secretsundaze caught up with October ahead of his debut gig for them at Village Underground on 5th April alongside Lawrence, Tevo Howard (live), as well as James and Giles themselves.
1. You are having a bit of a purple patch with killer releases lined up for Skudge, Simple and also Applepips. For those that don’t know so much about you please give us a little background on your history within dance music.
Well I’ve been involved with electronic music since the late 90’s - making jungle beats with a sampler and a 4 track tape machine. It just escalated from there really… My cousins used to organise massive events in the early 90’s in The Netherlands bringing people like Lil’ Louis and Derrick May to play mega raves all over the country circa ‘91 to ‘93 so I got into House then but didn’t have any concept of what it was as I was far too young. I liked it but also loved Nirvana etc as it was ‘91 so I didn’t really start to fully understand House until my late teens. In 2000 I was beginning to phase out Jungle and DnB out of my life as I found the most of scene blinkered and club nights highly aggressive. So I focused my efforts on Broken Beat, Garage, Electro and House and now I’m here…
2. We have heard the new tracks on Simple and Skudge and they really are dope with great flair and variation. What can we expect of your Applepips release? Is this something you have done solo or working alongside Appleblim such as your previous track together “NY Fizzzz”
Neo Ambient Rain Forest Techno and Jazzy Bristol House music. All synths were played by my Caravan label partner James Fiddian and some additional playing was done by Borai.
3. So much has been made of the Bristol sound from Massive Attack and Tricky to Roni Size and more recently the bass phenomena. Avoiding the usual laid back Bristolian stoners cliche’s what is it about that city that for you seems to spit out such fierce talent and heavy basslines?
There’s a different vibe in this town - it seems to be more focused on creativity than capitalism. It’s very bohemian and there’s a lot of flora and fauna around so maybe that translates into the music… I dunno, I get asked this question a lot and have been living here for 15 years now and still can’t put my finger on it.
4. Its an exciting time with so much crossover from House, Techno, bass etc etc and DJs more and more cutting across genres, how do you feel you fit into the musical cosmos?
Pfff… No idea frankly. I don’t really think about where I fit in as I don’t tend to fit in anywhere - I just try and stay away from any fad or hype. In my world there’s only good music and bad music. I might not like something but can still appreciate how good it is, hopefully my music fits into the good music category.
5. We’re really looking forward to having you debut at secretsundaze after your gig playing alongside us for the secret agency party late last year. Can you tell us about another special gig from the last year and what was it about that experience that made it memorable.
Freerotation and Watergate were the highlights of last year. Mainly Watergate as I got to play for about 7 hours and really get into it - the crowd were amazing and so responsive we managed to keep them until well passed 8am on Wednesday night! I played b2b with John Osborn in the middle of it so it was just perfect all round. Freerotation is always special and there’s such a loyal following, everyone is genuinely hyped to see you play. That does make it one of the most nerve wrecking gigs every year hands down though…
See October play at secretsundaze Easter Special @ Village Underground on 5th April.
Tickets available from Resident Advisor.
