SpadgePosted: about 22 May 2004recovered
James Nardi was interviewed by Hex for Rave Adelaide on the 11th of May 2004
The second in a series of interviews with a few up and comers in the hard dance world, James Nardi, one half of production duo Aftermath and all round nice guy took some time out to let the RA crew know what he thinks.
Enjoy
Hey James how are you today?
Not too bad thanks mate. Got a bit of a hang over, but you get used to them......
Can you start by giving us a brief history about yourself?
I'm 25 and live in the centre of London. I got a set of decks when i was 15 and have been mixing ever since...I started off going clubbing to some old school raves and parties and sort of carried on from there, although i don`t really go out too often these days.
It used be great clubbing in London a few years ago: Savage , Sunnyside Up, then Pete Wardman’s club Sherbet, & Trade……
I’ve always wanted to get into producing and a few years back i went back to college to do music production. It was pretty full on, getting up for work at 5AM and then going to college straight from work until 10 at night. I used to end up falling asleep in class and ended up breaking up wit my girlfriend at the time too!! Well worth it though, haha......
image not archived: nardi.jpg
Sleep deprivations a bitch, so anyway, Being half of the production duo Aftermath (with Nick Irwin) can you tell us how you both came together and started producing tracks?
Nick and I have known each other for ages, through the friends we’ve hung about with over the years. We both used to DJ alot on the London underground scene (about 5 years ago). Both of us have been producing separately with another mate called Julian Dwyer and the next step was to hook up on a track together.
Our first track we did together was 'Pornstar' which got signed to Freezing Point with a Prime Mover remix. Banga Matt`s Arktik label also wanted the track.
All i can say is we`ve come a long, long way since then. I wouldn`t even play that tune to my worst enemy......
I might have to stop playing it then,
How would you describe the Aftermath sound?
Hard house based with influences from techno (esp in some of the recent tunes). Normally pretty dark & intelligent with a groovey bassline.
image not archived: aftermath.jpg
How did your recent releases on Lit up records come about?
The guys at Litup mentioned they were on the lookout for some new tracks to sign for their label so we sent them up 'Operation Green Ice' & 'Too Hot!' They took them both straight away. Along with another tune of ours called 'Vision'. Which will be release number 4 with a Casper remix?
You must have been quite chuffed to get ‘Body Rock’ Signed to Glazby’s 999 label what can you tell us about how it got signed and what the track is all about?
The original version of 'Body Rock' was an NRG version, we got that done pretty quickly (a couple of sessions) and we liked to vocal so much we decided to try a techno remix. Neither of us had ever done anything other than hardhouse, so it took a bit of getting used to and we spent some time listening to loads of different techno tunes to get a better idea of arrangement and structure.
When both versions were finished i sent a few CDRs off to some labels and DJs. One of the DJs i sent it to was Tim Clewz @ Vicious Circle. About a week later Scott Cooper (Label manager @ VC) emailed saying they were loving the techno mix and that Glazby had nicked it (i don`t know why i didn`t send him a copy in the first place...). The following week Glazby calls me to say he wants to sign the techno version for his new 999 label. It`s now been remixed by Ant and i must say i think it`s the best thing he`s done. Andy Farley included it in his recent chart.
Everyone else was loving the NRG mix of Body Rock though and about a couple of months after the techno mix was signed Superfast Oz phoned to say he wanted to sign both versions for either Kaktai or the Bangingtunes label. Pitty he was a bit late and the CDR had been sitting on his desk gathering dust.....
So Nick & I gave the NRG mix a 2004 make over changed to vocal & title to 'Confusion' and it should be out on Kaktai in the coming months.
Karim has also done himself a fierce remix of 'Body Rock' NRG for his sets.
Who would you love to get on remix duties for one of you productions?
Well so far i think we’ve been pretty lucky with enough big names to keep us happy for a while (inc: Prime Mover, Ant, Casper, Equinox, Karim, Tara Reynolds, OD404 (tbc) and more recently Justin Bourne & Dynamic Intervention.
For me probably Jon Bell, back to his good old Captain Tinrib style or Pete Wardman.
Is there any chance of an Aftermath live show coming in the future?
Nothing like that has been planned yet, although Nick & I are starting to do some Aftermath B2B sets in the coming months.
Are you playing out much at the moment?
Not really no. Mainly through choice and not going out to clubs at the weekends like i used to. Also most spare time is spent in the studio and I’d rather concentrate on that for the time being. I don’t even really mix at home at all these days.....
Who do you feel is making the most impact on the production side of things?
Without a doubt Alex Calver as made a huge impact over the past 6 months and full credit to him. I love the stuff he`s putting out. As Billy Bunter said in a recent interview, Alex is the most inspirational producer since Nick Sentience exploded onto the scene. He’s also a top bloke and got some great ideas.
A good mate of mine Marc Johnson has also been very busy recently. He’s been working really hard over the past few months with his label Flashpoint and with his recent job at Pure Groove. He’s now doing the A&R for Tripoli Trax and i think he’s got in there just in time to save a once great label which has put out a load of trash since Steve Thomas left a couple of years ago.
Also Justin Bourne & Dom Sweeten have both been busy boys.
Do you feel that the latest influx of techno infused hard dance is a refreshing addition to the variety of hard dance around at the moment?
Yeah, totally mate. I’m all for the fusing of different styles. What next i wonder...???
How do you feel about the growing issue of bootlegged CDR’s getting around at the moment and do you feel it is hurting the smaller labels out there?
It’s becoming a bit of a problem i must admit, not just for the smaller labels but for the producers as well. We are always very cautious who we give CDRs to. We used to send them to loads of people just for feedback, but then they get copied onto their mates and past round, then uploaded to the net for everyone to grab.
What do you know about the Australian hard dance scene, in particular Adelaide?
Not too much to be honest. My flat mate for the past 6 years is from Melbourne, so i should make more of an effort.
A good friend of mine Mr S has been a big supporter for ages now and i believe he’s pretty big over in Adelaide with the System6 crew. (You know what you need to…)
I’ll hopefully make my way over there in the not too distant future, maybe line up a couple of sets too.
Have you heard of any of the massive wave of Adelaide Nrg productions coming out at the moment? And what do you think of them?
I haven’t actually, but it’s great that the Ozzy’s are now turning their hand to producing the music we love!!
I’ll keep a eye out for them in future.
You and your good mate Julian Dwyer recently had some success with Dripping wet and Techno slut on Toolbox, do you feel the tracks were received well by dj’s and clubbers alike?
Actually both tracks were received a lot better than i thought they would be. Nik Denton loved 'Dripping Wet' and wanted to sign it straight away. He asked us to do a track for the other side which gave us an opportunity to experiment and the out come was 'Techno Slut'. I’m glad Nik had the faith in us to take that as well.
Both tracks have been charted and played by Lisa Lashes, Paul Glazby, Superfast Oz, Lady Bianca, Ian M....... the list goes on. I’ve heard 'Techno Slut' out twice recently played by Lady Bianca & Oz, both times i didn’t even reconise it....I had to get dragged to the middle of the dance floor to hear it properly. Haha!
How are you planning to follow up from that success?
Our follow up on Toolbox is a remix of Casper`s tune 'Paranoid'. I think it’s going to be Toolbox 16.
Nik Denton loves it and Marc Johnson played it out a couple of weeks ago and it sounded great. I’ve had a couple of negative comments like "how can you remix a Casper tune and make it any better?"
But some people don’t seem to understand that just because one side is relentless gritty and banging as fuck that doesn’t mean the other side has to be the same.
We’ll have to wait and see and let the clubbers & DJs decide which mix they prefer when it comes out.
Julian & I have just finished a new one called 'Little Maniac' which is probably the best thing either of us have had a hand in to date; I’m really excited about this one.
It starts off on a funky tip with a borrowed funky guitar riff off the new Prince album and turns into a dark Tinrib style monster. Watch this space!
Nick & I have also had our Aftermath NRG beast 'Underworld' signed to Toolbox with Justin Bourne & Dynamic Intervention providing the remix. One to look forward to i`m sure.
And the most recent of signing is our Aftermath tune called ‘More’ which has been signed to Tonka Trax with Equinox doing the remix.
What’s you current top 5?
This change’s from day to day but right now I’d say:
Aftermath - 'Body Rock' - NineNineNine (Ant remix)
Zero B -'Lock Up' - Tripoli Trax (Alex Calver remix)
James Nardi & Julain Dwyer - Little Maniac' - Tbc
Paul King - 'Block Rockin Beats' - Toolbox
Alex calver - 'Fight Music' - Glitch V4
And as with all my interviews
Any famous last words?
I’d just like to give a shout out to all the recent supporters, labels & djs including:
Paul Glazby, Superfast Oz, Lady Bianca, Nik Denton, Mr S, Marc Johnson, The Testube Babies & of course Nick & Julian.
Thanks for taking the time to interview me and I’ll hopefully catch up with you lot soon.
The second in a series of interviews with a few up and comers in the hard dance world, James Nardi, one half of production duo Aftermath and all round nice guy took some time out to let the RA crew know what he thinks.
Enjoy
Hey James how are you today?
Not too bad thanks mate. Got a bit of a hang over, but you get used to them......
Can you start by giving us a brief history about yourself?
I'm 25 and live in the centre of London. I got a set of decks when i was 15 and have been mixing ever since...I started off going clubbing to some old school raves and parties and sort of carried on from there, although i don`t really go out too often these days.
It used be great clubbing in London a few years ago: Savage , Sunnyside Up, then Pete Wardman’s club Sherbet, & Trade……
I’ve always wanted to get into producing and a few years back i went back to college to do music production. It was pretty full on, getting up for work at 5AM and then going to college straight from work until 10 at night. I used to end up falling asleep in class and ended up breaking up wit my girlfriend at the time too!! Well worth it though, haha......
image not archived: nardi.jpg
Sleep deprivations a bitch, so anyway, Being half of the production duo Aftermath (with Nick Irwin) can you tell us how you both came together and started producing tracks?
Nick and I have known each other for ages, through the friends we’ve hung about with over the years. We both used to DJ alot on the London underground scene (about 5 years ago). Both of us have been producing separately with another mate called Julian Dwyer and the next step was to hook up on a track together.
Our first track we did together was 'Pornstar' which got signed to Freezing Point with a Prime Mover remix. Banga Matt`s Arktik label also wanted the track.
All i can say is we`ve come a long, long way since then. I wouldn`t even play that tune to my worst enemy......
I might have to stop playing it then,
How would you describe the Aftermath sound?
Hard house based with influences from techno (esp in some of the recent tunes). Normally pretty dark & intelligent with a groovey bassline.
image not archived: aftermath.jpg
How did your recent releases on Lit up records come about?
The guys at Litup mentioned they were on the lookout for some new tracks to sign for their label so we sent them up 'Operation Green Ice' & 'Too Hot!' They took them both straight away. Along with another tune of ours called 'Vision'. Which will be release number 4 with a Casper remix?
You must have been quite chuffed to get ‘Body Rock’ Signed to Glazby’s 999 label what can you tell us about how it got signed and what the track is all about?
The original version of 'Body Rock' was an NRG version, we got that done pretty quickly (a couple of sessions) and we liked to vocal so much we decided to try a techno remix. Neither of us had ever done anything other than hardhouse, so it took a bit of getting used to and we spent some time listening to loads of different techno tunes to get a better idea of arrangement and structure.
When both versions were finished i sent a few CDRs off to some labels and DJs. One of the DJs i sent it to was Tim Clewz @ Vicious Circle. About a week later Scott Cooper (Label manager @ VC) emailed saying they were loving the techno mix and that Glazby had nicked it (i don`t know why i didn`t send him a copy in the first place...). The following week Glazby calls me to say he wants to sign the techno version for his new 999 label. It`s now been remixed by Ant and i must say i think it`s the best thing he`s done. Andy Farley included it in his recent chart.
Everyone else was loving the NRG mix of Body Rock though and about a couple of months after the techno mix was signed Superfast Oz phoned to say he wanted to sign both versions for either Kaktai or the Bangingtunes label. Pitty he was a bit late and the CDR had been sitting on his desk gathering dust.....
So Nick & I gave the NRG mix a 2004 make over changed to vocal & title to 'Confusion' and it should be out on Kaktai in the coming months.
Karim has also done himself a fierce remix of 'Body Rock' NRG for his sets.
Who would you love to get on remix duties for one of you productions?
Well so far i think we’ve been pretty lucky with enough big names to keep us happy for a while (inc: Prime Mover, Ant, Casper, Equinox, Karim, Tara Reynolds, OD404 (tbc) and more recently Justin Bourne & Dynamic Intervention.
For me probably Jon Bell, back to his good old Captain Tinrib style or Pete Wardman.
Is there any chance of an Aftermath live show coming in the future?
Nothing like that has been planned yet, although Nick & I are starting to do some Aftermath B2B sets in the coming months.
Are you playing out much at the moment?
Not really no. Mainly through choice and not going out to clubs at the weekends like i used to. Also most spare time is spent in the studio and I’d rather concentrate on that for the time being. I don’t even really mix at home at all these days.....
Who do you feel is making the most impact on the production side of things?
Without a doubt Alex Calver as made a huge impact over the past 6 months and full credit to him. I love the stuff he`s putting out. As Billy Bunter said in a recent interview, Alex is the most inspirational producer since Nick Sentience exploded onto the scene. He’s also a top bloke and got some great ideas.
A good mate of mine Marc Johnson has also been very busy recently. He’s been working really hard over the past few months with his label Flashpoint and with his recent job at Pure Groove. He’s now doing the A&R for Tripoli Trax and i think he’s got in there just in time to save a once great label which has put out a load of trash since Steve Thomas left a couple of years ago.
Also Justin Bourne & Dom Sweeten have both been busy boys.
Do you feel that the latest influx of techno infused hard dance is a refreshing addition to the variety of hard dance around at the moment?
Yeah, totally mate. I’m all for the fusing of different styles. What next i wonder...???
How do you feel about the growing issue of bootlegged CDR’s getting around at the moment and do you feel it is hurting the smaller labels out there?
It’s becoming a bit of a problem i must admit, not just for the smaller labels but for the producers as well. We are always very cautious who we give CDRs to. We used to send them to loads of people just for feedback, but then they get copied onto their mates and past round, then uploaded to the net for everyone to grab.
What do you know about the Australian hard dance scene, in particular Adelaide?
Not too much to be honest. My flat mate for the past 6 years is from Melbourne, so i should make more of an effort.
A good friend of mine Mr S has been a big supporter for ages now and i believe he’s pretty big over in Adelaide with the System6 crew. (You know what you need to…)
I’ll hopefully make my way over there in the not too distant future, maybe line up a couple of sets too.
Have you heard of any of the massive wave of Adelaide Nrg productions coming out at the moment? And what do you think of them?
I haven’t actually, but it’s great that the Ozzy’s are now turning their hand to producing the music we love!!
I’ll keep a eye out for them in future.
You and your good mate Julian Dwyer recently had some success with Dripping wet and Techno slut on Toolbox, do you feel the tracks were received well by dj’s and clubbers alike?
Actually both tracks were received a lot better than i thought they would be. Nik Denton loved 'Dripping Wet' and wanted to sign it straight away. He asked us to do a track for the other side which gave us an opportunity to experiment and the out come was 'Techno Slut'. I’m glad Nik had the faith in us to take that as well.
Both tracks have been charted and played by Lisa Lashes, Paul Glazby, Superfast Oz, Lady Bianca, Ian M....... the list goes on. I’ve heard 'Techno Slut' out twice recently played by Lady Bianca & Oz, both times i didn’t even reconise it....I had to get dragged to the middle of the dance floor to hear it properly. Haha!
How are you planning to follow up from that success?
Our follow up on Toolbox is a remix of Casper`s tune 'Paranoid'. I think it’s going to be Toolbox 16.
Nik Denton loves it and Marc Johnson played it out a couple of weeks ago and it sounded great. I’ve had a couple of negative comments like "how can you remix a Casper tune and make it any better?"
But some people don’t seem to understand that just because one side is relentless gritty and banging as fuck that doesn’t mean the other side has to be the same.
We’ll have to wait and see and let the clubbers & DJs decide which mix they prefer when it comes out.
Julian & I have just finished a new one called 'Little Maniac' which is probably the best thing either of us have had a hand in to date; I’m really excited about this one.
It starts off on a funky tip with a borrowed funky guitar riff off the new Prince album and turns into a dark Tinrib style monster. Watch this space!
Nick & I have also had our Aftermath NRG beast 'Underworld' signed to Toolbox with Justin Bourne & Dynamic Intervention providing the remix. One to look forward to i`m sure.
And the most recent of signing is our Aftermath tune called ‘More’ which has been signed to Tonka Trax with Equinox doing the remix.
What’s you current top 5?
This change’s from day to day but right now I’d say:
Aftermath - 'Body Rock' - NineNineNine (Ant remix)
Zero B -'Lock Up' - Tripoli Trax (Alex Calver remix)
James Nardi & Julain Dwyer - Little Maniac' - Tbc
Paul King - 'Block Rockin Beats' - Toolbox
Alex calver - 'Fight Music' - Glitch V4
And as with all my interviews
Any famous last words?
I’d just like to give a shout out to all the recent supporters, labels & djs including:
Paul Glazby, Superfast Oz, Lady Bianca, Nik Denton, Mr S, Marc Johnson, The Testube Babies & of course Nick & Julian.
Thanks for taking the time to interview me and I’ll hopefully catch up with you lot soon.