Monthly newspaper and online publication targeting 18 to 35 year olds. The ultimate guide to the hottest parties, going out and having fun. Music, fashion, film, travel, festivals, technology, comedy, and parties! London, Barcelona, Miami and Ibiza.
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/709086
7 2016 / ISSUE 89 DRUM & BASS 41 How would you describe your cur- rent state of mind? Musically in a good place, enjoying what I do probably more than ever. Learning a lot and seeing a lot of progression. They say you never stop learning! What have you been learning? I spent some time enhancing my musicality. I'm not known for doing that as much, dancefloor music is very stripped down, raw and in it's element. For me it was a progres- sion. When did you first come across jungle? I was just someone who got into the whole rave scene from the 80s. In 83 as a child I was listen- ing to electro, what came from the electro was house and then early 90s that house had evolved into hardcore and then came jungle then drum & bass. So there never was a time when you said, okay this is jungle/drum & bass now? No, do you know what I would love to know who comes up with these titles. I don't know where they come from and I think it's amazing if it starts from one person and spreads to this worldwide phe- nomenon. Who decided that it was jungle? Then that we'd had enough of jungle and we wanna call it drum & bass now? Now people are calling it just drums! When did you start DJing out? There was a place called Lazer- drome, and it was one of the sick- est raves at the time. I use to go down every week and knew a lot of the people there. I got my first gig in Lazerdrome on New Years Eve in 1992. Must have been great playing there? It was, and literally that was the start of something I had no idea about. To come from that - it wasn't like a business in those days it was just ravers that loved the music. Some of us loved the music a bit more than others and wanted to DJ or produce. Is it more of a business now then? Without a shadow of a doubt man, the basics that you have to do on the markets today just to be known is a business in itself. Today it's more of a business that's why it's so big. Fast forward to now, it's serious - it's how people feed there families. But as for the youngsters coming through that's still the beautiful side of it. Sometimes I'll be playing a rave and I'll just stand aside and look at the crowd. Some of these kids in those crowds will make names for themselves in this game. That's how it works and there's something very beautiful about that. So the DJing started in '93, you opened Charge in '97 what was the motive behind that? I looked around at the other artists that were doing well - you had Andy C who had Ram, DJ Hype who had True Playaz, Frost and Bryan Gee with V Recordings - I thought I need to create my own home. You know it's mad, I didn't even think about it. It was just I'm starting a label and I'm gonna put tunes out. It's unreal to have the label still going after 20 years, although there was a quiet period in that time. Quite a lot of labels have a rest, people don't always have the time. If you look at the labels like Ram, Playaz, Hospital - why these guys have been so consistent is because of the business side, they never stop! There was only a couple of people that had that knowledge back in the day to get a team and do this properly and seriously. You've started a new show on Pryo, how's that going? Yeah it's good. It's really good fun and I like to talk to people so a lot of the shows will be chats. It's another way for us to give our fan base, a chance to be a bit closer. Festival season has started, any dates you're looking forward to? Yeah. Tranz-mission is gonna be a cracker, the line up is incredible. I'm definitely gonna hover around the acid house stage. What's the worst job you've ever done? I worked in Sainsburys when I was 16. I use to work Saturday morning at 7.45 but I started doing radio on Kool FM on Friday nights. I'd basically get home at 5 and sit in bed for 2 hours and 45 minutes. Then I'd be at work all day on the till listening to bleep, bleep. But it brought me decks, my vinyl, it was just what I had to do to get it. If you could fill a swimming pool with anything, what would it be? Woah! Water? Would be nice to just have a swimming pool at the back of the house! Who's the funniest person you know? IC3, without a shadow of a doubt. "Some of these kids in those crowds will make names for themselves in this game." Arren Haynes | Guestlist INTERVIEW: MAMPI SWIFT follow @mampi_swift We had a little chat wirth Drum and Bass legend, Mampi Swift about everything from the start of his career to what he's up to at the moment...