Hard House Revolution chats with Andy Whitby (December 17, 2007)
reported by Rahul NRG

Day: September 2nd, 2007.
Destination: The Warehouse Nightclub, Calgary.
Time: a little after midnight.

After an exciting and banging set by DJ TazInDigital, the crowd’s all warmed up and pumped by then to experience yet another fantastic extravaganza. As the lights dim, the hard and resonating sounds faintly diffuses into mute mode, a cool, calm and collected (yet budding with NRG) DJ puts on his headphones, cues his first track and sets the EQ for maximum effect. The crowd quiets down. Within the first hint of anticipation, the DJ lets out a burst of loud and NRGized super sonic sounds from the speakers along with a dash of long and vibrating vocals taking The Warehouse mass on a long and ecstatic euphoric journey…the story begins…

Hailing from Cheshire, UK, at an early age, Andy landed his first gig at Addiction in Northwich in July 2001 playing for 80 people in the Men’s Social Club. Since then, Andy tirelessly promoted himself to no end and performed wherever he could. With sheer dedication, Andy constantly practiced and worked on first show-reels, that demonstrated just what he could on the decks, a series of three demos that became some of the most talked about in the history of hard house. The first was a mix starting with a bootleg of Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” over Signum’s “Wot U Got 4 Me??” The bootleg styles resurfaced in his second demo, which began with Brittany versus Paul Maddox and GRH’s “New York, New York.” It was the third one though, kicking off with Lonnie Gordan spliced into “Bounce 1 Time” by Ilogik & Bazooka Joe that landed on the desk of Frantic’s Will Paterson and changed Andy Whitby’s life. The rest was history.

Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, allow me to introduce and welcome to Hard House Revolution, the winner of the “Best Resident” in 2005 and 2007, the “Best Album” in 2006 and the “Best DJ” in 2007 @ HDA (Hard Dance Awards, UK). I give you, the “Saviour of Hard House”, the “Legend in the making”… ANDY WHITBY!

Andy, first and foremost, thanks for taking the time to talking with us @ Hard House Revolution! How have you been since we all marveled and saw you last @ HHR 7?

Hello m8y! I have been very well since we last chatted, things are more hectic than ever over here in the UK for me; I’ve got a few new websites rolling, a new free mix has landed (which can be downloaded from the link at the bottom of this interview), lots of new material done and being played at all my gigs, it a real exciting time right now in Whitbyworld.

AWsum and AWsum Bounce (my labels) were meant to have launched a few weeks ago but they were going through Amato for distribution so I’ve had to hold back while I sort a new one. Shouldn’t take long though!

I’ve also just had my debut event ‘One AWsum Night’ in London, the next one is taking place @ the most famous club in the UK at the end of May.

How was your stay in Canada? Did you visit the Rockies out west of Alberta or did you play elsewhere?

My visit to Canada was amazing, I LOVE you guys!

On the Saturday I was in Vancouver playing for a night the Shy Brothers were putting on, but because I was shooting between flights and hotels I didn’t get to see much of the place!
Luckily when I got to Calgary Rodi and Dom took me out around the city and I got time to do some shopping in the mall, eat some interesting meals (more on that shortly) and take in a few sights. I love everything about Canada, and I can’t wait to get back.

What did you think of the energy that came out from your Calgary fans?

The atmosphere was unreal. It was as exciting as some of the nights we have over here; the entire crowd was bouncing off the walls! Obviously as it’s more of a hard-based night I wondered at first how the crowd would react to more light-hearted hard-dance material, but from the second my intro dropped I knew it was going to be a great night.

Since I’ve got back I’ve had SO many messages on websites like Facebook asking when I’m next back and people telling me how much they enjoyed my set and that really does mean a lot! I’ve been to a lot of countries but Canada has been one of the friendliest so far.

I’ve read this many a times and also have mentioned that you’ve been called the “Saviour of Hard House”. Honestly (without any modesty), what goes through mind when you think about it or do you even think about it in the first place?

The only time I think about it is when people mention it, and even then it makes me smile because people are stupid enough to think I came up with it myself! Mixmag were the ones that titled me with it after I had an interview with their club editor Duncan. He noticed hard-dance had become quite boring and too serious and I appeared and things changed, hence ‘saving it’. My PR people love it and use it on a lot of my sites, hence why it appears on places like www.andywhitby.com.

When you played @ HHR 7, I heard a lot of variation and different styles incorporated in your music. With every track banging and mind blasting for sure, how would you describe “your” style or genre of music to a lame person?

My style is more fun, vocal, bouncy and hands-in-the-air than usual hard-dance. I use a lot of vocals, a lot of tricks, I play around with the tracks I’m mixing, I do special edits of tunes…around 90% of the stuff you hear in my sets you can’t get anywhere as they’re all my own edits and bootlegs and special one-off mixes. I think nowadays you have to do stuff like that to stay ahead of the game.

If I had to describe it to someone who wasn’t into hard-dance I’d say lots of uplifting vocals, fun basslines, crazy noises…I try to ensure everyone has a good time on the dancefloor when I’m on the decks and try to get all the crowd into it.

As much as we all would love for you to come back and play again, what other venues or cities in Canada would you like to play?

Toronto is somewhere I’d love to go, but I NEED to come back to Calgary, it’s uber!

Earlier that night, shortly after I first met you at The Keg during supper, I was informed that you like garlic bread a lot and that you had two servings of it. Is this true?

Ha! Yes, that is true. I get taken to the finest steak restaurant in Calgary and decide to order 2 portions of garlic bread; one for starter, one for main! Class act Whitby!

In all honesty, I wasn’t hungry so that’s why I did that, but the garlic bread was unreal! It was like a cocktail of cheese chaos spread across that bread! *laughs*

Dare I ask what kind of food do you like?

I LOVE pizza, which again is quite similar to garlic bread as its cheese on a bread base. There’s something about a 13” Dominos Pizza with ham, sausage, beef, extra cheese and 2 garlic dips…I would sell my soul for that pizza it’s so nice!

A lot of women @ HHR 7 and around the world find you very sexy and sophisticated with an immaculate sense of style. How do you react to that?

Wow, talk about a nice compliment! I react to that by smiling a lot and then going shy…although people never believe me when I say I’m shy! Just because I can stand on a stage in front of thousands of people doesn’t mean I’m not!

And to all the ladies that think that…thank you!

Many ravers love hard dance tracks without any vocals and many do. As I’ve heard, I realize you like to include vocals in your music. How important is it to integrate “vocals” and why?

I do indeed love vocals, as it truly unites a dancefloor together as one. People love a good sing-a-long, and if it’s something they recognize they’re usually more likely to get into the night more and have a good time.

The music I play isn’t just for appealing for people in night-clubs though, I like to think you can listen to my C.Ds during the week at any times; on the way to work in the car, back at the afterparties, everywhere.

What are your predictions for hard dance in the future?

Well, it’s growing again that is for sure. A lot of older producers have left the scene and in my opinion this has given other artists the room to grow and really bring something new and exciting to our music. I think 2007 is going to be a great year for everyone in hard-dance and I’m really excited to right in the middle of it!

So what’s next for the “Legend in the making”? Where does Andy go from here with his career?

As mentioned earlier I’ve just had my debut event ‘One AWsum Night’ in London, my 2 labels are about to launch. I’ll be starting a third special label next year aswell, more info on that soon.

I’m also currently working on 2 new compilations and some new remixes for Nukleuz, all for release in 2008.

Do you have any plans of starting your own record label? If so, how are you going about doing it?

As mentioned earlier, both my labels AWsum and AWsum Bounce were ready to launch a few weeks ago, but due to amato going bust I had to put it on hold and replan what I was going to do with them. They will launch in January though…FINALLY!

You’ve won some prestigious awards @ the HDA (Hard Dance Awards, UK) like “Best DJ”, Best Resident” and “Best Album”. Congratulations! Tell us, what album won you the award? Also, in a nutshell, take us through how went about making this album.

The album that won the award was red & orange Frantic Euphoria mixed by Andy Whitby & Anne Savage. I did the ‘Frantic Classics’ disc which gave me a chance to choose a lot of tracks from Frantic’s past that people might have forgotten them, and mix them up in a way previously unheard on a compilation.

What a lot of people don’t know if most compilations are ‘mixed’ on computer programmes. Myself and Anne don’t believe in that, so our c.ds were done the proper way, by hand, and because of this you get our own style on the compilation, which is what the person buying the it wants.

To make a compilation you put together a list of tracks you would like for it, send this to the label that is doing the compilation and they then get in touch with the labels that own the records. Obviously you sometimes can’t always get every track requested so there’s a few stressful days of going back and forth ‘filling’ in gaps with new records or second choices until eventually you get all the tracks you need. Then you have a few days to work out which tracks work best with each other, mix the C.D, send it to the label, they master it so it’s all nice and loud and finally they send it away to be pressed up and packaged…phew!

To sum up, how has 2007 been treating you so far? What would you say were your main highlights till now?

2007 has been a great year for me, I’m really happy how it turned out.

I played some incredible gigs, all the major festivals, NEARLY launched both my labels, started my own night, traveled to a lot of countries, played a lot of amazing hard-dance, made a lot of music, met A LOT of people, won a few awards, bought myself a car, bought myself a house, bought a puppy (Henry, he is so cute!) and really, now looking back now, I’ve been bloody busy! I can’t wait for 2008!!!

Ok Andy, before we let you go, I want to play a small game of 10 questions with you. You literally have 20 seconds to answer them all. (Don’t ask how, but there’s a timer in this interview, so you can’t possibly cheat!!). Ok Ready? Go!!

Sexiest girl you’ve had a crush on when you were 16 –

Gemma Albiston, she broke my heart…I’ll never forgive you Gem! Haha!

Spiciest food you’ve ever had –

Recently I went to a new Chinese restaurant in my hometown of Peterborough and they brought out some chilli’s which weren’t meant to be eaten (not entirely sure why they brought them out then!) but I really wanted to try one. My friends spent half an hour telling me not too, but I did anyway.
What happened next can only be described as my throat feeling like it had been torn out, my entire head went numb for an hour and I couldn’t eat or drink anything hahaha!

Favourite mixer –

Pioneer DJM800 all day every day baby! If a club doesn’t have one it should be shut down.

Least desirable headphones –

Those plastic ones you get in the ‘DJ in a box’ boxes; everything you need to start Djing today….but comes with headphones that sound like you’re trying to listen to the music through a pair of shoes.

Favorite track –

Right now? AWsum DJs – Over4me (Matt Lee remix)

In all of hard-dance history; Heavens Cry – Til Tears Do Us Part (Flash Harry remix)

Favourite new movie -

I don’t have time to watch movies really unless I’m on a plane, and the last movie I saw on there was Spiderman 3, it was shockingly bad.

Favourite track produced by the sexiest DJ –

Cally Gage’s remix of ‘Not Over Yet’ by Neon Lights.

Dream vacation –

Kenya looks real nice, will hopefully be visiting sometime in ’08.

DJ or Producer who you would like or already have worked with –

Favourite to work with is Lee Pasch.
Favourite I’d like to work with in the future is Alex K.

Your favourite clothing accessory -

I like clothes, and right now I’m feeling my Elvis Jesus tops, they’re badass!

Andy thank you once again for chatting with us. I sincerely hope you enjoyed your stay here in Canada. On behalf of Calgary and the entire HHR family, we wish you all the very best in your endeavors and look forward to having you spin for our hearing pleasure and excite us all with your energy in the near future!

PLEASE VOTE FOR ANDY WHITBY AS BEST DJ AND RESIDENT IN THE HARD DANCE AWARDS @ WWW.HARDDANCEAWARDS.COM