Felon: Partying on the moon with Michael Jackson

Photo: Felon

Brand new to the capital's clubbing world comes the much talked about Qube Project, a raving mecca destined for great things, set in Victoria Street in South West London. Just a brief look ahead at the run of shows (you can check those out here) lets us in on the calibre of acts Qube has in its arsenal, with the likes of Just Be, Cyril Hahn, Klingande, Leftwing & Kody amongst its first headliners. 

One three piece that will be making numerous appearances over the coming weeks are deep house upstarts Felon, who despite only being one year into their career have been responsible for some of the finest examples of modern deep house of late, nailing a polished, soulful, sun-drenched sound that very much captures the spirit of things in today's clubbing sphere.

We caught up with James, George and Archie ahead of their Qube Project appearance on October 10th.

So you are amongst the first to play for The Qube Project, and you’ll be back here again a few times throughout the season - what are you most looking forward to checking out about the new venue?

We've actually played there before when it was a pop-up, and we loved the 'Qube' light box that hangs from the ceiling! That thing does all sorts of crazy things! Soundsystem was banging too.

For those of us that haven’t caught you in action before, how would you describe your sets? And how does it work having three DJs behind the decks? Is it an Apollonia style one on, one off deal or something else?

Our DJ sets usually consist of our own material mixed with other housey bangers from our favourite artists. If it's all of us playing at one event we would usually play on three CDJs, all individually sticking to our own CDJ if you get our meaning. But when we play live it's all 3 of us on Maschine, Ableton, Samplers, loads of FX and decks.

Taking things back a few years briefly, how did the Felon project begin?

We are actually only just over a year old. Two of us have been working together on and off for a few years (James & George) before Archie came in to complete the trio that then became Felon just over a year ago. Things just worked really well in the studio all together.

We’ve discussed how it works behind the decks, but how do you go about working in the studio? Do you all have separate strengths that you bring to the table?

We all work on sketches/ideas individually and then bring them all to the table and decide which sketches to work on. From there, George takes care of the engineering and we throw parts & production ideas around the three of us. Archie's behind most of the mallet riffs and vocal hooks, but we try and approach every track differently… 

Are there ever any creative disagreements, or do you have a very similar vision for your sounds?

We don't disagree on much to be honest. Maybe tiny things like where an individual clap should sit or something, but apart from that we do have a very similar visions for our sound. I think that's why the music is what it is at the end of the day. 

From listening to your stuff we can hear elements of old school house, UK garage, bass music, even stripped back techno. What have been some major influences for Felon?

Our main influences would have to be people like MK, Shadow Child, Duke Dumont, Dusky…

Was there a moment for each of you where you realised that you had to pursue music as a career, through either a tune you heard, or DJ set you saw, or something similar?

James - For me it would have probably been just after I graduated from uni. I had been playing throughout uni at different clubs and playing around with different production software. In the end I made the decision to go for it straight away as I was so in love with it all.

George - I grew up around some amazing musicians so I got the bug early on. Seeing my dad play guitar was the start of it, and I've just been on a mission to make music in one-way or another since then.

Archie - Back at school one of my mates showed me this nuts electro track. I wasn't really into dance music back then but this tune totally changed my perception…The next day I got my hands on a copy of Ableton and have been addicted ever since. 

You’re increasingly in demand, and not just in the UK, but all over the world. How has this experience been, and how are you all adjusting to the hectic touring schedule?

So far it hasn't been too demanding or hectic, but we can definitely see how it could get pretty crazy and tiring in the future. James hates flying which has been entertaining. Ha!

One last question before you go - Felon are called upon to curate the ultimate party. You can have on the bill any DJ in history, alive or dead. Where would you have it, who would you have on the bill, and what tune would you play to cap off the night?

We’d most likely hold it on the moon and Michael Jackson would DJ. Although we’d probably close our set with our new single ‘Isla’. 

Felon next appear for Qube Project on October 10th. Head here for tickets or get them below.

Tickets are no longer available for this event