Zone Magazine Issue 037 Spring 2023

What affect did lockdown have on
you, good bad, or both. Did you
learn anything from it, on a personal
and pro level?
Ben - It didn’t make a great deal of difference to
me work-wise as I work for myself from home anyway. The
biggest change was when the schools shut as suddenly my
work day halved. Lockdown threw up some interesting
ideas on how to keep things moving label-wise and
creatively, one of which was our DJ Tag Team series which
was kind of a video back-to-back with jocks only knowing
what the last record and BPM was of the last person. I also
did a Party For One which started with me playing outside
at my Yorkshire smallholding next to a fire and has
expanded to Party For Two with myself and Chris. In fact,
it’s probably time for a new one!
A personal level, it was quite nice to have nothing
in the diary for a while.
Chris - Weirdly I really enjoyed it. I seemed to be
at a really beneficial scenario whereas I got paid for a lot of
work I had done of which I was then not spending but I still
had small bits of work coming through so I (very luckily)
didn't have a financial worry. I had also always done my
accounts and so I was able to receive funding. I found it a
great time to reflect on what I wanted to do and what I was
really interested in and started to work on music which is
much more personal to me.
Where do you see the future of
Electronic music?
Ben - Not a big question at all! It’s going to be
really interesting to see what AI brings as we seem to be
on the cusp of a major revolution in everything we do.
Dance music has always been on the front line of new
technology and I’m sure there will be amazing
developments artistically. On the flip side, the audio
version of Chat GPT and Midjourney must be just round the
corner which I can see it substantially reducing income for
licensing and synch. Why would an advertising agency or
film license music when they can get exactly what they
want for virtually nothing. Also, I can see those Buddha Bar
kind of comps getting the AI treatment and getting massive
traction on streaming platforms which would be taking
revenue away from artists. However, I can’t see the club
experience changing that much as getting 500 people in a
room, sharing a communal experience through music is
essentially the same it has been since the times of
cavemen.
Chris - I think it will continue to be as healthy as
it’s always been. Trends come and’ go and they will
continue to do so. I'll just exist in my own eco-system
away from all the noise!
Tell us about new productions, and
DJ gigs?
little bar, Barbary’ in my home village with a fantastic
outside space. We’ve got Jeb Joy Nichols playing on Friday
evening, the Craft Ale and Record Society with special
guest and Paper original Miles Hollway, Léna C then Chris
and I are playing with Supernature to close. Sunday is local
heroes The Duende Collective and CP. The artwork is going
to be in a 70s wrestling style. It’s going to be a lot of fun.
Chris - I've got an album coming out on vinyl
later this year under the name 'The Thief Of Time' which
was started in lockdown. It’s very much a non-dancefloor
sound and draws on personal life experiences as well as a
love of electronic music. I also have some collaboration
tracks I have done with Elliott Lion from the band the
Editors which is really exciting!
For gigs I’ll be playing at Blue Dot Festival &
Beatherder in the summer as well as at the Calder Del Sol
Weekender which we're putting on via Paper Recordings
and some local gigs at Ramona. I also have Sprechen
presents ALFOS coming up and in September we're
welcoming Cinthie to come & play at Sticky Heat which I'm
mega excited for!
What’s the most successful track on
the label, and why do you think it
is?
Ben - The one that seems to keep coming around
is Downtime. It never seems to quite go away and Colleen
‘Cosmo’ Murphy recently checked it on her radio show. It
can be a bit frustrating that people hark back to the early
days all the time as it was going on 25 years ago and we’ve
released so much brilliant music since then. But those early
days were a moment in time and I think evoke a certain
nostalgic feeling for a lot of folk. Our first release had a
message that said ‘Look Forward Not Back’ and we’ve had
that as our unofficial mission statement ever since.
Chris - Paper had some great legendary
tracks back in the day and I think it’s no secret that
Downtime & The Book are what people always seem
to mention when talking about Paper. However I
think Leon Sweet's Sunny Bigler is absolutely huge
and Flash Atkins' Drug Empire never, ever leaves my
box.
Tell us a little about what you guys
do when not making music, running
labels, and film companies!
Ben - I live on a smallholding and have a couple
of fields that I love to mess about in. Paper Vision Films
seems to have taken over for me on a day to day basis.
Chris - Walk my dogs and try to stay healthy!
Last words?
Ben - Sign up to our newsletter for to keep up
with the lastest and thanks for having us!
Ben - I’m putting on a mini festival called the
Calder Del Sol Weekender on June 23/34/25 in a brilliant