DJ Harvey

Gerd Janson

So Harvey, you’re from Cambridge (UK) originally and you ended up in LA?

DJ Harvey

I suppose I spent my most formative years in Cambridge, between nine and 19, although I was born in London and then moved back to London when I was about 19 and managed to get out to Los Angeles, Venice Beach, California, in my forties. So that’s my rough migration.

Gerd Janson

You’ve been on the forefront of, not really the warehouse party thing in England, but the acid house movement with Tonka, your soundsystem back then. Can you talk about that?

DJ Harvey

The Tonka Soundsystem is basically a loose collection of DJs, engineers and party people. The idea was to have a group identity in a similar way to a Jamaican soundsystem, where you have like Java Hi-Fi. I don’t know if you know, but in Jamaican soundsystems it takes like four guys to play a record. You’ve got the guy that selects the record, the operator – the guy that plays the record – a DJ – a guy that talks over the record – and an engineer that’s tweaking the EQ. We wanted something like that so the guys that were lifting the speaker boxes and helping out with the day-to-day running would feel like part of the crew. We ran parties as a soundsystem, we were known as Tonka Hi-Fidelity.

Gerd Janson

But you didn’t play reggae?

DJ Harvey

We played all kinds of music. At that time, in the early to mid-’80s, reggae was having a renaissance and we were enjoying that and playing reggae music. I grew up as a punk rocker and the Clash and people like that were from Brixton. Brixton is the center for the West Indian community in London, so they were heavily influenced by reggae. We liked the Clash and they liked reggae, so we would investigate reggae music and reggae has been an integral part of my DJing or soundsystem life.

Gerd Janson

You didn’t start out as a DJ, your first musical steps were as a drummer.

DJ Harvey

Yeah, in various school bands, local community centers. Kids’ gigs. I was in a band called Ersatz, which means cheap substitute, and we had a single out on our own little label Leisure Sounds in about 1979, and John Peel liked us and played the track a couple of times. I thought I’d made it, I was very happy at that point. We didn’t manage to sell any records and my friend’s bathroom was full of about five thousand singles for as long as I can remember. But that was a good time, coming up through drumming. Although DJ culture was around and parties were around, as well as drumming in punk bands I’d go to school discos and listen to what the music of the time was. I didn’t really move into DJing until I started hearing the first hip-hop records, things like “Electric Boogie Breakdance.” I couldn’t understand why that record sounded like an underwear commercial. It was a record made from other records and the manipulation of the beats was fascinating to me. The turntables were another form of rhythm-maker, so I approached it as a rhythm-maker rather than as a party DJ, which is what I consider myself now. At that time I was investigating beat juggling and rhythm-making. As I took my place behind the decks I worked out that people didn’t want to watch me go [mimics scratching], they’d rather dance to a nice record.

Gerd Janson

And a few years later on you got really into the whole acid house thing.

DJ Harvey

It just seemed a natural progression, really. Throughout the early ’80s there’d been electronic dance music, uptempo dance music. Although rap and hip-hop is predominantly downtempo these days, back then you had uptempo dance hip-hop music. So… I’ve completely lost my train of thought. [laughs]

Gerd Janson

How did you get from the uptempo hip-hop to the acid house parties?

DJ Harvey

That’s a good sign for you. Those years are such a damn blur, I was so busy having a good time to sort of work it all out. I started going to parties where people were playing predominantly dance music and the attitude and the vibes were really progressive, really exciting, so I started leaning in that direction. It just so happened I was there when that movement was really coming up in England and Europe, so I rode the wave, went to the record shops and played them. And people seemed to like what I did.

Gerd Janson

So was that then responsible for you being one of the first resident DJs at England’s best ever superclub Ministry of Sound?

DJ Harvey

I suppose my reputation had built by that time and the people with the power at the Ministry decided to give me a go. I was lucky enough to be a resident for Friday and Saturday nights for the morning, which was the graveyard shift, from six in the morning through to ten, 11, 12. At that time the Ministry was a juice bar so they didn’t make any money on alcohol, so they didn’t worry about staying open. They hadn’t worked out that they had to pay the security guys more money. It went on until Sunday afternoons or Saturday mornings, it was a great time. It was like driving the Titanic. Really good fun.

Gerd Janson

So it was trying to be like London’s Paradise Garage?

DJ Harvey

Yeah, there was this guy called Justin Berkmann who’d been to the Garage and had this vision of something similar in London. He’d done the work and the research and built his dream club, and initially it was absolutely wonderful in there. Fantastic soundsystem, sprung dancefloor, purpose-built room, the whole room was a pentagon, five walls, suspended like a studio, it’s a room within a room. Acoustically it was really great, it was really great fun to play there.

Gerd Janson

Is it true that they actually had the sound system of Paradise Garage in there?

DJ Harvey

No. I think there was a guy called Steve Dash, I believe who did the installation. I think Steve was one of the Richard Long associates who had installed the Garage systems but the system in the Ministry was more like a tribute to that system then the actual system itself. I don't know what happened to the Garage system. It was probably broken up and burned.

Gerd Janson

Have you ever been to the Garage yourself?

DJ Harvey

No, I never have, I’ve stood outside and looked up. These days it’s a post office, I believe. I was lucky enough never to have had a bad night at the Garage so it’s perfect in my imagination.

Gerd Janson

But you had the pleasure of hosting Larry Levan?

DJ Harvey

I was very lucky, Larry turned out to become a very good friend. He stayed with me a little while and I picked up a good vibe and learned some lessons.

Gerd Janson

So he was really that great?

DJ Harvey

Yes, he was incredible.

Gerd Janson

And what made him that great?

DJ Harvey

Being gay and African and in New York City in the right time and the right place and having a feeling for music and a passion and the ability to communicate in an amazing way. Just by using the volume control he could really speak to you by bringing out particular lyrics in a song. He would talk, you could hear him actually talking through the record, it was quite amazing. I tried playing the same way, you’ll never hear me play a lyric that doesn’t match the way I’m feeling at the same time, what I’m trying to say to the people.

Gerd Janson

You're also trying to match lyrics of different records together?

DJ Harvey

That's possible. To play a verse from one record in a chorus to do an answer-and-reply thing with two different records. It's difficult and it's a rare thing. You could spend a lot of time searching to find that combination. I'd rather just play one record that's really good, you know, then try to work really hard to make something beyond that.

Gerd Janson

You're responsible for one of the most legendary nights there has ever been in London called Moist. Was this before or after your tenure at Ministry of Sound?

DJ Harvey

It was kind of a crossover really. To be honest, I'm not sure which. I think I was doing Moist first and then I started doing Ministry. Moist was on the Fridays. There was a bit of a cross-pollination I'm thinking with that. To be honest I can't remember which one ended or started first. Quite often, I know they were going at the same time because often a DJ that would be headlining at the Ministry on Saturday night, I'd sneakily get them on the Friday night for a session.

Gerd Janson

What did you try to do with Moist? It was obviously very different to everything else back then.

DJ Harvey

It was a first foray into what I would describe as adult dance music, which is not necessarily instantly gratificational, but a little more sex-orientated, a little more sleazy, a little more grown-up, rock-y, slower. In a lot of ways it was a little more Garage, Balearic, cosmic kind of tribute. I was discovering how that music works.

Gerd Janson

Could you actually describe the term Balearic?

DJ Harvey

Balearic music. OK, there are some islands in the Mediterranean called the Balaeric Islands, one of which is Ibiza. Ibiza has been party central for about two thousand years. The music which had become the signature sound of the slightly more sophisticated end of the Ibizan scene has become known as Balearic music. And these days, with a wide range of sound – I mean, I haven’t been there for five years so I don’t really know what’s happening, but I’m sure it hasn’t changed that much – it could mean anything. It’s hard, I suppose could play you ten Balearic records and then you could have an idea of the vibe and the feeling. It’s slightly softer, slightly more dreamy, more downtempo, at the European end of dance music. But in general it’s music which had become popular in the Balearic islands during the ’80s. [points at audience member] Wake up and pay attention. [audience laughter]

Gerd Janson

Maybe you could play us an example.

DJ Harvey

Maybe I could, let’s have a look in here. [searches through records] Here we go, something Italian. Now this has a European flavor, electronic beats and it’s a little bit cheesy, which is one of the good ingredients of Balearic music.

(music: Margueritas – “Margherita”)

You get the basic idea of the ’80s thing. This is a little German record by Supermax, this has lots of Euro flavor, electronic rhythms, a little bit downtempo. Let’s see if we can get the guy’s voice on here.

(music: Supermax – “African Blood”)

OK, that's enough of that. I mean, it's very difficult to purvey an entire genre of music which has such a wide range of sound within its borders, as it were. Probably the best thing to do is go out and buy sort of Best of Balearic Volume 1 or something. I'm sure there's one of those out there somewhere.

Gerd Janson

There actually is one I think on Master Cuts or something.

DJ Harvey

Yeah. You'll get the general idea from that. It's a very open genre of dance music.

Gerd Janson

Who were the DJs playing that stuff?

DJ Harvey

I suppose the greatest were Pippi of Pacha, Alfredo of Amnesia, there’s a bunch of guys. Someone like Alfredo would play seven nights a week, 12 hours a night. That guy, he’s incredible, when I saw him at the end of the night there was a line of about 50 people just wanting to touch the guy, kiss his hand, amazing. He would DJ with no headphones, mixing off the beat flash of the LED. Wonderful guy, he had wonderful programming.

Gerd Janson

Mixing isn't too important for that kind of music?

DJ Harvey

Mixing helps obviously to keep the flow. I think over the last sort of 15 to 20 years it’s been important. Especially with electronic dance music it’s pretty damn easy to mix. I think if it’s too much of a problem, I mean, for me it’s the flow of the party. Mixing doesn’t impress me. Especially of electronic beats. It’s, “Oh, OK, here we go.” But if someone can actually have some courage and play a record with passion then that’s DJing, you know? Mixing has its place. If it’s mixable, mix it. If it’s not, don’t worry about a thing. Stop the record, put the next one on and keep the party jumping.

Gerd Janson

You would prefer [David] Mancuso over Q-Bert?

DJ Harvey

Very different, both incredible DJs, although I’ve only seen Q-Bert on video. I don’t know what it would be like being at a party where he was DJing. It would probably be good if you were breakdancing or something. There’s places and spaces and generally the crowd decides and a professional DJ will cater to the crowd.

Gerd Janson

You’ve also been responsible for the first wave of disco edits being made in Europe on a little label called Black Cock.

DJ Harvey

Um, yeah. Black Cock is flaccid as we speak. [audience laughter] We haven’t been active for some time. We started in the very early ’90s, as a direct result of my relationship with Larry. He played an edit of South Shore Commission’s “Free Man,” which I wanted to get hold of and then I worked out how he’d got the version, because there was a tape edit cut onto acetate. I looked into that and then my first edit was of South Shore Commission – “Free Man,” basically trying to make the version I’d heard Larry play. Then we – that’s me and my partner Gerry Rooney – went onto release I think seven volumes of the Black Cock re-edits of various disco stuff and obscure cosmic, Balearic, whatever you want to call it music.

Gerd Janson

Maybe you can play us some.

DJ Harvey

This is the first ever, even though it’s number seven. Someone actually called us up and asked where the other six were. Comical. This is the one that goes for the money, so we’ll play this. I’ve heard this has been up to 300 bucks on good old eBay.

(music: Black Cock – “No Way Back”)

Cool I’m glad you liked that one. I like that one too.

Audience Member

Is this a bootleg also because the same track once edit? The intro is missing.

DJ Harvey

Um, no. It’s not a... We didn’t licence the track. In that way it’s a bootleg. The edit is my edit. I think various DJs have done edits of this track including Theo Parrish, Ron Hardy and myself.

Gerd Janson

It’s Adele’s.

DJ Harvey

Yeah, it’s Adele’s “No Way Back.” It’s a famous track to edit. I haven’t heard the Ron Hardy one, I’d quite like to get my hands on that. Someone’s put out I think it’s called Ron... What’d they-

Audience Member

Ron’s Edits.

DJ Harvey

Right. I imagine that Ron Hardy had re-edited it before me. I think that in the last, I think the Theo Parrish one is more recent and there’s been, you know, other versions.

Audience Member

What year is it from?

DJ Harvey

The original track?

Audience Member

No, the edit.

DJ Harvey

When did I do it? Like ‘92, something like ‘91-’92.

Audience Member

How did you do it?

DJ Harvey

By cutting tape.

Audience Member

You cut tape on all of that?

DJ Harvey

Yeah. It’s not that complicated. That particular one, there’s only 20-30 edits on it.

Gerd Janson

Maybe you could explain to them how a reel-to-reel machine works.

DJ Harvey

You get the record, record it onto reel-to-reel tape, run the tape off, mark the section before the beat to cut, cut it, run it through again to the end of the section. Then you’ve got a piece of tape which is hanging round your neck. Record another one, make two, then stick them together in a big loop, have a cotton reel and a pencil, record that loop onto another. At the time I didn’t have two tape machines, I had a DAT machine. I recorded that loop onto the DAT, played that back onto the tape and so on and so on, build up and have different sections and stick them together.

Gerd Janson

How long did it take for you to do an edit?

DJ Harvey

Just one night, but all night.

Gerd Janson

What do you think about computer mouse edits these days?

DJ Harvey

I think it’s really good that the technology is there but it doesn’t help people make good edits. It’s become an excuse to make a record. Half the edits I hear ruin the record. People edit records that don’t need editing because they didn’t have the knowledge to know there was already a 12” copy or whatever it may be. I think you’ve got to be very careful before you embark on the re-edit thing. Often I find the break section of a record is only the best bit because it precedes a shit part, so I honestly feel like taking “Apache” by the Incredible Bongo Band and leaving out the break, and just edit the chorus over and over again, so the break never comes and the crowd, that will really get people going. We listened a while ago to a Crusaders edit and whoever had edited it had taken out the middle eight, the bridge section, which for me, although it’s not the most happening section, it leads you into the good part. That’s what makes the good part good. Editing is not something to be taken lightly. Seriously consider it because you can bury yourself.

Gerd Janson

It’s an excuse to make a record?

DJ Harvey

No, I think people listen to a record and think I’d love to have go at re-making that, but they’re not necessarily considering the people who are going to have to listen to the thing. People take a loop and it’s like, “OK, let’s make it ten minutes long.” That’s really boring.

Gerd Janson

But some people make nice careers out of that.

DJ Harvey

Sure, there are some really good ones but there are some really bad ones as well. I don’t have a problem with the technology, I think it makes it easier, but it doesn’t help. If it’s not in there, it’s not going to be picked up by the technology.

Gerd Janson

But don’t you use the technology yourself?

DJ Harvey

Yeah, these days. Well, I don’t, I get someone else to do it and I loop that, because I’m not really up on the technology, particularly. If I’m in the studio I’ll have a young engineer who understands and I’ll just be like, “OK. Take all these parts, stretch them to 110 BPM, I’ll be back after lunch.” Then I come in, program a beat, put that to the beat and arrange, rather than sit staring at the screen going insane.

Gerd Janson

So, you’ve actually got a project going on right now called Map of Africa, which is some sort of dance music?

DJ Harvey

It’s basically a band, a group. The studio outfit is me and Tom Bullock of A.R.E. Weapons fame, who was a DJ member of the Wicked Crew from San Francisco and is now one half of Rub’N’Tug who are doing really well with remixes and tours of the world. Our band that we put together is basically to write and produce and perform some songs of our own and we’ve been working on it for two years now.

Gerd Janson

And what kind of music is this?

DJ Harvey

It’s basically two kinds. There are songs that are written to be performed as a band, which tend to be stompy, rock-y, a bit like ZZ Top or something like that. Then there’s the other half, which is more cosmic, dancey, Balearic, mellow, and that’s designed to be played in clubs, remixed by other DJs hopefully. So we’ve got a wide range and a crossover of sound.

Gerd Janson

You’ve got the new record with you, do you want to play it?

DJ Harvey

You’re gonna hear me do karaoke! This is the new single folks, which you can’t buy anywhere.

Gerd Janson

It’s actually really hard to get.

DJ Harvey

Yeah, it’s impossible. But that’s OK. Records are luxury items these days, so it’s more like a promo. It was released but there’s only 1,000 of them anyway, so it’s only for record collectors, DJs and journalists.

Gerd Janson

And what about the name Map of Africa?

DJ Harvey

Map of Africa is a sex stain that is left on the bed. I don’t know if you guys have ever encountered one of those. [audience member asks what label it’s on] It’s on Whatever We Want Records.

Gerd Janson

Which is a label out of New York.

(music: Map of Africa – “Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys”)

Gerd Janson

That’s some pretty shocking disco rock music.

DJ Harvey

It’s actually a cover version of an Eddy Grant record called “Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys,” which is one of the first disco records out in 1969 and is a favorite of people like Nicky Siano and Francis Grasso.

Gerd Janson

Who are DJs in New York.

DJ Harvey

Who were New York DJs at the time.

Gerd Janson

And whose marvellous voice is that?

DJ Harvey

That’s me on the karaoke. [applause]

Gerd Janson

Could you please explain a little bit more about your project? What you’re trying to do with it?

DJ Harvey

We’re just trying to have a real good time. I’m halfway through my mid-life crisis, so I thought I’d start a rock & roll band. [laughter] Before it’s too late. It’s an opportunity to really for the first time to fully... Although that one is a cover version, there’s actually 16 original pieces on the album. To really get into writing and performing our own songs. Songs with verses and choruses and middle eights and the stuff. Because for so long I’ve been associated with dance music. Which can be very tracky, in a lot of ways, and can be very simplistic lyrically. To be able to express myself through real songs. I’m not saying dance music isn’t real songs but through a more sort of song-based medium is what it’s all about.

Gerd Janson

Four-to-the-floor bores you these days?

DJ Harvey

Not at all. I love four-to-the-floor. You search for something to take the place of four-to-the-floor but only four-to-the-floor can do what four-to-the-floor. You know what I’m saying? There’s lots of alternatives, but there is no alternative. It’s down to good and bad. I don’t mind if it’s five on the floor, so does it work as a nice record... am I popping this mic? Yeah. It’s just down to whether its a good record, is the floor dancing. It’s whether it’s a good one or a bad one, really.

Gerd Janson

So you don’t care about genres anymore?

DJ Harvey

No, I never really did. People would ask me what I’d play, and I suppose it’s grown-up dance music, or adult dance music, that’s my main thing, and that covers everything. You can shape it to whatever. If it’s a good party and people are down they’re gonna...

Gerd Janson

So what constitutes a good party in your opinion?

DJ Harvey

Just the majority of people having a nice time. There’s so many ways that can be achieved, whether it’s indoors, outdoors, small crowd, big crowd. Just that most people are enjoying themselves, it’s as simple as that.

Gerd Janson

And you’re trying to throw good parties in Hawaii right now?

DJ Harvey

Yeah, getting onto the Hawaii thing, I’m partner in a spaced out there called 39 Hotel. It’s at 39 Hotel Street, Chinatown, Honolulu. Basically, it’s a multimedia space and we have art shows, jazz nights, all kinds of different things going on. Saturday night is the dance party night and we have predominantly dance DJs and various people coming and going.

Gerd Janson

And you’re taking care of the soundsystem.

DJ Harvey

We’ve only been open a year and up until now we’ve only had a small simple JBL soundsystem, but as we speak I’m looking into buying something pretty fancy with a bunch of vintage ’70s components and I want to build a world-class soundsystem.

Gerd Janson

Can you elaborate, what’s a good soundsystem to you?

DJ Harvey

A good soundsystem is something that has high fidelity so you can basically hear what’s on the record, a little weight and power so you can feel what’s on the record, that’s pretty much it. The key is to have a clean signal path. It all starts with the stylus. If your stylus is no good, your system is going to amplify something that’s no good. All the amps and preamps will amplify the sound from the needle. So you start with a good needle, which is a reissue Shure V15 II, they’re about $350 a pop. It’s a hi-fi stylus but they’re robust enough to withstand back cueing. Probably then run through a Bozak, we have a custom Bozak in the club. A UREI mixer is a copy of a Bozak, Bozak came out a few years before, very fine components which give a pretty smooth, clean sound, a softer sound than the Urei.

Gerd Janson

What actually is a Bozak?

DJ Harvey

It’s a rotary controlled preamplifier for turntables and whatever else you might have. It also has phono-ins and line-ins and it’s the first commercially available DJ mixer and still the best. UREI’s are good, they have a little tighter sound, but a Bozak is like sprinkling icing sugar on the cake. From the Bozak, try to run through as little processes as possible, gates and compression and so on. It protects the system but it doesn’t help the sound. I’ll have an idiot-proof button so if there’s someone there who doesn’t know what they’re doing, I’ll hit the button that holds everything in place. But anyone who knows what they’re doing will have full headroom with no compression on the system. So a simple signal path from the Bozak through a simple EQ and then I’ll split a five-way system. I have a Richard Long three-way crossover where the middle sections are full-range, the tops and the bass. It’s not like the modern general three-ways, which tend to be a mid, high and bass. This is a full-range, which is everything, and then with support at 10k and 80 for the bass. So I’ll run a three-way system through the full-range and then have subbass support and a bullet tweeter array for the highs. I’ve been chatting with Nicky Siano about some prototype Klipsch cabinets and stuff, but I’m not sure if I’ll go for those.

Gerd Janson

Klipsch are pretty legendary.

DJ Harvey

Yes, David Mancuso runs a Klipsch horn system with Levinson amps and it’s a very clean lovely system. But it can be a little bit frustrating for some people because it doesn’t have the weight, the punch that I’m looking for for my system. His system is very soft, easygoing, but a little too easygoing for my liking. You could stand there listening to it for 12 hours and not have any ear fatigue.

Gerd Janson

Have you ever been to the Loft?

DJ Harvey

Yeah, I’ve been to it at a couple of different locations. Once in Alphabet City in the early ’90s and more recently he plays at the Ukrainian Center in Manhattan. He brings his system and it’s a great party.

Gerd Janson

And he’s also the master of not mixing records but having a great party.

DJ Harvey

He leaves gaps between the records, which gives people an opportunity to applaud or enjoy the track or have a chat about it for five minutes before the next record comes on. But I think it’s good, he has a very different pace to the whole night, nothing’s forced, the records speak for themselves. It takes a little while to get used to if you haven’t experienced that style before but once you get the idea, watch what everyone’s doing and go with the flow, it’s a great party.

Gerd Janson

Why Hawaii? Is it the up and coming dance music center of the world?

DJ Harvey

No, I don’t think Hawaii will ever be the dance music centre of the world, there’s too much to do during the day. You can go to the beach and go surfing, there’s not really any reason to lock yourself in a dark room with loud music for 12 hours. It’s a very musical place and you can enjoy the culture, people do enjoy the arts, but as far as a destination for European hordes to go out and claim it as the next Ayia Napa or something? I don’t think that will happen. It’s a long way from Europe, it costs a lot of money to get out there and it’s expensive to stay. Everything’s an import so it’s an expensive place, but we’ve had some wonderful parties in the last year and we’re going to carry on.

Gerd Janson

Hawaiian won’t become a genre like Balearic?

DJ Harvey

It may well do if I can hold down the identity of the movement. I had the idea of doing this little flyer that says Loft, house, Garage, hotel. And I’ve got the hotel. Just another one of those, “Oh, I’m into hotel music.”

Gerd Janson

But be honest, you just picked a place where you could enjoy yourself?

DJ Harvey

Hawaii was a very exotic destination for me ever since I was a kid. I’ve always been into skateboarding and in recent years got into surfing. One of the reasons I moved to California was to enjoy the surfing, and Hawaii was just the next step. Having DJ’d there and got on with the locals who enjoyed what I was doing, I’ve become established there. It’s great.

Gerd Janson

So you don’t miss London at all?

Gerd Janson

Not at all, no. I miss a few friends over there, but I enjoy being by the beach, and I enjoy the sunny days and stuff like that. London I think is a tough place to live, especially at the moment, things are very expensive. Times can be hard to get on in London. Usually when times are hard, people get creative. That’s one thing about London. You don’t go there for the weather or the food, you go there because there’s great fashion and arts and music. People get their heads down, because you can’t go and jump in the River Thames, your skin would fall off, you know what I mean? You might as well go lock yourself in a room and pour it out through the computer.

Gerd Janson

Maybe you could play us another one of your Black Cock things in there.

DJ Harvey

Let’s see what we can find.

Gerd Janson

And why Black Cock?

DJ Harvey

I thought, what’s the most potently sexual thing in the world? It’s got to be a black cock. Everyone remembers it, when you hear that name you’re like, “Ooh, ah, ee!” It hurts to think about that kind of thing.

(music: DJ Harvey - "C Is for Charlie")

Gerd Janson

What do you think about whole bass around Black Cock being so expensive on the internet? You don’t take it too serious, do you?

DJ Harvey

I don’t take it too seriously. I think, for me, it’s great. It keeps the hype going and I’m happy that people are interested. For the people that buy the records, it’s great because they have a great rare disco record to play and show to their friends and make them jealous. I think it’s all good. If people are really into it, that’s the best I could hope for, really.

Gerd Janson

You wouldn’t spend that much money on a record yourself, right?

DJ Harvey

I would if I had that much money to spend on a record. This is a good tip guys. Give yourselves a 20 dollar bill. Go down to Amoeba and buy 20 one-dollar records, and you’ll get at least two or three really good ones and save some money. That’s how I do it.

Gerd Janson

Amoeba is the store in Los Angeles?

DJ Harvey

I think there’s one in Oakland, in San Francisco. In fact, there’s one in San Francisco and there’s one in Oakland, and there’s one in Los Angeles, and they’re huge secondhand record stores. They tend to have these great dollar bins. The kids that fill the dollar bins, it appears to me have no idea what they’re doing because they fill it up with great records.

Gerd Janson

You’re only buying out of the dollar bins when you go record shopping?

DJ Harvey

Not only, but I like to do it like that, you discover stuff. It’s only a dollar so you’re not risking that much money, you can experiment with stuff you just like the look of. Any record made before 1975 is good anyway. [laughter]

Gerd Janson

Are there any new records you like?

DJ Harvey

Yeah, loads... but I can’t think of any right now. [laughter]

Gerd Janson

Sometimes one gets the impression that guys like Lindstrøm and the Idjut Boys, for instance, are just making records for you to play them.

DJ Harvey

That would be nice. Idjut Boys are a case in point, they’re making great new music. Lindstrøm seems to be very prolific, he’s making ten remixes a week. Lindstrøm, stop it or you’ll rinse yourself out, dude!

Gerd Janson

Maybe you could talk about Idjut Boys and the whole nu-disco explosion in the late ‘90s? You are being held responsible for that.

DJ Harvey

I have a problem with the whole genre thing, I think that just helps journalists write about stuff. I suppose there’s a loose group of DJs and musicians that championed the slightly more sophisticated dance music sound towards the end of the ’90s. It’s nothing more than that, really. There was nothing contrived about it, it just so happened we were enjoying that kind of music so we made that kind of music. Actually, I managed to sidestep the British New School.

Gerd Janson

I think it was being called British New House or something.

DJ Harvey

Yeah, really sad, right?

Gerd Janson

It wasn’t my invention.

DJ Harvey

I mean, you’d think they would come up with something better. I suppose hip-hop’s a strange name for some kind of music, isn’t it? Yeah, I don’t know, I tried to... I know all the guys involved in that so-called scene, I tried to sort of distance myself from an actually solid style. I wouldn’t say I have a particular way.

Gerd Janson

Can you tell us about Japan, where you’re a bit of a cult hero?

DJ Harvey

Japan is always a good time. I’ve been there many, many times over the years. The kids really know their stuff, they do the research. They’ve got the mania. They do their research and sing along to records and I don’t know how they know them. Japan is really good, I’ve toured all over and had a great reception. It’s just a great place to hang out, the food’s amazing, the people are really friendly and they’re enthusiastic. If you’re passionate about whatever you do and you give yourself up to the people, they’ll give it back.

Gerd Janson

And Japanese trainspotters are the craziest?

DJ Harvey

Pretty much. They’ll take a photograph of every record I play and then hold their phone up so they’ll have a photo and audio recording as well.

Gerd Janson

Then you can go to a record store in Japan and...

DJ Harvey

Yeah. It’s crazy, there’s some... They have their sign “DJ Harvey play” and there’s these big lists. Sort of a replica of my record box. Like that bag. They’ll have a record bag with all the exact same records I’ve got in there. “DJ Harvey’s Set.” It’s crazy! Or like “What DJ Harvey is going to be playing next week,” and I don’t even know that. It’s pretty good. It’s good fun. I suppose for some people it could be annoying, but I think if people are down for it, it’s cool.

Audience Member

Some friends told me you have something to do with Moton re-edits.

DJ Harvey

I was involved in the launch of that label. The name was my concept, which relates back to the Japanese thing. The Japanese have a strange grasp of English and when they name things they quite often use English words. Say, they were going to build a CD player, they wouldn’t call it Pioneer, they’d call it,say, ‘Oneer’. They take a few letters off here and there and make a new word that kind of relates to what they want to do, like Evisu jeans is just Levi’s with the “L” taken off. So I was thinking of using that as a concept, I thought, OK, we’ll have Motown, but with the “W” taken out it becomes Moton. I think these days they’re a straight bootleg label, but the first three or four releases that I was involved in we were remixing end editing tracks. I enjoyed that side of it but I’m not too interested in the business side of running a label, so I just let them get on with it, Diesel and Jarvis.

Audience Member

When you were talking about New house something, wasn’t that the thing around Street Corner Symphony in the ’90s, was that it?

DJ Harvey

Yeah, probably the street corner records were the epitome of...

Audience Member

And wasn’t that on Ministry of Sound’s label?

DJ Harvey

Yeah, it was all linked to around that time.

Audience Member

So you were, like, running away from your own residency and trying to escape their corporatism...

DJ Harvey

Yeah, they sacked me from the ministry of sound, and I quote: “Because I smoked too much weed” – sorry – “and my music was too good.” How could anyone? Sorry, guy, we’re sacking you because you’re too good. I’m like, that really make sense guys, see ya.

Audience Member

They’re out of their mind. I think everyone else agrees with why you were sacked.

DJ Harvey

I think that after a certain point it really did become a business rather than a passion. Justin Berkmann, it was his vision, the club, he had been bought out by his investors. Those guys run it like a hotel or something, they just look at figures. They’re like, “OK, there was 25 less people this week, we gotta have Todd Terry again.” But it’s all right. I had a great time there, and I’m lucky I got out when I did.

Audience Member

Did you ever pay sample clearance on the Black Cock records?

DJ Harvey

In a word, no. I thought I could get away with it and I have done but there’s a grey area, which is allowed to exist in the sampling world, and they won’t come after you for money unless you’ve got any money to give them. If someone came to me and said, “Right, I want the profit from Black Cock,” I’d say, “You owe me $10 for promoting your arse. We didn’t make any money.” [audience laughter] If there was any chance to make some money then fewer artists want to turn that down. Few artists will say, “No, I don’t want to make any money, I don’t want to relaunch my career.” It’s like, “OK, let’s make this thing happen.” A lot of the time, especially in hip-hop, peoples’ tracks are made and then licensing isn’t paid until the album is released.

Audience Member

So you’d be willing to give money back basically?

DJ Harvey

Yeah, there isn’t any money anyway, but I mean if we’d made some money and someone came to me and said, “We want a percentage of the profit,” then great, no worries. Any more questions?

Audience Member

So it seems there’s a red line running through your career, a Black Cock that is only re-edits and bootlegs and now you have a band that makes only 1,000 copies of your record. You’re asking for it, man. What are you going to do, bootleg your own records?

DJ Harvey

These days money is made in music by people downloading MP3s for a buck a go and buying CDs. Nobody buys records anymore.

Audience Member

Except for these guys. [points to audience]

DJ Harvey

Except for these guys. That’s good, that record is for you people and I’m sure with a bit of luck there are still some copies out there somewhere. But in general they’re really just promotional luxury items for DJs, journalists and collectors. On this particular record, the paper part cost more than the vinyl part because we really wanted a nice print.

Audience Member

So it’s like New Order, “Blue Monday,” you’re losing money on every copy?

DJ Harvey

Yeah, I think we’re losing money on those. But when it comes to it everyone will be able to get their hands on the music. I think I’ll do a limited gatefold vinyl for the album, there’ll be CDs and downloadable MP3 and I’m sure people will be able to go on Kazaa or Limewire and get it for free. For me, I pay my rent by being a professional DJ, so it’s the making of the music that’s important to me. I enjoy the process of realizing an idea. “Wouldn’t it be nice to have an Arab dude on the cover, blah, blah, blah.” And then to see it actually happen, that’s it, I’m happy, I’m done. I don’t really care if anyone buys the record or not.

Audience Member

You were just saying nobody buys records anymore but the impression I get is, it might be it’s selling less but it’s growing to be more loved day by day. It’s become almost mystical. So what would your reaction be and how would you feel if someone released a White Cock of Map Of Africa, re-edited?

DJ Harvey

I suppose, initially I’d take it as a compliment but it depends. If I was starving and couldn’t pay my rent and someone else was doing well selling my work, then if I knew about it I’d contact them and ask them for a licensing fee. But apart from that it probably wouldn’t bother me.

Audience Member

Another thing I want to ask you, you’re easily traceable to Black Cock, so if, was it the Pointer Sisters with the Cookie?

DJ Harvey

If the Cookie Monster comes knocking on my door, “Where’s my money?”

Audience Member

If the Cookie Monster wants his money he knows who to call. How come you’ve dodged that?

DJ Harvey

Like I said before, there is a grey area that is allowed to exist where people are allowed to sample, and as long as no money is being made, then people don’t mind. Any money made from Black Cock went back into the label. In fact, with this particular record [holds up record], I didn’t even collect the money from the distributors, I let them keep it because I couldn’t be bothered to go and chase a few bucks.

Audience Member

But obviously, if the album was to sell five thousand copies you’d have enough money to pay them for that?

DJ Harvey

Yes, exactly.

Audience Member

OK, I see.

DJ Harvey

If someone was to come to me now, there’s no money made in the first place for me to pay them. So, to take me through the courts, what it would cost everybody, it’s a pain in the arse.

Audience Member

But by now, you realize if you were starving you could print 10 thousand copies of the Black Cocks and they would all sell out for a reasonable price.

DJ Harvey

I could do that.

Audience Member

I was just talking to Jason over there last night. I like music as much as anyone, but sometimes it is a bit nerdy to go after this like it is a religious object or something. But since you have got to this place, if you take time and as long as you got a good publisher and so on, you could...

DJ Harvey

Sure, we have thought of doing a box set and if that was the case it would be a lot more official. Black Cock is so wrong, if you like. We used Foghorn Leghorn who’s a Warner Brothers thing, I know I made him black in this thing. [picks up record] It’ll never happen, man. They’re done and gone, it’s a done thing and the people that own them can enjoy them.

Gerd Janson

And they also have been bootlegged.

DJ Harvey

Have they? Do you know who’s done it? I’d be interested to know. Can you get them?

Gerd Janson

On eBay, yeah.

DJ Harvey

Wow.

Gerd Janson

You can also get T-shirts. There’s lot of Black Cock merchandising going on.

DJ Harvey

Oh well, someone’s doing well. I think I know who’s doing T-shirts. I don’t know who’s bootlegged the records. That’s interesting, I’ll have to check it out. I heard someone say they were thinking of it, there’s only a few people who would do it and there’s only a few pressing plants. I’ll send out some beams and get to know. It’s one of five people.

Gerd Janson

And speaking of being a professional DJ, you’ve been DJing for how long now? Twenty-plus years? Will there come a point when you’ve had enough of all this?

DJ Harvey

Not really, I still enjoy playing records. It would be nice I suppose to just end up in a little bar in Samoa and have my vintage soundsystem, playing records to my customers. But I don’t see myself growing bored with DJing really, as long as people accept me, then yeah.

Gerd Janson

Maybe, if there aren’t any other questions, we could end with some music.

Audience Member

Just one more question. Is this yours, did you take part in this, “Stars” with Sylvester?

DJ Harvey

What about it?

Audience Member

I just bought it this morning.

DJ Harvey

You just bought it? Has it got my name on it? Maybe someone stole it off me.

[record is passed forward]

Oh no, that’s not me. This is a wonderful record, though.

Gerd Janson

Let’s hear the other Harvey.

DJ Harvey

Let’s see what the other Harvey can do. There’s an instrumental of this somewhere. Is this my outro? This’ll be a good outro for me.

(music: Sylvester – “I Need Somebody (to Love Tonight)” / applause)