Loud and Quiet presents Midnight Chats.
Good evening, everybody. It is midnight on January the eleventh, twenty eighteen. I'm not sure if this is going to pick up on my mic or not, but my neighbors downstairs have just come home and they are laughing hysterically, which is the norm. Actually, they tend to come home around midnight, laugh their heads off for about five minutes, and then it's dead silent, and that's the only time we ever hear of them. I don't know what they're
doing for the rest of the time. I don't know if they're just working up to this one big joke that comes at midnight and then they laugh at it for five minutes and then they're gone. I don't know. They're nice people, so I don't mind. And as neighbors go, I mean, that's not too bad, is it. But welcome to the first episode of Midnight Chats for a new year. We're currently eleven days in. I hope it's going well for you. I feel it's going okay for me. Yeah,
there's no huge complaints there. But let me tell you about tonight's guest on the podcast. Craig David is someone who you may well think is kind of an unexpected one for us to feature. But the truth is that the music of Craig David is something that's very dear to me and to most people who are in their mid thirties now who grew up around that first wave of UK garage. I was going to clubs for the first time around ninety nine two thousand and UK garage
was the sound of my town. South End on Sea went really bit on it, and a lot of that was thanks to Craig David and the artful Dodger and rewind released in ninety nine. The following year, when Craig released Born to Do It, his debut album, that was game over like it was the only thing that was played in South End at least, Craig David was everywhere. When I was seventeen, you couldn't escape the guy and you either embraced it and had the best time, or
well there wasn't really an awe that was it. You just had to stay in otherwise. So Craig David's music is very nostalgic for me. This conversation is essentially two guys in their mid thirties reminiscing about the Olden Days. Craig does also have a new album coming out this month called The Time Is Now. We hardly get onto that.
In fact, I don't think we get onto it at all. Instead, we spent our time together talking about the streets we took about him moving to Miami and essentially his return via his TS five show, which started out in his apartment in Miami and went all the way to the Pyramid stage of Glastonbury last year. Thanks very much to Craig for coming on the podcast. He really was as nice as he sounds on this and thanks to you
for listening and downloading this episode of Midnight Chats. We're now back on it, so there will be a new episode every other Thursday for the rest of the year. We're going to try and fit in some extra ones in between as well. Please do subscribe if you haven't already. And before I leave you with Craig David, let's just see if I can get this on the mic of them having a better time than me? Could you hear that? No?
I don't know. Just realized I've turned into the creepy guys recording people downstairs, so I'm going to stop now. It's the trainers. We were talking about training. You're you're a trainer guy, are you? Is that your thing? Like you? But you buy a lot of trainers.
I kind of tend to sort of want to like a certain style. I kind of then buy into a lot of that style. So for at the moment, it's like the Adidas n nds. Back in the day, it would have been like the Reboot Classics.
Yeah, I've just bought some new Rebok Yeah. Yeah, because they've kind of come back full circle right here.
Yeah, yeah, it doesn't feel like there's a lot of that resurgence of certain brands I'm seeing like Theodorus and yeah yeah, FeelA, Yeah, it's all come full circle, just all champion as all like the Champion one doing like a collaboration with like a very cool brand like off White or something like that kind of I was thinking Champion. Yeah, wow, people, how times have changed? Is this amazing? Yeah?
It's yeah.
So at the moment, the nds again a lot of love cool.
How many trainers have you got.
Do you know what it's I'm definitely over one hundred
trainers sort of scattered about all over the place. But I think that the reason why I got so like turn a little bit of a training fanatic is because my first real pair of trainers wasn't Nicare Hachis the Originals, which I wish I could have kept original in bas right now you could have the original box now and oh man, but I saved up all my pocket money, got seventy quid in It was like that was seventy pounds, where I'd like took time to get seventy pound going
into the store put them on. It was a whole moment, like putting them on, hoping no one christened them when I walked out of this thing, and I used to scrub them with some this brush I had and the whitener and all the stuff I used to do. So I think once I was able to go out and buy a couple of trainers, I was like fulfilling that kid in me. He was like, what you can buy trainers now? Yes, we are going to Good BUYE you know, yeah, yeah, yes, that's me.
We had Mike Skinner on this podcast and we didn't talk about this on the podcast, but I know for a fact that when the streets were yeah that peak he had this deal with Rebuke with Rebok Classics, did it, and they would send him a new a brand new pa every Bok classics every day. No, it would arrive at his house a brand new really every single day. That's kind of too.
Much, right, I mean every day is like yeah, I mean that that's a blessing in disguise, you getting them every single day.
So he'd like so that throw and the band like when he was on tour, the band they had rebook on their tour bus and stuff, and did.
He have the same Was it the same, like he's a white pairs white payscause I mean every day, I mean that's gonna I think so.
I mean, I mean I'm guessing like you could have chosen like whatever, whatever the workout pluses or whatever. Of course, but he would or the band had to wear them, and because they had so many, they would throw them into like they would take pairs.
No, they were them guys. So they were almost like the crowd was just like this is like heaven get Rebot classics, Rebot pumps, man, they've come back. Yeah, I'm seeing the Rebot pumps coming through. And they were like legit, like you had rebopped pumps back in the day. I like the streets Man Muskin as Wicked Man. We were talking. I was talking to Danti recently and we're just talking and we just came into the Streets and we both said at the same time about blinded by the Lights.
That's the one as well, that's the original.
Parate material and tunes, but that tune puts you into a place, and just the video that accompanied it was just right and lyrically just you know, almost I mean they were they were big, but it's almost way ahead of their time because there's no one that, for me, has come and filled those shoes. I feel it's going to be dropped a record now, which I'd like to think the Streets will do something again now. I think it would be huge.
Yeah, that song in particularly that bass sound, it encapsulates what it's like to be in a club.
You're just like it's proper rape. But it was slowed it was slowed down. It wasn't like a full on's the way he did it. Yeah, I agree with him.
Yeah, he's just announced some shows street shows, so they sold out in like three seconds, you know, but he's doing kind of small venue. I think next year is going to be the he did. He announced the tour for here of like five dates or something. They sold out in like a heartbeat, and I think, like, I think that's the start of things. I think.
He came. We did a Tears five one of my Tears five shows, part of my Poor Party that I was doing in a Beefer, which we're going to do another twelve weeks next year, so if you want to come through, I thought that was just announced, right, so if you want to genuinely, it's like so much fun. But Mike Skinner performed at that on the closing party the tunes and was this his? Was this his Tongua party or yeah? So then the tunage that he was playing,
and I was just like part of me. I just been a fan of his music, thinking, you know what, you've got to get on the mic again. Man, there's like you've got this gift. It's that poetry in motion man the way. So if they're doing the streets kind of shows again, I'd like to think there's just a tip him.
I think there's something in there even on.
This podcast, just to be like, if you're listening to my please get on the mic. I know you may be in a different stage. Even if it's a two three tunes. Let people know that that you you you've still got that because like that skill set ridiculously.
Yeah. He's also put out some things under this new name called The Darker, the Shadow, The Brighter the Light. Right, you should check that out on Spotify. And and he's on the mic. Then there's a few tunes up there today. Thanks man. And he's got a podcast with Key I'm guessing you met Merkage Dave. Yeah, those two do a mad podcast called peak Times. And you kind of need
an urban dictionary to like to navigate through it. Yeah. Yeah, it's like it's a whole different language, but it's really good. I checked for that too.
Yeah, that's what I'm saying, Like, this is what I'm learning to like new things to hear about his podcast about him dropping like the street shows. Are they already done the Street shows?
Or they're in like April time? Okay?
Cool? After yeah, somebody knows someone.
Yeah, so we're here at Sony is this can you remember the would you have come into Sony way back in the day or because I know were you down? You were down the street at Atlantic right?
Yeah, so I did well. First I was at Wild Star, which was half owned by Telstar Records, I used to do all the compilations and by Capitol Radio. So it was the first kind of like collaboration between two and then then then I was signed to it went through Atlantic but in America, so that was that was that part. Okay. Then I was with Universal for a second. Then now obviously was with so with Insanity and Sony. But I remember walking into the Sony build like but it wasn't
this one. It was when they were in a different place. And it was funny because that was when my little not mixtape but mixed by CD that had walked away on it and didn't have filming in or seven days. It had rendez Vo I think on there too, kind of a cover of Human by Human League.
Okay, is this this is before this? This is before we went before this.
Is like, this is happening around about the time we started to do things. But no, but it would have been on that CD. Yeah, it would have been before because I remember people were sort of talking about, yeah, this guy's a garage thing going on. This is artful dodge of things happening in the garage scene. But I remember walking into Columbia, like walking in and seeing his marble floor man looking up and seeing like that's in
his child plaques. And there was Will Smith at the time when he was having this huge all the men and black stuff he was doing Mariah Kerry and was
thinking this is the spot. And I was going there to have a meeting about possibly being signed, and then I'd go to see Wild Star and Colin Lester, who was the guy who came down to Salanton and was looking to sign me at the time, who's now been my manager for like seventeen years, which is how the crazy how that story unfolded By walking into his office and I was like, man, is this really this is what this company is like really about? I mean, it
wasn't bad. It was just like it just looked like an office like that someone put together.
And going into like a kind of recruitment at reads or something.
Yeah, I guess that was that kind of look. Yeah, we you know, it's sort of like little little dividers between those that are sort of been put up real quick, and there's a little boardroom and and I was like, now, I was thinking, okay, but the weirdest thing is that looking back over those seventeen years, is that It was the best decision I've ever made, because even though Sony they kind of wanted to do a development deal at the time and they weren't quite sure and they thought, oh, well,
maybe he's only got one tunes walking away, and that was cool. He was the first only person that said to me, you know what, we can do an album.
Yeah, we'll do it.
We'll do we'll do single deals on the table. These other guys are just talking about, like, I'm sure if they're gonna put a single on table, but you come back with a couple of songs, there's an album there
for you. And he stood by his word because when I came back and said I've just written the song called fill Me In, and he's like, oh, okay, cool, I see now, and yeah, there's just tuna just done with it called seven Days, and then check this one out and he's like, okay, okay, right in that kind of vibe, it's like shoving a pen and you're just like, you know what we talked about the apples, Let's make that happen a little quicker. I was going on the holiday,
but let's maybe do before the holiday. And then it all panned out, so it's just like it's been a mad one, like coming now back in the Sony building.
Yeah, but that first when you first were coming into buildings liked this, you were like seventeen eighty.
Yeah, I was living a dream man. You come from a council state, like in so Dantan just thinking, man, coming up to London is like a day out, you think, but to go park up and you're going in seeing the crazy things like I saw like Darkest when like before the sort of island sort of like days and being like him being top boy there. I was going into Columbia and BMG, and it was just mad to think that I remember Puffy, Oh that one I thought
only thought about the other day. Right. I had a phone call to my manager at the time and it came through and he was I was at his house and he said, oh, yeah, Greig Puff, Daddy's on the on the on the phone and I was like, that's joke, cause he's a bit of joker at the best of times. Anyway, love to wid me up with stuff. Yeah, he gave me the phone and I know Puffy's voice, I mean you know certain voices. Yeah, when I heard it, I was like, you actually for real. I mean this is
someone I've grown up on. Bad Boy Entertainment, the Tourist, Big One, twelve, Faith, all these artists, and Puffy's on the phone saying, listen, bro, we're loving the vibe, love the music that you've got going on. We'll send us send my jet over to come pick you up, bring you over. You can come and check out how the bad Boy family is over here. And I was like, what is going on here? What?
What points?
This is? What?
What's what's? How's he found out about you? At this point? Is this?
Like? This is when? So at this point?
Now grown up?
At this point, I think we got to the point where film in seven Days has been released. We were on the cusp about to release one to do it but the prediction everyone saying, oh, it's looking like it's gonna be a number one albums. It's kicking off. So he was like on the phone, real.
Puffy knows something, man, he knows something's up.
Imagine that one minute you're watching the Top of the Pops, just chilling, just relaxing back and have your tea, just like no, it's just have a little food. You've got Puffy on the phone talking about jets, come over see the bad Boys family. You're thinking, is this one big joke going on here? Madness? But yeah, it's crazy.
Did you go and see it?
Do you know what? It never ended up. I never ended up going with Puffy in the end. It's like Atlantic really strong at the time and Craig Cowman, who was like there was like we gotta make this happen and it felt like the right place to be.
But have you met Puffy since?
I met him a couple of times, but only it was back then. It was around those sort of times and.
Did he live up to like your childhood idea of what yeah was he was still Puffy?
Then it was Puffy, I mean then it went to Diddy and then more recently loved a few different things, but like it's Puffy man, Like, it's just when you look at someone who the music I was listening to, Like I said that listened to the tourist Big and definitely his involvement of leaning uh not Toys BG into songs like one More Chance or Juicy or Big Papaware or more R and B. And then you think then Mary J. Blige was involved, and then you think of one twelve and then you think of Faith Evans, and
you just think of Lil Kim, and you just think of the nineties R and B hip hop bad boy. That bad boy was running the show, and you're there and I'm there speaking to him thinking, and then what he's gone on to do is a career. I've just got to rate him. He just somehow always kept himself current and at the same time with the Sean John label, like saending Forbes, he's like one of the matter. He's accumulated money wise as well. So I'm just like, gee, what a guy.
Yeah, Yeah, he knows what he's doing.
He knows a few things. He knows a man and knows a man who can put together a few.
Yeah, I can hook things up. So you back here? Are you living back here now?
Yeah?
I'm back back back from Miami.
Yeah, I still my home's there. But like for me, I had to let there was a real I had to let go of about two years ago of that kind of thinking that it was living in Miami and that living a dream and all that stuff. And don't get me wrong, it was I fulfilled a huge part of what I wanted to do in terms of sports car and the apartment and everything. I was just like, wow, someone was off. Man. I just felt like it was like this is all not this is not the place
to be. It was very transient as well. It's like people coming in out and out for holidays. And the music scene was very heavily edm or heavy hip hop like real just just trap. It wasn't really a sort of in between. And then as soon as I moved back, man, it was almost like everything aligned. You walked into that radio station with mister jam and corrupt and something connected.
I mean, what we miss it when when you were there, even when you even maybe when you first moved moved out there, because you were there for like eight or nine years, right.
It was about four or five years.
Were there moments like what was the thing that you're thinking? I missed this from back home? Pubs? For me, it would be pubs, like because I like the States, but they don't do nowhere does like a British pub, do you know what I mean?
Like this's culturally so far and like I couldn't you know, you want to talk about we were talking about we bot classics or.
Just like frames of references.
Talk about garage music forget that that's that's not even gonna reminds of conversations I was going to ask. Was like the certain things you just couldn't have, And I felt like when you can't sort of reminisce about certain things, and also more importantly, that my friends and family were
so far away. It was just like you get friends there, you do a different kind of friends that someoneould be closer than others would be like there because they wanted to go party with you, and that's kind of their remit. And there's other people who would be like you wouldn't call them up if you got stuck on the motorway out there. They'd just be like, oh, the answer machine
sort of keeps kicking in all the time. But when you're throwing a house party, the real quick to be like, okay, yea on my way over, man, what time should I be there? It's one of those ones, and so you could. I knew how to differentiate between what was going on, and there's a few that would just were solid, but it was just I needed to be back in the mix. If it's the food is the food, if it's the what's on TV, like it's basic things that I just felt like I needed. As soon as I did, it
was like, oh right, we're back in that zone. And then I started to meet sync up with the right people, all these like young up and coming sort of producers and stuff who would talk to me about rewind the film in and be really like passionate and flat. I'd be flatted by what they're saying, like, oh, man, back in the day, you were so amazing, man, and it would be you were all the time. It'd be like, yeah, it was you. I loved it when you used to
and I'm thinking I'm standing. So I use that opportunity to sort of walk into the booth and literally transform into this fifteen six year ol kid again and just give everything on the mic, hoping that they might press the talk back button and see what they say. And I'd wait because I would add lib in my life away. Yeah. I was like giving everything anything I could, like man, and then you hear the but impressed idea this, oh
you still got it, bro, you still got it? Or that for me was enough to slowly sort of let that candle burn into sort of this roaring flame. And then I just continued and it started to unfold it.
Yeah, and people like now, like thing is about born to do it and UK garage and like you're saying about like how like that here you can reminisce with people about it and people hold it so because I'm barely a year younger than you and could I grew up in South End, yeah, and it was all garage like it. It is my form formulative years, you know, like the first time I was clubbing, the first time I went into a club, first time I got drunk, first time I embarrassed myself in front of women. Of
course was to your music. There was there was a time when, like, I mean, you could have been the mayor of South End, but I don't know if you ever Did you ever do a PA in South End?
Do you know what I would have? You must, I must, I must have come through because I was doing Because at that time I was doing it wasn't just a London PA I was doing. I was doing it all over the game. I remember, like my mate picked me
up in his yellow Ford Fiesta. We play a little rosie games closer than close on the way up there, getting ourselves gassed before we got come up and then literally loud machino outfit Rebot classics on I mean, you know, loud Moschino outfit that's so loud that there's no real need to have the tags still on it, just with the Mochino, just to reinforce again that it's Mostreno those days go up there singing my heart out to what You're going to Do was the first tune, and then
when it got to rewind one was funny because that's someone I performed it live. It's like the first people didn't really want to do so, like they'd be cool with the verses because it was like it was on the two step flex. It was cool as soon as it went to the baseline in the chorus, and it was at halftime people were like, I'm supposed to like is this a slow jam now?
Or am I.
Supposed to just bob my head? And I love it because that's sort of it put it into its own lane. I mean you remember that time, yeah, because I was just like, now, trust me, you're going to learn about this baseline, like at some point it's going to hit you like it did when I was back in my home in my flat playing it, rinsing it through my big subspeaker in my bedroom my whole, my whole like block of flats knew about Rewind very early on.
You must have been to some pretty tasty is what we'd call them back tasty tasty because we had like who came through. We had like Oxide and Neutrino, so they came and played a classic rough club, really rough. But is there anywhere that stands out? Like I remember a night in.
Do you know what? Actually from around your manner at Cocoa? So this time it was Camden Palace. Oh right, yeah, yeah, so I remember going there. That place was vibe. The baseline was like the system they had and they're still We did there recently and man, that sub will take you so when you will take off with it and on stage you are almost like floating on that stage. I could feel it when I was there. This time around, I had to turn it down. It was almost like
making my whole situation, the whole depth thing jump. It was like mad and the Coliseum which was sort of South London that was wicked as well, because that was very much where I've got sort of vague kind of memory. But going up there and doing Rewind and and obviously actually film me in like the early film me in, not like the one that everyone sort of there was parts of it that I did in a little It was like a dumbplate thing I was doing and people like,
who know about that? But yeah it was sick days.
So so TS five in a sense, is anyone listening who might not know what it is just yet. It's kind of like that old school thing, like it's you on the mic. You're DJing as well, yeah, and you're performing your tracks, but you also like chuck out just some big hits as well.
Yeah.
I wasn't at Glastonbury this year, but I watched. Not like when I'm at Glastonbury, I'm always having a good time when I'm not at Glastonbrie, I'm always quite thankful I'm not there. But this year, yeah that's it. But this year, for the first time, I watched all of Glastonbury from my sofa, and there are a few more and it's the one time I think I really wish I was at Glass and ry on. One big moment was your set. There was there was like a few sets.
There was also like I watched the Katie Perry set and I thought that looks like fun, thatoks like that's what Glastonbury should be about a bit of everything, you know, like not just like dreary bad. Yeah, but you're you did the Pyramid stage this year. Is that the first time you've been.
No, I've done the year before. I played on the Sonic stage. Okay, Silver Hayes, but that was the first time, I mean even born to do it. Days at the peak of the album, we never did Glassmer. I think it was different time.
It was just exactly and now they've kind of loosened up a bit since I think it's kind of opened this floodgates to like be kind of more inclusive and better.
You got storms he was performing one of the other stages. Well, yeah, totally different flex tho.
Yeah. Yeah. So the set that you did at Glastonbury, you kind of did half with the band. They did half of FI and TS five. So you started this in your home in Miami, Is that right?
Yeah? TS five was it was the name of the apartment, so there was like there was t S one, two, three, four five, and I think they would call them Tower suites right for whatever reason. And then people would like when they were coming over for the house party, they'd be like, oh, yeah, we're coming TIS five tonight, and
I just ran with it. It was just like you know what, because people like asking me the question now, like oh, so amazing idea and how did you how did you come up with the idea and what did it all mean? And I was just like, it just means, this is the location if you don't know where to go. TS five is the location for tonight. And people were texting it out and it took its own because it was a very exclusive sort of little party that was thrown in my part, so it's just for you and
to mate. It was just literally for ten of my mates at first who were just going to come around, have a couple of shots, play a few tunes and life is good. But I love how things are lying, like when you pull out from the puzzle. It's incredible how the story is sort of unfolded, where them messing around with my playlist where one minute playing like some hip hop and some Biggie juicy, and it was all cool and there was a nice time, and it would literally flip to Macarena or some kind of mad I'd
just be like, guys, how does this work? And I've had a couple of shots right now, so I shouldn't even be able to realize what's going on here, but I can hear that, and it's just like it's always I get that adrenalin rush where you've become really sober
real quick. You're like this, dug, this can't happen. So I tried to rein it back in, like, guys, you like you poured the drinks and you calm yourself down, and I'll take this little part of the music back, which then led to me getting a little DJ setup, which then they were like, Okay, if you want to be mister DJ now playing the tunes, you need to grab a little mic.
You should be like, this is my house.
Yeah. I mean there was part where I did have to tell people a few little things about themselves, but they'd be like, yeah, I have another shot, and then all of a sudden they all got buried. The next thing, you got mike, next thing. You know that, more people were sort of starting to come through because of inviting some friends and stuff, and I was cool with it because I was like, I've got this beautiful pad, but you got to open it up at some point and
enjoy it. Can't just be like if youthing looking all perfect and cushions all looking. So I was like, you know what, whatever, And I got an amazing housekeeper was there, and she'd always somehow we'd leave and then come back after going to a club, and it did look like the party never happened, and it built to like we were getting to nearly one hundred people in my house. I mean, there's a lot of people when you think about it. But my friends there, they knew that they
had to respect it was my home. So if you're going to invite some people, they need to respect this my home, not come in and just mash up the whole place. And thankfully they did. And what progressed in the Tears five set was people would say, oh, can you perform one of your tunes. I was like, well, that's gonna be playing his own tunes in his own house. That's not the one I'm gonna play other people's things. And then of a sudden, like very pretty girl comes
and said, oh maybe this over seven days. Let me just do a little verse for you. Then if I let me just do a little verse for that, which then sort of progressed to the whole song. And then but it's crazy when I think about it because that was the first time where I started to add a couple of my tunes in. Then I started to add a couple of my new bits that I was working on, just to kind of test it. Fast forward then two
years for two three years even. I then had my first show in Oslo and Shapes, and that was the real test to see if the house by in Miami would translate into this hipster area and and seeing the crowd go off. At the time, I didn't have any new music. I mean when the Basim Jobs was just starting to I think had early versions of it. I played that Mario, let Me Love you.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
I saw that. I saw the lighter crew in there and the gun thing came up, and I was thinking, for Mario, let me love you. This it was. I felt confident by it, but other people were like, you can't do that. Bottle was gonna come flying at you, right, But this is the and I knew at that point something could happen. And then it moved on to We
did Shapes and kept it there and moved on. Then it got to obviously to Cocoa, and then we did the Bricks and Academy more recently, So it's been a progression to see that house party can work.
It's wicked and crowd wise. Is it people of our age? Is it like people who remember those those tracks?
The maddest thing is both there were people who came. There were definitely people who've been the first time around with me were there for sure, and that and that love that I've had because I know I could tell that people were just like, thank you. You actually played the tune. Like most DJs just want to play the latest songs all the time, but you actually went to a throwback tun that we all loved and nobody really
wants to play anyone. But then when it started to progress to the point where I added new songs in so when the bass sun dropped, then happened, and then there was nothing like this with Blonde, And then we're moving up to Ain't Giving Up with Cigar, Like all of a sudden, I'm starting to see a younger crowd starting to come to the shows. So by the time we did Bricks and Academy, I literally was seeing like fourteen to fifteen year old kids with the twenty five
year olds with the people who our age. And then it went to the arena tour, well, I saw everything. I saw people who've been like from the start. I saw like, but the moms and dads of the ever I was thinking, this is a man's that I didn't expect this time around. I was like, maybe people with me, they'll get this. But to see a new generation literally discovering me, saying, oh have you heard of this new kid called Craig David loving that I'll be that new
kid for as long as you want. That's all good with me.
Like in Miami, are people would people be into like the UK garage stuff? What would you be playing? Like before you before you know, the pretty girl comes out and says, hey, are you going to do film me in? Like would you?
They were? They learned real quick how to like the UK garage stuff. But yeah, because it was a bit like you're going to get some UK garage in my house, right, So this is sort of when you pass that door,
you know you're entering into my musical world. Yeah, And I think that was what the best part of TIS five is that I didn't really sort of allow it to conform to being a sort of a Miami based party because I used to go to a few house parties and see it'd be very heavy EDM lead and then you go to a club and it was very kind of like DM, which is totally cool, but I was like, now you're gonna hear some garage tunes and you're gonna hear me spitting a few bars over a
garage tune and be like, oh, that's kind of fast not and their reference point maybe would be Twister or Bone Thugs and Harmony that were doing those kind of things. And then I drop a couple of tunes that like of the latest tunes there that they'd be like, oh, okay, you went to that big hit pop tune that I
wouldn't have necessarily played back in the UK. But the way it's played out has turned into something that actually when I was in Southampton and I was DJing on the South Coast before born to do it, I was using my techniques twelve ten's in vinyl doing the same thing that what TS five is. I mean, that's the
maddest things like I you've come full sir. Yeah. I didn't incorporate it because it using vinyl was too long to set up to like to have the head phones on and get the mix right, I mean technologies move forward where you kin have sing buttons and serato and you can. So my thing is on the go. No, I'm so fast. I'm like I can mix into tunes like there's so many bedroom DJs you can do that.
So that's fine, But to mix it in and quickly into an instrumental jump out of the booths, get on the mic, let me do a free styff boom right back round. Let's go into another tune that from me is TS five, it's not. Let me have a couple of shots, turn around and have a chat with a mate and then mix the next tune and that's not my Yeah, but yeah, you learn you hone your craft from vinyl. Man, when it starts to jump and you're there and the crowd's looking at you, and you're like, right,
fight or flight. So one hand is trying to find another bit of vinyl because obviously this one's warped. The other hand is on the mic, freestyle in some madness, crowded like, oh what's the vibe? Me sweating like I'm in a sauna, thinking that I gotta somehow get this tune backing without mashing up the whole situation. And then you pull it off and then after someone comes to he says, man, that was sick. Or you did the acapella thing and then you went into it and then
why are you sweating? Sweating? If only you knew, That's kind of why tears five For me now is like if I'm saw in my zone and it's a bit of a breeze because I'm like, I've done the hardback on.
I could do this all day. Yeah. Have you did you stick around at Glastonbury afterwards? Did you make make a weekend of it?
We did another show, like a little discreete show. I remember the name of the oh Man, can you remember? Can you remember the name of the place that I played in? I did a separate show in Glastonbury. We did a little low key one after that. Look at me is already telling me you have no idea what we were talking about. Yeah, after the main set, I did another one. Alex but all good.
They doesn't know what Glastonbury is.
It's your first. Don't worry, man, I'll introduce you to it. It's like a festival. People can walk around there. There's a couple of accident performance It's yeah, do you know what we did a small tears five one okay, and I just let loose with tunes. It was I almost took it to a different place where I just I did a jungle set part of it. It was like, good twenty minutes of jungle, my favorite tunes from that era.
Then went into some of the R and B. Then gave him some of the some of the tunes that any knew. But yeah, and I'd done the wellet and boots and had to look around getting the mix the year before when I did the Silver Hell.
Okay, right, how did you find that it.
Was a wicked man? It was lowkey because it was low key. I just did my thing. And then it got a little bit on top when loads of people started to like recognize and I was cool with it. I'll do selfies all day long. It's like it's cool. But then someone saying, well you can, yeah, it's selfie the whole day up, But there's a stage up there that's calling your name. If you don't get on it soon,
then that's the end of that. And I was like, okay, cool, and maybe I do have to move through it, but I'd love that you didn't have to go to a stage and seeing that play, you'd probably know better than me. Actually haven't gone to Customer a few times that you
can go. There's an arts and crafts fair over there, and there's some masslage thing getting over there, and then someone's having a house party of raving the tent, and then you just find things that you didn't know, and I think that's what makes that place exciting absolutely.
I mean, yeah, two more things. One, you're still a very young man.
Oh I, I was got a year on you.
I feel old. Do you feel how are you? How are you enjoying your thirties?
I feel a bit like Benjamin Button. Yeah right, it feels like now I can't control the outside, so I don't know what's going on there. That's that's another story. But in terms of how I feel inside, I feel like the kid again, h who started doing all this, because I think the wisdom of seventeen years so far has told me. And the reason why I called the album Time is Now is just enjoyed this journey because I had the moment of going to Miami and fulfill the dream and the sun the car Sports Live or
the sports cars and all that stuff. But I needed to be back where it all started again, and I was very happy to be in a dungee low lit studio with some eighteen year old kid who's going to show me about oh yeah, back in the day stuff, and then having to be in the student make new tunes that I wanted more than being the glitzy life.
So I think that what I've realized is that actually, when you're present and you're living in the moment, you start to notice that you can still have dreams and aspirations and desires, but they're not Oh, it's going to be better. When I get that it's going to be better. When because all the things that you got when you said it's going to be better, Yeah, I mean you've got those, You got the trainers you wanted. Oh man, you got them. They're on your feet. How do it feel, Matt?
It feels good? But why are you already talking about some next ones? And now the ones you got on your feet already got dashed in the back of the cupboard life. You'll keep doing that, and there's a point we have to stop and be like, I get it. It's actually about enjoying the journey A long way.
I did that with an England goalkeeper top. Really it was like the old school or old school really Peter Shilton gloves, remember the yellow one and one in my football team. A kid had it I called Chris had it and I was like, I want that. Sh want anything in the world, And I just wanted it, and I got it for like Christmas on my birthday. As soon as I put it on, it was dead to me. But do you know what I mean? Yea one on the back, the umbre on the and the base of the one.
I know exactly what I mean.
I want. I want now that I'm talking about it, I want it back again now because I've not got it.
We would have a look and it's and it's probably now talking about all this resurgence stuff across a fortune, probably, but you're right, it's not. It's that thing of.
You.
It's some of the look the same thing, but grander scale. You look for the house, you find the house, and then all of a suddenly, like someone says, no, no, you can't have that. Yeah, it's someone's already put an offer, and all of a sudden you want it batter than you get it. And did I do it? Because I was a bit hyped or because it's not quite and I think there are a few of those experiences along
the way. You start to ease yourself back and realize that it is the enjoyment and the thrill of wanting it, but you don't necessarily need to have it, you know, I mean, because once you have it, isn't that that isn't the thing, the defining part of it. Isn't that is? This is the the journey of it and free, free with it at the same time. Yes, you get it, that's that's that's that's real good.
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