The night ‘Sessions’ has been packing out venues in North Yorkshire
for years, the brainchild of the internationally successful artists
The Squatters, they’ve decided to spread their wings and bring the
Sessions flavour to Leeds!
This won’t be any run of the mill event either, celebrating their huge
hit with legend Steve Edwards, they’ve called upon him to perform
a very special never seen before Live PA for the lucky people of
Leeds. Alongside this The Squatters have enlisted their good friend
Kissy Sell Out to join them to launch Sessions at Mission!
We asked Kissy to take a few moments out of his busy schedule
and tell us what he’s been up to lately and what to expect on Easter
Thursday!
Hey Kissy, firstly thank you for letting us steal a moment of your spare time,
which by the looks of your movements lately has been few and far between.
We can’t go any further without asking about the album you’ve just released,
tell us the journey that went with it?
I’m still getting used to talking about it in the past tense! Working on an album
is something people seem to talk a lot less about these days and since this
is kinda my third album (albeit with A LOT of help from my friends this time
round!) I forgot how much a project this size takes over a whole year of your
life!
San City High has been going since I was still at university – so 6 years ago –
and after about 20 releases featuring records mixed by Eats Everything, Dillon
Francis, Laidback Luke, Zeds Dead, Jack Beats etc, we’ve finally released
the first San City High compilation album – and also my first official DJ mix
album (….if you discount my Mixmag cover mount and that Ministry of Sound
Australia album a few years ago!)
You’ve also just released a single with Rob Sparks called “Live Wire”, the
video is immense for it, did you come up with the concept?
Julien James Davis is an incredibly talented director; I’m very lucky to have
him onboard as a friend of the label at such an early time in his career! He did
such a great job on “Live Wire” that we’re already working on a bigger budget
follow up for the next single with Machines Don’t Care (a.k.a. Hervé) – but
my job at video shoots is mainly to make people laugh and have a good time
while lenses get changed etc…..working with so many people is my absolute
favourite thing about running the label.
Did you want to be a barman before you became a DJ? 😉
Hell no! I’m a crap barman even when I’m just acting (badly) as one. I’ve got
such a short attention span I wouldn’t be able to remember anyone’s order!
You’ve decided recently to launch yourself into something totally different
and have enrolled in a physics and astronomy degree. Firstly, hats off to you.
Secondly, are you aiming to be the next Brian Cox?
I have indeed! I’m crap at history, geography, biology, English literature,
business studies etc..but I’ve always found maths fairly easy and actually got
100% in my A-level believe it or not!?
It started as Brian Cox astrophysics type stuff but my main area of interest
now is quantum mechanics which essentially explains (with very dense
equations!) why everything we see, hear, touch, love exists in the first place.
It’s quite a serious hobby – and last month I finally figured out how to explain
why there are only 8 gluon vector gauge bosons in a 3×3 special unitary
matrix while I was watching telly in bed – but as unlikely as it sounds, I find it
sits very nicely beside my passion for electronic music as they both involve
thinking outside the box.
The 28th March sees you join The Squatters at the launch of their brand in
Leeds, you’ve been a supporter of the lads for a while now, how did you first
hear about them?
No tall-tale to tell really, I just thought they were very talented producers and
engineers – the music kinda spoke for itself! During the first San City High tour
with Zeds Dead, Hot Pink Delorean, Urchins and The Squatters on the tour
bus, we got on so well right from the word go. They’d tease me about how
all my tracks are 2000bpm and I’d tease them back about how much trance
music they play! They got stuck right in with the relentless gigging across the
UK on that tour and we’ve been very close ever since.
You’ve even collaborated on a track with The Squatters, how did that come
about and do you see that happening again soon?
It’s just about us being in the same place at the right time really, I’m very
proud of that record because it seems to gel with a variety of DJs’ sounds so
hopefully we’ll find time to do another one now we know the formula works.
Mixmag launched the DJ Lab recently and you were one of the first to get
involved. How did that go?
A lot of people try and set up video streams like that but not many pull them
off! Full credit to the Mixmag people for being mad enough to have a weekly
party at 4pm, literally, in their office(!!!!) – Mixmag only occupies one floor
in a big high rise office block to you see lots of bewildered looking people in
suits walking past as they are cracking out the Jaeger-bombs! Our show was
a great success and it was cool going back to back with one of my favourite
DJs, Hatcha.
Speaking of Mixmag, in days gone by they were one of the only places people
could hear about Dance music and became the sounding board and judge for
so many artists. With the Internet and social media becoming so huge now,
do you think the digital age has been difficult for or improved our scene? Do
you think it’s good to have so much choice?
It’s difficult to pick out the real talented people when everyone shouts at
once, but as a label manager I still get a kick out finding them one-in-a-million
people.
Leeds has become one of the leading cities within dance music and especially
House and Techno, do you enjoy playing in Leeds? With a crowd that’s so
switched on?
Love playing Leeds – in fact, it was only a few months ago that me and MC
Cobra played in that centre public square you have!
What’s your favourite venue in the world to play at?
It’s too hard to pick so I’m not going to! Sessions in Leeds should be a
contender though surely!
Your label, San City High, has gone from strength to strength, can you let us
in on what to expect from it in the next few months?
I’ll hopefully put out an EP by DrDr soon – I love their music millions loads
totes emosh! Check em out on Soundcloud.
Lastly, for the serious questions, what can the crowds at Mission in Leeds on
March 28th expect from the Kissy Sell Out set?
It’s gonna be HUGE. The Squatters are perfectly capable of smashing it up
on their own and that means that I’ll be super relaxed and limbered up on the
night – ready for action – bring it on!
Quick Fire!
iPhone or Android?
iPhone……you can’t play “Earthworm Jim 2” on an Android….
Sun or Snow?
Snowboarder since I was 10 years old, so snow definitely.
Football or Rugby?
I’m ex-art student. That should tell you all you need to know.
Jam or Marmite?
Marmite – BOOM!
Radio 1 or Radio 2?
Classic FM or Mark Kermode & Simon Mayo’s film podcast…..I’ve got my own
tunes for dancing to.
WMC or ADE?
Will I prefer Ultra in Miami to WMC so I guess I’d go with ADE!
World’s #1 DJ is…
DJ Hype Hype Hype Hype Hype
Shorts, in the snow, really?
Hell yeah! Go hard or go home!
Thanks for your time Kissy and look forward to seeing you in Leeds!
March 28th – 10pm – Be there.
The Squatters present… SESSIONS
Easter Thurs, March 28th @ Mission 10pm – 5am
Main Room
KISSY SELL OUT – http://www.kissysellout.com
STEVE EDWARDS Live P.A
THE SQUATTERS – http://www.the-squatters.com
Mr. Dirty Smart
Alex Simmons
Nick Ostertag
Annexe – Hosted by Knee Deep
Tetchy
DomSamba
James Moon
Sean Harris
Tickets:
£6 Limited Earlybirds
£8 Standard
£20 VIP
MOTD
Available from Jumbo/Crash/Bar Fibre/ Dissent Skating
Scarborough
Online from Skiddle and ticketarena
Exclusive Offer at The Marriot for Fibre/Mission
customers over Easter weekend from Thursday
28th-Sunday 31st March: £69.00 Room Only!
For more details –
www.clubmission.com
www.kissysellout.com
www.facebook.com/kissyselloutpage
www.soundcloud.com/kissysellout
www.officialsteveedwards.com
www.twitter.com/UKSTEVEEDWARDS
www.the-squatters.com
www.twitter.com/THE_SQUATTERS
www.facebook.com/thesquatters
www.soundcloud.com/thesquatters
www.youtube.com/user/SQTRZ
iTunes: The Squatters Itunes
READYMIX 