Whistlebump

Whistlebump is Simon Haggis and Andy Crowther.

The interview

DS3:

When you started out with your WB parties did you expect to gain the loyal following you seem to have acquired?

SIMON:

Personally I didn't have any expectations at all. It really does mean a lot that people enjoy the parties and come out to support the music and the guest dj's that come along to play. We just wanted to put a night on because we genuinely thought everything was pretty bad in London at the time. There were a few nights on that were being hyped as 'soulful' or 'real house music' and they were always pretty banging when it came down to it. There were good specialist nights out midweek but we wanted to put on a Saturday night party where you could hear a variety of 'quality soulful dance music'. We just wanted to play the music we liked and I think it's proved popular because it's not faddish stuff, it's just good music.

ANDY:

We were happy just to get people along to our parties, who seemed to be into what we were doing. But it soon became obvious that there was a "core crowd", and this really means something to us. It's great to have people trust you and believe in what you're doing - and who share the same love of music and partying!

DS3:

You appear to have a great blend of musical tastes when playing at your parties. Andy, you seem to take a more "eclectic" edge to your DJ'ing while Simon, you seem to take that that into more Soulful territory. Would you describe that as a good refection of your styles?

ANDY:

Absolutement! You've got to keep it interesting, keep moving it around, keep people on their toes. People don't want to listen to 5 hours of house music, do they? To give Simon some props, I'd say his style is also pretty eclectic, one of the reasons why he is a good DJ. I've always been into a wide range of music, but all with a touch of soul, funk or jazz. It's me Essex boys roots, innit. I also think there is just so much good music out there, all styles, you'd be mad to exclude some just because it isn't (say) four-to-the-floor house music. If anything, I'd say my tastes have gotten broader over the years, I'm buying more jazz and reggae these days. I actually think it's the buzz of finding something new, something fresh and different that feeds my record buying habit today - and the pleasure you get when someone else thinks "yeah, that is brilliant, never heard something like that before!" Just look at all the wicked music coming out of Detroit, Germany, London, Japan, it's pretty much impossible to keep up with it all. And then people like Erykah Badu put out another great album, Outkast twist hip-hop around again, it's just crazy! And don't even get me started on rediscovering old gems, finding a brilliant piece of disco - again, there is and has been so much brilliant music that you could never get bored, and will never know it all!

SIMON:

I think Andy just said it all. There's so much good music out there it's really hard, not to mention expensive, keeping up. In terms of styles the overall Bump music is just about positive feeling music. That can be a reggae track or a house track, doesn't really matter, we both buy it all. At the club nights I tend to play sets that are house based but pull in a bit of disco or latin or afrobeat, and try and present it in such a way that people don't stop dancing and before they know it they're into some Seiji track and they didn't even think they liked broken beat. No matter how good the records are, if it's all one style I get bored to tears so we do try and move it around. Consequently the more accomplished dj's that can do that are our favourites too.

DS3:

From the people I've spoken to who love WB they all tend to say that you capture the style and atmosphere of legendary nights such as Body Soul and Paradise garage. This is quite a compliment! Is it something you consciously strive to do?

ANDY:

I would say this is most definitely a compliment, and I although I don't think we have strived to create this, the philosophy is the same: great music, all styles, old and new, on the best possible soundsystem - which the emphasis on having a good time. But the fact is that we have booked great DJ's like Danny Krivit and FK who do give us that NYC vibe, and why not? They know how to party!

SIMON:

Well that is very nice but no, not at all. I'm not old enough to have been to the Paradise Garage and I've never been to Body Soul. The first time I went to New York, Body Soul hadn't started and when I went back some years later to play there it unfortunately closed a few weeks earlier! You obviously heard an awful lot about it and I was fortunate enough to play at a party the Body Soul promoter John Davis put on in Miami a few years ago, but never got to go to the club.

Certainly one influence though is the idea that New York clubs like the Loft and the Paradise Garage strived to get the sound as good as they could. If you go to the current day Shelter out in New York for example you just get hit by the quality of the sound, and even then people will tell you all day long how it's not of the quality of something like previous systems in the Paradise Garage.

In the UK the average club system is utter shite and it really limits your enjoyment of a night. We don't always get it right but we've spent a fortune trying out different set ups and mixers to get something that works. There's very little point going to the effort of bringing over international dj's and not trying to give them the tools to do their best. If the sound is good not many people notice and that's how it sort of should be as you get into the music more, but if the sound is bad it completely ruins the night.

DS3:

On a light hearted note. What would be your dream WB line-up and venue to stage it at?!

ANDY:

Larry Levan, David Mancuso, Walter Gibbons, Osunlade, Danny Krivit, Simon Haggis, Gilles Peterson, Andy Crowther... on the Silver Sturgeon... for 12 hours!

SIMON:

Well we've certainly had some amazing DJ's at the club but Danny Krivit never fails to deliver. I always enjoy listening to the new music he gets way in advance of most people, but more than anything it's the positive atmosphere and groove he creates over a night. Timmy Regisford is someone on the hitlist, he's just superb and clearly has such a passion for what he does, Ron Trent, Kerri Chandler, Joe Claussell, love to get Osunlade back, Gilles Peterson completely rocked it when he played... so I think we'd just like to carry on with more of the same. But, there's loads more and of course there's the British DJ's and producers that we always try to balance up the international guests with. People like Mark Pritchard who is just such an amazing producer, Pogo is a complete don, Jazzie B, god there loads actually...

As for venues I'd like to move things around a bit more in future and do things like put on something in the revolving restaurant at the top of the Post Office tower - that's the kind of thing you can get excited about! Unfortunately it does rather put the ticket price up, so we'll have to see about that one, but got a couple of exciting things in the pipeline though...

DS3:

You've just celebrated your first release on WB records with the fantastic Danny Krivit re-edit of Soul Central "strings of life". (in my top 3 of the year by the way)! Are there any other releases in the pipeline for 2004?

SIMON:

Oh yes. The label was set up partly because it's something I always fancied doing but also it's been born out of frustration. There's some great music out there from some really talented people that are struggling to make ends meet because of the state of the music business right now. It means that music that would have been released a few years ago is sitting round on DAT in today's climate. It's being run as more of a partnership with artists as I'd rather try and get people's music out and have a go at making something happen than producers never find out if people like their stuff and end up taking a bar job.

There's going to be two sides to the label, just as there's the two rooms to our club nights normally. There's going to be more 12's with house in all it's forms, but then there's going to be some 10's, kind of 'WhistleBump Room 2' style releases with anything more downtempo and quirky that takes our fancy.

In terms of artists there's some tracks from myself as KLaSH with Kevin Long, Silicon City Blues is our first one, then stuff from Peckham Royalty and a whole bunch of others too.

DS3:

Casting your minds back to when you both first started out, who were your early influences?

ANDY:

If you mean DJ's, I would say Gary Dennis, Bob Jones, Froggy, Gilles Peterson, even a guy like John Leech from Essex Radio, many a time I would be roller-skating around at one of his gigs! Music wise I was really into Bobby Womack, Luther Vandross, Grover Washington Jr, old Philly stuff, and then when break-dancing hit our shores Afrika Bambaata, Whodini, Paul Harcastle, all that business!

SIMON:

In terms of getting off our arses and doing something, probably the Basement Jaxx parties were one of the real highlights in the UK and showed that you can make something happen if you put the time in. It's the principle that no-one else is going to do it for you so if you're unhappy with something, or think you can do better, just get on and do it yourself.

DS3:

Finally, as WB heads into its 5th successful year, are you pleased with what you've both achieved in that time?

SIMON:

Yeah we're delighted, we've had some really memorable parties and made some really good friends along the way. Some people have said we've given them their best nights out ever, and without wanting to sound corny, it really means everything. We can only try and put something on that we'd like to go to ourselves so it's brilliant people are into it. Everyone knows someone or other who's dragged them along so it's always a nice atmosphere - and the amount of people who have met partners at the nights is getting ridiculous!! Always get a couple of emails after the parties off some bloke or girl asking after so and so 'cos they quite like 'em and could we sort them out?' There was even an ad in the 'Seen Out' section of Time Out where someone was trying to track down someone off the last boat party we did - hilarious!

ANDY:

It's been an absolute nightmare at times (falling off ladders whilst sorting out lights, vans full of equipment breaking down, dealing with ridiculous club owners, etc, etc, etc), but I've loved every minute of it. The question is, where to next!

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