Patrick Topping: Well aye, Ne Bova and Pure Legends

Image: Patrick Topping 

As another monumental Ibiza season comes to a close, there is one man who emerges from it victorious, that man is Patrick Topping. Each year an air of mystery surrounds the White Isle, producers play their cards in the hope that one will absolutely smash it - this year it was Patrick Topping's 'Forget' that defined parties a plenty on the White Isle.    

If you partied in the Balearics then it was a given that you'd have heard it, however the Hot Creations wizard is no one hit wonder. Starting the year with the 'Get Beasty EP' that cavorted to the top of the Beatport tech house charts, Topping who started out championing his Motion clubnight in Newcastle, is a now a fully fledged producer who keeps on coming back for more.

Having already cut his teeth at club juggernaut DC10 for Jamie Jones' Paradise, the Geordie maestro extends an impressive vein of form as one of the planet's star selectors with an appearance at Coventry's Outbreak Festival. Putting into consideration the year Patrick Topping has had so far, we sat him down to talk: 'Forget', Ibiza, future productions and Geordie phrases. 

First up - You're set to play at Outbreak Festival at the end of October, which is held in a pretty unique venue with it being in a football stadium, how excited are you to play there? 

Really looking forward to it! I played last year and it was wicked. That was the first year of the festival and it was mint, so I imagine it’s going to be even better this time.

Also tell us about ADE and your event over there?

I’m playing a Paradise event there on the Friday, the lineup is sick, Jamie (Jones), Richy (Ahmed), wAFF, Mark (Jenkyns) then Magda, The Martinez Brothers and Deetron too, so should be unreal. I’m also playing another party on the Sunday but that’s unannounced, so keep an eye out. 

How important do you think ADE is to the market of underground music?

Really, as it’s a perfect opportunity to hook up with people in the industry you work with online etc, but never get to see in person. So that’s cool. But then also everyone goes so it’s good for networking. Plus the amount of parties that are on is daft.

Dance music seems to have enjoyed a meteoric rise in recent years, what are your feelings towards events such as this and did you ever envisage playing to a packed out stadium when you started out? 

It’s amazing and no I never thought I would be playing to such large numbers, as there are at some events. It’s starting to explode in the United States too, so I’m really enjoying exploring that increasing market.

You’ve also enjoyed a meteoric rise yourself, how was your summer, it must have been absolutely mental? 

This summer has been unreal, by far the best time I’ve ever had, as I’ve been playing pretty much three times a week or more sometimes, all over the world. I’ve also spent more time in Ibiza too than ever before. Think I was over eight times for a few nights this season. So that’s been wicked, as it’s still my favourite place.

You started the year with a bang, releasing the ‘Get Beasty EP’, then went one better and absolutely smashed it this summer with ‘Forget’, what's that been like, did you expect the track to absolutely dominate the airwaves ?

Get Beasty did really well, reaching number 1 on Beatport’s Tech house chart, which was a massive surprise. So then when 'Forget' (above) was about to come out, there was already so much hype about it, through Jamie Jones including it in his BPM set, so I was quietly hoping it could also do well like Get Beasty, but I never expected it to go on to become one of the tracks of the summer.

Obviously it must of been an unbelievable feeling hearing your tracks getting caned in Ibiza, but what is so special to you about the Island itself? 

Yeah it is such a buzz still. I first came to Ibiza when I was about 13 with my Mam, then came back in 2008 and I’ve been coming each year since. So that’s a lot of memories of the island and it was also where I had some of my first experiences with proper clubs, and it definitely helped change my taste to a more underground electronic sound.

So I think my personal fond memories coupled with the history and current amazing scene is what makes it so special to me.

You’ve recently released on Avotre, Circus and ViVa remixing Yousef, Lawler, Sidney Charles and Hector Moralez - is there anymore such material or collaborative efforts on the way in the near future?

Yeah! I’ve just done a collaboration track with Green Velvet/Cajmere, so I’m really excited about that! He is a pure legend and one of my favorite artists for sure, so to make a track with him is so mint. It’s called 'Voice Mail' and its kind of like an 'Answering Machine' (below) part two -  his classic track form the nineties. It’s also coming out on his wicked Relief records, on October 20th.

We’ve already discussed your knack for producing killer EP’s, are there anymore in the pipeline, what can we expect from you in the near future? 

Yeah there is one track that’s definitely coming out on Hot Creations called Howk and at the moment there a few other tracks I’ve made that may go with it for an EP I’m not sure.

With there being a few in the Skiddle crew that also come from the North East, we’ve noticed certain words and phrases cropping up in your material; Shwicked, Any Amounts, Get Beasty etc that you wouldn’t nessecarily hear anywhere else in the country, for a bit of a laugh if you could throw together some classic North East dialect to brand your next production, what would it be? 

Haha. I’ve already got a list in my phone of Geordie words or phrases that are just waiting to be used on track names. Just need to find some time to make them. Loads of my unsigned tracks have names like that, such as Heaton, Well Aye, Bumped, Hold Tight, Ne Bova, there is actually so many more…

Check out Patrick Topping playing at DTL presents Paradise at ADE, as well as Outbreak Festival in Coventry on October 31st (tickets below).

Find out more Patrick Topping dates here.