Amplify Presents #001… Warming up Christmas
Dec 09, 2008 by Gary Knox
Cultural insight
For the first in our series of insights, we’ve hooked up with our friends, Warm – purveyors of fine house and electronic music.
Warm constantly push the boundaries as a club night and DJ agency. By nurturing unique talent and creating unique experiences, they’ve helped shape the electronic genre. By tapping into their talent pool, Amplify can connect brands with a notoriously elusive, trend setting audience. Warm are one to watch for the future...
How did Warm start out?
It all started out as a little night in a bar 10 years ago in Bournemouth and since then after a move to London about 8 years ago, Warm has expanded to encompass not only our club nights but also an artist agency and management company.
Who do you represent?
Warm looks after many of the world’s leading underground DJ’s and producers such as Ame, Dixon, Henrik Schwarz, Jazzanova, Quiet Village and Studio to name a few, as well as stars of the future such as Fontan, Jacques Renault, Horse Meat Disco and Knightlife.
Where do you run your club nights?
We have run regular and one-off nights at some of London’s most respected venues such as Cargo, Plastic People, The End, Big Chill House, Medicine and East Village and have put on nights with record labels such as Innervisions and Sonar Kollektiv. Past guests have included the likes of Todd Terje, Maurice Fulton, Lindstrom, Peter Kruder, Benji B and Prins Thomas alongside the Warm agency artists and Warm residents.
What have you got lined up for 2009?
We will be celebrating our 10th anniversary in 2009 so our biggest news is our new monthly residency at London’s Plastic People, which is our favourite venue in London so we are very excited and we have some great guests coming to play! Then on the agency front we have LP releases from artists including Mock & Toof, Mark E, Toby Tobias, Fontan and Will Saul as well as helping out with the launch of the Horse Meat Disco record label and much more!
What are the biggest changes you have noticed since starting out 10 years ago?
The biggest change really has to be the huge increase in the number of promoters I work with especially in UK/Ireland. New promoters are popping up every week, which seems quite crazy at the moment especially with everyone talking about the credit crunch and hard times. People still want to have a great time at weekends and let down their hair after a long week at work so everyone needs a DJ to supply the music!
On the other hand I have also seen a shift towards people coming into the world of promoting and music who are simply in it for the money and I would personally say, lack the passion for the music. I personally got into the industry due to my passion for music and, in turn, set up the agency and management side of things, trying to champion artists I really believe in. I think you can always have a balance between the passion for music and the business side of things but there just seems to be a big lean to money rather than music nowadays and it’s rare to find promoters and people within the industry who really have the chance to book the artists they wish for. It’s the people who are able to do this that I have huge respect for and regularly work with all the time and have had great relationships with over a number of years!
What do you look for in a DJ?
Every DJ is different but mainly I look for artists who are great producers and great DJs. The main reason why I take people on at the agency is because their productions have made me go ‘wow’ and, in turn, they know how to put together a great DJ set and know how to rock a party as well as being nice people who I can work with on a daily basis as this is key to building a great relationship with every artist at the agency.
The Warm DJs can be found playing every corner of the globe between now and next summer, from Sydney to South Africa, Los Angeles to Lille, taking in just about everywhere in-between. Where in the world will you find the best crowd ?
I think when you speak to all the guys on the agency, it varies as they all DJ for different promoters at different venues all over the world. I know some current favourite clubs/parties are Subclub in Glasgow, Secretsundaze, Fabric and Plastic People in London, Redrum in Helsinki and Panoramabar in Berlin! So lots of places all over the world!
Where is the strangest place your DJs have been booked to play?
It’s probably Kristian from Ame who has probably ended up in the strangest places on his South African tours as he DJs every year at the Global Breakthrough Festival out there and plays in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Soweto and last couple of years he has DJed in front of the Shark Tank in Cape Town Aquarium as well as an Ostrich Farm in Johannesburg! So very planet earth!
Everyday at Amplify we have a battle for use of the office stereo. Please help us choose decent stuff by telling us have been your favourite albums of 2008 ?
Favourite artist LPs of the year have to go to Cut Copy, Radiohead and MGMT as all three have been constantly on the office stereo throughout 2008 and also check the Studio Remixes LP which is a firm favourite.
Who should we keep an eye out for in 2009?
There’s sooo many people out there bubblin’ under but there’s a few people on the Warm roster who I really think in 2009 are going to be on the lips of everyone...
Fontan are two guys from Sweden who are definitely one to watch out for as they released their debut EP this year on Studio's Information label and word is their debut LP engineered by the Studio guys is definitely one LP everyone is itching to hear and there was a huge buzz on the guys before they even released a track from big name A&R people all over the world! They will also be touring worldwide with their live band so watch this space for more news soon!
Mock & Toof have been around for a while but only over the past couple of months have they starting putting together an LP and the demo tracks are definitely going to turn heads and DFA are already looking to sign the LP! Some great songs which have some very very exciting vocalists which the guys are hopefully going to turn into a live band for next year at some point and which we will look to tour!
Knightlife is a guy from Sydney who has done a few remixes for artists such as Cut Copy, Midnight Juggernaughts and Etienne De Crecy and his debut 12"was on Cut Copy's label "Cutters" and his next 12" is also on their label, and he is actually supporting them on their North American Tour in March next year and with lots of new music in the pipeline he's going to be someone to watch!
If you HAD to... would you rather listen to just one song for the rest of your life or eat the same meal for every meal for the rest of your life? What would the song or meal be?
I suppose I would have to eat to stay alive to listen to any music so let’s go for the one meal a day for the rest of my life as I can always make my own music somehow if I’m still alive! So let’s go for a good old curry a day!
