Hi Sean, thanks for taking the time to talk to us. You’re debut album is dropping on Joey Negro’s Z records, how did you get hooked up with the label?
I started working with Z Records about 5 years ago when they approached me about remixing a classic Sunburst Band song called Rough Times. The remix did pretty well at the time and I carried doing mixes for the label on more Sunburst Band and JD73. The idea of doing the album came about when I was putting together another remix idea of a JD73 song. I sent the idea in and they said to me “Yeah, it’s cool, but rather than doing more remixes, what do you think about doing an album instead?”
I guess they could hear that I had lots of ideas, and expressing my ideas in the form of an album seemed like a more interesting option to me. It’s a label that I’ve always followed and has influenced my sound so I thought it would be a good outlet for what I wanted to do.
The LP is entitled It’s Time. Is that a personal statement about you’re music and this being the right moment for it?
It’s not really intended to be a personal statement, people can take it that way if they want I guess. This is a particular moment for me however, because I’ve been remixing for so long, that it’s now time to be focussing on putting out some more original material. The title actually came from the fact that it took so long to make it, which is about 3 years. When I was trying to finish it off I noticed that I kept telling myself ‘It’s time to get this finished’. I’m terrible for nit-picking on details in the production and am rarely 100% happy with a finished track. There’s always something else I’d change when I listen back and I think that’s something a lot of producers can relate to. That’s the real meaning behind the title.
You’ve got a lot of classic house and disco influences on the album and some great vocal collaborations. What was it like working with the likes of Diane Charlemagne & Donaeo, amongst others?
Being known as a remixer, it’s very different writing music to no vocals. It worked a bit differently for every track. Sometimes my music inspires the vocals, sometimes the vocals inspires different music. A few of the tracks, like the Donae’o collaboration, were written on a different backing track. After the vocals were recorded the song inspired a completely different direction musically and I started some tracks again from scratch to some of the song. Almost like remixing the songs. Sometimes my music inspired the vocal melodies and hooks, and then when the singer put an idea down, I might add something else to the music to work more with it. Most of the vocalists I worked with are people I’ve known and worked with before and are all amazing talented song writers.
You’re from Bristol, a city with a truly rich musical history, do you feel a strong connection to the place? And what is the house music scene like there at the moment?
I’ve only lived in Bristol for the past 3 years, but I definitely have a strong musical connection here. It’s a very creative city with open minded musically passionate people so it’s great base for me here. The house scene is quite strong. There’s a lot of deep house events here and particularly a big scene for disco, soul, boogie, reggae etc. I run my own parties here called ‘Good Vibrations’ with a good friend of mine and local Bristol house legend, Deli-G. It’s a very intimate and friendly vibe where I get to be myself and play the music I love to a lovely local crowd.
Who are your all time musical heroes?
Hmm, way too many to list really. There are influences left, right and centre, but major obvious ones have people like Jazz N Groove, MAW, Victor Simonelli, John Morales, Tom Moulton, Quincy Jones, George Benson, Jimmy Smith, Erykah Badu, Incognito, Brand New Heavies, Basement Boys, Tony Humphries, Blaze, Kerri Chandler, JoVonn, 95 North. That’s a small selection there!
What have you got planned for the New Year?
Hopefully more original projects. I was stuck in a situation of doing remixes for way too long. I’ll still do some remixes but I think only on the projects I’m really, really into. I’m probably going to be doing some work with some songwriters I’ve been working with recently and developing some projects on slightly different styles. Kind of like artist development work. I want to further explore more sides of my sound, which people will hear on the album, which has a mixture of house, soul, disco, and hip hop influences. I tend not to plan much though, I like to just go with the flow and see what happens. So who knows what’s next?
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