Their first two sellout parties brought together a party for real music people, bringing together cutting edge acts with a real community feel shared amongst the dancefloor. Their last adventure together at Public Life was a night of deep grooves and no-nonsense party jams lead by the simply amazing underground house talent Tom Demac. For their next installment of Rejam mayhem, they’re setting off just a stones throw up the road to a new venue… Basing House, the perfect intimate East London space with its devastating Funktion1 sound system and a dedication to underground music has all the right ingredients for their next party. In keeping with Rejam’s cutting edge music policy their next headline act is a man rarely seen outside of his DC10/Circo Loco home, only surfacing at the world’s coolest parties… ANDREW GRANT!
Andrew flies in from Ibiza just a few days after the infamous Circo Loco closing party to play a special 4 hour extended set on the 7th October as DC10 meets REJAMin a a very special place! Being part of the Circoloco family and resident DJ of DC10 Ibiza for the past 8 years, Andrew Grant has experienced many things. The time spent touring the world’s best clubs and playing alongside the world’s best DJ’s has helped him to gain a reputation for being one of the most solid and consistent performing DJ’s in the world of electronic music.
Hailing from the Washington DC area in USA, Andrew’s DJ history dates back to 1988 when he was spinning hip-hop at house parties and school dances. But, his musical tastes soon turned to electronic after his first trip to NYC’s Twilo in the mid 90’s where shortly after, he found himself playing a broad scale of music. Andrew’s first visit to Europe was in 2000 playing in Dublin on New Years and then in Paris. He stayed in Europe and in 2001, purchased a one-way ticket from Sheffield, England (where he threw parties 10 weeks previous) to Ibiza. He travelled to Ibiza for a deeper look into the scene with a passion to play top venues. Upon being discovered, he was invited to play Thursday morning after-hours at DC10. After just two sets he was invited to play a main 3-5 hour slot on Monday’s after Cirillo, his mentor. So at just 25 years old, Andrew Grant was adopted by DC10, one of the most recognised and well respected parties in the world.
Alongside touring the world with Circoloco and his DC10 Ibiza residency, Andrew has actively pursued his production career since 2001 with releases on labels such as Plastic City, Unfoundsound, Siteholder Records, Isgud Records, Minisketch and future releases forthcoming on Barraca Music with remixes of Ricardo Villalobos and Los Updates in the pipeline. As head of A&R for the Barraca Music record label, Andrew is responsible for all musical output from the label and is a figurehead in the labels current success. We spoke to him to get the lowdown ahead of his set this Friday…
I’m sure you get asked this a lot, but how on earth did a lacrosse playing, hip-hop DJing-Marine from Baltimore end up with quite possibly one of the most lusted after DJ residencies in the world?AG. 1 word….. Luck. DC-10 was in such an infancy that I just walked into a perfect situation. Yes being from Baltimore Maryland I never thought to play in Ibiza yet alone at a club/ party / brand that would help change the face of dance music.
You went to Twilo in New York often in the mid ‘90’s – was it as amazing as I imagine it would have been? Do we have Twilo’s infamous Phazon Sound System to thank for shifting you over to the electronic dark side?
AG. Twilo helped me see and hear some of the best dj´s in New York and from around the world. It also left a mark in the history of dance, Steve Dash with his Phazon sound system shaped the .Wav signals emitting from the best speaker systems know to man.
Speaking of New York… From your touring experience, is there much going on there right now? From this side of the pond we only ever seem to hear talk of Detroit or Chicago really. Is the New York scene still mourning the loss of Crobar perhaps, or have other smaller venues filled the void?
AG. Yes the current ¨flavor of the month¨ seems to draw something from Detroit roots but there are some great partys in New York and beyond. Blk Market with Taimur, Verboten also holds it down in NYC. I think you have some kool parties in San Fran like Kontrol…. LA has wicked parties with DROOG, Superfreq. Miami, Denver & Washington D.C. with the 88crew also do some special nights. It just depends on the night and city.
You’re playing at Rejam on 7th October – when was the last time you played over here? How do you find London on the whole?
AG. I luv London… has such a vibe. Fashion and Music interact with an international flavor. I have been coming to London for some time, it seems to get better every time. I can´t wait for Rejam to dig deep in the beats.
Bearing this in mind, you also have the Circo Loco closing party on the 3rd October… (I think you know where I am going with this!) With its ridiculous line-up, and renowned craziness do you think you’ll be recovered by the time you touch down at Heathrow, or will you still be going?!
AG. HA….. well I have 2 different flights booked just in case I miss the 1st one 😉
On the subject of Ibiza how are you finding it this year? I know you guys had it especially tough at DC10 back in 2009, have things improved with the authorities?
AG. There will always be a pull & struggle or ying/yang so to speak. Not everything is 100% but you try to meet in the middle where both sides can be happy.
I heard tourism dropped dramatically on the white isle around this period too. Ibiza seems to be back in favour this year, that’s definitely been the buzz around London about it. Have you noticed more people back on the island?
AG. I noticed DC-10 off the chain every week… if tourism has dropped then it´s the last thing I noticed this yr.
You’ve been a resident at DC10 for around 10 years now – do you think you’ll ever get bored of it?
AG. yes 10 yrs this year….. like all things must come to an end, but I am not looking for that end anytime soon.
Do you think it’s finally passed and survived the “hype” stage and can now go back to being full of the “real” music lovers?
AG. In my opinion there is a lot of commercial music around in general in Ibiza, I just try to stay true to my heart and continue my passion for underground beats.
I see you played at the Hideout festival this year – how did you find Croatia? Some are hailing it “the new Ibiza” it certainly has the beaches and the good music (and the police of course!)
AG. Hideout was amazing….. Cassy & Tania flipped my lid when they played. The people where so warm and reacted well to the music. I can see certain elements of Ibiza. Many parts are still virgin & unscathed so it has a natural beauty of sea-side and country side together.
Circo Loco recently hit Fabrik in Madrid on a tour. The club was crowned the 2nd best nightclub in the world by DJ magazine – does it deserve this accolade do you think?
AG. From what I remember was a blur of energy, one of the best club gigs in my life.
And what things do you have coming up with your own imprints EDEC and Blau Motif? I hear EDEC will be a vinyl label, is that strictly so or will you be doing digital releases as well?
AG. EDEC is vinyl and will cater to more Techno oriented sound. We just did Jon Hester w/ DVS1 remixes and next we have Egal3 w/ Ryan Elliot remix. Link to Release details – http://dreyinc.tumblr.com/post/9293159415/edec-002-out-now-on-beatport-featured-in-techno EDEC on Soundcloud – http://soundcloud.com/edec Blau Motif is for lounge, ambient, left-field type of sounds. We just released Gabriel Baldi for our 007 release. Blau Motif on Soundcloud – http://soundcloud.com/blaumotif
Do we have anything production wise to watch out for from you on the horizon?
AG. Original releases on Hallucination LTD, Isgud Records, Little Helpers, EDEC & Lowpitch. Some remixes that range from house to techno on 7oz, Anhura, BluFin & LED
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Interviewed by Melissa-Jane Frost
Promotional links /
More info / Rejam Website/ Rejam Facebook Page/ Rejam Soundcloud
