Brighton beats: Kenny Hawkes and David Parr interview

Brighton beats: Kenny Hawkes and David Parr interview

12 March, 2008 | 1.26PM

• Section: Music News Topics: Beatport Blog
• Written by: Lee Smith

Sometimes two heads are better than one – just ask underground house production duo Kenny Hawkes and David Parr, who’ve been igniting dancefloors over the last twelve months with big releases on Radio Slave’s Rekids label, Serge Santiago’s Arcobelano, and most recently, a killer remix of French avant-garde house-head Skat.

With over 26 years combined experience between them (Kenny was resident DJ for many years at London’s legendary Space night, while David is the man behind long-running Brighton club night Stompa Phunk), they’ve seen a lot of things come and go in dance music.

We caught up with them at their studio in Brighton to share a few of their heard-earned pearls of wisdom.

David Parr

You’ve been a pivotal player in the Brighton scene for over a decade. How did you come to be involved in the city’s club scene?

I grew up in the deepest countryside, and although it was excellent as a kid, it sucked as a teenager!

As soon as I could I moved to Cambridge and met Marcus Clements (founder member of the legendary Innerfield Soundsystem).

We sold double paned windows by day an raved our little hearts out at night.

When he moved to Brighton, I went traveling, and when I returned he invited me down to Brighton to help out on a small one day festival in 1996 called the Brighton Freedom Festival, I never left.

What were your first forays into production?

Weirdly, I met a lot of my dearest friends at the Freedom Festival.

One of them was the sub-genius rascal Ben Burns.

He had a small studio in Hanover, Brighton.

I went along one evening and was instantly hooked on making music.

Hanging out with mates, eating chips and pita bread, and making beats till the sun comes up!

Stompa Phunk, both the night and the label, played a big part in your career to date. What were the high points of both? Any particularly memorable nights, releases, etc.?

It’s hard to pick out one night, but when Stompa Phunk really started to get wider recognition was a special time for me and Anthony [Prior, co-founder of Stompa Phunk].

Big artists from all over the world were calling us up and saying, “We’ve heard your parties are crazy. When can I play?”.

We were at the Buddha Lounge [a tiny, 200 capacity venue in Brighton] and we had no budgets — but they all wanted to party.

If a big name DJ had a free date, they would just turn up.

Derrick Carter, Ivan Smagghe, FC Kahuna, Tiefschwarz, and too many more to mention.

One night, we had Dave Angel booked, and the week before the gig [Kiss FM legend] Colin Dale called up say he was coming down.

I explained that Dave was booked in, but Colin just said get me a hotel and that’s cool… great!

Then on the same night, Josh Wink turned up out of the blue asked if it was OK to join in.

OK?

You bet it was!

Me and Ant just laughed our asses off as Josh Wink warmed up for Colin Dale who played before Dave Angel in a 200 capacity club… When does that happen any more?

How did you come to start working with Kenny?

Just lucky, I guess.

We were already friends and when Kenny moved back to Brighton.

I called him up a few times and it all came together.

He’s a brilliant producer — uncompromising on quality.

We both work hard to archive a “timeless” sound that will still work the dancefloor in 10 or 20 years.

It’s a great remit.

Your music suggests a wide range of influences. What producers and labels, old and new, are doing it for you at the moment?

I have a fair collection of Detroit and European techno from when I worked at Covert Records, and although I don’t get them out much, I can clearly hear their influence on today’s sound.

Nick Spice and Cristian Vogel both turned me on to amazing music — minimal music that was ripping it up 10 years before the mainstream could get their heads ‘round it.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the slick sub-house sound of the late 2000s, but I have to say, I find the indie dance stuff really exciting too; it’s so energetic!

Even pop is having it.

I think it’s a great time for music, full-stop.

What have you got out at the moment, and what have you got coming up?

I’m not producing at the same level as last year, as I’m getting my new night Above & Beyond [weekly Saturdays at Audio in Brighton] off the ground.

I am, however, cutting up some bootlegs under the guise of Dead DJs, which you can check out at Audio whenever I’m playing.

Of course, there’s more stuff in the pipeline with Kenny, notably an awesome vocal track with Louise Carver called ‘Precious’.

Kenny Hawkes

You played a pivotal role in the London scene during the 1990s with both with Girls FM and your legendary weekly residency at Space, Bar Rhumba. Are there big differences in the scene between now and then, particularly in the UK?

The club scene has dramatically changed over the last 10 years, especially from having to promote an individual artists and DJs to clubs/club nights with the advent of social networking sites like myspace and facebook, where people can promote their music and sets.

Over 10 years ago, clubs and artists never dreamt of creating an email database.

The main promotional tool was flyers and club listings, as there were dozens of club music magazines, and sometimes the magazine’s editorial would demand your listings three months in advance if you wanted your nights to get placed with the guest names you had coming in.

Although I think this is still important, it’s just part of the job.

If you had never heard a DJ or artist before, you had to come to the club on the night to find out more, or rely on word of mouth.

But now you can just search for them online.

Apart from that, more and more artists don’t use vinyl turntables anymore, opting to use CDs or laptops instead.

At what point did you move to Brighton? Why did you decide to move there?

I was actually born in Brighton and moved away when I was about 18 years old.

Istarted DJing in Valencia (Spain) at afterhours clubs.

I guess that’s where I did my DJing apprenticeship.

Then after about four years, I decided to move to London.

It was about 4 years ago that I moved back, after having the opportunity to buy some property.

I came down to have a look, and it only took me 50 minutes to decide to move down.

I love living by the sea, especially in the summer.

Plus, I was getting more for my money than if I’d bought in London.

And Brighton is a much cleaner city these days.

You’ve played all over the world for many years. Do any particular gigs or experiences stand out in your memory?

Yes, I’ve been very lucky, and my job has taken me to over 58 countries worldwide, so I have so many amazing memories so far.

Like being ask to play in Detroit, and having monthly residencies in New York and Chicago were pretty mind blowing for me, as these are the cities that kind of started the musical genre that has inspired me.

I remember when I first got asked to play in Japan; I did a three week tour of the country, and at the end of it, I thought to myself, “Wow, these people have invited me to come all the way from the UK to play my favorite records, and at the end of it, they are going to give me some money! They could ask some local kid to do this!”

I still sometimes have this feeling.

My feet are firmly on the ground and I know I have one of the best jobs in the world — I don’t forget that.

How did you start working with Dave? Why do you think you work so well together?

When I first moved back to Brighton, I started to put all my money, time and energy into rebuilding the interior of my new apartment.

I completely ripped it out and started again, so music production took second place in my life.

I would bump into David occasionally, and he would say, “Come and make some music at my place. I’ve got this little studio set-up...”

And to be honest, the interior building was starting to bring me down — I just had to get away from it — so I took him up on his offer.

I think the reason why we’ve continued is because we have the same values when it comes to music production.

Our standards are high and we insist on quality.

We want to make timeless music rather than a “one hit wonder”.

Now I feel we’re really starting to find “our” sound.

What do you think about the current resurgence of house, with labels like Innervisions and Get Physical becoming fashionable, and DJs like Luciano spinning straight up house sets?

To be honest, I don’t follow trends, but I’m aware that every so often, a new sound comes along that all the masses jump into.

These are just trends that last a while before they are replaced by something new, or the masses decide to revive and old sound or style.

But as far as I’m concerned, there are only two types of music in this world, and that’s good music and bad music.

These labels mentioned above just so happen to be part of the good music category, so I’m pleased that once again, quality prevails.

What’s next for Kenny Hawkes?

Focusing on lots more production with David Parr.

We have a great vocal record coming out next on Rekids called ‘Green Grass’ featuring Cibelle.

On a personal level, I have a couple of vocal projects with an artist I worked with before named Kimra.

I’ve also had interest from a couple of labels to re-release (with new mixes) an old track of mine called ‘Play The Game’ with Louise Carver.

Oh, and I still have to finish that work on my apartment, haha…

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