Kiss History

DJ HYPE INTERVIEW 03 August 2009

"Nowadays I call myself a clash DJ, when I go out there I want to smash the walls"

From one deck Reggae sound systems in Hackney to DJing with Afrika Bambaataa in New York. From being obsessed with Two Tone to being name checked by Phil Oakley from the Human League. DJ Hype takes us on a musical journey of his life...

How did you get involved with Kiss to start with?

They asked me to do a radio show, I came and did a radio show and that’s it!

But when you started did you think you’d be here 15 years later?

I’d didn’t think I’d be alive 15 years later let alone be here! I didn’t think I’d be here, no. I take every year as it comes. I’m not a future thinker. My whole career has been organic from one deck reggae sound systems in 1982. I never dreamt I’d be doing what I’m doing at the age I am at and where I am at. It’s been a great journey.

Can you remember when you first came on Kiss?

I think it was 1994. Drum and Bass, Jungle was not the most mainstream form of music. Nowadays it’s a lot more mainstream but back then it was the bastard son of dance music. I still call it that. You didn’t get it played mainstream. I think there was one Radio 1 show that most of us weren’t that impressed with and nothing else and then Kiss started doing it. There was Kenny Ken, Mickey Finn, Randall, Fabio, Grooverider; they all did one off shows at 2 in the morning. I came on in 1994 and you would do 2 weeks on 2 weeks off. Over time it all got boiled down. Then me and Adam F sharing a show and then just me flying the flag.

Club DJ or Radio DJ – where does your heart lie?

It goes through phases to be honest. My heart lies with both. The radio is very important because not everyone goes out clubbing. I do my show on Wednesday and then play in clubs around that. People just think that you beam yourself onto a set of decks for an hour. It is hard, it is graft and the hours are completely fucked. You are always constantly jetlagged. The actual travelling is the only hard part though.

What about fans?

I just went out yesterday for something to eat in Woodford. I turned the corner and bumped into these four blokes and one of them just looked at me and said, ‘You’re Hype! You’re my hero” I find that amazing cos I’m just me, a poor Hackney boy! Who would have thought? I’ve got a big wide fanbase from people in their 40s who remember seeing me play 15 years ago to 18 year olds in their bedroom who aren’t even going out yet. It’s what gives me my confidence and strength, more than my peers. I talk big but underneath it I think all DJs have insecurities. Why is it your average person can stand in a club and have a great night – we’ve got to be the centre of attention?! Maybe my mother didn’t give me that pair of Nike’s I wanted as a kid!

Tell us about how you approach being a radio DJ?

Well I aint naming names but I’ve heard club DJs on the radio who are like, ‘Er…. yeah..…er’ who just sound rubbish and you’d be better off just playing a mix. Ultimately what I do is waffle! It’s not conscious; I don’t have a pre plan. I have no idea what I’m going to say, I just come on and what you see is what you get. The radio is better for me in the sense that I can project a wider scope of Drum and Bass. In a rave I’m just smashing it and making the walls bleed and making people want to go nuts. On Kiss I can play 20 minutes of old school, a bit of it all if I like.

Growing up were there any DJs that you followed or who inspired you?

We didn’t have that in my day mate! I followed soundsystems. Jah Tubbys I probably owe one of the biggest big ups to in my early, early days. It was all about the speaker boxes and the soundsystem in that era, early reggae, early 80s. We were doing the one deck Reggae sound and then it was Herbie Hancock’s Rocket or Buffalo Girls on The Tube. I was sitting there and the guy was talking about scratching, “Yeah you can do this in your bedroom” I tried it on the one deck and thought ‘I can do this quite easily’. I found it quite natural. Nowadays I call myself a clash DJ, when I go out there I want to smash the walls, whether I do or not. I’m trying.  

Are there any DJs now that you listen to?

Back then it was Jazzy Jeff, a guy called DJ Cheese, DJ Streets Ahead, Max and Dave who used to be on Kiss doing the Hip Hop show. It was all the trick DJs and my early career was very influenced by that. I forced myself into the Rave scene because of it because I used to hear all these DJs that were massive names earning millions and I’m like ‘But you’re rubbish!’ Nowadays I’m not blown away by people thinking they are better or worse then me – they’re just different. LTJ Bukem I like because he’s completely different to me. Goldie too.  I told him last year ‘You’re one of my favourite DJs’ purely because he plays nothing like what I play. Outside of Drum and Bass then Mix Master Mike from the Beastie Boys. I played at a festival in France last year and he was on before me and he was amazing. He does it so easy, proper turntabalism. He was even mcing. I was impressed. I like Rodigan when he’s in a Sound Clash. I love the Sound Clash vibe; Mighty Crown, Bodyguard. Whenever those clashes come about I want the tapes.

A lot of the stuff I hear I’ve heard it all before.  I really believe that when I was starting those early years were the best and most original. Everything now is a hybrid of something else. When we were starting out there wasn’t even two decks it was one deck. DJs with two decks were the ones with the flashing lights that would go ‘This is a slowey for the ladies!’ It really was all new and exciting and you couldn’t get it at the touch of a button. The sad thing is now, because you can get it so easily, no one values it the same – that’s any music.

Where do you think Drum and Bass is going?

I never call any trends for it! I always say ‘I’ve got this far without predicting’. One thing I have noticed though is the commercial end of Drum and Bass. It’s turning up at more festivals. It can be a bit of a market flood though – too many DJs and too many producers. What I do find travelling round the world is playing stuff that then the local guys will be playing when I go back there because the stuff I play won’t be coming out for God knows how long. My MC always says ‘You’re gonna hear the future’ so maybe without predicting it I’m playing it.

Is there a best gig you’ve ever played?

Not a best, there’s loads. I’ve just come back from Toronto and I’ve been playing there since 1995 and have a very good fanbase there. The gig there was in a club which was owned by the guys behind Studio 54 – warehouse big. The crowd was amazing. At the end of the set I can hear the local MC talking and I look round and he’s got a microphone in my face and he’s like ‘Say something’ and I’m like ‘What?!’ and I was sort was like, ‘Er, yeah, I’d just like to say…er….’ On the radio I can waffle for England but put me infront of a crowd and I’m like “Er…yeah…”! I felt very silly even though on the radio you are talking to far more people than in a club. I remember saying that I had been coming there a long time and it was nice to know they still liked me. A few days after a promoter wanted me to do my own night out there and was saying that it was a big place that held 2,000 and when I asked him who had ever filled it with 2,000 people he was like, ‘You. The other night!’ It was amazing, I was proper touched, it nearly brought a tear to my eye. You’ve got to understand I’ve been doing this as Hype for 20 years and I started with nothing and I never dreamt of this. 2 years ago I DJed with Afrika Bambaataa. I remember buying Planet Rock and if someone had said then ‘When you’re 40 you’re going to be in New York with them I’d have been ‘Shut up!’’  And he was so nice. And last year Frankie Bones (the man known as the ‘Godfather of American Rave culture’) in New York. I’m playing and I didn’t even know it was Frankie Bones and I’m hogging the decks saying “One more mate, two more” and then he comes on and takes the mike and does this speech about how when he came to London in 1991 and heard me play and then I clocked who he was and I was like ‘Oh fucking hell’! He inspired me. When people tell you they like you that’s nice but when it’s someone who I look up to, like David Rodigan. People who have stood the test of time. And that’s my goal.  I never dreamt of this. I’m probably doing better now than anytime in my career but I’m not supposed to be am I?!

Do you think you’ll be like Rodigan – still going at 57?

That’s the plan. I did Bestival last year and I’m coming back from the Isle of Wight, and who’s sitting on the ferry – bloody George Clinton, Parliament of Funk! It was so surreal. And God knows how old he is?! And I’d had a couple of drinks and I was like, “You’re my inspiration!” I do look at those people that have been around that long and are still good.

Do always feel like you have to play to an audience or do you ever just play at home for yourself?

I do but less and less. I burn CDs for the car to decide what I should play out. I still cut dubs and spend a lot of money cutting them. I love them, the sound. I’m a dying breed but there you go!

What do you listen to outside of Drum and Bass?

F***ing everything! I listen to RnB, Red Indian apache music, ambient, hard reggae. A lot easy listening stuff. Rock is probably the music I listen to the least. I listen to everything. I don’t listen to Drum and Bass to chill out because I play out so much I hear it.

What’s the first record you’ve ever bought?

It was two records on the same day. Oliver’s Army by Elvis Costello and Blondie’s Heart of Glass. Before that it was Saturday Night Fever on cassette that my Auntie got me! My first proper record would have been Ska. I was 11 and my whole class, we were all rude boys. We used to go to Carnaby Street and shoplift all the ties and hats. I used to be obsessed with two tone. It’s funny because 1997 or 98, I can’t remember if it was Mixmag or Music Magazine, but they had a thing with Jerry Dammers in it, the keyboard player with the Specials, and he also DJs. He had one of my Ganja Cru records in his top 10 of the year! I do buzz off things like that. Also in Mixmag I remember Phil Oakley from the Human League saying how he enjoyed listening to me

Top 3 records of all time

Not necessarily my favourite but I’ll give you 3 that inspired me: Aswad ‘Promised Land’, Afrika Bambaata ‘Planet Rock’. Do you know what it’s too hard to name just 3!

Is there a record that you can always play when playing out that just smashes it?

That won’t be a favourite of mine though! That’d be for the crowd. That’s too hard to answer. I could give you a top 30!

Describe yourself in 3 words:

Honest Misunderstood and Moany. No, that’s not right. Real, Fear and Moany!

The final word from DJ Hype

There are people from my manor when I was on the way up and they were my competition and I was almost laughed at because my book cover did not fit the content at all. But my balls were big and we’d go and do it. And I see those people now and they’re not really doing much. I’m doing better and I won.

To check out DJ Hype on Kiss click on this link to totalkiss.com/DJHype.