UK House label, Defected, are back for another summer in Ibiza, this year hoping to capitalise on the success of last seasons Sunday night residency at El Divino with a new primetime Friday night party every week.
Joining the likes of Dimitri from Paris, Martin Solveig and Brian Tappert at the decks is newcomer, 19 year old Andy Daniell who is living every young DJ's dream with a weekly residency at the glamorous club. Playing to the rich, famous and beautiful, Andy is raising temperatures with his funky mix of house music in Ibiza town.
> interview & photo : matt cheetham (HigherFrequency)
HigherFrequency (HRFQ) : How's the season going so far?
Andy : Really Really well, we've had 2 fantastic parties so far, a lot of people are really liking the music and a lot of people are talking about it, the artworks cool, the venue's great, the pre-parties are great, its all one big package coming together. We're doing the pre-parties at Bora Bora, Base Bar, Kube and Zoo and Tango.
HRFQ : This is the first year you've played out here?
Andy : Yeah this is actually my first time out here, I've never been to Ibiza before so it's been a real eye opener, its great. Its really manic but really relaxed, if that makes sense. Every one's up for a party, and they party for so long but also everyone's really chilled. There's no aggression, there's no bad vibes, and everything here's really chilled. Even when you're out partying, everyone's going for it but there's no fights, no bad attitudes just everyone's really happy.
HRFQ : How did you get the residency this summer?
Andy : I was doing some DJ work, just in Southend at some nights including an event called Funk You and Funk You brought down Defected. Simon (Defected Boss) would play and I'd do the warm up's for him. So we got talking and he told me about a scheme that Defected run called the 'Terrorist scheme', where young people work promoting the label in their local area, giving out promos and in return they get promos of all Defected's releases. It's a good opportunity to get to know people in the industry and I obviously must have made some really good cups of tea and they said to me do you want to do the Ibiza residency. I don't know how I did it, I don't know what happened but I'm happy as hell. I thought if I play my cards right, maybe give them a CD after a monthc. who knows, but the last thing I was expecting was this. They've also added me to their DJ Roster so I get to play alongside all these people whose records I've bought, I've looked up to them and listened to their CD's, owned everything they've done and now I'm meeting with them and playing with them. It really is a dream come true and it still really hasn't sunk in yet.
HRFQ : What were you doing in England before you came here?
Andy : I left school at 16 and I'd always been into music, mainly DJ'ing. While I was at school I was working in a DJ equipment shop, fixing decks, mixers and speakers and DJ'ing at weddings, commercial party music just playing pop crap. So I did that until I was about 17 and then I started playing club music as well and got a few nights in Southend, gave a few CD's out and then I started working in a record shop at a place called Metro records in Southend and worked there for about 2 years with this guy called Cosmic who knew everyone in the industry, That's how I met Simon from Defected, him and Cosmic had known each other for years. Working in the record shop let me meet everyone in the local scene and I started getting more and more gigs then Metro closed down and changed owners so I left there and was just living off DJ'ing for a couple of months just before I started my work experience for Defected. It started slowly but everything has suddenly gone really quick and now I'm sat in El Divino playing with people who have been doing this for years.
HRFQ : What else are you doing here apart from playing at the events?
Andy : I'm doing all the club promotion, we've got all the records we're releasing here and we need to get them played by all the DJ's here to create a bit of hype around them so I basically go around and give all the DJ's all our new records and if they like them, hopefully they'll play them, start to get a bit of a vibe around them and eventually when they're released hopefully it will encourage people to buy them.
HRFQ : How would you describe your style?
Andy : Kind of Bmmm Tsssss Bmmmcc. I can never really describe my style...... I just play house music. I love Disco so I play a lot of Disco sounding tracks. I love interesting drum beats so I'll play some of them, I love great vocals so I'll play an amazing song, sometimes I like to play harder, a bit more minimal. I never want to pin myself down but I've always loved Defected and their sound, the records they put out, so working for them is a license to play their records. It's great because Simon picks amazing records. I don't actually mean to play as much Defected as I do but I can't help it because they're all just such great records. If I had to pin it down to a name I would have to say funky house, as much as I hate to say that. I hate putting names on music because music should just be music, it shouldn't be funky house, vocal house, and disco house: it's all consolidated down too much. I just play house music, listen to one of my sets and you can hear what I play. Probably the best way to describe it would be I play the Defected sound.
HRFQ : Are you doing any production work?
Andy : Yeah, I made my first track when I was 16 and much to my surprise it made its way onto Lee Burridge's 24:7 Global Underground album. Its this minimal tech house thing that was knocked together in a weekend with 2 other guys, this American label took it and I got a call one weekend from someone at the label who said it was going to be used for that album. The second tune I made was with Cosmic from Metro Records, he gave me the sample and pointed me in the right direction and I physically put the track together, put the drums together, wrote the bass line but a lot of people seem to play that, it was played on radio 1's Dreem Teem show 3 times before I left, possibly more since I've been out here so I'm eager to get back into the studio. I've got the ideas but I can't play keyboard very well, I need to be more musical I guess. At the moment its all in my head, I know what I want to do, its just a case of bringing my ideas to the people who can get them down into tracks. My aim is one of these days to have a record out on Defected. I mixed the promo CD for Defected events in Ibiza and it was really cool to see my name on a Defected CD, I had a grin on my face for a week after that. I sometimes hear being played in bars and it's such a rush for me. I make the kind of music I want to listen to and when other people want to listen to it as well its great.
HRFQ : Are you doing any production work out here?
Andy : I want to, I'm hooking up with a few people who've got studios and I've just got to get the ideas in my head down. Sometimes you can go into a studio with no ideas and just see what comes out sometimes its complete crap but sometimes its really good. You can go into the studio for a day and play around and come out with something that complete rubbish but the ideas you formed can lead to something really good. I definitely want to do some stuff out here, play around with a few tracks, make my own versions, play something different, put my own twist on things. I like fucking around with other peoples records and give it to 3 or 4 people, my little re-edit. Its nice to do something different, anyone can mix 2 or 3 records together, people pay so much money to come to these clubs I want to give them something different.
HRFQ : Who are you most looking forward to playing with this summer?
Andy : I really enjoy playing with Sandy Rivera. The man is actually insane! he's great fun and a lovely bloke, really cool guy. Dimitri from Paris who's great and he's just doing one date out here this summer at the Defected night. He's been around for so long he's done so much and I've got so much respect for the guy. The album he mixed for Defected was mind-blowing. And of course Martin Solveig, I just can't stop listening to him. I'm going to go and see Sasha next week, he's the one who got me into DJ'ing so I'm going to listen to him and just generally check out as many of these guys as I can. They've all been doing it for so much longer than me so if I can incorporate some of everyone's ideas into what I do, Zabiela's technique on the CDJ's, a little bit off Brian Tappet on how to use acapella's, hopefully I can put it all together and come up with something good.
HRFQ : How do you think a season in Ibiza will affect your career?
Andy : I hope it'll be good for it. Before I came out here no one knew who I was but the fact I'm out here and playing every week people will hear me and like what I do. It's a long process to get your name known because at the moment I'm just some guy from Defected, I'm not really anyone but hopefully if I work hard for a few years, do lots and lots of gigs; every gig a few more people know your name so hopefully 4 or 5 years later I'll be somebody. Well I don't know about that but I'm going to work hard, I just want to play music for people, that's all I want to do and if lots of people want to come and see me then all the better.
HRFQ : What's the atmosphere been like at the parties you've played at so far?
Andy : Really good, with Defected people tend to come to our parties for the music whereas with other promoters such as Hed Kandi, its all glittery, very glamorous, other things are attracting them. Its the same with Moneypennys, they have all the dancers, it's a very glam thing. At our parties we have the great visuals, dancers banners and lighting but it's more about the sound. People go to a lot of the other parties because they've heard of the DJ, the DJ is a celebrity and they want him to sign their CD's, they're not really there and they don't really care about the music but at the Defected nights people love the music, the DJ loves the music and everyone's dancing, you just can't beat an atmosphere like that.
HRFQ : Apart from the Defected which other parties do you think are going to go off this summer
Andy : Hopefully Roger Sanchez's release yourself party, I went there on Monday and was absolutely blown away. I've listened to his CD's before and not really thought so much of them but I heard him live andc. Wow, so I hope he has a really great season, the night I went to was rammed so hopefully that'll keep going for him.
HRFQ : What advice would you give to other DJ's who'd love to be in your position?
Andy : Learn how to make a good cup of tea! I don't know how I really did it, just right place right time. Don't expect anything to happen, just get involved as much as you can with the industry, try and meet as many people as possible promote yourself and hopefully eventually something will happen. Always try and better yourself, there's no guaranteed way of doing this, you've just got to get to know people and keep pushing. Work hard with the right people. Try and get work experience with people, labels or clubs your look up to and go from there. Try and get a warm up slot in a club, you can't expect to walk into a headline slot somewhere, you've got to work up to it from the empty dance floors at the beginning.
HRFQ : Do you think you'll be back in Ibiza next year?
Andy : I really want to be, hopefully if I play my cards right and I work hard over the winter, next summer I can beg Defected to let me come out here again.
HRFQ : What are your plans for after the summer?
Andy : Defected are planning a UK tour from October to December so hopefully I'll be involved with that, I want to do a lot of gigs, get my name out there and I also want to get back into the studio, try and make a couple more records and keep working at Defected and just keep my eyes and ears open and learn from all these people around me who have so much experience.
HRFQ : What are your top 5 tunes for Ibiza this summer?
Andy :
1. Soul Central Soul Central - Strings of Life (Ith Records)
2. Deep Dish - Flashdance (YoshiToshi)
3. Martin Solveig - Destiny (Defected)
4. Simon Aston Sentimento (Mainline Music)
5. DJ Gregory - Joberg Theme (Faya Combo)
End of the interview
