Alan Fitzpatrick’s big win in 2009

Alan Fitzpatrick’s big win in 2009

18 September, 2009 | 5.47AM

• Written by: Terry Church
• Filed under: Music News: 8 sided dice, alan fitzpatrick, drumcode, figure

Alan Fitzpatrick likes to gamble. At Southampton’s roulette wheels, sometimes he wins, sometimes he loses, but his biggest-ever bet - a 10 year dance music labour of love - has finally paid off.

“DJing and dance music was probably a bit of a gamble, but I’ve been doing it for 10 years and I’m not gonna give it up now,” says Fitzpatrick in his rough-around-the-edges, south coast accent.

With standout EPs on two of techno’s most respected labels, Drumcode and Figure, a Pete Tong-supported Essential New Tune on John Digweed’s Bedrock Records, and a burgeoning number of club destroyers, Fitzpatrick has all the signs of being a big winner in 2009.

His 8 Sided Dice may have helped of course. The record label that “started as a gamble for solo stuff” 18 months ago, has grown into a bastion for high quality techno. “The label’s first release went Top 5 on Beatport’s techno chart which was the perfect start,” admits Fitzpatrick, who began producing music 10 years ago with fellow Southampton man and studio expert Dave Robertson.

“I used to have a label called Brain Damage which was mainly hard techno, but I grew out of hard techno and started making slower tech house,” he says. Like all dance music’s committed, Fitzpatrick’s lifelong affair with electronic rhythms began on the dancefloor - for him, at Bournemouth’s long-running Opera House club.

There he discovered trance, hard house, and house, which he says “all helped solidify the sound I do today.” Southampton’s tightly knit community of club heads and DJs, which includes James Zabiela, Jon Gurd, Tom Budden, Dave Robertson and James Talk, also influenced Alan Fitzpatrick along the way.

“I’m a Southampton boy, through and through, and I’m friends with all the guys here,” he says. “A lot of us share music, and play different variations of house and techno.

“We all socialise and it has always been like that. I remember when Talky [James Talk] got some decks, and we all used to go to his house and play on his belt drives. That’s the way the Southampton DJ scene is.”

Whilst Fitzpatrick’s accomplishments in 2009 have seemingly arrived all at once, it wasn’t the luck of the draw. “It has been a slow process, and a lot of hard work over the last couple of years. It’s a really difficult transition to go from DJs playing your records to getting recognition,” says Fitzpatrick.

But when Adam Beyer picked up Alan’s remix of Fergie’s ‘To The Core’ earlier this year, and began playing it in every set, Fitzpatrick’s profile grew. “Following that track, Adam asked me to do an EP for Drumcode, and that was an honour because Drumcode is one of my all time favourite labels.

“I make sure I tell Adam that all the time,” he says, with a laugh. “Nah, he’s a legend, and he has welcomed me into the Drumcode family properly. I’m now working on an album for the label, which is very exciting, and I’ll be playing at a Drumcode party in Berlin in December.”

Alan also sent a progressive house track to John Digweed, as the cut was a little different to his normal Drumcode-techno sound. “It was a lot more melodic than I usually make,” he says.

The Bedrock boss immediately signed ‘Reflections’ to his label (and had Alan do a mix for his worldwide radio show Transitions), and soon Pete Tong was calling it his Essential New Tune, his “classic of 2009”, on his high profile BBC Radio 1 show.

“That was a pretty surreal moment,” says Alan, who like many British dance music converts, grew up listening to Pete Tong every Friday night. “Myself and the missus were in the car driving to a friend’s house, and then Pete texted me, saying “Keep the radio on, it’s going to be a big night”.

“When he played ‘Reflections’ as his Essential New Tune, and then said it was his 2009 classic, I was so surprised. It was pretty crazy. I knew it was quite a big track as both Eric Prydz and Steve Angello sent me messages on Twitter about it, but I never expected that.”

Alan Fitzpatrick’s bombs of 2009

‘Reflections’ [Bedrock Records]

“I wanted to write something that reminded me of Ibiza, you know, to get people hugging on the dancefloor,” says Alan about his epic progressive house wonder ‘Reflections’.

“It’s a massive bonus that it’s out on Bedrock, as I was a regular at the Bedrock club nights back in the day at London’s Heaven.”

‘Weed Killer / Science’ [Figure]

Alan Fitzpatrick’s new EP on Figure is peak-time, rolling techno, with ‘Weed Killer’ jostling for your late night groove, and ‘Science’ sounding like a circus in melt-down.

‘Static / Rubix’ [Drumcode]

Alan’s first EP on Drumcode matched the label’s penchant for dribbling druggy techno, with ‘Static’ careering off the highway at high octane speed, with Adam Beyer barely at the controls of the runaway train.

‘Rubix’ tracked the heads down vibe further still, with the drone of machines at its core. There was no let up with the third track ‘Bumblebee’ either.

Reset Robot, Alan Fitzpatrick, Fergie ‘Gas Mask’ [8 Sided Dice]

The future is bleak, the cities are crumbling, and the skies are dark, if you are to believe the evil doomsayings etched into the record inlay of ‘Gas Mask’.

‘Scatter Cushions’ [Curfew]

Curiously under the radar, ‘Scatter Cushions’ has all the markings for a future classic, with off-kilter drum loops, drifting chords from the east, and plenty of refined oomph.

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• Check out Alan Fitzpatrick on Beatport