga Remix) – Azari & III
2) Love In Me (Maceo Plex mix) – Laura Jones
3) Them 3 Words (Eats Everything Mix) – Death On The Balcony
4) In My Arms – Mano Le Tough
5) Rave & Roll (Nom de Strip mix) – Steve Angello
6) Reeperbahn – Pryda
7) Bring it – Eigo
8) Charlie Bit Me – The Loose Cannons
9) Baby I Got It (Edit Murphy Mix) – Miguel Campbell
10) Dog Tag (Sebastien Leger mix) – Format B
Not many people know this, but The Loose Cannons are really good at?
“Banoffee Pie. International connoisseurs. We have a record of every pie tasted around the world since we started touring. We know from Banoffee. And Rounders. We nearly made the GB team for the 2012 Olympics. Except there wasn’t one.”
So we come back to one of the Cannons penthouse apartments after the gig. What is the big Back To Mine 10 you spin us to mellow/continue the party?
“Oooh. If it’s sexytime, then the whole of D’Angelo’s ‘Voodoo’ album on repeat. Possibly the low down dirtiest album of all time. But if we’re not going there yet…then I still prefer albums to single tracks – switch off the DJ brain and listen to music as it should be – for the whole journey…and in the post-gig zone, these do it…”
Zero 7- The Garden
Sia – Colour the small One
Blood Orange – Coastal Grooves
Price – Controversy
The Streets – Original Pirate Material
Etta James – At Last
Regina Spektor – Far
Fleetwood Mac – Rumours
The Bugsy Malone soundtrack
Then Voodoo….
Fader, if you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?
“My ability to fly. Make it work when I’m awake too.”
You have rocked some insane events over the years. Manumission in Ibiza, Keith from the Prodigy’s wedding, Glastonbury and Exit in Serbia to name bit a few. What is your best big story?
“The best big ones are personal moments in epic situations. Like on stage at Glastonbury and hearing the words to a song you wrote in a bedroom sung back to you by thousands of people. Or meeting your hero in a lift in Miami on the way to doing a DJ set by a sunkissed pool. Or watching hundreds of kids go mental to a track you are trying out for the first time. The bigger the occasion, the smaller you feel but those are the times you cherish. Generally, there is nothing like a lot of people all jumping up and down to the same song, and feeling like you are making that happen.”
What is the finest record you have played to a dancefloor?
“Every few weeks it’s a different one and depending on the gig, you reckon this is def THE BEST RECORD OF ALL TIME. Pretty much all last year it was the ‘Battle For Middle You’ by Julio Bashmore. But ‘Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough’ by Jackson will probably never be bettered in terms of dance music production genius.”
What are each other’s worst habits on tour?
“Not really personal hygiene so much as public behaviour that haunts us on tour. There’s always one of us going for it more, before, during and after a gig…to the point where we have both, on separate occasions, been thrown out during our own set from a club for “over-zealous” behaviour. Climbing on the speakers, jumping on decks…bouncers, promoters, our own agent, have all taken issue with our 100% attitude to the show at one time or another. Luckily the other-one usually holds it down, so as of yet, we have never both been ejected at the same time. Other than a booth monitor, I don’t think we actually ever broke anything though. We’ve had counselling though and the swapping out of tea for vodka helped with a lot of the issues.”
What is the most expensive thing you’ve ever blown your cash on?
“Living large at Miami WMC about 5 yrs ago. Never recovered from that week.”
You have remixed the likes of Gaga, Beyonce, Katie Perry and Alicia Keys – which one are you proudest of?
“Actually, it’s probably the remix of ‘Hit The Road Jack’ by Ray Charles we did – gets people sassing-out to techno which is fun to watch on the dancefloor…and we just saw yesterday it’s had like 1.2million hits on Youtube, which is pretty amazing to us.”
Have you any really obsessed fans?
“We had a few in the past who ended up becoming friends with – you see them out more than your usual mates…Luckily no real psychos tho…”
Best club you have ever DJ’s at?
“Have fond memories of YU in Sydney mainly because it was our first tour in Oz and we love the smaller sweaty club vibe. Home was good for that too. Fabric is still the daddy but tbh, it’s the crowd you remember more than the actual club itself…And the sound system – for both, Mint in Leeds is killer.”
Your award winning show on Kiss has championed and discovered many new artists – who though do you think would still be in the gutter of it wasn’t for you?
“Haha…we probably put a few in the gutter after they came on. But the best ones were always gonna make it even if we hadn’t got to them first. Kissy Sellout was a genius kid-producer who would have come through no matter what. Same with Boy 8 Bit…and Foamo. Just an honour to get them in before they all became too big to talk to us…”
You have travelled the world – what country’s crowd really goes off when you play?
“Australia. The best. And Canada…”
You claim that ‘The Loose Cannons ARE the party. So who is on the guest list…
“We lost it. Just mention our names on the door- you’re in.”
What is next on the agenda musically for 2012?
“We’ll get those DJ-friendly tech-hop boots out, then onto some new original Loose Cannons productions we have been working on… bringing the sound that has been bubbling around in our heads for a while. Proper underground house club stuff – all ballooned-out vocals and sketchy-tech beats…and then there’s our Rock n Roll side project – Lego Johnson with Tommy Lee on drums!”
