Zone-Magazine-Wally-Lopez-Issue-040

You are stranded on an Island and all
you have are a set of decks, and a
sound system, and 5 tracks to listen
to for ever! What are they and why?
Unique 3 - “The theme“, Phuture - “Acid traxs“, 808
State - “Pacific state“, A guy called Gerald - “Voodo Ray“. All
these tracks make the hairs stand up on the back of my head
still, and last but not lest LFO - LFO. Just for the reminder of
the amazing feat that we got it into the UK charts!
What do you think of the dance scene
now and what is coming in the future?
Yeah I think DJ’s should be heard and not seen
to be honest. In the old days the DJ’s were tucked
away in the corner or at the back of the club. Now it’s
all gone crazy with super DJ’s. Hopefully it will get
back to being underground again (fingers crossed )!
You have remixed for many artists.
What has Been your favorite remix
and why? Any advise on remixing
other peoples tracks?
I think the remix for Radio Head was pretty good
and also The remix of “Planet Rock“ for Tommyboy records.
Advice for remixing is use there best bits and inject
your own, after all they want your music mainly not there’s.
Tell us about your best gig and what
happened?
Best gig was my first at the Leeds Warehouse club
April 1990. We were totally scared and played an amazing set
to a club of about 40 people (what a learning curve it was)!
We got paid 4 beers each and taxi fare home! Good times
indeed.
What style of DJ’ing do you prefer; up
& down all night, workin' & controllin'
da crowd, or start slow & build & build,
or just go for It all night?
All depends on the crowd and what time it is.
Normally I like to build a set from slow to fast but if I’m
playing at “peak time“ then it’s straight in “phasers set to
kill“!
Who have been your influences and
mentors and why?
3, 808 State, and Early Street Sounds records UK. All were
big influences for me growing up in Leeds in the 70’s - 80’s,
such a great time for fresh and original sounds.
Festival, Super club, Small club or
house party and why?
Small Clubs and house parties are the best where
you can let your hair down and jam like crazy …. Yes Sir !
You have had a fantastic career so
far, what are your music plans?
I’m slowly getting back into doing gigs again and I’m
also working on my Bandcamp site with releases.
You make music for other industries,
tell us about this and how that
happened?
I’ve done some computer game music over the
years and also a few TV adverts for companies like “Rockstar
Games“, "Volkswagen" Germany. Also done LFO on a film
called “Beats“ about the rave scene. Right now I’m working
on some retro game music for a project on the Vectrex
system.
Tell us what you think of all these fake
DJ’s and so blatantly getting caught
out!
Yeah it’s a shame but these things happen world
wide. There’s always been an underground in all scenes
which will eventually get taken and abused. Happened in
Punk, Disco, Hip Hop, electro, Techno and house to name but
a few.
You have worked with many labels,
who have been the best, most
supportive and what advise would
you give to labels and producers?
Just about all labels suck .. only met a few over the
years which were nice Swim record and Force inc … spring to
mind. My advise to producers is do as much as you can
alone.
Any last words?
Thanks for the interview. Live long and prosper!
Much love G-Man!
Yeah, Juan Atkins, Kraftwerk, Brain Eno, Karl Bartos
(who we worked with in the early 90’s), Derrick May, Unique