Homopatik founder and Berlin cult figure Mr.Ties makes his Scottish debut with an all night long set at Bigfoot’s Tea Party this Friday 23rd of May 2014. Unconcerned with fame or fortune, Mr. Ties has devoted himself in a ceaseless quest for great music, often playing 10, 11, even 12 hour sets. Some of the Bigfoot residents caught up with him quickly online this week…
G: There is a fair bit of excitement building ahead of your first trip to Glasgow this Friday, do you know much about Sub Club or Glasgow itself?
I´m actually also really excited to come on Friday to play, everybody tells me good things about the Sub Club – I can´t wait to play there…also my very first time in Scotland, so pretty curious…
W: Why did you start your Homopatik parties and how did you meet Mad Alba? You guys seem to have a great relationship. Tell us about the ideas behind these parties if you can please?
There were lot of reasons, I’m not listing them all here, but the main one is that we wanted to share a party concept purely based on “party” and nothing else…I met Alba after one year when we started to party together and for sure our connection was really strong because we were coming from the exactly same region. My village was by sea and she comes from nearby (I come from Giovinazzo, she´s from Altamura), like 20km apart. Between us we talk sometimes in the slang language of my region, not even in Italian. At that time she´s was playing out, but sometimes not at very good parties, while at that moment I was thinking I need someone who is like me, but for the techno floor of Homopatik…someone like me that would not only play but lead the party musically in some particular direction that I really wanted. I tested her one time and it was a success, so then I decided to let her play always or nearly always at the party. She´s really talented I think also one of the best DJs I’ve seen in recent years.
G: This is only the second time we’ve handed over the Bigfoot booth to a guest for the whole party, (Andrew Weatherall & Ivan Smagghe was the first in 2012). Normally our resident DJs play, often for the whole night themselves – same as your Homopatik parties. What kind of atmosphere do you think this creates for you and everyone who comes to your parties?
We don´t wanna think we just wanna play! That´s the point :)
J: Recently you said in an RA interview you spend over 1000 Euro per month on vinyl. Do you really own that many records??!
Yes! We are now one year later, so I have many more now :)
G: You’ve recently moved to Istanbul – what drew you to go there and do you see yourself staying for a long time?
I moved in August but I’m not there so often as I’m travelling nearly every weekend. I love it here. It’s an amazing city…I got booked last year from Wake Up Call – a tiny club close to Taksim, nice cute little venue.
G: Another recent Sub Club guest DJ Harvey was also singing the praises of Istanbul, saying their was great music to be found all over the city. What are the clubs like? Do you get to spend many weekends there?
Unfortunately I don´t spend many weekends here in Istanbul…I’m more the weekdays here and then go playing around on the weekend…there are a lot of clubs in Istanbul…the one i like best is Wake Up Call, and in the summer -Suma Beach by the Black Sea.
G: Are you finding yourself travelling a lot more at the moment, not just for your Berlin residencies?
Yes I do dates all over, recently I’ve seen a lot of places I could probably never have reached without playing records…
W: Wait a second…why are you called Mr.Ties?
I was really young and I was looking for a design firm name…and it pops out ties design and then consequentially Mr.Ties.
W: How are things going with your production?
Actually don´t have one but I print records from time to time…in the next months or year they will pop up in some record shop…
J: Koftas or balik ekmek?
Balik ekmek for sure
W: Will you play “Murder Was The Bass” on Friday?
Unlucky! I think I left that record in Berlin…
No worries at all, sure there are more than enough bangers in your record bag to see us through the night. Thanks! We’ll see you at Sub Club.
Here are some selected musical highlights to keep you moving till the doors open at 11pm…
Boiler Room Berlin DJ Set
Together Disco
DJ set from Noctua Paris
Advance tickets for tonight are available from RA & more will be available on the door from 11pm.