“Dance music as a whole is definitely going back underground…” James Holden [September 2002]
We here at 909originals are particularly looking forward to seeing James Holden & The Animal Spirits in Dublin’s The Sugar Club this evening (11 October)… from his early work on Silver Planet through to DJ Kicks and his excellent Border Community releases, the Exeter native has long been a producer we’ve admired.
Indeed, Holden’s rework of Nathan Fake’s The Sky Was Pink goes down as one of our all time favourites.
Ahead of tonight’s gig, 909originals delved into the archives of a website we used to work for, Novadance.com, to uncover an interview with Holden from September 2002, just as the then 23-year-old Oxford maths graduate was breaking onto the scene.
“Dance music as a whole is definitely going back underground,” he explains. “The whole brand of superclub/superstar DJ does just does not work in my opinion.
“No one is good enough to justify a ten grand DJ fee just for playing records. I mean it just cant last, can it? When I started clubbing it was all about the small little venues and that added to the excitement. People just having it and enjoying themselves… thats what its all about.”
Later in the same article, Holden is asked to comment on what makes a good DJ, and whether, when it comes to the crunch, most on the scene don’t actually cut the mustard.
“I don’t like to say that anyone is shit to be honest with you, its hard to tell the difference between a good DJ and a great DJ,” he explains.
“The problem is that a lot of them are doing the same thing, same tracks, same sound etc. […] You have to try and push the right sound and I think that DJs that have their own sound offer that little bit more.
“I like to hear different stuff thats new and fresh… no matter what sort of music it is.”
With his new collective, James Holden and the Animal Spirits, he’s delivering just that…
[Article taken from Novadance.com, September 2002, You can find the full interview here. Kudos to malusdacus808 and James Holden – Topic for the Youtube uploads. Photo by Peter Drier/Wikimedia Commons]
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