Acid house is back. The twisted groove of the mighty 303 is ruling the speaker stacks once again, dancefloors are finding their sense of fun and endless sub-genres of sub-genres seem to be a thing of the past. Thank fuck for that!
Having met in Bristol’s vibrant underground house scene a few years back, Grayson Shipley and Lee Pattison aka ascendant house duo Deepgroove are probably rejoicing this as much as anyone. Ravers from the original acid house era, the duo have long been believers that all good music is just that. Just good music. A testament to these diverse dancefloor driven values, their growing production discography is gaining plaudits from the most eclectic quarters by showing scant regard for convention, instead blending tribal percussion, freakin electro sounds and subtle breaks elements. With a healthy does of free-spirited acid house attitude, something their monthly club carnival Play at Bristol’s Timbuktu is also known for. Grown men wearing tea cozies on their heads, ravers chucking shapes in their jim-jams and colourful fancy dressers all regular sites at the monthly shindig. We caught up with the live-wire production duo as they get ready to inject their fun groove-filled sound into Push this Sunday.
How did you guys decide to take your relationship into the recording studio? Did you both have solo productions careers beforehand or was it only when you joined forces that the sparks really began to fly?
We hooked up with two really nice people (Tony Thomas and D Ramirez) to do our first tunes and they really fired us up to get fully on with it. Grayson had a fair few releases back in the day for the likes of Renaissance, but from then on we were 50 hours a week learning our craft — which took about three years before we got half decent (not very long ago).
How did you first get involved in the club scene and who were you early DJ influences? What sorts of sounds first inspired you?
Grayson: For me it was raving in fields to proto drum and bass and techno, back when Sasha would be on the same bill as LTJ Bukem.
Lee: For me it was dancing to Grayson at the seminal Lakota club in Bristol, cos he’s such an old man!
Why the name Deepgroove or is it all painfully self-explanatory?
It’s pretty literal, though now it should be called acid techno, wierdoff freaky dress wearing groove. It’s always about the bassline though — one after another.
Your Bristol residency and promotion Play is well known for its off-the-wall, irreverent themes and fancy dress — once even shepherding a whole crowd of clubbers to the club wearing only their pyjamas. Do you think some clubbers ever fall into the trap of taking themselves a touch too seriously?
I think clubbing did when there was a real divide between trance/hard house and underground music, but these days there’s seems much more to be just one music with everyone marching to the same dirty groove — the music is so good these days that everyone is attracted to it and its vibes and there’s less pressure to feel your scene is better than any other (we just know it is) — and I’m always happily surprised that almost everyone we meet want deep down to cock around with a tea cozy on their heads!
What is the most bizarre scene you’ve ever witnessed at your Play parties?
Oh my god, almost every party has a bunch of wicked moments, mad costumes, really hard men wearing dresses — we’re currently nurturing RagGroove, basically our mate Rag, wearing an old ladies dress and face paint — basically he is our Bez (sorry matt, you have been replaced)
Full Cycle lead Bristolian d’n’b revolution, trip hop pioneers Massive Attack and Portishead, even breaks acts like General Midi… Bristol never seems to be short on shit-hot music. What is it about Bristol that inspires such cutting-edge and kick-ass club music? Is there something in the water there…??
Bristol is just a wicked city, filled with wicked people
Their has been much media talk of the acid revival in the last two years and your lulling 303 cuts ‘Acid House Music’ and ‘Acid House Memories’ have been notable contributions. What are your most enduring acid house memories? Have you got hazy recollections of throwing shapes in smiley warehouses to Energy Flash and Mr Fingers tracks?
Absolutely! The best thing about it is that house music now knows what it’s about — what the lexicon is — everything is about proper classic sounds with fresh laptop production. There’s no middle ground anymore which we are loving. When we first started raving there were no genres of house, just house, and it pretty much ruled the roost.
Your recent strutting vocal anthem ‘Fascinated’ definitely exhibits some unashamedly camp pop leanings alongside its seductive electro club groove. Are you fans of kitsch pop and if you could collaborate with one classic pop vocalist who would it be and why?
Robert Smith — cos we love The Cure.
Are there any plans to build towards a Deepgroove LP or are you quite content dishing out single releases alone?
Never say never, but we reckon there’s about a hundred singles we want to make, so getting into that whole, make an album, do two single releases a year game may not be for us.
On Sunday 30th April you’re playing at The White House for PUSH. You’ve clearly had some crazy nights out together… has The White House been the venue of choice for any of them?
We only ran in there once briefly, but it’s a lush venue — we have always wanted to play there.
What have been your most memorable DJ sets in recent months? Which artists and tracks have been planted in the front of your box lately? Who is really tickling your pickle?
It has to be the Underwater Xmas bash at the End — three hours of building bassline madness with a massive cheer for every tune. After playing two encores with the lights on the manager asked us to play one more — an honour!
Production wise it’s a long list but it includes Jon Dahlback, David Eickenback, Buick Project, Teifschwartz, Johannes Heil, Rene Amez, D Ramirez, The Cheshire Catz…. We heavily favor any producer with a Z in there name
Finally, complete this sentence. We’re Deepgroove and everyone should come hear us play at PUSH because…
We have some pretty good music for you and we will try hard not to fall over whilst playing it.
PUSH is proud to present the first of a series of "DIRTY PUSH"'s, this Bank holiday Sunday, with loads of guest dj's. It will also be the opening of the Terrace, which will commence at 1pm and closing at 11pm, with the main room action open till 4am!
Join PUSH Sunday Sessions for one of our biggest line-ups to date! 3 rooms of music! 15 hours of partying! What better way to spend Bank Holiday Sunday?
From: northernlasson 28th Apr 2006 23:22.34 If you haven't already, get to Deepgroove's website and download some of their mixes. Currently have live at the Zouk club Singapore, and Vol6 on repeat
From: Hi Freak1con 29th Apr 2006 09:35.57 well done guys, keep up the good work. Wicked DJs and nice guys too.
From: ben (bs2)on 29th Apr 2006 10:06.50 Your doing Bristol proud boys!!
From: Hankyon 29th Apr 2006 13:19.59 top lads and wicked fun at afterparties too. maybe see u on sunday
From: Meenaon 1st May 2006 18:05.54 I had a great NYE in Bristol thanks to these guys! Hopefully I'll catch you in London again soon.
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