Olly Perris gets ready for Heat Evolution: Khemikal Imbalance
Reported by benz
/
Submitted 26-10-05 00:01
Following on from our interview with rising stars MDA & Spherical, it’s now the turn of young gun cohort Olly Perris to step into the Harderfaster spotlight. This youthful lad burst onto the hard dance scene in 2002 with his intriguingly put-together ‘The Venue’ — an impressive track with Ashley Sinclar that got snapped up by then leading lights Nukleuz Records for a full release. Naturally this was a rather unprecedented shock for Olly, but it marked the start of what would turn out to be an increasingly successful first few years in the hard dance scene for him.
Hailing from the South Coast of England, Olly has consistently delivered great track after great of scintillating hard dance for labels such as Impact and Kompression, all the while perusing a full-time university degree as well as various other music-related commitments. His success should inspire like-minded young producers in our scene and hopefully illustrate to them that hard work can pay off even in a short space of time.
Olly will be joining the aforementioned MDA & Spherical on Saturday 19 November at Koko for Heat Evolution: Khemikal Imbalance to bolster the line-up of fresh hard dance talent that will be rocking Room 2 to its foundations all night long. The future of hard dance is safe in these lads’ hands! Now to find out just what Olly’s been up to since HarderFaster last had words with him…
You were interviewed for Harderfaster.net back in early 2003. So, what’s happened in Olly Perris’ world since then?
So, so much dude, it has been absolutely unreal! It’s actually really weird to look back upon that time as back then I was a naïve 18 year old A-Level student who had no real idea of anything! Now suddenly I’m 21 years old, in my final year of a History degree and although relatively little time has passed, I feel like I’ve changed in so many ways. In terms of my musical career I think the last two years have definitely been the most important of my life. I’ve been lucky enough to tour Australia, play in Ibiza, become an Addiction resident, sell over 30,000 records, have a remix of a single in the UK Top 40 and launch my DJ career, all at the same time as being a freelance music journalist and somewhere in between, trying to fit in a university degree as well! It’s been hectic to say the least but not at one time over the last two years have I ever stopped and regretted a single thing.
Having your track ‘The Venue’ signed to Nukleuz a while back must have been a tremendous buzz. I seem to remember that the track was constructed in a rather complicated way… care to fill us in?
Hehe! Complicated is one word! I was 17 at the time and was a regular on Energy UK, which for many people was the primitive HarderFaster. It was a place where many scene names regularly posted but also a place where many up and coming producers looked to get their tracks noticed. I began talking to a like-minded producer called Ashley Sinclair, a then-24 year old from Southend, and we got talking over MSN and began to remix and play about with each other’s tracks. After we had our first ever signing, Ashley’s track ‘Zero Zero’ with my remix to D’Marr Ford’s label KCode Records, we grew in confidence as producers and one day, Ash sent me a track which he’d been working on entitled ‘The Venue’. It was probably about 50% complete at the time but when I first heard it, I just knew it was going to be absolutely huge. I asked Ash if I could help complete the track and we ended up working together to finish off the track. We sent it to pretty much every name we could think of, including Andy Farley. We had some really good feedback but nothing from the big names until completely out of the blue, Andy e-mailed me to say he loved the track and wanted to pass it onto Nukleuz. BK and Ed Real then rang me the next day to confirm the signing and by this point, as you can imagine, our jaws just hit the floor – it really was an absolute dream come true. We also had a unique selling point — we were two producers who had never met each other and worked entirely across the internet. Nukleuz used this to maximum effect and we were able to break into the market because of it. ‘The Venue’ subsequently did 3,000 copies in the first week of release and for myself and Ashley, it just was an absolutely unreal experience.
How long had you been producing before that track got signed? Do you think it takes most people a while to get tracks released or have you come across lucky buggers who have got straight in their with their first productions?
I’d been producing properly for about 2 years and Ashley for roughly 6, so for both of us it wasn’t really a fluke as such but we were incredibly lucky to attract the attention of Nukleuz with our first track. However, this was back in 2002 when internet-based production was really in its infancy. Nowadays you see new producers cropping up all over the place who, using the internet, can create an immense buzz on a track and attract attention from the major players straight away. Recently people such as Chris Hoff, MDA & Spherical, Technikal, Chrysus, Aftershok etc. have shown just how possible this is, and for new producers, the internet is an absolute godsend! In terms of getting lucky, I do consider myself to be incredibly lucky. Working with Ashley was just amazing too — a lot of people don’t know that in most cases, he was the real creative driving force behind a lot of our tracks. For example on our remix of Vinylgroover & The Red Hed’s ‘Kokane’, Ash came up with the main killer hook which I later built the percussion and synth work around. I do sometimes feel a bit guilty taking credit for our work as Ash was always the quiet one of the pairing, but it should be known publicly that without Ash, those tracks never would have surfaced.
What have been your key releases since then?
This may come as a surprise to some but my biggest selling release to date has been a track I did with Alf Bamford called ‘Chaos Theory’ on Nukleuz. It came out in March 2004, right in the middle of the vinyl sales slump, but went onto sell over 5,500 copies in its 6 months of release, which was an incredible feat. It has since gone onto sell over 6,000 copies. I guess the tunes I’m most known for however are mine & Ashley’s remix of ‘Kokane’ on Nukleuz, ‘The Venue’ and my track ‘Check Out The Sound’ with Alf Bamford on Impact.
What do you fill your time with other than producing and DJing?
Being a student I really try and live up the student lifestyle as much as possible! At night you can usually find me in some desolate debauched drinking establishment in Southampton bopping away to cheesy chart music but by day, I do have so much going on. At university I co-host a weekly radio show, organise social events for a university society and, something which a lot of people don’t know, I also work as an R&B & cheese DJ weekly at one of our university clubs! I also obviously have to work for my degree too, so I have loads going on during the day to keep me occupied away from music!
You are from Southampton I take it? Is there much in the way of a hard dance scene down there?
Hehe, yep I’m from Southampton, born and bred pure southerner, not like you London pretenders! The hard dance scene here is actually very small to be perfectly honest. It boomed for a while but it was always closely linked to the gay scene and when the two main gay clubs shut down, the scene died with it. A lot of the scene has now moved to neighbouring Portsmouth, including a night which I am resident for called All Mixed Up. We moved to Portsmouth and instantly our attendance rates doubled. It’s obviously not a patch on London, Birmingham or any of the other hard dance strongholds but the scene isn’t dead in the South just yet.
What’s it like generally? Do you think you’ll be staying there for a while or are you raring to move on?
I absolutely adore Southampton! I was born here and now I’m a Uni student here and I just love the town. It may lack a concrete hard dance scene but in terms of student lifestyle, it really is second to none. We have over 40,000 students living here, some of the best student nightclubs in the country and our university really is something to be proud of. I’ve always contemplated moving to London and maybe one day inevitably I will, but for the time being, my heart and soul is in this south coast town!
Are there any other areas in dance music that you would like to work in? What do you feel your strengths are?
Ultimately when I leave university I’d love to work in either A&R or PR for a major record label. I’ve had experience working as a freelance journalist for HarderFaster for over three years now, and have also worked as an online PR man for Riot! and Trackitdown.net. I feel that I have strengths in identifying what sells and what people want, so a job involving this I feel would be ideal for me. Maybe one day I can be the next Simon Cowell, who knows!
When you produce do you find more that you get ideas from your own head or do you vibe off other people’s music for inspiration?
I think it’s definitely a mixture really! I do get inspired by certain musical genres, particularly psy-trance at the moment as I love its dynamism and production finesse. However when physically sat at the computer I think the ideas really have to flow from your own head otherwise you lose the ability to be original. I think one of the great strengths of my work with Ashley was that we were constantly talking about how to be outside of the box and do things differently. Similarly in my work with Alf Bamford, although often we ended up inadvertently ripping off about 5 tracks in one go, we always went for a slightly more adverse approach as if you take influences from elsewhere too literally, the originality of your work can suffer greatly and, given our current climate, originality is exactly what is needed!
Olly Perris playing at Gas, Sydney, Australia. September 2005
Is there anything else aside from music that you take a keen interest in? What would you do with yourself if you didn’t have production and DJing to obsess over? Darts? Pie-eating?
Not too sure on darts, I think any pub which allows me to handle sharp objects is definitely testing the limits of their building insurance! Pie-eating… hmm, well, if it’s a Fray Bentos Chicken & Mushroom then I reckon I could give anyone a good run for their money! Seriously though, aside from music I do take a keen interest in the media — I’m fascinated by the relationship between politics and the media, as geeky as that sounds! I’m also a keen cricketer, although I don’t think Freddy should worry about having a pretender to his crown; my hilariously over-the-top batting slogs are the stuff of legend around these here parts!
You will be playing for Heat at their Evolution: Khemikal Imbalance event at Koko in London on November 19th, in a room full of other hot young producers. Which young talents are really pushing your button at the moment and why? Is it because they are innovative or more because they are just great at making tracks in the general hard dance mould/formula?
In all honesty I think the production quality of many of the new breed of hard dance productions is diminishing slightly. I’m sure, to take his example, Alf Bamford won’t mind me saying that his tracks aren’t as musically competent as, say, a Nick Sentience or James Lawson track of old. But, what makes Alf such a fantastic producer is the passion he puts into his tracks. They don’t need to be compressed to perfection or mastered beautifully when you have the raw power of a killer hard trance lead of that in his ‘Global Panic’ track. It’s this raw emotion which is coming through more in the music and which is perhaps pushing producers such as BK to the back of the pecking order, whilst producers such as Alf are coming through the ranks and rising to the top of their game. In terms of young producers making waves, M.D.A & Spherical are two guys who deserve to be up there with the best. I also really rate Chris Hoff, Jamie Taylor, Aftershok, Chrysus, and of course, anything which comes from the Technikal stable.
Have you had many experiences at previous Heat events?
Many a superb night has been spent in the company of Heat but the best one for me was Heat’s recent excursion to Ibiza. It was absolutely, completely out of this world! Heat managed to organise trips to some of the best nights on the island and the whole week was absolutely mind-blowing. What makes Heat so unique for me is the way in which they’ve come from literally nothing and created an enormous hard dance empire. Damian is someone who has a real head for business but a real passion for the music also and this, along with the sterling work of the other Heat members, has seen them go from strength to strength. Ibiza was just one example of this — their upcoming Voyage tour is set to be another too. It’s an absolute honour to play for them.
Will you be showcasing any of your new productions?
I hope so, yep! I’m really pleased with a new track I’ve done entitled ‘Temptation’ which will hopefully be getting its first airing at Evolution. Also I’ll be playing my new track with Addiction legend Mike Harris entitled ‘Transgression’ which has attracted major support from a lot of the big names; ditto my bootleg remix of Edison Factor’s anthem ‘Nervous Breakdown’. I’ve also recently finished a remix for new label Species Records of a track called ‘Dreamer’ by System Shock, and have also completed another bootleg remix of an older Tidy Trax tune which I’m really thrilled with — you’ll have to be there to find out which one it is though!
The event is themed around classics (well the main room is) and a look back to the years 1995-2001. When did you start following dance music? Is there anything you miss about bygone days?
It’s another embarrassing confession unfortunately, but I first got into dance music way back in 1996 and the tune which did it, and one which remains to this day one of my favourites of all time, was Sash — ‘Ecuador’! (I can’t believe I just admitted that, but hey, I also admitted my dark secret of being an R&B DJ so why not release it all into the open!) Seriously, when I first heard that record it was just an enormous rush — so much so that I stomped all over the stage of my local youth club in what can only be described as a primitive chicken stomp move! 1999 was obviously a fantastic year for trance too but I think BK’s 2001 set is going to be an absolute gem. BK is the master of hard dance and anything from BK circa 2000 and 2001 is now considered a classic. I can’t wait for his set!! See you on the dance floor baby!!
Thanks to Olly for the photos.
HeatUK EVOLUTION:THE KHEMICAL IMBALANCE
|
|
On:
|
Saturday 19th November 2005
|
|
At:
|
KOKO [map]
|
|
From:
|
10pm-6am
|
|
Cost:
|
£14 Concs GL guest@heatuk.com / Tickets £14 / £16 /£18 / Door £22
|
|
Website:
|
www.heatuk.com
|
|
Ticket Info:
|
24 hour Credit Card Hotline 08700 600 100
www.ticketweb.co.uk or www.heatuk.com
www.clubtickets.co.uk 08717 110 010 (buy 5 get one free!!)
Outlets: Mad Records (Soho) 020 7439 0707
Cyberdog (Camden) 020 7482 2842
Ticket Agent: Maria 07813 684399
Vince (Midlands) 07835 626226
|
|
Buy Online:
|
Click here to buy tickets
|
|
More:
|
Tonight Evolution goes even further back starting with ten year old club classics and finishing the year of HeatUK’s inception. There can be no better nostalgia than this and with no better line-up! While the main arena of the former Camden Palace revisits rare anthems a year at a time with the masters at work – Room 2 previews future sounds from the most talented group of producers making waves on the scene today. This is the nu-blood of the scene providing tomorrow’s classics on MP3’s with the 19 year old genius Technikal leading the charge. The future is in very good hands.
|
|
Flyer:
|
 - 
|
|
|
Share this ::  :  :  : 
Follow HarderFaster :: 
Other Features By benz:
Introducing: Salerno - part of Chemistry's NuWave selection
Eat Static return for Lost In Space
Coburn bring their live show to UP^^
The return of The Colosseum
Modernism, Politburo and Sedition: Matthew Duffield’s manifesto
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
|
|
![[HarderFaster] - Work Hard, Play Harder!](/images/mainbanner_top1.gif)
xx
