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A Deeper Groove
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Electrónica
01:39:27 min
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hace 6 meses
Our next mix is a big one.
Andy Ward is a DJ and producer who we both admire immensely, and as Mr Vocal booth weekender he is als
o responsible
for some of our best clubbing and DJing experiences.
While you listen to the fantastic mix, check out the interview we done with him to get an insight on the journey that
has taken him from the 10 year old buying George Benson records to where is today.
http://www.djandyward.net/
Vocal Booth Weekender // Vocal Booth radio show // Soul Heaven // Soul Central productions
what are your earliest memories of music?…can you remember the first record you bought?
My earliest vivid memories of any music are when I was 6 years old. I spent Christmas in hospital after getting knocked over by two cars. I was running across the road to a park thinking I was clever when one car hit me into the path of another which threw me up in the air and onto the grass. I broke my leg, fractured my skull and damaged my kidney. I was laid up for 3 months in traction. I don’t like doing things by halves. I specifically remember lying in the hospital bed watching Top of the Pops and Johnny Matthis was number one. Boney M also spring to mind. One of the first records I remember buying is from a market stall on the estate where I lived, I was 10 years old and It was a birthday present for my dad.. the George Benson album ‘give me the night’. I still have that album in mint condition.
house music…where did it all begin for you?
House was a natural progression with most of the circle of people I hung around with. I grew up with 80’s soul, moved into electro, hip hop and eventually american house. I used to listen to Jeff Young on Radio One on a Friday night and then Pete Tong, amongst others. Like everyone else, I used to sit with my finger hovering over the pause button on my cassette deck trying to pre empt when the DJ would speak so as to have the music without any talking, pretty ironic now seeing as I never shut up on my own show. I went to big raves where the music varied from italo house, to deep chicago to borderline drum and bass and over the years, when I started DJing, slowly turned my back on the hardcore sound and became a deep/vocal house head.
who has been the biggest influence on you in your career?
That’s actually a tough question to answer. It is hard to give an immediate, definitive answer. I don’t see anyone as being so influential on my career however musically I have a lot of people to thank for my passion for the music. My parents of course, my uncle, one or two non DJ friends who’s musical taste was impeccable and thanks to the tapes they used to do for me gave me “my sound”. I guess I owe a lot to Patrick Smoove for introducing me to a lot of the industry heads in London and in Miami/NYC back in the 90’s, Angus Campbell and Timmy Vegas for helping me to learn Logic to a point where I can build a track on my own, and in recent years to Deep Josh for his engineering skills. I know there are loads of others I should thank but I’ve got a stinking hangover and my brain is only half functioning at the minute.
what dj’s/artists float your boat at the minute?
Atjazz, Soul Renegades, Osunlade, Phil Asher.. I’d be here all day. I don’t like to pick out any specific group of people as I love the variety that is out there at the moment.
tell us a bit about your radio show on choice f.m. and the direction your career went follwing that?
I got lucky on the radio, I was approached by a sales girl about advertising the Marco Polo bar I used to run on Choice in return for a 30 minute guest mix. When I took the DAT to the station I bumped into the boss on the stairs and was introduced to him. I asked if they had any vacancies as I’d love to get involved. He made an off the cuff remark about writing him a letter (remember those) and after a finely crafted application he rang me for a meeting. I was offered a T.O position (Technical operator) which meant I had to play selected tunes overnight and in between the tracks play a recording of the DJ to make it sound like he was live. That DJ happened to be Robin Holland who recently appeared at the Vocal Booth Weekender. I was also given two 30 minute slots on a Tue and Thu on the drive time show, we called it the Traffic Jam. I played soulful house on a station that only played soul and R&B and reggae with the one drum and bass show. I then went from doing the two 30 minute mixes to having my own shows on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I specifically remember being met with some resistance to “house” music by the station followers, but within a short space of time I was turning a whole new audience onto the sweet soulful sounds of US house. I remained on the station after it changed to Galaxy and was planning on leaving after I had bought my house in Spain, but actually had my show stopped before I made the move anyway. I was unceremoniously given the boot over the telephone and was devastated not to have been able to do one final show after all the years there.
Getting the radio shows gave me the opportunity to have an ice breaker when meeting big DJs, their ears seemed to prick up when getting introduced as being off a commercial station. It also got me onto a major agency, one of the goals I’d set myself around that time. It’s amazing to think about all that I have achieved through this thing we all know and love… the places I’ve travelled, the friends I’ve made, the bath towels I’ve robbed from posh hotels.
what’s your philosophy as a dj/producer?
I started out playing music I loved and was lucky to make an impact immediately. I was always a warm up DJ or second room DJ because of the mellow vibes I used to play. As my shows gained more popularity and “Funky House” became more popular I found myself headlining more and more, but I was always happier playing the second room all night and being able to do what I wanted for hours rather than coming on for 90 minutes and having to bash it out for the hands in the air crew. It just happened that I was pretty good at doing that and after “Strings of Life” became massive I started travelling the world and doing some great parties. Slowly the music changed and I had to adapt my set to the crowd in front of me and eventually I felt I had less and less in common with the dancefloor. Recently I feel I have found the connection again, although there has always been the specialist gigs that keep me enthused about it all.
As a producer, I always have and will make music for the fun of it. I don’t consider myself to be amazing but I have been fortunate enough to have hit it right with one or two of my solo productions and gained a small but strong following. As Soul Central, myself and Timmy Vegas did chase the big remixes and wanted to gain the appreciation of our peers, but some of the tunes we did don’t really excite me now when I listen back to them although at the time I loved doing them. I have hit a bit of a dry patch inspirationally in the last year or so, but am hoping to get back on it with some colaborations. I work best when working with musicians and look forward to the next track I start that makes me go “Oooh”.
what’s the best party you’ve ever played at?
There have been many. New York, Miami, Ibiza. Of course the best ones tend to be my own parties where I do exactly what I want musically and MY crowd follow me every beat of the way. Choice FM boat parties where unbelievable, as have been most Soul Heavens (I write this on a plane back from the recent one, hence the f*cking essay !). The Vocal Booth Weekender now is the highlight of my year, and rightly so, I think. Southport weekenders are up there as the best gig on the planet although I’m always too busy concentrating to really enjoy the set at the time.
Tell us about the vocal booth weekender?
What’s to tell ? It’s a party I started for a few friends to get together in the sushine three years ago and it has turned into one the best things in people’s lives. Sounds a bit over the top, but that is basically the event in a nutshell. When people come and then immediately go home and get a tattoo of the logo, you know it touched them. It has given a whole lot of people a whole new appreciation for house parties and it will continue long into the future, whether there are 50 or 500 of us dancing together as one. I am eternally grateful to every DJ and Family member that comes along for making it what it is.
digital or vinyl?
For the convenience factor I have to say digital. I have a pretty decent vinyl collection but I am not an audiophile or a trainspotter so don’t have the extremist views others have. I do love playing vinyl and ‘mastered’ mixing with it, but the ease of using CDJs now far outweighs the nostalgia of vinyl for me. I find it a bit bemusing when people moan about MP3s, saying WAV only, and then rock up to the venue with their Serato !!??
how do you balance life between being a parent, husband and all your other projects?
Pretty easily really. I’m the kind of person who can never sit still or not have anything on the go, so it is comforting for me to be constantly busy. I am lucky to have been with my kids all of their lives for most of the time (obviously recent years meant the odd tour away from home) but in all their years I have been the house husband. I take pride in that fact. My wife works very hard and she has kept the family afloat financially at times when work dried up for me. I am always sat at home on this machine, whether creating a new design for a flyer or VB gift, finding some other wonderful tool to help promote what I do like my recent App for my shows and blogs or talking a load of shite on Twitter or sharing tit photos with JoC… too much info ? ha ha. I have a very active mind and have to get all of the thoughts in it out else I go mental. Sometimes I do take a step back and think “Andy you’re such a dickhead” and will go quiet for a week or so.. then I’ll come back all guns blazing with a photo of me and a potato that looks like Jesus.
tell us about any projects you are currently working on?
I’m already thinking about VB 2012 and am waiting for my web server to get changed over to a new one, and can then unveil the new www.vocalboothweekender.com web site. I don’t have any productions in the pipeline yet but in January I intend to put that right. I had wanted to get back to Australia in January but that’s not looking likely and my next plan is to nail a USA tour for 2012.
if you hadn’t been a dj, what career path would you have chosen?
I have no idea. I used to work in an office finding bad debtors who didn’t pay their credit card bills. I was very good at that.. so maybe I would have carried on down that path. I have been professional as a DJ now for about 15 years I think.. it’s pretty crazy really as I never even thought about being a DJ for the first 6 or 7 years of the House movement. I don’t like to think about what I do as a job too much, because then it feels too restrictive. It is hard to explain.
pants or commando?
I sleep bollock naked but love a nice pair of pants to keep me comfy.
what next for mr andy ward?
The million dollar question ! Clubs are changing, sounds are changing. I feel a different attitude to playing out now and can’t be arsed compromising my sets at all. This might have something to do with the fact that I don’t play to the big rooms so much now anyway, but if those gigs do come in it’s gonna be my way 100% now or nothing. I hope to explore a more stripped, deeper sound for my productions and I’ll be glad to get this bastard moustache shaved off.
The mix I have put together exclusively for a Deeper Groove shows a different side to my music, it would be a dream to be able to get gigs playing like this although I don’t want to try to move into a different field because for me the beauty in what I do is having a personal connection with the crowd I play to and I’m not sure I’d have the ability to do that if I ‘reinvented’ Andy Ward.
Right, we are just about to land now. Let’s pretend you’re in the doorway of my Malibu mansion on MTV cribs….
“That’s it now… FUCK OFF !” (door slams)
I enjoyed answering your questions, thanks !
end.
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