"I always find it hard getting on conceptually with self-indulgent DJs. The role of the DJ is to entertain, first and foremost, rather than educate."
You'll be representing our capital city. Talk us through your relationship with London, what were your early clubbing experiences there?
My first London clubland experiences were at raves in industrial estates around the M25. When I moved down here, I was in Clapham North and Club UK was the scene of some of the best and wildest nights inside a licensed venue that I’ve ever seen. My first big DJ gig was at a night called Rude in SW1. It was me and Mark and Adrian Luvdup. By the time GA started, we were playing at TummyTouch parties in what where then the disused warehouses of Shoreditch. We were at the opening of Ministry and of Fabric, which makes the return of our Fabric residency all the more special.
What are your thoughts on the dance scene at the moment? I thinks its in really good shape, for me in terms of DJ’ing its in a great place right now, because we’re coming out of the end of a long minimal curve and into a more house music end of minimal. So it’s a sort of stripped down minimal bass line, which always appeals, and a bit more of the rocking house music feel on top. There’s loads of that stuff out there right now.How do you find London's clubbing scene is at the moment? How have you seen the parties develop over the years?
It goes in waves. From small raves in disused buildings, to the golden club era of Turnmills, Bagleys, The End, SW1, Ministry, Fabric, Heaven... and back down again now to the smaller basement vibe. Musically there have been years when house has been pushed to room 2 by the new style on the block. But house is timeless and always comes back.
Over the years, the sound Groove Armada has evolved a lot—do you feel most comfortable in the house scene? I’m not too sure. On all the vast variety of music that has been made over all the different albums over the years, I think it sounds great—I think we’ve acquitted ourselves well in all of the fields that we’ve gone into. But the way that the cycle has gone, we are now back in a world where this type of house groove is so engrained in us, and we have always spent a lot of time on dance floors and after-parties, so it just feels natural. Are there any funny stories you can tell us before you two became Groove Armada as you are today? I just remember running clubs and losing a lot of money! We used to run a club night called Captain Sensual At The Helm Of The Groove Armadaand we booked Dave Seaman and lost our shirts on him, so that was good. It was the same time as Euro '96, and we booked Dave Seaman to come and play on the same day England beat Spain, and the headline coming out on Sunday morning was Seaman sinks Armada which made me chuckle. So we got sunk by David Seaman, us and the Spaniards on the same day!