Teva, previously known as No Brainer is the latest signing. He’s a classically trained pianist (which you can hear on ALiVE17, ‘You can’t Teach This’) and a studio demon and only 21.
Pedramovich from Sheffield has done some other bits for Audiofly’s ‘Supernature’ and London/Brighton based ‘Hypercolour’ has now appeared on the label a few times and has a few more tracks and remixes to come this year.
If I’m signing a new artist then I guess I’d be hoping it would be something I would play out and really interest me, along with having a certain standard of production.
There’s some new artists I’ll be introducing to the label after ALiVE20 like James Dutton from Leeds and Arjun Vagale from India.
Do you think ALiVE has changed at all over the last two years and has the labels output stuck to what you planned to do when you launched?
I think the label has only changed in that I’m a bit pickier about what I put out. I think its musical identity is really starting to show now because of this.
What are your aspirations for ALiVE and how do you see it developing in the next 2 years.
To carry on introducing new artists and also bring in some more well known names here and there to help give it some weight all mixed up with the occasional release from myself. I’d like to do some more ALiVE events with line up’s from the roster, we’re also re-launching the Podcasts soon. I hope the label can grow and be well known for releasing quality music.
Travelling and Djing alongside James Zabiela, How have you found it on the road and do you find yourself with any restraints on what you can play before him?
It’s been great and to be honest and I can play pretty much whatever I want before him without stepping on his toes musically. It’s also nice to turn up somewhere and it be busy ;)
What’s been your best gig in the last 12 months?
There has been a few. Sankeys in Manchester, Stiff Kitten in Belfast in the UK. I’ve done Kristal in Romania a few times now which is always amazing. Also Arma 17 in Moscow was pretty special.
What grooves and artists are currently exciting you?
A lot of the Dutch stuff like on 2000 and One’s various labels. (UK?) guys like Glimpse and Shenoda for the deeper stuff, Jet Project for the chunkier stuff. Also some people that will be appearing on ALiVE soon, like ONNO and Philipp Ort.
How strongly do you feel part of the South Coast house movement and do you feel like artists like yourself James Talk and Alan Fitzpatrick all help each other out in on way or another? As a close knit group of djs trying to emerge into the scene did it ever feel at the time like there was a particularly strong hotbed of local talent?
We’ve all been good friends for some time and will regularly hang out together. I’m not sure if people would know how many of us are from such a close area, other than the two you mentioned there’s also Dave Robertson (Reset Robot) who’s been a massive help with my production stuff, Jon Gurd, Junior Gee and Ridney. There’s also a load of others that aren’t quite as well known, but I’m sure will be soon like John Barber, George Pearson, Friction Machine and Aaron Binstead. I think we’ve always known there is a really healthy scene.
Away from dance music how do you like to spend your free time
Eating, sleeping, a little bit of tv, a few 5 mile runs a week and when I have the time, the odd cycle ride, and that’s about it.. the rest of the time is taken up with music.
What’s your personal good and bad elements to the electronic music scene at the moment? Is anything you’d like to see more or less of in dance music culture?
Good: There’s so much good music out there at the moment!
Bad: There’s a lot of snobbishness where people will not like this record or that record because it not made by a trendy producer of the moment. I’d like to see things go back to the old acid house way of thinking where anything goes and people being a bit more open minded.
You’ve built up a hugely strong reputation over the last few years, any advice for any aspiring Dj/Producers out there?
I think you have to do as much as you can. Cover every base, mixes, production, soundcloud, myspace etc. Just get it out there, if your music is good and your doing everything you can to push it, then it should get noticed!
What’s your plans 2010?
I’m just on my way for a tour in Australia and Asia which I’m really looking forward to. After that there’s a possible few dates in Brazil. I have some remixes coming out on Renaissance and Paolo Mojo’s ‘OOSH’ label in the coming months and a couple of tracks on Fergie’s new tech house label. I’ll have some more tracks coming out on ALiVE and we’ll be sticking to a release a month on the label with artists such as Jet Project, Philip Ort, ONNO and some newer names.