Adam is a champion of the underground scene in Birmingham, which admitedly isn't all that difficult in a city that Adam admits wasn't particularly in sync with the sound of the underground. That being said, there are of course positives to be taken from Birmingham's scene, and Adam's Sunday daytime rave party, Below, is one of them.
Soon, Below is to play host to the Circoloco In The Arena afterparty with the Visionquest boys, and has it's 7th Birthday. Couple that with his labels ongoing success and you have the makings of an artist who has 'made it'. All this discussed below. Excuse the pun.
So, you’re playing a huge event for Circo Loco in the UK, tell us
bout that…
Well what can I say, this is looking like one of the biggest parties to hit the uk for a long time, playing on this line up for me is great, I have a 3 hour set too so will be doing some serious
digging for this show. Its always a big thing for me to play at a circo loco party as its been such an influence to me from day one.
Below is holding a daytime party on the Sunday right?
Yes we will be playing host to all the ravers from the circo loco party that are still going strong and to all the below regulars that always come out in force on the bank holiday parties that we
do from all over the uk. It’s the first time we will have had the visionquest guys on so I am really excited for that. When we will stop I don’t know, this party has days and days written all over
it.
It’s got an impressive history, 6 years on… are things still going strong?
Yes we have have our 7th birthday in june which is mental! I can’t believe it is going into its 7th year, we have had so many amazing parties I can almost remember them all. We have had our ups and downs the same as any party, things can’t be 100% all the time, if you go on the basis of you are only as good as your last party then we are good because nyd was off the scale all day, lets hope we can carry on to bring that same vibe to our parties this year and the guests and friends that come and play deliver as they have been with their music and their vibe.
Any highlights for you so far?
Have you got all day? I will be honest and say we have been really lucky to have had so many special moments over the years, with dj’s, venues and crowds that it is hard to mention all of these without a short story, I am going to say for me what I feel our best party was, this was august 2010, bank holiday, we a full house, the best crowd, a killer line up of argy, vincenzo, berkson & what, seelie and residents subb-an and myself. This party all day was on another vibe, everybody played their hearts out and the crowd responded in such a way it was mind blowing. Just a case of really getting it right with the guests, the programming and the vibe ☺
Many of the club nights around these days were born out of a desire for a DJ to run things how they want it, would you say this was the case for you?
Hmmm in ways yes, we wanted to bring a sound to our city that really was not happening, at the same time we just wanted to do a party for friends and have a good get together playing the music we
liked.
Or were you just after a regular Sunday after party to go to?
From the start we were never known as an afters, ok you may have a few people still out from the night before but mainly people always made the effort to stay in on a Saturday and come down fresh as they knew it was a long day.
You clearly have a great working relationship with Subb-An with him joining you at Below and you both now co-running your label; One Records… How did you guys meet?
Ash and I met through a friend who introduced ash to me as a young producer from the midlands and we hit it off straight away. We are now great friends, before that I saw ash as somebody who was really keen, really talented and really focused and lets be honest all those things are showing now. I am really proud of ash and how popular he is becoming and a dj, a live artist, a producer and a remixer.
How is the label going? There have been some great releases…
The label is going great thanks, I am so happy with it, I look back and am still happy with all the releases which is a good sign, I look forward at what we have planned and am totally buzzing. The feedback now we are getting from artists is great, artists who I respect massively from over the years, new and old and is a real buzz when they say how much they like the label and are following what we are doing.
You’ve just had a release from Jordan Peak in January right?
Yes Jordan has had his second ep with us, and his third release, this one was always going to be a bomb, I just can’t believe I took so long to put it out, I had so many people constantly asking me when this was out and to be honest I did like it as my little bomb for a while. Jordan is doing great at the moment, he has some really nice bits in the pipeline and I am very happy he is part of the label and what we are doing.
What’s in the pipeline for One Records?
We have some really cool bits coming up between now and the summer, we have ep’s from slok, anthea, burnski, hector, we have a great new various artists release upcoming with tracks from dj wild, emerson todd, samu.l to name a few, and some tasty remixes from dan ghenacia, subb-an & myself, richy ahmed and some secret weapons I am keeping to myself. Also we are really focusing on our label party at sonar currently with illusion recordings so look out for that.
Now, just to talk about Ibiza… what is your experience of it, before you ‘made it’?
Ibiza for me is where my life started, I went to live there with my best friend lee mcdonald when I was 19 and I never looked back, it changed my whole outlook on music, people, fashion, food, the lot. I remember getting there after jacking my job in and ending up in san Antonio for two weeks, totally unaware of Ibiza town and the rest of the island. Then after going to Ibiza town I was like yeah this is more like it, also this was the year dc10 started, this was very special, 200 people, free party, ultimate vibe! I then spent the summer there and went to dc10 every week without fail. That’s my inspiration for what I am doing now and playing for circo loco is always something I look forward to wherever it may be.
Do you consider yourself as someone who has ‘made it’ then? Or are there still things you would love to achieve as an artist?
I have lots of goals, i am going to do them in my own time when it suits me, one thing I don’t want to get caught up in is having to follow a pattern or structure in my music or parties or label. I want it to always feel right for me.
Cheers for answering my questions Adam, will we be seeing you
over on the island this summer then?
No are you mad! I don’t go there! It sends me crazy. I stay in and dream about that year when I was 19. You may see me there, I hope so, I have goals to play certain places in Ibiza this year so watch out whips terrace! You know I’m coming.
