Slam on Fabric 09. (London)
BORN
Orde Meikle, Oxford 1964
Stuart McMillan, Glasgow 1966
FAMILY
Stuart: "Sadly, my mum is no longer with us and the CD is dedicated to her. She was the musically-minded one in the family and always had music playing in the house - jazz and Ella Fitzgerald, that kind of thing.”
Orde: "My background is a little more ‘hippy’ than Stuart’s. My dad’s a university lecturer of moral philosophy and very left wing . My Mum’s Danish… I didnt wear shoes as an infant and saw a lot of the world as a child.”
MUSICAL ROOTS
Stuart: "I got into punk at the age of 11 through listening to the John Peel show - we grew up with that show and Peel also introduced us to reggae and some very early electro and hip hop – it’s an honour to follow him in the fabric CD series!”
Orde: "We got into dance heavily in about ’86, it was kind of a spin-off from the funk and electro scene of that time."
FIRST PROJECTS
Stuart: "We did our first club - Slam - in Glasgow in 1988 in a small place which was packed with 200 people. Within a year we had 2000 people turn up at a Slam all-nighter at the city’s Tramway. We then did a weekly residency at the sub club for 4 years and moved to the Arches in the early nineties, where we now do Pressure once a month.”
LABELS AND PRODUCTION
Stuart: "We started Soma in 1991 doing a few releases a year and built it over time – keeping it independent and putting out music we really believe in. I think the strength in Soma is with the A & R – there’s 5 of us and listening sessions can get crazy! The label is about growing artists and the music policy is varied and keeps people guessing."
DJING
Orde: "We are really connected and this was cemented with the 4 deck sets we did together at last year’s festivals and bigger clubs. We can go record shopping separately and come back with a lot of the same tunes!”
Stuart: "This CD reflects our DJing sound in Room 2 at fabric, starting deep and getting gradually more intense towards the end. Mad Mike’s amazing "Inspiration" is the last track - I’m sure that’s going to grow and develop exactly as ‘Jaguar’ did."
FABRIC
Stuart: "It’s the club that London needed badly. To have that booking policy is brilliant. I think it has rejuvenated the scene and maybe now, more commercially-minded people have thought ‘hang on, you can do different things and do well’."
THE FUTURE
Stuart: "At the moment we’re working on our new artist album. We’re working in a weird way - switching between tracks, adding bits and pieces here and there, tweaking things. We’re capturing those "moments" when they happen and building on them over time.”
Orde: "That should be out this year some time. I’d say we have four or five tracks looking really strong at the moment."
Orde Meikle, Oxford 1964
Stuart McMillan, Glasgow 1966
FAMILY
Stuart: "Sadly, my mum is no longer with us and the CD is dedicated to her. She was the musically-minded one in the family and always had music playing in the house - jazz and Ella Fitzgerald, that kind of thing.”
Orde: "My background is a little more ‘hippy’ than Stuart’s. My dad’s a university lecturer of moral philosophy and very left wing . My Mum’s Danish… I didnt wear shoes as an infant and saw a lot of the world as a child.”
MUSICAL ROOTS
Stuart: "I got into punk at the age of 11 through listening to the John Peel show - we grew up with that show and Peel also introduced us to reggae and some very early electro and hip hop – it’s an honour to follow him in the fabric CD series!”
Orde: "We got into dance heavily in about ’86, it was kind of a spin-off from the funk and electro scene of that time."
FIRST PROJECTS
Stuart: "We did our first club - Slam - in Glasgow in 1988 in a small place which was packed with 200 people. Within a year we had 2000 people turn up at a Slam all-nighter at the city’s Tramway. We then did a weekly residency at the sub club for 4 years and moved to the Arches in the early nineties, where we now do Pressure once a month.”
LABELS AND PRODUCTION
Stuart: "We started Soma in 1991 doing a few releases a year and built it over time – keeping it independent and putting out music we really believe in. I think the strength in Soma is with the A & R – there’s 5 of us and listening sessions can get crazy! The label is about growing artists and the music policy is varied and keeps people guessing."
DJING
Orde: "We are really connected and this was cemented with the 4 deck sets we did together at last year’s festivals and bigger clubs. We can go record shopping separately and come back with a lot of the same tunes!”
Stuart: "This CD reflects our DJing sound in Room 2 at fabric, starting deep and getting gradually more intense towards the end. Mad Mike’s amazing "Inspiration" is the last track - I’m sure that’s going to grow and develop exactly as ‘Jaguar’ did."
FABRIC
Stuart: "It’s the club that London needed badly. To have that booking policy is brilliant. I think it has rejuvenated the scene and maybe now, more commercially-minded people have thought ‘hang on, you can do different things and do well’."
THE FUTURE
Stuart: "At the moment we’re working on our new artist album. We’re working in a weird way - switching between tracks, adding bits and pieces here and there, tweaking things. We’re capturing those "moments" when they happen and building on them over time.”
Orde: "That should be out this year some time. I’d say we have four or five tracks looking really strong at the moment."
Philippe La PlastiQue - 21. Feb, 11:49
