****LONG STATUS ALERT**** TO BE HONEST, I THINK I’VE EVEN OUTDONE MYSELF HERE WITH THIS, BUT HERE’S A LOOK BACK AT MY PROFESSIONAL SIDE TO 2014. To be perfectly honest, looking back, I can’t quite believe the journey I’ve been on. I thought the previous years were busy! I started writing this expecting it to be brief, and just kept writing, and writing, and writing and removing bits and writing….. 2014 started on the back of two significant changes; 1. scaling back my roles & responsibilities as boss of Endemic Digital Inc to focus on Form & Function, Simma Black, Detone Music and the artist management responsibilities (including Darren Emerson & The White Lamp amongst others) and 2. the creation of mine & Mark EC’s new DJ/Producer alias Want More’. ‘Want More’ pretty much hit the ground running. As soon as we set it up, our monthly Beatport mixes were Top 10 every month, and having played at Shindig for New Years Eve (whilst ‘Want More’ was still a secret), we secured a residency at two of London’s biggest and best underground House raves (Shindig & Undisclosed). This was followed by guest mixes on Grant Nelsons Housecall, Mark Knights Toolroom Records radio show and Lee M Kelsall’s Altus Project podcast. One of the first releases on mine & Mark EC’s Form & Function in 2014 (our third year) was from Low Steppa, whose ‘Trackin EP’ was the first to hit the Beatport Top 100 on the imprint. With mine & Low Steppa’s relationship developing, it wasn’t long until I began co-running Simma Black and continuing to take the label forward with some exciting new artists and releases. The next and most significant change of the year (which understandably saw me scale back even further) was when I was appointed as the new Singles Manager at Defected Records. Whilst my initial role was to promote singles releases/EP at a Club & Radio level for Defected, DFTD, Classic Music Company, SOUL HEAVEN, Yoruba Records and Tenth Circle, I soon added the roles and responsibilities of Executive Producer for the Defected In The House Radio Show with new host Sam Divine in the hot seat. The first record I worked at Defected was Oliver Dollar & Jimi Jules ‘Pushing On’, which was originally released the same day as our ‘Want More’ debut remixing for Low Steppa (on Simma Black). As ‘Want More’ went on to release on Planet Acetate Records (with our original ‘Modern Day’ with Nick Grimes, remixed by Frankie Dep and remixing Him_self_Her) and Erase Records (with Dantiez Saunderson), we had the pleasure of playing in Liverpool at Motion alongside Barber and meeting one of Techno’s hottest up-and-coming producers, Jamie Haus. It was a night which most will remember for the extended hour back-to-back-to-back-to-back with us (‘Want More’), Barber and the winner of the DJ competition, plus two bottles of ‘free’ Jagermeister which I insisted in pouring down the punters necks on the dance floor. Giving away free stuff had become a ‘Want More’ thing. Just remembered giving away water at the Easter Shindig and smashing some poor geezer in the face with a plastic bottle accidentally as I threw it into the crowd…. Things at Defected were hotting up as the D15 campaign was launched with a Mixmag Cover, Pop Up Store on Brick Lane (with live in-store-DJ-sessions including one of the sets of the year from Joey Negro) and the announcement of 15 Defected events in 15 cities (take a look back at Defected’s 15th anniversary here: defct.de/d15). On the radio front, we secured a guest mix from none other than Seth Troxler, a 2-hour Defected takeover on Carl Cox’ Global show, extended our MistaJam and Kiss FM (UK) residencies all as the Defected In The House Radio Show hit #1 in the Music Podcast (Podcast & Episode) at iTunes UK; a spot we continue to occupy from time to time each week! ‘The Number 1 House Music podcast’ - you may have heard me say that from time to time. Although ’Want More’ was a bit quiet on the release front in the Summer, we had been booked to play at festivals including We Are FSTVL, Glastonbury Festival (official) and Noisily Festival of Music and Arts in the UK. Eventually, we finished tracks with James Silk, Ann Saunderson and Low Steppa (which amazingly none have been released yet so keep an eye out for them in 2015!) The week after Route94’s remix of MK featuring Alana ‘Always’ hit #12 in the UK Top 40, I went to Ibiza for Radio 1 weekend and had an absolute blast. It was an amazing networking opportunity, meeting some amazing people and experiencing our Defected ITH & Gitterbox nights at Booom! It sounds so bias and cliche for the Singles Manager of Defected to say that one of the Defected nights was ‘event of the year’ but for me, Glitterbox was exactly that. Joey Negro smashed it, and for me of the three times I saw him play this year, they were enough for him to be the DJ of the year in my very honest and not bias opinion. It was around this time that I started my ‘iMusic’ Radio Show on Grant Nelson’s new D3EP Radio Network, and shortly after moving digital distribution directly to Beatport’s Baseware we celebrated 2 years of Form & Function with a ‘collective’. As the Summer closed out I attended Skream’s penultimate Radio 1 show with Luke Solomon and the Masters At Work Boiler Room, which led into the compilation of the year; Defected presents House Masters - Masters At Work. It was a pleasure meeting Kenny & Louie for the first time this year, and look forward to working with them again in the future. August finished with Oliver Dollar & Jimi Jules’ ‘Pushing On’ hitting #15 in the UK Top 40. Next up for ‘Want More’ we released our ‘Be-Bop / Not Gonna Lie’ 2-tracker on Simma Black with both tracks hitting the Beatport House Top 15 (15 & 11 respectively) and ‘Not Gonna Lie’ was as high as #94 in the Top 100 (all genres). The EP caught the attention of many DJ’s with Shiba San editing ‘Be-Bop’ for his own use. Terrence Parker’s album was signed to Defected (Life on the Back 9) and to mark the album (and first single, ‘Open Up Your Spirit’) Terrence made the journey to the UK to play for us at Defected ITH (Ministry of Sound, London) and I got to see the man do his turntablism-ting in the flesh. Amazing! If it wasn’t for Terrence, the performance of the night would have definitely gone to our For The Love of House DJ’s Greg Sawyer & Simon Dawson. As ‘Want More’, Mark & I appeared on Rinse FM and kicked off our residency at CF24 Project in Cardiff. We also compiled the third edition of ‘….presents Simma Black’ and included Shiba San’s edit of ‘Be-Bop’ which is still in the Beatport House Top 100 (peaking at 22 to date, alongside Low Steppa’s awesome ‘So Real’ which is heading up the Top 20 Beatport House chart), Shiba’s edit has gained airplay from Danny Howard on BBC Radio 1’s Dance Anthems and his US show, Monki - DJ & Charlie Sloth (on Radio 1/1Xtra), and Andi Durrant, Ray Foxx and Funk Butcher (on Kiss FM/Kiss Fresh) to name a few. We have to thank Low Steppa & Shiba for this because this has certainly helped us take a step forward as ‘Want More’ gaining more recognition and currently have several management & label offers that we are mulling over. Not to mention being asked onto Pete Tong’s US show as guests (6th January 2015). With the year heading for a close, I continue to work the very excellent As I Am featuring Nicola Tate ‘Saving Grace’ on Defected, and have the honour and pleasure of working the @Hercules & Hercules and Love Affair record ‘Do You Feel The Same?’ (with digital remixes from Oliver Dollar and PurpleDiscoMachine, and vinyl from TODD TERRY and 6th Borough Project (Official)). Seeing Hercules at Oval Space in November and hearing the amazing reaction to the record, I’ve been super-excited to work this and delighted with the early dance-sites and specialist radio responses, and look forward to continue to work this into next year. 2015 looks like being another big year and one that as much as I am looking forward to, will enjoy the Xmas break first. Feel like it’s needed….!! Here’s my ‘Awards’ for 2014. As ‘Wez Saunders’: Record of 2014 - Hercules & Love Affair ‘Do You Feel The Same?’ Festival of 2014 - Bestival Best DJ of 2014 - Joey Negro Best Producer of 2014 - Sonny Fodera Nu-breed DJ/Producer of 2014 - Tough Love Label of 2014 - Defected Club of 2014 - Fabric (club) Best Podcast / Radio Show of 2014 - Defected ITH Radio Show Remix of 2014 - NiCe7 ‘Time To Get Physical (Bontan Remix)’ (DFTD) As Want More (with Mark EC): Record of 2014 – DZ (David Zowie) ‘House Every Weekend Festival of 2014 – Noisily Festival (Leicester, UK) Best DJ of 2014 - Terence Parker Best Producer of 2014 - Low Steppa Nu-breed DJ/Producer of 2014 - Hidden State Label of 2014 – Simma Black Club of 2014 – Booom Ibiza Best Podcast / Radio Show of 2014 - Monki Remix of 2014: Want More ’Be-Bop (Shiba San edit)’ I just want to finish by saying ‘Thank You’ to my Wife (Paula) & my Kids (Chloe & Henry), Mum, Dad & Sister, my in-laws (especially my Nephew Harry - my biggest fan), my friends, to my work-mates (old & new) and everyone that’s helped me settle into my new role and supported me personally & professionally, all the club DJ’s, radio DJ’s, producers, promoters, artist managers, labels, all the artists I have worked with across all the labels, distributers, all the DJ’s whose guest mixes have appeared on the radio show, Mark Cooper, Simon Dunmore, Dan Baxter, the entire team at Defected (who will probably take the piss out of me for this long status, but it could be worse - I could be Justin Robson), Will Bailey, Daz Emerson, Matt Brawn (seeing as you asked for a mention) and literally every person I have had the pleasure of dealing with this year. If I have not mentioned you, it doesn’t mean I have forgotten. This year’s been a busy year. Thank you - I wish you and your families a Very Merry Christmas and Happy 2015 x Big Love xxx
Posted on: Thu, 11 Dec 2014 00:35:20 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015