[jahsonic.com]

DJ Harvey

One of his sets for Essential Mix

Seb's Interview 24th Dec 1999? - DJ Harvey


DJ Harvey is one of the Hottest underground players of the last 10 years, one of the original scratch DJ's, Harvey went on to become one of the pioneers of the UK house scene. Next year Harvey is set to shock us all with his first album project, which he's currently producing in a secret studio location. Almost 'Beck' like in his approach Harvey is a man of many alents, he sings like Jim Morrisson, he's a drummer and produces all of his music in a unique and organic way. He's definately going to be one of the characters to watch next year, in the meantime you can catch his two hour retrospective of house Essential mix on Radio 1 Boxing Day.


Introduce yourself:
DJ Harvey

Describe your DJing style, in 3 Words:
'Long, eclectic, journey' or 'better than yours' (ha ha ha)

What do you find the most fulfilling, DJing, drumming or producing?
All three, DJing for the instant interaction and response. Drumming because bashing the hell out of my drum kit sure does get out the frustration, producing because it's a great honour to be asked to work alongside some of my heroes like Ian Brown or electronic and also producing your own records and hearing people play them is amazing.

I get loads of strange requests when I'm DJing, what's the strangest one you've had?
'Hurry up and get off, we're only here for Seb'. But seriously, once I had a G-string thrown at me in the booth of the Ministry, and at one gig a girl told me she was a stripper and would I like to have a private show, so I said 'yes, right her, right now - so she obliged right there on top of the booth as I was playing - and she went the Full Monty.

What is your favourite club?
Oh my god, there's so many. The Ministry when I was resident was amazing, Electric Chair in manchester is awsome, Gold in Tokyo, Pasha in Ibiza, fabric - I'm so indecisive, sorry.

What else do you love other than music?
Other than music i love eating great food, very fast motorbikes and even faster women - typical boy stuff.

Do you have any non-music related interests/hobbies?
My biggest hobbies are skateboarding and surfing - I recently broke my arm doing the former and was in plaster for 2 months - still managed to DJ though, and now my hands are insured for a small fortune.

What will you be doing on the eve of the Millennium?
I will be playing one of my long eclectic sets for The End in london, I will be taking over AKA, the bar attached to the club, and playing all night long. People have the freedom to wander between the club and the bar as they wish and I get to drink their wicked cocktails all night long.

If you weren't DJing on New Year's Eve, what would you be doing?
I'm on tour in Singapore and Japan all over Xmas until 30th December so to be honest I'd probably be sleeping. Mind you surfing somewhere exotic stealing millennium kisses off the natives would be quite nice, or maybe you and I should go down the local and get totally pissed, kick the roadshow DJ off and play all his records - altogether now "and it's hi-ho silver lining!". --http://www.worshiprecs.com/djharvey.html [Dec 2004]

Profile

Harvey's long involvement in and love of music began at the tender age of 13 when he and two older friends formed a new wave band called 'Ersatz' (Cheap Substitute) who recorded their first track in 1978. By 1981 he had moved on to a new band imaginatively titled 'Your Dinner' which harvey describes as having a madness vibe with more satirical lyrics! He also at this time set up a label called 'Leisure Sounds' to release their material as well as offerings from the other aspiring bands they were collaborating.

This early involvement with music burgeoned through his love of drums into experimenting with breakbeats and tired & disillusioned with the live music scene, he began to himself in his growing collection of old Disco and Hip-Hop.

His first major break as a D.J. came with his sets at 'Wet' where he played alongside Breeze and Ian B (Eon). It was a mixed club that allowed them to experiment with the crowd by combining a wide variety of musical styles as well as slipping in the odd bit of poetry!

By the mid 80's Harvey teamed up with some friend from Cambridge to form the legendary 'Tonka' Sound System. From their early warehouse parties to the infamous monthly monday night jams at the Zap in Brighton. Harvey, Choci & Rev treated Tonka's huge following to a rare blend of Hip-Hop, Reggae, Electro, Classics and smatterings of House in the latter days.

House music was now an integral part of Harvey's set and more D.J's were supporting this exciting new phenomenon. Harvey found himself at numerous warehouse parties including the notorious 'Freedom' events alongside the likes of Paul 'Trouble' Anderson, Norman Jay, Judge Jules and Danny Rampling. The parties created headline news, flying revellers to Amsterdam for mad weekends and taking over huge warehouses for parties that would carry on well into the next day. It was at this time that the organizer of these parties , Kevin Simpson became good friends with Harvey, and when Freedom came to and end they would go on to have a fruitful relationship with future projects.

By now a sought-after DJ on the House circuit Harvey agreed to become resident at 'Solaris' and while playing there he met up with Marbo, organizer of the first House club in Japan the result of which being a tour of Japan which has been repeated annually ever since.

As if to reaffirm his status. harvey went on the '!90! tour Ibiza organized by Flying's Charlie Chester and blew everyone away with his uncompromising mix of music. It was here that he met Heidi Lawden, then involved with the club 'Yellow Book'. Between them they set up 'Moist', a club dedicated to the ideals and the vibe of the 'The Paradise Garage' and played host to legends such as Larry Levan, Francois Kevorkian and Kenny Carpenter to name but a few. His relationship with Heidi would be cemented further when in July '92 Heidi gave birth to their son, Harley.

At about this time Harvey proved himself to be multi-talented when he was asked by Kevin Simpson from the 'Freedom' parties to play percussion for a new band he had just started to manage called 'Jamiroquai'. This was the beginning of many great guest appearances for the likes of Marshall Jefferson, Mary J. Blige, Ashley Beedle, T-emapo and many more.

An important facet of Harvey's 'sound ' is the mixing up of classics with fresh house sounds which led him to set up his own label "Black Cock Records" to release records made by him, as a kind of JD reference for the leftfield train spotters of the world! This work in the studio led onto remix work for artists such as The Police as well as a number of projects for Ministry Of Sound's two label's, 'Sound Of Ministry' and 'Open' culminating in the formation of the act 'Persuasion' with keyboard player Pete Z.

Having been part of The Ministry from it's early days, he still cherishes a pink G-String that was thrown into the DJ booth one night whilst he was in the mix, that he's actually had framed! His Versatility manner that he was playing both Fridays and Saturdays before being offered a residency at 'Open All Hours' on Fridays with Darren Emerson where he grew a loyal following for his 'last set general weirdness' before moving on to his Saturday night slot at 'Rulin' with CJ Makintosh in November '94. Again Ministry regulars came to appreciate Harvey at his best doing the 6-10am 'graveyard shift' playing a melange of classics, deep jazzy house and general leftfield vibes that the loyal band of music lovers and serious groovers have come to regard as part of the evening that is their own. --http://music-101.com/ssps/events/artists/46 [Dec 2004]

Liner notes from the 'Late Night Sessions' DJ Harvey Mix CD on Ministry Of Sound SOMCD4

Late night sessions Playlist:
Persuasion "The Bone" (Rivera Conceiro Mix)
D'Note "Garden of earthly delights" (Kumo Mix)
Black Science Orchestra "New Jersey Deep"
TPO "Hiroshi's Dub" (Milo's Garage Dub)
Terry Hunter "No Excuses" (Dub)
Batamania "Jazzy Motion"
Mondo Grosso "Souffles H" (King Street Club Mix)
St. Germain "Thank U Mom" (4 Everything you do)
Round Two "New Day" (Club Vocal)
Idjut Boys and Laj "Not Reggae" (Guitar Mix)
Elements Of Life "Still holding on"
DJ Food "Peace" (Harvey's 30 something mix)

The 'Late Night Session' is meant to be a snapshot of that part of the evening, but there in only one place to hear it in its true state and that's at 8am on a Sunday morning in the Ministry's Boom Boom Room! - Jim Masters & Simone Young

your Amazon recommendations - Jahsonic - early adopter products

Managed Hosting by NG Communications