Chris Duckenfield Interview. Questions: Russell Parker - June 2010.

Chris, you were there at the start of the dance music explosion in the late 80's early 90's, can you tell us how excitng it was starting out as a young DJ in Northern England, your first gigs, parties, raves and so on?

It was immensely exciting, kind of hard to get across to people these days, even though the experiences and soundtrack haven't really changed all that much! I really did fall into DJing [literally]. It was never something I imagined myself doing at all. I've always been an avid music fan & bought as much new music as I could afford and made mix tapes [one deck, pause button] for myself and a few mates, which led on to a club play opportunity. I learnt the craft on the job more or less, and that first residency [The Limit Club in Sheffield] was amazingly successful, more for selection rather than skill I hasten to add!

Prior to that as an impressionable teenager, going to these clandestine warehouse parties in the industrial parts of Sheffield, and clubs like Kool Kat in Nottingham. The Hacienda etc, usually out of my tiny mind on LSD, seeing all these freakily dressed older party people and hearing music which was absolutley nothing like anything else, well, it was powerful stuff. It's hard to separate the intensity of the experience from it's relevance as a world changing time, but it was genuinely new and unchartered territory, which shaped everything which followed it.

Were you DJing long before you got into production? Do you have a preference for either or?

Well, I guess we're talking '89 as the start of my DJing career, and perhaps '91 for the first forays into production. I did and still do, much prefer DJing. I've always found producing to be a difficult process [I've got a very basic knowledge of sound engineering and synths etc, even now!], whereas DJing feels intuative and immensely rewarding in contrast.

In terms of style of music, what were you playing when you first started out and how has it evolved?

Back then it was the selection really, so you'd hear Hip Hop, House music, Euro stuff, Street Soul...allsorts basically, it was about creating a mood and a vibe rather than a seamless soundtrack, something I think has been lost with many DJ's today. I'd play alot of the stuff I heard Graeme Park playing at Steamer [a wild Wednesday night party in Sheffield - '88] and the Hacienda, and what Winston and Parrot played at Jive Turkey and the Hush Hush warehouse parties in Sheffield. They had the pick of the hot new stuff. So, it was a mixture of European, more New Beat influenced stuff, to the pared down and bass heavy, 'Sheffield sound'. There'd also be lots of soul stuff, even some pop, party Hip Hop etc. No limitations really, if it was good, it got played.

SWAG were one of the UK's biggest and most in demand producers/remixers during the '90's and early 00's. How did this project come about?

Well, I was working in the WARP record store around 1990. They ran a studio called FON in Sheffield at the time as well and offered me some studio time. Richard Brown [partner in SWAG] made a record with a Leeds DJ a little later, which I took to WARP as a potential signing. I met Richard through that really and we got along really well. He engineered most of our RAC stuff on WARP [and the Nucleus subsidiary]. We just got messing around with some more House type, sample based stuff and SWAG was born.

You're also involved in radio and once upon a time 'Atern8' used a sample from one of your radio shows. That must have been a big thrill?

Er...well I wasn't too thrilled to be honest! We'd played alot of their Nexus 21 and early Altern 8 stuff [pre-face mask] on our pirate radio show, which they ended up hearing - hence the sample. It was pretty weird I guess, we got to meet them, hang out a bit and mess around with some tracks...the whole 'Rave' thing was kicking off at the same time and I think I got sucked into that more than I maybe should have. I blame the drugs...they really were very good !

Can you tell us about your project 'Popular Peoples Front' with Bill Brewster...

Like everything I've ever done production wise, I started it as a break from the status quo. The first wave of Disco revivalism [I'm talking more Harvey, Idjut Boys than DJ Sneak] had come and gone quite quickly, so it felt right to get back to that more raw, sample based club stuff, which referenced lost classics, but twisted them up. Leo does the artwork [and contributes the occasional cut] and Bill was brought on board on the strength of his extraordinarily good re-edits. Basically I was bored stiff with mediocre Techouse and wanted to get back to a much blacker and gayer vibe.

What producers do you admire both past and present?

That's a tough one, so many really, I'm discovering amazing producers from the past and young guys from today in equal measure. I'm a total addict.

You've played with Subject a few times now but for people not familiar with your music/DJing, what can they expect on Friday night?

I've played a few different style sets for the Subject guys, so I feel more comfortable mixing it up with them. I guess we'll have the very best of what's new in House, some lost classics and a few swerveballs - it'll be fun, for sure...