We caught up with the extremely busy DJ Seamus Haji ahead of the Bodymove 1st Birthday event at Egg on Saturday April 9th and found out how he juggles DJing, production, A&R and running his own Big Love label.
Is this your first time playing at Egg and are you looking forward to playing the Bodymove 1st Birthday, and why in particular ?
I played at The Egg once before so its great to back. I've heard good things about Bodymove and they've had some big names playing for them in the last year such as Junior Jack & Kid Creme, DJ Spen, and Copyright so I'm looking forward to celebrating their First Birthday party with them.
What are some of the your best memories of the Egg and why?
When I played at The Egg I remember it being full with a real party crowd, and because of it's location, it's not really a passing trade spot so people go there with the intention of having a good time.
Do you have any secret weapons ie tracks, edits/remixes and can you name a couple of records that will definitely be in your box.
I did a couple of remixes that didn't pass the artist approval stage but have been rocking my sets lately so I'll be dropping my remix of Diddy's "Hello Good Morning" and George Michael's "Father Figure". Plus I've got a couple of other re-edits and bootlegs specials that I'll be playing and plenty of upfront bits that you'll have to come and hear on the night!
Describe how you first got started in music. Where are you based and started when did you start producing? What was your first track and what happened with it?
I was seduced by the art of mixing n’ scratching. Grandmaster Flash and Tony Humphries were my inspiration back in the mid 80's. I'm a London boy but moved to Brighton with family back in 2002.
I started messing around in 91' on an old Atari computer and an Akai S950 sampler just really basic stuff and I was really influenced by Kerri Chandler and Masters At Work. My first track was under the guise of Sonz Of Soul feat Steven Granville called "Race Of Survival". I cut 2 acetates and gave 1 to Paul Anderson in the UK and 1 to Tony Humphries for the US and both DJs hammered it in the clubs and on their mixshows non-stop for about a year until it was finally released.
It was one of those tracks that everybody was asking for but couldn't get their hands on and I was just chuffed to bits that one of my childhood heroes was playing it.
Since then you've released many tunes on different labels and can you describe your sound and what you are trying to achieve
After that I went onto release trax and do remixes on labels such as Kult, Hott, Black Vinyl, Z Records, Slip'N'Slide, Azuli, Defected, Slave, Toolroom, Cr2, Ultra, Hed Kandi, Ministry Of Sound and I set up my own label Big Love in 2002 to release most of my own productions.
I also started doing a lot of remixes for big acts on major labels as well like Def Jam, Sony and Universal so I've worked with some great artists like Rihanna, The Ting Tings, Moby and Calvin Harris over the years. When I'm doing remixes I try and work with the artist. I'm always trying to push my sound forward but I have always an ear to the past.
I met someone recently who described my sound as a cross between Larry Levan and Georgio Moroder. I take that as a compliment!
Do you have any favourite tunes you have produced and if so why? Who has championed your sound and what are your biggest achievements to date.
"Race of Survival" for obvious reasons. Big Bang Theory "Gods Child" which was my first single and it entered the UK Top 40 back. My single "Last A DJ Saved My Life" hit the UK Top 15 and my mix of Bootyluv's "Boogie 2Nite" took the single to No.2 in the UK Charts and really put me on the map. Over the years the support I've had has been far and wide from icons such as Pete Tong, Roger Sanchez, and Cevin Fisher to peers such as Mark Knight and Funkagenda.
Has the digital revolution helped you take off and what do you think of the music industry right now
The digital revolution has made promotion a lot easier and social networking is a good thing from that point of view. It's better from an awareness angle. I think that if you're young and talented you have more of a chance of getting your music out there and heard.
The music industry is having to adapt to the market place all of the time as things are constantly changing.
What's good is that you can buy music so easily now. Not like the old days where a track was only pressed up on 500 pieces of vinyl and you missed out if you didn't go to the store that week. It's better for the consumer and better for the label the way music is sold now.
What are your plans for the the rest of the year in terms of releases, remixes, and gigs/radio shows
I'm now A&R for Strictly Rhythm and I present the monthly Strictly Radio show which is also available as a podcast on itunes. It's doing really well and we were number 7 in the itunes podcast chart recently!
I recently remixed the Hurts.
They have that 80's vibe so I remixed their latest single "Sunday" and gave it a Depeche Mode vibe. I'm working on a remix for Dionne Bloomfield (Amy Winehouse's goddaughter) called "Muggin" and she has an amazing voice so I'm looking forward to that.
I'm also working on a track called "What's The Point" which I think could be really big and I'm also going to do a Remix on Sandy Rivera & Yasmeen's "Love", which is currently in the Miami Buzz Chart & Cool Cuts Chart and I can't wait to put my spin on it. I've also got some productions on the way which will come out on Strictly Rhythm.
One is with Felix Baumgartner called "World Go Round" and then I've got a couple of collaborations lined up with Cevin Fisher that we're working on.
Seamus Haji joins the Soul Avengerz, DJ Fudge, Twisted Plastic and Hi Fi Sean at the Bodymove 1st Birthday on Saturday April 9th at the Egg Club. Hosted by Akimbo Moonchild and the Immaculate Extremists, its an unmissable party night.
All info on www.egglondon.net and Seamus Haji mix, chart and info at Mix & tracklist: http://www.strictly.com/dj-mixes/mix-info/Seamus+Haji/3
Chart: http://www.strictly.com/dj-mixes/chart-info/Seamus+Haji+Top+10+/406
http://www.myspace.com/djseamushaji
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