‘I DON'T BELIEVE YOU HAVE
TO SIMPLY ENTERTAIN BECAUSE THEN YOU'D JUST BE FAT BOY SLIM'
The qospe according to Matt
Mark Edmundson talks to MATTHEW HERBERT, perhaps best known for his ground breaking Big Band project, about his upcoming DJ date.
yer the course ol‘ a decade Matthew llerhert has recorded y'ar'iously' as llerhert. I)octor Rockit and Radio Boy'. amongst others. An ady'oeate ol' responsihle sampler hol‘linry. lirst making music from ohjects at uniyersity in the early t)(ls. he has become eyer more oyertly political in the last liye years. His last high prolile project manil'ested itsell‘ in a Big Band l‘orrnat. speaking out against the then imminent reiny'asion ol' Iraq. The 'document‘ he is currently working on. entitled l’lul l)rr .lurrr. takes on the British lood industry and includes the ol-li—k’illct' and tunel'ully' thought-proyoking rarnhle. "l'he ’l'runcated l.il'e ol‘ a Modern Industrialised (‘hickenf Should you now he starting to \yonder \\ ho on liarth hooked him as a DJ. consider that he made a name playing deep house and techno. his Big Band is signed to \Varp and he's also in production ol‘ Roisin Murphy's neyy alhum: promising to he a delectahly quirky \yee pop gem. ‘llopel'ully. the precedent that l'\ e set is that people
should not he e\pecting anything from me in terms ol‘
records that I make. With any luck they‘ye learnt to
eypect a hit ol‘ the unexpected.‘ ponders .\latthe\y oli
his recorded output. ‘I certainly feel like I haye a pressure from my audience to not repeat my sell or play it sale. The same rules tend to apply \\ hen it comes to l).ling as well. as long as it's l'un.‘
He is dropping into the Suh (‘luh to make up tor a cancelled date last year \y hen he had a cinematic score to wrap up. so what would the man himselt like to see on the night'.’ 'The ideal scenario for me is to get people to respond yyith the same enthusiasm to a
32 THE LIST 3' Use—'3 —\t" QT?
piece ol‘ music that they‘ye neycr heard hel'ore as it
I‘d played one ol' their old layourites. The trick is to seduce people into enjoying music that is perhaps unlamiliar in its sound.
'l‘m not a heliey er that you hay e to simply entertain
hecause then you'd just he l‘at Boy Slim. liqually. il
yotr \\ ere to purely educate you’d he up lor an .'\l’ls (‘ouncil grant. Ilopclttlly it's someyyhere in hctyyeen.‘ Indeed. in this stance he sounds much like the artist .\lohy might like to haye heen. quietly putting out
agreeahle music \yith conscience and nous. And ol~
course. he‘s heen tinkering ayyay l'or almost as long. alyyays perlectly ahle to l'ind an audience tor his ol‘l‘erings. ‘You can neyer really predict \y hat I'm going to do ne\t. largely hecause l hayen‘t a cltre mysell'. and I think that eyen it people hate the Big Band then hopelully the nut thing that comes along might he more to their liking.' he says ol' his longey ity in the husiness. '.»\lso l hay en't marketed the luck out ol~ mysell': you don‘t hear my music on adyerts. \ye don't do merchandise. I'\c tried \ery hard to create a meritocracy \\ here it it's good and people like it they're tree to huy it: it they don‘t it’s not going to intrude in their liyes.~
.\'e\er a man to stand still. hesides knocking out another film score and tinkering a little lor' l)anny Slclllttlttt. he Ltlstt littpc\ It) \pclltl some Hl~ [Ills year ‘saying the world and preyenting America l'rom inyading lran'. I’m sure \ye \\ ish him the hest ol~ luck.
Matthew Herbert guests at Heads Up at the Sub Club, Glasgow, Fri 1 Apr.
Rocket All t2 is the truest a?
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Off the Record with Disco X lhr- first Saturday ot every rrrorttlt turned over to lltlf‘) ~.'/tlrl party. \‘rrth .Johrr_ Hotirrr and [Jeep Fitted i urik rrr roorrr Hit“ and Da/ and lair i)i [irstto X IH thr- hole. Sound/ram, (i/grrrqot't. Sat ." AIM
Pop 0 Naughty Noughties A hrq. lirash. turi club rrrqht that rnrxe‘; ceilrdh rrrusrt; Willi itrttky ehart (t(;lt(;tt. Vigor from. (Sr’asqrit‘r, Sat I’A/ir.
VEGAS! l' arh trrrre Vegas, take over Oeearr lerrnrrial you ktror.’ they're qoirir; to qo for It arid the New York worries to Veqas' f;t)<:<,lr’tl it; no exeeptrorr.
l rye orr staqe we have the Jet Set Six at, ".‘Jell as the World farrroué‘, Puritarrr Sisters, and their burlesque rava'eade. Ocean [Lauri/urn”. [or/rht/rqh, Sat 2 Apr
Locomotive While the Tsuriarrir ate up all the headlines the plight of the Sudanese r't:ltl(__)(;t:f; rriustri't he overlooked. Arid here's a qreat rriqht raising funds With some of the earirtal'i, best DJs all ill tow (including Joseph Mairk. Gareth Sorrirrrervrile. Simon Hodge and Nast/ Pr. Cr’rtmm.‘ l/o/ta/re. Edinburgh, Sun (1‘ Apr:
Madchester Ahh, those head; days of hagg; when the Hacienda was the place to he. Relive the days of /ore wrth one of its figureheads. Bez Of the infamous Happy Mondays. Cabaret l/o/tarre. Edinburgh, Fri Apr.
Get Loaded None other than the gruesome twosome. Shaun and Sex. take over the Arches at thrs mad celebratron of dance Culture. The Arches. Glasgow Sat 9 Apr.