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Andy C Interview 2011
Drum and Bass | Monday 24th October 2011 | Osh
This guy needs no introduction, being one of the biggest and most prolific DJs in the world he is about to kick off a brand new tour, Andy C: Alive. Featuring technology never used before in a live capacity, get ready...
Here at The Guestlist Network we have followed your rise all the way back from Marsh Lane Wax club in Hackney. If there was something you could bring back from those days, what would it be?
For me personally the innocence and the excitement. The first time understanding and hearing an off beat breakbeat, you know what I mean? The first time that I heard that, I had never heard a beat like it and wanted to hunt down tunes. Pirate radio was really important and there’s not enough of it around now. You used to hear a tune and then spend a week trying to find it, it used to be fun...now it’s just instant. You hear a tune, find it on YouTube “Yeah, that’s good” then the next day it’s “Next one!” you know what I mean?
So you’ve been working with the legendary GQ for a while now, how did you hook up and what’s the secret to your successful partnership?
The first encounter of him was going to AWOL at Paradise club years and years ago. He’s just the voice isn’t he?, he used to do 12 hours straight. He’s just got power, presence and we have been working with each other for years. You know we get to travel all around the world together and just do some crazy stuff man, it just works!
So what’s the funniest thing that’s ever happened to you at a gig?
This year? Well not the funniest but the most sort of surreal experience was Burning Man in the States, it’s mental festival. I had been flying for about 13 hours and then drove three hours into the middle of the desert. People are just out of their brains riding around on bikes with fluorescent lights flashing and and I was just DJ’ing looking up at the stars and looking at all these Mad Max cars with fire shooting out of them. I was just thinking “What the hell am I doing?!” It was so dusty mate, everyone was wearing goggles and masks and I wasn’t. I’ve never seen anything like it!
So you’re due to kick off your Andy C: Alive tour very soon. Can you tell us a bit more about the concept and how you came up with it?
Well the concept is that it’s taking the DJ to a new dimension. I’ll be in control of the music, visuals, lights, what you’re seeing and what you’re hearing. This is the first time that it has ever been done. We were in rehearsals last week and people were saying “No one has ever done this before, you know that don’t you?” and I was like “Kinda!” but you know we were making it all work, it’s about putting on a show and doing something different. It’s just taking music to another level. I started out on two decks, then went to three decks, I remember that being a bit of a head scratcher trying to work that out. So there is just a lot of technology out there right now that I can use.
Well the concept is that it’s taking the DJ to a new dimension. I’ll be in control of the music, visuals, lights, what you’re seeing and what you’re hearing. This is the first time that it has ever been done. We were in rehearsals last week and people were saying “No one has ever done this before, you know that don’t you?” and I was like “Kinda!” but you know we were making it all work, it’s about putting on a show and doing something different. It’s just taking music to another level. I started out on two decks, then went to three decks, I remember that being a bit of a head scratcher trying to work that out. So there is just a lot of technology out there right now that I can use.
You also played at the Trilogy event in Leeds alongside Annie Mac and Nero. I know you’re quite close with the promoters Metropolis, how have they helped you along with your journey into DJ superstar-dome?
Metropolis is phenomenal they’re a fantastic bunch of guys and they have put on so many gigs, you can kind of guarantee that they’re going to be smashing parties. Some of my best times have been at their gigs.
So what’s next for Ram Records then do you guys have any planned releases?
I’m really proud of the output this year, we are at our 100th release and we have had a lot of success with the music this year, we have had pretty much a release every two weeks. We wanted to do that because of the instant nature of music nowadays, we have an amazing line up of artists so we want to just get the music out there. It’s not like the old days, holding it down for months and months on end, it’s about getting it out there, so we have had a release every couple of weeks and we’re going to carry on that through the year. Next year it’s going to be another level because it’s Ram 20. We are doing an album release, we’re doing special parties for that and have artist albums coming out too so it’s all hands on deck really.
So are there any current UK artists that you want to work with at the moment?
There are shit loads and I’m going to email them all. I’m actually in the studio at the moment. I did a remix of Laidback and Example of a track called ‘Natural Disaster’ which was really cool. I am going in the studio a lot. Watch this space!
You can catch Andy at one of his many tours. For more information go to www.myspace.com/andyramrec
