Alongside 2020Vision big daddy Ralph Lawson at this Saturday’s Subculture takeover there’s also a young Belfast boy full of experimental disco garage deep house and techno to ply alongside his trademark emotive production sound. A clear-sighted start to October! Ejeca aka Garry McCartney sent us over some chat about his last visit and what he’s looking forward to about returning this weekend, along with three hand picked tracks that he thinks “will wreck the joint.”
The Sub Club gig this Saturday is something I’ve been looking forward to for a while, I’ve played there on a Thursday once before and although it wasn’t rammed I could already sense the type of club it is, small and intimate with an amazing sound system and a crowd that are completely up for it.
Here is a mix recorded for Sub Rosa the last time Ejeca was in town:
As I’m from Belfast anytime I play north I feel at home, places like Newcastle, Aberdeen and Glasgow really remind me of back home and the idea that the crowd want to have the best night. I don’t know why it’s the case but it seems that people work hard all week and just want to rip the taps aff and go mad. The taps aff phenomenon and roof punching are something that I only see in Sub Club and Shine (Belfast). Although I did play Pacha last summer in Ibiza and my mates done it on the main floor, don’t think the security staff knew what to do.
I’m also playing with Ralph from 2020, another legendary institution. I’ve recently signed new tracks to BPitch, Pokerflat, as well as developing my new label Exploris, so looking forward to unloading some bass heavy techno on the epic system in the club.
Playing in Glasgow in the past has also allowed me to meet new friends there, and introduced me the wonder of Wrey & Nephew as well as rekindling my blind faith in Buckfast, although I still need someone to tell me if the numbers on the bottle really dictate how strong it is.
Saturday should be great, looking forward to playing one of the most renowned clubs in Europe, let’s get her lit.
Here are 3 tracks I think will wreck the joint:
Andreas Saag – In The Box (Drum Track) (12” – LT049, Side B2) 2014
This week Rubix welcomes to Sub Club one of the world’s most renowned music figures. It’s been more than a wee while since we had him in for a session (6 years!) but his legacy and music collection really should need no introduction or hype to remind you of his steez. Ahead of his return to Sub Club on Thursday night, Gilles caught up with Rubix to chat about his current projects, record labels and his love of 22 Jamaica St.
Thanks for talking to us today, Gilles. What does the average Gilles Peterson day consist of?
I’ve spent all the years building a lifestyle that I’m happy with: having an office and people working with me at Brownswood, allowing us to develop all the different strands that I’m involved with in a nice comfortable way. For me it’s always been about maintaining the passion and enjoyment in what I do. It can be really difficult when you’re an ‘artist-stroke-businessman’, which is probably what I am.
It’s basically just about enjoying everything, because the moment it becomes stressful it affects everything I do. I tend to switch myself out of music when I’m at home. I’ve got a family, another life, which is great. I really appreciate the fact that I have people who look after me. I’ve had some fortune in the sense that I’ve had people that who’ve put me back on track whenever I’ve been out of sync. It’s good to have a normal life, not that being a DJ is abnormal, but it’s a bit different to most mums and dads taking their kids to school. I live a modest life in East London.
You’ve got that home in London, but as you travel around the world for work, are there any other places you feel are ‘home’?
In Japan and the States and certain places in Europe I’ve got my family. When I say that I mean DJ and promoter family, people I’ve worked with for years. Weirdly enough I do take on gigs that are completely random. I think it’s important to not keep to comfortable. So when someone comes along and says ‘I’ve never met you before, I really want to bring you to the Philippines’ then I’m usually up for a laugh. You’ve always gotta leave it open for the odd little curveball, because otherwise everything becomes too comfortable.
But Japan’s always an amazing place to play for me, I’ve been going there since pre-acid house, and I’ve seen it grow. I always have a wicked time in Toronto. There’s a big audience for me in France – I do radio there and I’m half French so they connect with me on that level – but the club culture over there is a bit confused sometimes. So I set up my own thing, which I’ve been doing now for two years in Paris, and it’s become probably the best gig that I do. Every Sunday I play from 5 in the afternoon until 1 o’clock in the morning, so there isn’t the Saturday stress you might get playing the Rex at 3am. Probably the best thing I do is the festival that I run every year in France [Worldwide Festival]. It’s a platform for all the friends, artists, bands and DJs that I love. Everyone who I’ve visited over the year seems to turn up for it so it’s always great.
Worldwide Festival is a big celebration of all the music you love, but so too are your World Wide Awards. What’s the process behind choosing the shortlist and the winners?
In terms of the shortlist, I get together with a bunch of people who work in the game – Alex Patchwork to Thris Tian [Boiler Room], BPM, Benji B, Lefto – we throw it all in and work out what the year’s best records were. By being on the radio every week, having the festival, and hearing other radio shows, you can see things coming out of the scene. For me its important to say ‘Look, you can put these great people on the same line up’, covering everything from Sun Ra to Fela Kuti via Photek and James Blake. What ends up happening is that all these different musical genres help each other. That’s always been my approach, and I think it’s worked, because dynamics is what makes music so amazing. The Awards are to celebrate all that music. And, you know, we gave Benga an award, Jay Electronica, Skream, so it’s not just ‘intelligent’ music. It’s all about celebrating soundsystem culture, because that’s really where I come from.
Does that process ever feed into the music that you put out on Brownswood?
I’m very aware that I don’t want to be seen to be benefitting from my events by promoting my own artists. I think that’s disingenuous. What I do on the label is one thing, and its great when you can have success with a Ghost Poet or all the Mala. Obviously Mala works amazingly well for certain events, Swindle did last year and we just put out his single at the moment, or we might put Jose James or Zara MacFarlane on a line up. But I’m careful with the Awards. Bands signed to me tend to be at a disadvantage as well, because I can’t actually play any of my own music on the radio. I’m only allowed to play one of my tracks every couple of weeks, so I can’t play a whole hour of Brownswood. I wish I could. I’ll play loads at the club on Thursday.
Staying on Brownswood, is running a record label in 2014 very different to running, say, Talkin’ Loud in the 90s?
Yeah, it is. In a way I wish it was 1993 again, and I could be an independent label putting out records and selling loads of vinyl. But everything’s changed, especially in terms of making money in the music industry. Putting records out is really hard. I did Talkin’ Loud through Universal. They offered me a job after I was doing Acid Jazz, which I was just running out of my flat and getting broke. As there weren’t any other record labels like Talkin’ Loud then, there wasn’t really anybody to compare myself to or to be able to learn from, so when I went in I just thought I was lucky. But it would’ve been more beneficial financially if I’d stayed independent.
Having said that, I had learning experiences at the label: all the records I put out, like the Young Disciples and Roni Size, going to America and learning about how the industry works from a major label point of view. That was massively important for me, and that’s how I signed The Roots. I wouldn’t have done all these things if I’d been running a little independent label. And I can put all of that back into Brownswood now. The people who work within Brownswood have all had quite a lot of experience, and we can have fun putting out records we love whilst trying to make sense of it financially. It’s very hard though. I understand why labels are closing. If you’re Warp or Ninja, they work because they put out so much music. There’s not a lot of profit but there’s that much music that it works. But it’s tough for them. You need your Bonobos to come through.
Talking about big things coming out, could you tell us a bit about your recent project Sonzeira?
That was a project I did in January. It was a lot of fun to go to Brazil and create a ‘Brazillian super group’. It was like being able to handpick the artists that I’ve always loved and working with some amazing younger producers too. The fundamental bit of Sonzeira is Dill Harris. He’s an engineer: he did a lot of the Brokenbeat stuff, Matthew Herbert, he mixed Mount Kimbie’s last album. Then you’ve got Kassin, who’s amazing, he’s like the Brian Eno of Brazil. And then Rob Gallagher, who’s really conceptual. He’s my MC and my ‘general ideologist’. And then there’s myself. So the 4 of us had a lot of fun making this record with some legends, and we’re going to make another record next January. It’ll have a British spin on it this time. So Sonzeira’s my new group basically. It started off being a Brazillian Supergroup, but it’ll probably turn out as a sort of European Minor Quartet.
And what role do you play in it?
Well, that’s a good point actually. You should ask them! They’re probably thinking that I’ve been bluffing it all the way and they’ve been carrying me. Ideas? Obviously I don’t write music, but I suppose the remixer and producer in me is the one who goes ‘Let’s do a really crap version of Southern Freeez by Freeez’, and ‘Oh yeah, lets have a 5-minute string intro with harps and we’ll be all good’, so I’m that kind of person in the group.
You mentioned Rob Gallagher [aka Earl Zinger]. We’re really excited about having him up for the gig on Thursday. Could you tell us a bit about him and your long-standing relationship with him?
Me and Rob go back a long way. I signed him to Acid Jazz, the first record on that was Galliano [Gallagher’s acid-jazz band], and then I signed the band to Talkin’ Loud. They were amazing. People forget, they played Glastonbury 8 times. They were huge. But it was a time when the British music industry was still being run by the NME in a way and there was a sort of distrust of anything that wasn’t coming from the indie scene. So we were always fighting a little bit of an uphill struggle. People forget that. These days, if you’re on, say, Young Turks it’s great, but if it hadn’t been Mo’ Wax and Talkin’ Loud and a bunch of other labels, there would never have been a Young Turks. These are labels that came through the back of all the hard work that we did, because at that time the industry really wasn’t ready for anything remotely Black or Funky or anything. It was so hard to get anything played on the radio. Galliano was all part of those years of challenging the British establishment, and Rob’s just been incredible all the way through it. He’s been a great MC, a good laugh, and he holds me down. He’s a poet and he’s got a real big body of work, whether its as William Adamson or as Earl Zinger or Gallaino, he’s published a lot of incredible music. There’ll be a day in the future when everyone will go ‘This guy’s amazing’. But he’s just always ahead of the curve.
Will he be doing any spoken word on Thursday?
No, we’re just gonna have a laugh. He’ll play a little bit of music live, and we’re working on effects. We just had a gig a couple of weeks ago, and were trying some stuff out there and that was pretty good. We’re just constantly, er…constantly searching for the perfect beat!
Now, on Thursday, you’re back at the Sub Club. You recently put Subbie in a list of your favourite things about Scotland. What is about the club you love?
I’ve played the Sub Club about…definitely double figures. When you’re a DJ going around the world, you appreciate walking into places where they appreciate the sound and the culture and the music. For me the Sub Club’s always held that, from DJs like Harri to Nick Peacock to Paul Cawley. I’ve had some crazy nights there, back in the day. I just love walking down those stairs really. There’s nowhere else with that size and numbers like it. I’m just really excited to be coming back.
You can ready the full favourites feature over HERE.
And do you plan your DJ sets, or is it more a case of improvisation?
I don’t really plan. Whenever I’ve tried to, I go straight off it. I get bored really quickly. Of course there are a few tracks that I fall back on every now and again to reconnect me with the audience if I go a little off piste. But there’s so much music. If you were to look back at my radio shows you’d see I tend not to repeat records. There’s just so much music going on, I could do a different set every week. But then again, you’ve got your little moments that are working quite nicely, things in the back of your that you’re thinking ‘Ah wicked that worked really well the other day’. But I never plan anything really, in that sense.
Where do you feel more comfortable: on the radio or in the club?
It’s difficult. Radio can be great. If I do a really good show that I’m pleased with I get big satisfaction out of that, and the great thing about radio of course is that a lot of the people who are listening aren’t actual clubbers, so it’s different. But then again, the feeling of playing a few hours and the sun coming up…there’s nothing that beats the clubbing experience for me. The thing is for me, they feed off each other. I’ve always thought I should stop DJing soon cos I’m getting a bit old and the lifestyle’s a bit intense, but in a way, if you can control that and keep on top of yourself, then there’s nothing better than the club experience.
This mix is a particular favourite of our and has been on repeat at Subbbie HQ lately. We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as wee did.
Advance tickets to catch Gilles and the Rubix crew on Thursday are on sale HERE. More will also be on the door from 11pm.
On the day of their 5th birthday, Thunder Disco thought they’d serve you 5 tracks that sums up each of those annual ventures into their sleazy midnight darkness. From spaced out techno to Italo disco, here are some of their all time classics throughout the years.
2010 – Kano – Another Chance
Thunder Disco Club took off as an all out midnight disco sleaze fest and this is without doubt one of the best italo tracks in existence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K0OwTGdQhA
2011 – Daniel Maloso – Ritmo Especial
First introduction to Comeme and suitably nuts for 2011. Still feels like you’re in a boxing ring when you listen to it.
2012 – Pachanga Boys – Time
The year we joined the Sub Club. A 12 minute epic track of all proportions and for us encompasses the spirit of the dance floor in Sub Club.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQRV1phVHBk
2013 – Paranoid London – Paris Dub 1 (ft. Paris Brightledge)
When we had PL play their debut in Glasgow this track took us into another world.
2014 – Sasha Dive – Deepest America (Moodymann Mix)
Its fast and it kicks like a mule baby.
“We commemorate these 5 years of midnight lovin’ by taking it to the dark city streets of NYC for full scale blackout frenzy. So let’s cut the lights, rev up the generator and squeeze out as much juice as we can.”
Thunder Disco began this jam as a residents party and they’re bringing it back for an all out state of emergency. From 11pm Sub Club will be receiving their own NYC blackout production treatment to celebrate they night the light went out!
As you no doubt know by now, Harri & Domenic’s Subculture is now firmly established as the longest running weekly underground club night on the planet and we continue to celebrate 20YSC both at home and abroad with the residents and some of our favourite guest DJs from around the globe.
Totally in step with the Subculture ethos of constantly moving forward and evolving, this Saturday’s Subculture guest is the hugely influential Detroit house music don, Omar S, whose work has consistently risen above the trends and stood the test of time. For the past decade, the Motor City stalwart has been doing things unerringly in his own way, releasing heavyweight raw house music almost all exclusively via his own FXHE label. As Saturday night approaches, we thought we’d get to grips with some selected musical highlights from his career and treat you to some of the best mixes and live sessions gathered from his own world on the web…
To give you some flavour of the man we’re also linking to a couple of interesting wee press pieces, beginning with an interview for FACT Magazine from earlier this year who put it like this. Omar S “has built a reputation for releasing good shit, not taking shit, and talking a lot of shit”
To see where they are coming from check out the full fat FACT interview over HERE.
Back in 2009, his first ever commercially released mix CD appeared as part of the excellent ‘fabric’ series.
“This is someone with balls (macho implications of metaphor fully and graphically intended) supporting talent (also amply on display) rather than prudence supporting careful calculation. So there we have it: a big play, a strong gesture and a whole lot of exposure.”
Earlier this year he also released ‘FXHE 10 Year Mix Compilation’ a CD featuring highlights from his label, mixed by himself.
This was premiered by Juno, who also managed to catch up with him for a very rare chat. Here’s a couple of nice focus points from the interview:
Any highlights over the past 12 months you’d like to share with us?
“Just playing my Gorgar Pinballl machine,and listening to Billy Piper! Cause I want too!!!Cause I want too!!!”
Nice ride man, what is that?
“Just my new 2014 Nissan GTR!!!!”
Has it got more difficult for you to sell records or more difficult over the past decade?
“Nawl Dawg,,Shit is good to da Bay!”
There are no gimmicks or games with Omar S, he is simply an out and out expert when it comes to playing House & Techno records. His no frills approach hasn’t stopped him popping up in all the right places though…
“Who needs laptops if he can have drum machines and old synths?” Detroit’s house heavy weight Omar S goes deep down and dirty in this classic mix which he recorded for RBMA RADIO.
Here he is bringing Some Boiler Room heat from March 2013…
Next up is a mix for XLR8R who asked Omar S to get involved as they took things up a notch with a special set of 20th-anniversary podcasts. Listen Up…
As a special Subculture treat, we have a gift bag with some nice FXHE label goodies including a Luke Hess CD and one of these ‘cool’ FXHE Ice Tray’s with an Omar S Logo, brought to us exclusively by Mr S.
All advance ticket holders will be in with a chance of winning. The winner will be picked at random on Saturday at 5pm and notified by email. You can then collect your prize at Subculture from the man himself later in the evening.
This Saturday represents a long overdue Sub Club return so let’s give Detroit’s leading congressmen of house a right good Glasgow welcome…
Advance tickets are on sale from Resident Advisor and in store or online from Tickets Scotland. ***SUBCULTURE IS OPEN TILL 4AM ON SATURDAY***
After a successful launch last month, Show returns to the fore with none other than the ever exciting Danny Daze.
Danny has been making quite a name for himself, appearing on all the right line-ups at all the right parties with all the right people for quite some time now. His Dj sets are deeply commanded by Detroit techno and Italo disco and a firmly focused on making people dance. Sounds like he could well be the right man for the job. It wasn’t always like this for the Miamian, as it turns out, he is big on tennis and used to be a pro before he was taken away from the court and taken deep underground.
Ahead of this event Show caught up with him and discussed the historic lawn endeavour…
Andre Agassi or Pete Sampras?
DD: Agassi all the way. Dude was a bad ass. I started wearing a du-rag to the courts because of him. Although I looked like I was trying to be part of Wu-Tang
Whats happened to American tennis players? There used to be so many good ones, especially in the mens, but now there seems to be a lack of them.
DD: I’ve been wondering this myself. I’m not sure what Europeans are eating now-a-days. I think it started with Mark Philippoussis and his consistent 135mph serve.
Top 5 tennis ladies (or men) of all time? [ take that as you will ;-) ]
DD: Roger Federer (probably the greatest of all time), Andre Agassi (his comeback was insane), Pete Sampras, Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal. I’ll add Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf & Rod Laver in there too, but theres so many others. They all got their history.
Who would be your ideal mixed doubles partnership?
DD: No clue why, just to laugh I guess. I’d like to see Michael Chang who’s a tiny little dude and Eva Hrdinova who would tower over him.
Who would win in a fight between Andy Murray and Serena Williams?
DD: No question, Serena. Not even kidding. She can strangle a horse with those legs.
If Roger Federer is David Guetta who is Rafa Nadal?
DD: Ah man you’re gonna make me throw up. Don’t you ever put Federer and Guejhgdshldavljr in the same sentence man.
RA No.1 DJ or Wimbledon Champion what would you prefer to be?
DD: Easy. Wimbledon. Hate to say it, but I’m not too big on judging any form of art. That’s all a popularity contest. Winning the Wimbledon means you were actually the best during that tournament. I mean damn don’t get me wrong. I’ll take #1 RA too though, help pay my moms house off!!!! Haha.
Anna Kournikova had a great slice. What’s your best tennis stroke?
DD: AAAaahhhh! Kournikova didn’t have crap! …. that Steffi Graff slice was it! My shot was the forehand. I used an EXXXTRRREEEEME Western Grip. Almost looked like my wrist was broken. My backhand totally sucked. My coach kept teaching me a two handed shot then later on learned I had a natural one handed backhand but by then it was a bit too late.
And finally, seeing as you are from the U.S, do you love EDM?
DD: New monikor : Diesto :)
Ahead of Thursday get your ears round this brand new XLR8r podcast from Danny. This particular podcast is well worth a listen…
Advance tickets for Thursday’s event are on sale HERE.
Slow to Speak is the duo of Francis Englehardt and Paul Nickerson, proprietors of Dope Jams, of Dope Jams, a most iconoclastic music store previously located on Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn and now situated in the foothills of the Catskills Mountains. and acclaimed as New York’s foremost guardians of house music and culture. As perhaps the city’s most vocal, vital malcontents, tonight promises to be a no holds barred session.
Ahead of the event, the downtown duo recorded this exclusive 20 years of Subculture mix for Harri & Domenic. We hope you enjoy listening as much as we have. Dope Jams Indeed!!
Tickets for Saturday on sale from RA or online and in store from Tickets Scotland.
Ahead of their first party of the new-ish term where they go back to back for all four hours, we thought it would be a good shout to have a wee chat with the boys who hold the fort at Sub Rosa week in, week out. When it’s not one of their impressive guests in our famous booth, their resident duo Spittal & Nowicki produce the goods each Wednesday from 11pm. More often than not, it’s the residents’ selections that our clued up crowd go home raving about. So here it is, a little bit of an overdue get-to-know-you with Sub Rosa resident’s Spittal & Nowicki…
So first up let’s break the ice, what’s your name and what’s your story?
SPITTAL – Max Spittal, from Craigie, a neighbourhood in the city of Perth originally, but now a resident in Glasgow, South Side to be a bit more specific. Story wise, I’m just a bloke who collects and plays records, like most of the lads you’ll see behind the turntable, I’m pretty normal, ish. I run a record label – Made Fresh Daily as well, which has always been fun. I’ve been part of Sub Rosa for a long time now, maybe 3 years or so? I was here since the beginning, nearly.
Stefano Esposito – Carry On (JC Williams Remix) [Label – Made Fresh Daily]
NOWICKI – Jozef Nowicki and I’m from Glasgow. Born and raised but fully Polish by blood and heritage. I’ve been clubbing in Glasgow since I was about 14 and first got into electronic music by going to places like The Arches and Sub Club. I’ve just come back from partying in Dimensions Festival in Croatia and today bought my first synthesizer so looking forward to using that.
Tell us about your entry into DJ’ing.
SPITTAL – First gig ever was in a pub called The Malt House in Perth, I’m pretty sure I was 16 and ran a weekly party of sorts for under-agers to drink and experiment in an actual pub (well, it had a license I think). Surprisingly we were still playing house music of sorts, we (I ran this circus of sorts with Tarky and Chris Addley) didn’t cut our teeth with Dubstep or Electro or Psytrance or anything like that. The pub ended up getting shut down after around a year from noise complaints among other felonies. The owner left with a ridiculous amount of 16 / 17 year olds pocket money and moved to Australia once his court proceedings were over, search for ‘Scott Peoples’ on Facebook, he looks like he’s had a class time since we lined his pockets with gold and lost him his pub.
NOWICKI – I’ve always been sort off obsessed with music, putting on tunes from an iPod at parties etc, then later on recording mixes via Virtual DJ (Yes Virtual DJ!!) hahaha to play at parties. That obsession then went into buying vinyl. My first gig using a proper set-up and decent PA was in the venue on a Ferry sitting on the Clyde. It was an official pre-party for Rockness festival organised by a good mate.
Have you got any tips on any artists we need to be keeping an eye out for?
SPITTAL – Keep an eye on The Burrell Connection, a good pal and a class producer. Perth Drug Legend is making some mad tracks at the minute too, have a look if you haven’t already. Joe once showed me a loop he made too haha ;).
Apart from people I know personally, Christ, there is so much quality music coming out at the minute. Have a dig through Jacques Renault’s charts for Juno Records if you wanna find some class new music of the vinyl variety, always picking gems.
NOWICKI – Lord of the Isles for productions and for DJ sets Marquis Hawkes.
Now you’re not allowed to mention each other here, but who’s the best in the game that you’ve heard/seen with your own ears/eyes?
SPITTAL – Neville Watson played Live at Fabric London a couple weeks back with Harri and Dom, everyone was blown away by him, he is definitely up there. Gerd Janson at Subculture a while back was a night to remember too, that man can play. Further afield – seeing Guti play Live at Amnesia, Ibiza in 2011 was an experience too, fond memories.
NOWICKI – Jon Hopkins – I’ve seen him at the Art School and in Dimensions, both times mind blowing! Also the guys from Firecracker records at La Cheetah earlier on in the year was awesome.
Can you let us in on some of your favourite go to tracks that you pull out at Sub Rosa?
Save The Black Beauty are a go to label for me, they release some class music on 12” and are based in Berlin. The one always gets pulled out when it starts to get rowdy.
The Burrell Connection – Articulate [Label – West End Communications]
https://soundcloud.com/theburrellconnection/001-1
This track by The Burrell Connection is ideal for me, the final version of this is a sort of collab with Sub Club’s long standing friend Esa. It’s got movement, it’s danceable but it’s still so fucking interesting. It’ll be out on 12” via Glasgow imprint West End Communications at some point this year I think.
https://soundcloud.com/theburrellconnection/001-1
Third World – Talk To Me (Tony John’s Re-edit)
https://soundcloud.com/johnsy72/third-world-talk-to-me-tony
We play a lot of disco when doors open, whether they be edits or originals. He’s a personal favourite I play a lot, an edit of a classic by Tony John. This edit can be downloaded from the link on SoundCloud too, cheers Tony.
And finally this classic by the man himself Kerri Chandler.
The System – You In My System (Kerri Chandler Remix)
NOWICKI – Hmm, that’s definitely a hard one. Here are a few I’ve been known to bring out when things get interesting.
Slam – Positive Education
Dimitri From Paris – Feeling About ‘Cha
Frankie Knuckles – Baby Wants to Ride
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTbuYH84bfg
Midland – Safi
Mr Scruff – Get a Move On
Finally, before I let you go. Can you give us a wee hint off what you would be listening to when your not digging for track for Sub Rosa.
SPITTAL – Start off with The Infamous, Mobb Deep, beats are class on this especially. Listen to this full album often, hat off to the geezer who uploaded the full thing to YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epA9LGb2KsY
I also listen to Radio 4 when I’m driving at night. Up until I moved to Glasgow I did most of my driving at 3am after Sub Rosa / Sub Club on the way home to my 7am shifts in Perth, stinking. Late night radio 4 is class, interviews with every type of person you can imagine and some class music that covers the entire spectrum. Maybe it’s just best of a bad bunch falling on tired ears?
NOWICKI – The Trammps – Rubber Band (scratchandsniff edit)
https://soundcloud.com/scratchandsniff/the-trammps-rubber-band
Guru – Loungin’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FzV21Lqd3A
Listen up to this recent Sub Rosa residents mix to get you in the mood for tonight…
https://soundcloud.com/subrosa-glasgow/suburban-selections-from-southern-suburbia
Full Event info over on FACEBOOK.
Limited Guestlist available HERE.
As the good book says (or one of them at least)…“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,” Getting biblical on your asses for their Subculture debut this Saturday are the Dope Jams duo of Francis Englehardt and Paul Nickerson. We were lucky enough to get invited into their church of dope jams and were treated to a sermon showcasing their love of good music, street art, vinyl sleeves and maple syrup…
The New york Times recently featured the Sub Club in their ‘36 hours in Glasgow‘ video diary. What would you recommend for someone to do with 36 hours in NYC?
Eat breakfast at Shopsins. Eat a burger with bacon at Peter Lugers. Eat pizza at Difara’s. Go to the nearest car rental joint, rent a car and get the fuck out of that millionaires playpen – your soul depends on it!
For anyone who doesn’t know, fill us in on Dope Jams and how it all came about?
Dope Jams was born out of our frustration with shopping for records in NYC. Most of the stores in NY had closed or were graveyards at the time we decided to open the store. Just about everyone in the NY House scene had given up on pressing records and we just couldn’t believe that no one in NY was going to help try to give some fucking life to the city, so we decided to do it.
At the time we didn’t have enough money to buy sandwiches at the local bodega but we just went for it. It’s kind of strange that it’s taken till now to see some of the labels getting into re-releasing the old stuff they should have been pressing all along but we are glad it’s happening. Now if only these labels would start putting some dope new records out!
What do you miss about Brooklyn since moving the store?
Will Burnett.
After all this time in the industry how do you keep motivated? Do you ever feel you have “been there, seen that, done that?” Are you still fortunate to have a passion for it?
We laugh at the entire fucking thing, it has become a complete caricature of itself. However, you continue to have passion for anything you ever cared about if you can separate what it is you love from the hype and bullshit. At the end of the day we couldn’t give a fuck about press or money.. we want to sit down, throw on a dope song and get chills. The rest is completely irrelevant. So as long as there are songs out there that are making the hair on our arms stand up, we will be ok.
How did you get involved in exporting Maple Syrup to Sweden?
Our confidentiality clause prevents us from really talking about it but we smuggled some syrup from the maple trees of Greene County into Scandinavia and upon tasting it the Swedes turned back into the Nordic Vikings of yore..
What are your top 4 Vinyl sleeves?
Beggars Opera – Act One
X-Clan – To The East, Blackwards
House Of Gypsies – Samba / Kool Life
A Tribe Called Quest – The Low End Theory
Armand Van Helden EP
Street Art and Graffiti pops ups in the store and label output. Do you have any particular favourite artists? Can you link us up to some of their work?
What’s your single biggest frustration in the music industry right now?
That their is no one whose opinion you can trust. It used be that whether it was at a store, distributor or magazine their was always someone there who knew dope music. They could suggest something and you bought it blindly, without giving it a listen, and every time it would be spot on. Everyone seems to be floating around lost, nebulous, these days.
We hung out on your last visit to Sub Club. What was your last impression of our Glasgow basement? What are your expectations of returning to the city and to Subculture?
The Sub Club is exactly what a club should be. No frills! Just a dope sound system, a staff that love what they do and an appreciation of complete debauchery.
LISTEN UP TO A RECORDING OF SLOW TO SPEAK’S LAST VISIT TO THE SUB CLUB EARLIER IN 2014 FOR KRYSTAL KLEAR’S LABOUR OF LOVE PARTY…
Which Record never leaves your bag?
Krimp – House Of Pain
You have the chance to have any line up of bands and DJ’s you want at an all day music event – the bands or DJ’s can be past and present in any location you wish. Where would this be, who would the artists or DJ’s be and what would be the running order on the the day?
It would be in the Boston Garden, circa 1986. Performing would be Lynyrd Skynyrd with Neil Young ; Ed O.G. & Da Bulldogs ; Kate Bush, Alice Coltrane and Don Cherry together! Larry Levan would be on lights. DJ’ing would be Joe Claussell, Theo Parrish and Jeff Mills back when they still gave a shit. And their would be an encore by Michael McDonald & Tom Petty with Phil Collins on drums!
The gig is done, and your enjoying some relaxing time… share with us your top three home listening favourites…
Van Morrison – Veedon Fleece
The Laughing Light Of Plenty – The Pulse
Dead Can Dance – How Fortunate The Man With None
Ahead of the event, the downtown duo recorded this exclusive 20 years of Subculture mix for Harri & Domenic. We hope you enjoy listening as much as we have.
We’ve been hyped for this one for ages, Saturday promises to be a no holds barred session if ever there was one. Advance tickets on sale from RA & in store or online at Tickets Scotland.
Lil’ Tony recorded this mix ahead of his Sub Club debut on Saturday. ” This mix is out of respect for Harri And Dom and 20 years of Subculture. First part is dirty old vinyl only and last hour is more modern digital music. So you can hear how much music and sound has changed in 20 years.”
The boat party is now sold out but don’t despair as you can still join us back at the Sub Club, where Lil’ Tony will be keeping the party afloat alongside Harri, Domenic & Telford until the small hours of Sunday morning.
Tickets Here.
This Saturday’s Subculture guest is a ship-shape ship-mate of Domenic’s, Lil’ Tony. He’s a big character in the Helsinki club scene boasting superb solo releases on labels such as Running Back, Innervisions and Sonar Kollektiv. As a first class club runner, Tony has held sway over fantastic Finnish affairs from Kerma and sOda of yesteryear to the excellent and Ääniwalli & Kaiku today.
Having been invited to play his fine clubs in the past, it’s now Harri and Dom’s turn to bring him full speed into our harbour of hedonism to entertain you salty sailors. Expect Subculture classics and the new tracks breaking and making waves throughout this unmissable musical sea journey!
We caught up with him ahead of his Subculture debut to chat over weird areas for clubs, his hometown, Innervisions, and climbing….
What got you started in dance music and what keeps you inspired after so long?
I went interrailing in mid 80s through Europe by train, on that trip we stopped in Berlin, Spain, Italy and last destination was Ibiza. Every town we visited we went to underground House and Acid parties. Before this trip I got C-Cassette from my friend and tip list of European clubs, It was an Acid mix from Chicago, not sure who did it. that was a first bite, and its still hitting me!
What is it you like about pulling together unique clubs and parties in weird areas?
I think it keeps things interesting to find new locations for clubs. Im always searching for new areas or buildings where you never been before. Its a big challenge, and sometimes its not easy to get people from usual spots to new area, but you get music lovers and people who are searching for something new and interesting. It’s been always my thing, and it works.
What’s you three best things about Helsinki? What do you miss when on tour?
Girls, fresh air in clubs, and 24 hours of light in summertime.
As a producer, your Innervisions release got lots of attention, While you were mixing it down or doing the final submission, did you think to yourself “This is the one? ” When was the first time you heard it being played out by another DJ?
My first release for Innervisions was split 12″, and track was called House. Dixon and Ame played demo b4 it was released. I did like the track a lot, it was different and raw, remind me a lot from old school New York stuff, but it never was ” wow this is the one. ” But its always hard to like you own tracks after you been working a lot with theme.
Second EP on Innervisions was called Antons Groove which was a live jam with analog gears, I liked a lot the sound on that one. Anton is my sons name btw.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zEe9lcyKbw
When did you first come across Harri & Domenic ?
Harri came 1998 to my club Kerma (RIP 1997-2004). Domenic, I heard first time in Berlin, it was Dixons Innercity night in Weekend club, about 8 years ago. Dom has been in Helsinki twice since then.
Have they behaved themselves when playing out there for you ;) ?
What happens in Helsinki stays in Helsinki ;)
Like us you has been booking Dixon for over 10 years, are you surprised at how big and renowned he has become?
Dixon played for me first time 1995 or 1994 in club Nylon, Helsinki. so I’ve seen his thing few years now. Im not surprised at all. I think he has been always one of the best House DJs around and good taste with music and own style and master-plan, no compromises. Innervisions thing was a big move, and lots of work, and it worked well. I’m very happy and I think its been very good thing for whole scene also. Best thing is that he is still same Dixon that I met 20 years ago :D
Who do you you think is next to blow up just as big as Dixon, but isn’t as well known yet?
Thats a tough one and I’m not going to say Mano Le Tough, cause he is already big. Hmm. let me think… There is a lots of potential, but to get everything correct you should have a masterplan. I don’t really know. It can be someone from Techno scene maybe. But ok, there is not going to be next Dixon :D
What’s your expectations of Glasgow and your Subculture debut?
Only thing I can say at the moment, I can¨t wait. I’ve heard only good things about it.
Seeing as your the captain of our ship this weekend, any tips for the the deck crew and the ravers? What should they expect?
I hope it’s a safe trip for everyone. Get ready for madness!
While getting to know Tony we found out he’s got a keen interested in climbing. So he sent us over his favourite five climbing spots from around the world. In true DJ style he’s attached a tune for each spot, “most of these are what first comes to mind for each location. Either from the car journey or how it reminds me of one night there….”
Brione – a bouldering area in Tessin Valley, Switzerland.
Fontainebleau is a bouldering area about 50 km from Paris. Amazing forest!
Tonsai beach is a rock climbing area in South Thailand, Krabi area.
Kalymnos is an island in Greece. One of the biggest sport climbing area in Europe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O63COyZlTyU
Rocklands is in South Africa, huge bouldering area. I haven’t seen that many rocks, ever!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ty_WlmIKvY
Lil’ Tony recorded this mix ahead of his Sub Club debut on Saturday. ” This mix is out of respect for Harri And Dom and 20 years of Subculture. First part is dirty old vinyl only and last hour is more modern digital music. So you can hear how much music and sound has changed in 20 years.”
The boat party is now sold out but don’t despair as you can still join us back at the Sub Club, where Lil’ Tony will be keeping the party afloat alongside Harri, Domenic & Telford until the small hours of Sunday morning.
AFTER PARTY ONLY TICKETS ARE ON SALE FROM RA & IN STORE OR ONLINE FROM TICKETS SCOTLAND.
