Interview With Riley & Durrant

Riley & Durrant's genre-bending club night Electrik Playground (run with Adam Sheridan) has taken the north of England by storm, and is now one of the most consistently - packed-out nights at Leeds finest venue Mission. This summer the boys will be taking the night to Ibiza, hosting the 2nd room at the Worlds Biggest Club with Tiesto at Privilege

How did you get your foot in the door of the world of dance music?

Andi: I spent 2 weeks work experience in 1996 at the council in Huddersfield making weak tea and choosing the best fonts for new road signs.. which made me take a long hard look into ways of making a living out of my hobby and not getting a proper job. I used to make tapes of old hardcore, drum and bass and rave and sell them outside school for £2.60 - so I figured it was the way forward. I managed to blag my way into the studios of Kiss FM in Leeds and worked for free throughout college. I used to be the guy who sat in with all the specialist DJs making sure they weren't too stoned to work the desk, and inevitably sometimes they wouldn't turn up, or a pre recorded show would go wrong so I'd be ready and waiting with a bag of records.. I eventually got my own show and Kiss became part of the Galaxy network in 97.

Nick: In my early teens I was into rock so I brought a guitar to play along with the music I was into. When I heard the prodigy and got into dance music I soon ditched the guitar and brought some decks. I moved from London to Sheffield to go to Uni, and put on club nights at Gatecrashers sister club Bed to promote myself as a DJ. I got the Crasher residency in 2002 and was very lucky to be put on most of their world tours.

Andi: We met behind the turntables at Gatecrasher in Sheffield in 2002, and have been working together as DJs and producers ever since.

Who would you say you look up to in terms of DJs or Producers?

Andi: There's such a massive range of music we play in our sets and on the radio shows it's hard to narrow it down - everything from the Swedes - Angello, Ingrosso, Laidback Luke and Axwell, to Herve, Ferry Corsten, Paolo Mojo, Lutzenkirchen and Dubfire. In terms of DJs, Paul Van Dyk is always on the cutting edge of technology, and you can't beat Tiesto for being the big dog of dance music.

How would you describe your music?

Andi: I hate the phrase "Electronic Dance Music" but it sort of is - it's not trance, not house, not techno, not progressive - it's all of them. On our last artist album we collaborated with folk singers, rock vocalists, various musicians and producers from minimal, house, trance, techno and hard dance, and it's a similar thing in our sets.

Nick: It's hard to put it into 1 or 2 words.. it's just deep dirty music that makes you dance.

You're a resident DJ's on Galaxy FM, how did that come about? And tell us a bit about your show?

Andi: I've been with Galaxy since the start, working my way up from the bottom to getting the flagship Saturday evening Warm Up show, which I enjoy doing immensely. Every week we have some of the biggest names in electronic music dropping in for a chat and a guest session, from Pendulum to the Prodigy, the Chemical Brothers, Tiesto, Van Dyk, Carl Cox and loads more.

When me and Nick starting working together we approached Galaxy about the idea for our Nu Breed concept supporting underground and unsigned music, and they took the show a few years back.

Nick: Andi still does the Saturday evening show, and together we do Friday nights 11pm-2am. It's basically a bit of a house party, with some of the most exciting new names in dance coming on, all the up and coming talent in the Nu Breed part of the show, and the best new electronic music around. If you're not in a Galaxy area, you can also listen online, on Sky Digital, DAB Radio and Virgin Media across the UK.

As well as being DJ's, you produce a lot of your own stuff. How did you get in to producing and what equipment do you use?

Nick: We both come from pretty musical backgrounds, being made to learn piano, keyboard, guitar, drums, violin and trumpet amongst others as kids, so it's something we've both always done.

Andi: We do the bulk of our work on Reason to make music, but we've just opened a new recording studio complex in Leeds with the Utah Saints, which is full on old analogue gear and some brand new gadgets, and has pretty much everything going installed, so we're always trying new bits of kit.

You have an outstanding production portfolio that speaks for itself, so what's next for Riley and Durrant

Andi: Thanks! We took a year or so out to make our album in 2007, so this year we've been getting back on with remixes for various labels and producers, which is a lot of fun.

Nick: We've also putting out a lot of our own more underground stuff through our Nu Breed Music record label, so keep an eye on places like Beatport.com

This year your off out to Ibiza with Electrik Playground. What are the plans?

Andi: We've tried to support some of the most exciting music makers coming through the scene at Electrik Playground this year. Some of the guys we've had on at Mission in Leeds include Paolo Mojo, EDX and Glenn Morrison who are all on the verge or going massive, but for Ibiza we've tried to concentrate a bit more on the new talent and taken a lot of the people from our Nu Breed Galaxy shows and invited them over to play at Privilege.

Nick: Tiesto is in the main room every week, so we'll be providing our usual eclectic Electrik sound and providing a bit more of a deeper, darker, dirtier sound to the Coco Loco room.

I hear you have a lot of exciting talent lined up for the summer. What DJ's should we look out for?

Nick: We'll be there every week, and some of the guests we've got booked in include Adam Sheridan, Kate Lawler, Nick 'Bodyrox' Bridges, Deepgroove, The Young Punx, Filthy Rich, Jon Rundell, Will Bailey, Hauswerks, Prok & Fitch, Anthony Probyn, Jon Gurd and loads more.

Do you have any crazy stories from your trips to Ibiza?

Andi: None that wouldn't be considered libel or slander against some of the biggest A List DJs around, but weird as it sounds, most Ibiza events have always been very smooth and professional, and people are so up for it, the parties are always amazing, back in the UK though we've had loads of weirdness.

Nick: A couple of months ago we turned up at a club, and the biggest meathead you've ever seen walked up to the booth and said " If you don't play a good set I'm gonna kick your f***ing heads in"!. We've also done gigs going back a few years where the clientele is so dubious we've found the longest track in the box, put it on and legged it out to the car.

What is your favourite club in Ibiza and Why?

Andi: It's a toss up between Privilege and Amnesia. Privilege is the biggest club on planet earth, so it's whatever's on there is a spectacle to watch, and feels like a proper "event" rather than just a normal club night. Amnesia is one of the most famous clubs in the world, and playing in that main room as the sun comes up is always pretty special.

Which UK nightclub have you not yet played, but would love to?

Nick: I think we've been lucky enough to play at pretty much every club going, but if we could get hold of a time machine we'd probably go for one last gig at the old Gatecrasher Republic in Sheffield. We were fortunate enough to play at the last ever Crasher before it burnt down, but it would be great to have one last part in there.

Andi: On a similar tip, I've always been gutted I was too young to go to the Hacienda in Manchester. I do own a piece of the dance floor that lives in our studios, but that's the closest I'll ever get.

As part of your Radio show you must get sent a lot of exclusive promos. What tunes should we look out for this summer?

There's loads already looking big, but here's a few to look out for:

Ingrosso and Laidback Luke - "Chaa Chaa"

J Magik and Wickaman - "Crazy World"

Steve Angello - Gypsy (This is really annoying and a bit weird, but will probably be quite big)

Nic Fanciulli and Zoo Brazil - IDE (Tiger Stripes Mix)

Deadmau5 ft Flipside - Hi Friend

Riley & Durrant - Remote Control

Cube Guys - Baba O'Riley (Riley & Durrant Mix)

Check out www.myspace.com/rileyanddurrant