Saturday 28th November saw Hed Kandi celebrate a decade of dance domination at Pacha, London with a retrospective club night and 3 x CD compilation called Pure Kandi. It will be a final farewell to the glamorous club which has been home to one of dance music’s most influential brands for the last six years. It also marks the start of a new chapter as Hed Kandi spreads her wings even further.
“We will celebrate in style at Pacha but it’s time for a change,” said Hed Kandi front man Phil Faversham. “We were one of the first promoters to develop production themed parties and always being one step ahead, we’re busy working on a new production concept based around 3D animation called Glitterball. This will be debuted at Indigo at the O2 on New Year’s Eve then toured around the world. Next year, we will have some bigger one-off shows in interesting venues plus some smaller more intimate parties. We will also be doing festivals in the summer and theres a big shows planned in Amsterdam and Miami in March. We all go out often and to keep it exciting you’ve got to keep upping your game. Artists like Daft Punk build a half million dollar pyramid for their live show which sets the benchmark for everyone else.” Hed Kandi’s wow factor strengthens. “We will also be building on the most successful Ibiza season at Space this year”
November has already seen the release of the two disc Destroy The Disco compilation and its sidestep in musical direction. It features remixes of urban, twisted disco, feisty electronic and bassline growling tracks from the likes of Bloc Party, Gossip, The Prodigy, Simeon Mobile Disco, Fakeblood and Fatboy Slim. “We do a lot of research with our customers,” explained Phil, “and there was a recurrent theme. Punters were asking us for something a bit “dirtier”. Annie Mac moving to an earlier slot on Radio 1 is a sign of the times. When a new sound becomes popular with a wider audience, that’s where the creative energy is focussed and new and exciting sounds and records emerge. Hed Kandi for many represents the funky house sound but we have always been much broader than that adopting new sounds as they emerge from the underground and presenting them to a wdier audience when the time is right. Dance music by its very nature evolves and moves forward very quickly so its important to saty across these changes otherwise you stand still and die”
How has the brand developed since the Ministry empire bought Hed Kandi? “With Ministry, unlike a major record company, the focus is purely on dance music and they have opened a lot of doors for Hed Kandi which is brilliant. It is also a very well run business and we have a great future with Ministry. They’re very ambitious and theres big plans to grow and develop the brand further into other areas.”
Pure Kandi is a three disc mix compilation of different moods cited as 33% music, 33% dancefloor and 33% glamour. Featuring dance remixes of artists like David Guetta, Empire Of The Sun, Chuckie, Sebastian Ingrosso, Dizzee Rascal and few classics from the likes of Joey Negro, Solitaire, Milk and Sugar and Armand Van Helden. Hed Kandi has even commissioned new remixes like Avicii’s remix of Solu Music featuring KimBlee Fade.
Mixing up the old and the new is a winning strategy. “Everyone operates at a totally different level of listening experience: some want total familiarity whilst others want you to dig deeper below the surface. It’s a balancing act which I think we have achieved with this. Wes Clarke and I compiled and mixed it in the studio – it’s like putting together a jigsaw when you don’t have the picture! This is not a DJ mix where the DJ’s personality takes over as you don’t want the spikes and the bumps of a live performance interfering with the music. We let the music say it all! Here we have presented a great mix of the classic and upfront. I am really pleased with it as a commercial round up of the year and all things Hed Kandi,” enthused Fav. “We have hit the spot with this one.”
And what can we expect from Hed Kandi into 2010 as they approach their 100th release? “The next compilation is Nu Disco record where I can indulge myself by including the most edgy, cool, fabulous and exciting records I can lay my hands on. Bootylove has been hugely successful and that will continue but we are also developing a new act with some high profile songwriters. I hope to develop something very on brand - building songs and an act from the ground upwards. There is a lack of good songs out there at the moment as most producers are making tracks where the focus is on style rather than substance. Music is perennial and styles come and go but people only really remember songs. We hope to remind people about that. Its what we do – big moments and good times”
