What's On 2

Recommended this weekend from the MOS stable

Tobie Allen @ Bodymove March 12th

Lizzie Curious gives us an Interview for the Boat Party Shenanigans

Let’s get down to the real Lizzie Curious,

You seem to have an amazing success story with your career consistently on the up. But where did it all start for you?

Back in the day when I was working hard (ish) at University (at Guildford in Surrey), my weekend life quickly became dedicated to jumping on the train up to the big smoke and dancing the night away at many of the underground clubs that used to be found in South London – from The Fridge to Brixton Academy to Club 414 to The Chunnel Club (as it was then known – it’s now Hidden these days), I totally fell in love with the music, the people and the atmosphere! Soon enough I also got a little ‘curious’ about the DJing side – what an amazing experience and honour I thought it would be to be able to do that. Soon enough I spent my student loan on decks and locked myself away for hours and hours and hours, to master the art of mixing (on vinyl as it all was back then)! 

Excellent! I presume that was the start of the journey from Lizzie the bedroom DJ to Lizzie the superstar DJ she is today became the superstar she is today?

Well firstly thanks for bestowing me with the title of superstar….I reckon I’ve still got a fair way to go before I can claim that particular crown, but it does certainly feel like in the last couple of years all my hard work and dedication is starting to come to fruition. I’d love to say I got my lucky break after just a couple of years, but the truth is I have worked really hard at my craft for over 10 years now – from weekly residencies in bars, condensing a Musical Technology 2 year course into 1 year (and getting a triple distinction ;-), to promoting nights all over the UK, running my own studio and writing and recording my own vocals, through to the amazing experiences of DJing abroad and then being resident in Ibiza for Juicy Ibiza at Privilege & Charyls Angelz last year and coming back to England to secure 4 residencies in the UK – I’ve always worked really hard but I consider myself so very lucky to be living my dream! 

You do indeed have a few residencies, so have experience working for different promoters, what do you reckon is the key to a good promoter? Tell us what’s coming up for you? I am very passionate about the brands that I am resident for (Licked/Sick Vibez & SHEBANG!). Not only are the promoters I work with also very good friends but I reckon they also have the same work ethic as me (ie you get out of life what you put in!) and are also in it for all the right reasons – for the love of music and wanting to put on a fantastic party for like-minded people.  

I really have to take my hat off to Jason, Rob and Cri who run Licked – we are celebrating our 3^rd birthday this weekend at The White House and I have the honour of playing alongside the ShapeShifters! I have been playing for Licked for over a year now and back in January they asked me to come officially on board as resident and I am so proud to be part of the Licked family. They totally transform the club with amazing décor and visuals and I know they put their heart and soul into every event and that’s reflected in the wonderful, extended family feeling you get when you go to Licked, the only people you don’t know there are friends you haven’t met yet! This weekend will be extra fun as I have all my H3LIUM-3 crew from the Miami WMC hitting London for a big reunion, so we will be fully indulging ourselves in the beachwear theme and partying to the max! 

Sick Vibez, although a new promotion, has really made a mark on London and I’m honoured that Shane Cooke asked me to come on board as resident after he spent the night glued to the dancefloor at Curiousity Club and compared my stage presence to that of Fatboy Slim! We’re doing the SW4 afterparty with none other than Kim Fai at Inigo on Saturday 28^th August which will be massive. 

And of course you are a promoter yourself (do you ever sleep Lizzie? lol)...what do have going on at the moment?

The event I have been looking forward to and planning for so long is our Curiousity Club & Bootleg Social Summer of Love 60s/70s fancy dress party. We (myself and Bootleg head honcho Tobie Allen) have been planning this event for months, we really wanted to put on a unique party and came up with the idea of 60s/70s fancy dress and let me tell you we are going to town with this event – Battersea Barge is going to loved up in a glorious, multicoloured paradise! From a magician to twist your mind, to releasing Chinese Wishing Laterns at night for that spiritual feeling, to chilling out with joss stick and free hugs in our Woodstock Chill Out lounge, we are pulling out all the stops on this shindig! Not to mention the amazing DJs we have, the fact that it’s Tobie’s birthday bash (and the birthday celebrations of a few other reprobates as well) and we have a free afterparty at The Ministry of Sound…it’s an event I am hugely excited about…..groovy baby! 

I’ve also been busy over the summer running a series of Curiousity Club parties outdoors, including a full to capacity shindig at the previously little-known Circle Bar – which saw 350 people pack out the hidden terrace garden and party on inside right up till closing! I also just ran a party with my good friend Emma from Sunshine Groove – we converted the terrace at The White House into an intimate Sunday terrace party for friends and friends of friends.  

A little rumour tells me you are also into all girls?? Sounds fun can you shed light whether this rumour is true?

Hahahahah Tobie, I think you must be referring to The Female Federation of House – SHEBANG! We are FIVE talented, dedicated female DJs, all with their own unique style and impressive worldwide gig rosta, ONE big love of HOUSE music and ONE passion and belief that house music should be played by DJs who give nothing less than 100% every time they play and you get SHEBANG! - The Female Federation of House. We just held a fantastic all day summer soiree at The Circle Bar and are back all together on 11^th September! 

Honestly did you sing in the shower or were you a hairbrush in the mirror type of girl? Well it may come as no surprise to you that I sing in the shower every day and often warm up in there for vocal recordings as the acoustics are so good! And yes, as a young whippersnapper I did the whole hairbrush in the mirror, making up dances malarkey…I also invented my own sort of two track recording using two taple players, my piano and singing. I even wrote to Jim’ll Fix It to ask if I could sing with Abba (he never got back to me though, pah!) 

You are off to Ibiza this week,-  what the plan...tapestry and knitting on sunday afternoon north of the island? Well that sounds just delightful….but I don’t think that’s very likely ;-) We’ll (that’s about 30 members of the Fruitcake Bridade) will be setting up camp at villas and apartments in the Playa d’en Bossa area, so it’s more likely to be a case of a brunch of San Miguel and a boogie at Bora Bora every day for starters. Then I have a night called Casa Unida at Es Vive on 11^th August where we have DJs from all over the world uniting to celebrate our love of house music. Friday 13^th sees me returning for one night only to DJ alongside the lovely Vicky Devine at Charlys Angelz – she is also doing a special Burlesque theme just for me! Finally we round off our week of carnage with a special chillout session on the stunning Salinas beach on Saturday 14^th. Oh, and did I mention we are all going VIP to Pacha for Swedish House Mafia? Good times :-) 

How have you see Ibiza change over the years or is it the same as always?

For me Ibiza will always, always be a very magical place, the second I step off the plane I always have a big grin on my face, I love everything about that beautiful island, the beaches, the people, the fashion and of course the clubs and the music! The clubs, it is sad to say, have really suffered due to the recession and the strict licensing laws….long gone are the days that Amnesia stayed open till 9am and you could dance at Bora Bora and run down to paddle in the sea if you got a bit too hot. It is more restrictive now, but I still love it just as much and having worked out there for the season, you see how hard the promoters and DJs out there work and the pressures they are under and I have the utmost respect for them.  

On the international front where has been you biggest and best gig?

Can I cheat and name a few because it really is so hard to choose!

First up, of course my residency at Privilege was a dream come true for me – what DJ wouldn’t give their all to be warming up the main room every week for some of the world’s biggest DJs. I think my favourite night was warming up for Stonebridge at Privilege – I had some of my close friends in the booth with me over the swimming pool and Stoney then played an amazing set, followed by Robbie Rivera, it was amazing! Warming up for Marco V was pretty amazing too though! Then this year I played for Robbie Rivera at Juicy Beach for the Miami Winter Music Conference – that was an amazing day, they had presold nearly 4,000 tickets, its one of the biggest events of the WMC and DJing on that outside stage with the sun shining and everyone dancing just blew me away…I can’t wait till next year! Additionally DJing and singing live in Russia was a unique experience that I will remember forever!  

This year saw you have several chart successes on beatport you’re your vocals for the likes of Robbie Rivera, Lazy Rich and Digital Freque. What’s on the cards next for you vocally then Miss Curious?

I have just had a jazz-tinged house track ‘Thinking Of You’ released on Open Bar with Nino Anthony which has picked up support from none other than the S-man himself: Roger Sanchez. I am also looking forward to two releases on KULT with the hugely talented Graeme Lloyd: Two Left Feet & New World Translation. I also have recorded a vocal for Robbie Rivera which is set for an Autumn release and a new release with George Acosta due in September too. Recently I’ve been working on more material with Digital Freq, Graeme Lloyd & Tim Cullen as well as some new solo material! 

One last question pear or apple cider for the country girl....

Well really I am so in love with London and feel really at home I don’t consider myself a country girl….however I am rather partial to a pear cider….and lately I have discovered the dangerously delicious strawberry and lime cider – delish! As a city girl my drink of choice is a Jagerbomb of course – I have even written a song about Jager that I intend to record soon – I can see it becoming a bit of an anthem ;-) 

Peace and love – hope you enjoy the Sunshine Groove mix!

Lizzie xxx

Trigger Funk Boys get to know themselves a little bit better ..

          Okay lads tell us a little bit about yourself...where did trigger funk come originate

We started off on radio where we were playing funky house and moving in to dirty electro towards the end of our sets. 1 night Craig played out and played a dirty electro track, where he pulled off a trigger finger when the tune dropped because he was loving it so much bless him. He played the 1^st set though and there were about 7 people in there (so we were all pissing ourselves at him). So when we played dirty electro on radio we called it the “trigger finger sessions” because it was what we seemed to do when a hard and dirty bass dropped. Then thought we would start doing nights of dirty electro and funky house. You put the 2 together and it makes Trigger Funk!

1. You are known for your big room electro sounds, who influences you?

In terms of within the Electro/fidget scene there are a number of different

Ashley:

dj’s/producers! The biggies (for me) I can think of now would have to be the likes of Lazy Rich, Miles Dyson, Calvertron, Foamo, Lee Mortimer, Will Bailey, Mike Balance, Aniki, Kelevra to name a few!!   

Craig: 

Definitely Calvertron, also the likes of Kelevra , miles dyson,  

Swedish house mafia, Micky slim the list goes on ...

 

3) 

You have been very prominent in the south London scene playing at legendary clubs ministry and Pacha but what do you prefer the big clubs or small intimate venues 

Ashley: 

I think the different sizes have different strengths to be honest. There is nothing like playing to a large crowd of people and smashing the place and seeing everyone loving your set, but then the smaller venues is, as you say more of an intimate thing where you feel you can get more involved with the crowd. Either size, it’s all about coming off the decks and seeing loads of smiles from enjoying your set!  

Craig: 

the big clubs or small intimate venues - the big venues are nice but the small ones sometimes have such a wicked atmosphere! We need that atmosphere in the big venue then we are laughing!

 

4)

When did you start gettin into djing? And why 

Ashley:

I thought it would help me get loads of friends on Facebook. Only joking!! My mates got a set of decks so I decided to get some for my birthday and then the rest was history! Then getting a taster of playing out made it impossible to turn back!  

Craig 

When I was 16 which is 8 years ago, I fell in love with my mates decks the first time I saw them and went from there.

 

5) There's been a little decline in the scene recently where major venues have seen around a 20 per cent drop in attendances. Why do you think that is, and what would you do to change it... 

Ashley: 

I think the biggest reason, which we all know is that there is not as much money out there as there used to be and a lot of people are not going out because of it. But other reasons being there are so many nights to compete with today and it is hard to differentiate yourself from other nights. I think promoters working together is definitely a good way forward at the moment where different crowds can experience different nights, as well as going to a night they know they enjoy.

Craig: 

I think the main problem is promoters, they don't value the dj’s or the punters as much anymore , or there are promotions which are only around for a year then gone again just after a quick buck!

 

6)

Where do you think the dance scene will be in 10 years? And will you have any part of it? 

Ashley: 

I think there will be more pigeon holes (maybe even pigeon house?) for different sounds, which makes things more diverse in terms of what people can listen to/play out. I think fidget house will become a lot bigger by then and I think dubstep will only get bigger too. I would like to think it’s Trigger Funk will be renowned as 1 of the best nights in London which means I would DEFINITELY like to be part of it!

Craig:

I would love to be a part of it in 10 years time, I think it will still be as dominant as it is now, even big producers across the pond are using house as their influence

7) What do you guys during the day apart from aspiring to be the next Carl Cox? 

Ashley: 

I sell advertising, which is about as exciting as having your pubes plucked out 1 by 1... 

Craig: 

I'm a fitness manager and a personal trainer when not djing.

 

8) Have you been producing at all? Is this something you want to do, a natural progression, 

Us: 

We have started producing along with our good pal Dave pinnacle. Our 1^st track was released in June with 4 remixes on sketch records from the likes of Autoslide and Filthy Rehab and our mix reached number 22 in the top 100 electro chart! We have more in the pipeline as well with a 2nd release coming in the future months!

 

9) 

You playing for a 1960's night what's your perception of the 1960's... 

Ashley:  

A time when England could actually play football and Austin Powers pretty much sums it up for me!  

Craig: 

Hippies! Smoking weed, chilled out and colourful! Free speech an all that mannn! 

 

10) 

Lastly why did bungle out of rainbow wear nothing during the day and then put pjamaa on at night? 

Craig: 

not old enough to know that ... Ash can you help? 

Ashley: 

This 1 is easy! I thought everyone knew? Basically Bungle suffered with the shits. When in bed, it made it easier to clean up, where as when out and about with nothing on, he could let the shits dribble down his leg and wash it off.    

 

All the mixes are at www.triggerfunk.podomatic.com    

Judge Jules interview prior to Judgement Sunday Launch at Ministry ...Bootleg Social in the loft!

 Morning, how does The Gallery find you today?

I’m just in the studio working on a new track with my wife Amanda. Although getting evil looks for taking my concentration away from the tune and typing!

So since we saw you last, what have you been up to?

Over the past few weeks I’ve been to the USA, battling my way through the ash cloud and ‘BA’ strikes. Despite all that stress, it’s been a really strong few weeks for gigs and new music.

What are your plans for the Summer ahead?

I’m getting my tunes in order for Judgement Sundays in Ibiza, which opens on June 13^th. So near, yet so far away...

What are your top three tunes of the moment?

Shy  Brothers– Recharge

Heatbeat & Exit – Go (J.O.C Remix)

Mat Zo – The Found

Which new face is your top tip currently?

Mat Zo, who is signed to Above & Beyond’s AnjunaBeats.  He used to be a D&B producer which makes his tracks very unique and out of the box. 

And your favourite ever summer holiday and why?

For as long as I can remember, my summer holidays have been spent in Ibiza. It’s not your traditional ‘holiday,’ as I live there for 2-3 months - reluctantly leaving ‘La Isla Blanca’ when overseas duty calls.

 

What can we expect from you this Friday at The Gallery?

In the run up to Ibiza I’ve been working on a couple of new tracks, one of which will get its first play this week.  I’m biting my nails hoping it works!  When road testing tunes, the dancefloor can be your harshest critic or best friend!