Shindig have become pretty renowned for throwing some epic parties for the best part of twenty years now. Born out of Newcastle’s thirsty music scene they have successfully combined high profile international bookings with an arsenal of regional talent. Over the last ten years Shindig numerously shared stage with a one Joey Negro – This Saturday he returns. In the words of Neil Bainbridge “for someone who has been in the industry so long and moved his way through genres so successfully yet sticking to his roots we can’t wait to hear him play”. I’m proud to say that Joey took five to catch up with Breaksof10 in the lead up to the event this week.
So how important is it for you to have so many creative outlets?
You mean recording under different aliases? Nowadays 4 or 5 is enough – Sunburst Band, Akabu, Doug Willis, Joey Negro and a couple of others. Often the various names is just about putting out lots of singles, sometimes quite close to each other time wise, so realistically it would be more confusing to release them all under one moniker. Musically, there is a big difference (to me anyway) between sunburst band (which a live jazz funk sound) and Akabu (much more electronic and housey) but there are some tracks which could come out under one of a few names.
Do the lines ever become blurred? Or are they very distinctive? Do you find it easy to pick up and put down different projects?
With the way making music has gone, in terms of it being much more computer based, its now very easy to flick between different tracks in a few seconds. So one the average studio day i might work on 4 productions – one which i just started, another almost finished and a couple somewhere in between. Though other times i will work solidly on one song for a week. In some ways its a curse, especially if like me, you’re a perfectionist plus being A&R and producer/label means there is no-one to say “that’s fine, its sounds good, move on” ))) You can keep tweaking something forever and sometimes you’re just going round in circles but all in all, I think it normally makes for a better finished product
How do you balance your time and your international appearances between your numerous entities?
If its a long distance you do a little tour, I was lucky bastard and got to go to Australia and Thailand over Xmas and New Year – missing most of the nasty weather in the UK. However, normally I’m just flying somewhere in Europe at the weekend a few times a month, as well as gigs within the UK. Of course traveling can be tiring and boring, inevitably you end up missing sleep – then its often back in the studio and office Monday, but I also know how lucky I am to being doing what I’m doing, so it’s a small price to pay really.
When are you at home; working in the studio? Or playing for thousands of fans nodding to your creation?
Obviously, both can be great but both can be pretty difficult. There are good gigs and shit ones, 2 hours can either whizz by or seem like an eternity. Same with making music, some tracks seem to come together really easily, others take forever and you’re constantly trying to make something work that for some reason isn’t sounding right, which can be frustrating and depressing.
Do you follow a routine in the lead up to a performance? Any good luck charms or superstitious manifestations? A rabbits foot close at hand?
If possible, I to take 20 minutes to browse thru my cds, think about what sort of set I’m likely to play. My wallet isn’t that messy but I’ve probably got 6 weeks worth of music in it, so its good to make a mental note of anything specific that might not pop into my mind once I’ve actually started playing and there’s lot of other stuff going on. Normally the day (or day before) of a gig I’m editing/tweaking tracks and compiling cds. Bloody exciting stuff.
What does 2010 look like? Any exciting projects afoot?
I spend quite a lot of 2009 on an Akabu album, its close to finished now. I would describe it as musical deep (mainly) electronic house. The current title is “The Phuture Ain’t What It Used To Be” and it will be released on Z Records later this year. We’ve got some pretty good remixes of the tracks by the likes of Jimpster, Motor City Drum Ensemble, Thomas Gold and Andre Lodeman. I’ve also been working o a new comp called “Back Street Brit Funk”, which is disco funk from the late 70s/early 80s with UK bands like Freeez, Mirage and China Burton… and not the obvious hits from the period. I’m not sure how well it will sell but this music is stuff I loved at the time and much of it has never gone beyond the original white label release.
Any new technology for 2010, what is a Joey Negro must have, be it in your DJ bag, your ear wear, or software?
It might sound boring but one thing I need to do is try playing from a laptop. For a start when I’m traveling I take laptop with me anyway, not having the cds would be much lighter. Annoyingly often, cds end up not playing or getting lost – I end up realizing that I don’t have the track I wanted to play – at which the point the current song has only got a minute left! I also like the idea of being able to download something and play it straight away and not having to burn it to cd, especially when I’ve been away for a while. I’ve currently got 3 cd wallets, as I do quite a wide variety of gigs not to mention that some of the things you can do with effects and looping looks really cool.
Having said that, almost every dj I talk to who plays on a laptop say they miss cds and are thinking of swapping back. I need to make my own mind up on this important matter…
Thanks for taking time out, enjoy Australia.
The latest mix from the man himself:
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