In Depth with…Stuart King
Stuart King is a man with some serious experience in the game! A DJ and tastemaker who has seen the dance scene go through its many changes, while being able to take on the best of each and apply it to his own sound. His tracks are both powerful and timeless possessing the most moving of melodies. We have the chance to find out more about his latest LP on Baroque, as well as what inspires and shapes his unique sound…
Hi Stuart, how are you? What’s good at the moment?
I’m very well thank you and I hope you are too. I have a few new releases lined up for 2017/18 and I’m currently in the studio working on my second album which I’m looking to release early next Summer.
Really digging the LP on Baroque: Late night Obsessions! Tell us bit about what went into the production and what inspired it?
Thanks! It hit No.2 in the UK Electronic chart so I was very happy about that. I had wanted to make an album for some time but i was never in the right headspace. When I came home after playing gigs in Thailand and Brazil I was inspired after travelling and just focused on making it happen, locked myself away in the studio, cut out the partying, distractions and committed myself to making it happen. I didn’t really know what direction I wanted to go with the Album but I had loads of half finished tracks and samples that I had collected over the years, one of them I sampled from a movie when I was living in Melbourne seven years ago and had been holding onto it, waiting for the right track to come along where the sample would fit and come alive. When I had a handful of tracks finished it was like painting a portrait, I knew which colours needed to go where to fill in the gaps at the beginning and end of the album and it all pieced itself together. I was in touch with a great vocalist from London called Kinnoha and she contributed to two of the tracks which really made the album come alive.
The Album was made on a MacBook Pro running Ableton Live and the final mix was done in Logic. I used a lot of the Native Instruments gear, Komplete Ultimate 10, Maschine, Reaktor 6 I use a lot, Roland Plug-Ins, Ableton Push, U-he Synths, Diva, ReFX Nexus, Guitar Rig 5, Serum…
Where do your musical roots stem from?
I’ve been into music since day one, collecting vinyl and growing up listening to the Depeche Mode, Jean Michel Jarre, Kraftwerk, Human League, Pet Shop Boys, I was fascinated by synthesisers and the sound that was coming out of them. In my teens I was a breakdancer so i was into a lot of Hip Hop, the Streetsounds albums, Whodini, Public Enemy and I used to make Mix-tape’s before I had turntables using two tape decks and one Record Player, recording samples from one tape to another then recording spin backs and dropping another track in, this was all on a standard Hi-Fi! From that point on I got involved with playing records, i bought a few keyboards around this time and started playing around with them as I was blown away from watching Jean Michel Jarre and his live shows on TV. I started to DJ in the early Nineties playing Old Skool, Italian Piano House and Techno and through most of my career I have been a Progressive House DJ, I had hit records later on as one half of the “Sunday Club” and then was playing all over Europe. I moved to Ibiza for two seasons in 2003/4 with my friend and manager Ilker Ucan who was running the Biggest Club in the World “Privilege” where I became the resident DJ for two years and at Space on Sunday mornings. Numerous tours of Brazil and my style developed from there, it became solid, percussive, and I would play all across the board but my sound still carried that melodic Progressive House vibe.
How would you describe your sound?
Deep, Melodic, Emotive, with thought provoking vocals, music which makes you think and feel. I like to take you on a journey when I’m playing, to try and tell a story with my music
What are the top 5 records on in your bag right now?
DJ Tennis – Certain Angle Feat Kink – Club Mix
Luke Brancaccio & Simon Berry – Oblivion
Stuart King – Colours
Hot Since 82 – Chasing
Stuart King – Chanjira – Mongo Remix
You’ve also got an EP coming out on High Tide! tell us bit about that and your relationship with the label.
I’m good friends with the guys at High Tide, it’s a great new label and they have made a solid impact on the scene with there first few releases getting heavy A-list DJ support. They have signed a new E.P of mine, two tracks called Chanjira and Lucky Me Feat Sophie Moletta. Rising starts Mongo who’s tracks are being hammered by Joris Voorn and Carl Cox have done the remix of Chanjira and it was included on John Digweed on his Transitions Radio show, theres a big buzz about this track, it’s released on October 12th so look out for it!
Your originally from Jersey. What was the scene like there back in the day? Bet it’s a bit different now!
Yes I travel quite a bit but this is my home, It was an incredible time back then, while it was all kicking off in the UK with illegal raves being held in warehouses and under motorways we were doing them in German Bunkers and Forts, there were a crew that put on the party’s and i used to help getting the equipment down setting up and then started playing my first sets in there.
They would usually start after the clubs, as originally they were only open until 2am, but when the authorities started clamping down we were allowed 6am licenses to stop us putting on illegal raves.
These bunkers and Forts, especially the one at “La Pulente” overlooked the sea, you could look out to sea from the machine gun slots cut out of the concrete, the noise of a generator outside and acid house pumping until the early hours….
It has definitely changed now but there are a lot of great promoters over here bringing guests in week in week out such as the “Weekender Festival”, “Reasons” and “Togetherness” and there is a huge Drum and Bass scene over here.
For a small island the pace hasn’t slowed down, musically there is a lot going on and the after partys still go on in these old forts during the summer months.
Whats your take on the scene these days having seen it go through different phases? Has it lost a lot of its personality and authenticity?
To be honest, I can’t believe the scene its still this huge and continually growing throughout the world, when I first started playing I never thought it would spread this far and wide and to some of the countries its now thriving in. I first played in Brazil in 2003 when it was an up and coming scene but now Electronic Music is booming out there, it’s got such a great vibe out there, I love it, the same is happening in South Africa and India now. The power of music is a universal language as we are seeing with electronic music’s growth all over the planet. Over the last few years especially in the States it has become a corporate environment with huge sponsors for the big EDM festivals but thats dying out now, the new breed of clubbers who were being brought up on the EDM sound, huge festivals and pyrotechnics are growing up are starting to realise there is also intelligent forward thinking music out there. It’s all part of the evolution of the industry, it forever changing and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.
What artists are doing it for you the most at the moment?
Rodriguez Jr and Stephan Bodzin are incredible producers and live artists. Sasha and DJ Tennis continue to inspire me.
Best / most memorable party you’ve ever played?
It would have to be at Warung Beach club in Brazil in 2004. I headed to Brazil for some gigs after working the summer in Ibiza, my agent Marcos Yamin had booked us to play a few gigs around Brazil and we ended up staying with the owners of Warung beach Club, Gustavo Conti and Jonny Mansur. The club had only been open a few years but Gustavo and Jonny had a vision and within a few years it had become the No.1 club in the world and was every DJ’s dream gig to play. Myself and Mikey Ashford played in Warung Garden the first time, it was like the Space Terrace back in the day, just two turntables on a wooden table and some speakers, we were one of the first DJ’s to play in the garden with Sven Vath and Layo and Bushwacka headlining the main room. We played an amazing six hour set fresh from Ibiza and the crowd loved it so we got asked to play again all night long in the main room before we left to over 3000 people during Carnival, It was an incredible experience that I will never forget. I recorded the set and gave a few CD’s out before we left and they got copied and passed around Brazil. We played a historical set that night at Warung and when I went back to play there 10 years later people were still coming up to me saying it was one of the best nights in the club, everybody remember it. Its always an honour to play there, its like my second home I have some great friends out there and I’m looking forward to heading out there again in 2018.
One place you would love to take your music?
I would love to play in Argentina, its meant to have a great vibe down there so hopefully soon.
Any more releases coming up this year? Anything else in the pipeline we should be excited about?
I have a couple of E.P’s coming out in December on Stripped Digital and have just finished a few new tracks so just looking at getting them signed, gig wise a few things in the UK over the next few months then back out to Asia and Brazil during the winter.
Late Night Obsessions LP is out now! Grab your copy here: https://www.traxsource.com/title/837206/late-night-obsessions
