Huxley Interview

Huxley Interview From Drum and Bass, to Garage, to Deep House, Huxley’s name and inspirations can be found across a multitude of genres. DJing and producing music from a young age, success didn’t come over night. Quitting music to attend university, Huxley still knew where his passions lay and soon returned to producing tracks and doing what he does best. Working with great labels such as 2020 Vision and Hypercolour, he has remixes and tracks across many labels as his music is so diverse. Huxley Interview About to embark on his Australian tour, Huxley also has new track ‘Bellywedge’ released on 11th March and will be hosting his own show on Rinse FM. We caught up with the musical wizkid to find out what’s been going down…

Hi Michael, you good?
I’m not too bad, you?

Yeah I’m really good thanks, so where are you right now mate?
Huxley Interview I’m just sitting in my studio at the moment. Trying to listen to a bit of music, getting ready for the weekend basically, get a little bit of inspiration – hopefully create something.

Nice, did you play out last weekend and how have things been going for you recently? Have you been pretty much booked each weekend?
Yeah it’s been pretty alarming. Actually last week, I had the Saturday off so I just played in Dublin on Friday and spent the weekend with my girlfriend as it’s the last weekend we’ll see each other really.

So it’s been a really busy few months I’m gathering, when did you first kind of realize you have a focused sound which makes you a recognizable artist?
The first track that helped me find my style a lot, was my track called ‘Shower Scene,’ which I actually released in 2011 and that started to get played by a few people. This tune was more towards what my sound needed to be and obviously ‘Let It Go’ was kind of the game changer for everything really and it got my name around a lot more. This was when the gigs and the press and everything kind of all started to roll along, it became something more than me just sitting around in my bedroom and playing one gig or whatever.

Wicked, so why are you a multi-label artist?
The thing I found, especially from the start, was that I was making a real variety of music. I didn’t want to not release them so I kind of worked my way through a few labels to see who I was most comfortable with. Looking back I might have done it differently, but you know what, you really say that, you can’t do it. I would say now, I’ve got a few labels I’m working with and I’m going try and keep with them as much I can – people like 2020 and Hypercolour.

I agree to find a label which you feel more at home with. So what was the process for making your track ‘Bellywedge,’ was it a sample?
I started how I start most of my tracks. I came up with a melody and then the bass came from that really. I was listening to a few different things, a bit of Drum and Bass actually, the bass lines from that kind of inspired me to do something a little bit different. I sent it to Alex from Hypercolour, just for a bit of feedback really more than anything, and they said they wanted it for my follow up and the rest is history.

Yeah it is good to get more melodical sounds coming through now as the Deep House sound was getting all too similar I think. How has this new radio show you’ve got coming up for Rinse come about?
Well I’m actually doing a release for them and I have always listened to the station, so when they came and asked me to do something, it was quite an honor. It’s also a good chance to play stuff I wouldn’t necessarily get to play when I’m playing out.

So, is there another artist at the minute, you think you’d play on the radio that you wouldn’t play necessarily when you play a set?
That’s actually quite a tough question. It would probably be Jack Dixon. His stuff is amazing, I try to play as much of it as I can and I love it but some of it, doesn’t quite fit into what I’m playing so I’ve been playing a lot more of his stuff on the radio show.

One my favourite artists is Crazy P and I love your ‘Heartbreaker’ remix, you definitely put a different angle on the track. How did you come about to remix it?
As I released on 2020 last year, I obviously kept quite strong ties to Ralph. I have to say Crazy P is one my most favourite bands as well. Ralph just got in touch and said, “Do you want to remix Crazy P?” And I was like, “Course I fucking do” and that was the track he offered me to remix. I went through four different versions of my remix before I came out with anything; I really knew I wanted justice done by it. You have it on such a pedestal; I wanted to do right by it.
So, was there ever a gig that went a little wrong and you can laugh about it now but at the time you were like ‘shit, I don’t know what I’m going do here’?
The main one I can think of and I’m not going say which one it is, was my own fault. Basically I played a gig a night before; I stayed at the party, thinking ‘Yeah this’ll be fine,’ got to the next gig and yeah, nothing really worked for me. To put it nicely, it just ended up being an absolute state, it wasn’t my finest hour, but you know, you have to learn from these things, I suppose, and move on.

Definitely. So, what festival would you recommend this year?
Dimensions Festival last year was just insane, you know, the setting and lineup they have is just another level. Huxley Interview It was just awesome, just the fact that I warmed up for Carl Craig. The whole thing was just amazing.

So are you playing there again this year?
I am playing this year. It’s going to be the only one I stay on for the whole week even though I only play once.

Random question then, do you have a pet hate?
(Laughs) Mine would be buying Christmas cards, birthday cards; there are never any good ones. They are either really soppy or shit jokes; you couldn’t buy one in the middle.

So you’re not into Moon Pig or Funky Pigeons and all that crap?
No, they can do one.

So what’s the next release and tour looking like?
‘Bellywedge’ is the next thing coming out soon, just reading through the feedback today, which is nice. But then as soon as I get back from Australia, I’m back for like a week or something, then I’m off to America. Huxley Interview There are a few things happening in Ibiza, and a few other festivals happening here so I’m really looking forward to it.

By Frankie Salt

Make sure you catch Huxley at Chinese Laundry on Saturday 2nd March 2013.