Secondcity Interview: Raving and rarities

Born in the UK but raised in Chicago, Secondcity aka Rowan Harrington grew up listening to traditional nineties house, influenced by the funk and soul radio shows his mum would play. Between the ages of 17 and 19 he would go out to drum and bass nights at Fabric before being inspired by seeing Guti DJ some years later. 

2014 was Secondcity's biggest year. Releasing the booty bass track 'I Enter' through Claude VonStroke's Dirtybird label, it went on to top the Beatport chart, whilst his homage to nineties Chicago house, 'I Wanna Feel', topped the UK chart a few months later. 

Two years on and Rowan has DJ'd all over the world, continues to put out music on his own terms via Saved Records, Defected and is a regular at ANTS, Elrow and Tribal Sessions parties.

We chat to him about musical influences, having a chart hit but still being able to make underground music, what's coming next and that time he was a question on a TV show. 

You were born in the UK but raised in Chicago. What was that experience like, personally and musically?

I lived there for ten years when I was a youngster. Musically, it did nothing for me to be honest because I was too young to go out. When I moved back I took a lot away with me. My mum heavily influenced me with house music from when I was young, she’d be playing typical nineties house – listening to a lot of old funk, soul and disco radio shows. It was quite a broad spectrum.

How did you get into music? What were you listening to growing up? 

When I was 13 or 14, music was so present all of the time. That was when I started to take a proper interest in the music scene of Chicago, Detroit, New York. At the beginning, it was people like Livin’ Joy, early Nightcrawlers and MK stuff, Omar S. To me, that was proper house. 

I just liked how that music was so stripped back, but felt so energetic. I like the fact it was all mainly live back then. It wasn’t like it is now where it’s all programmed on a laptop.

Back then, you could hear so much stuff. They’d play a synth for six minutes and manipulate it and mess around with it. It was almost out of time in places but it still sounded so cool, because what they’d do is hit record in the studio and record a tune – which is sick. I love that whole idea of doing that, it’s completely live. 

What are your earliest clubbing memories? Where did you go and who was playing? 

Oh my god, yeah, Fabric... I went there a lot when I was a kid. I didn’t really go out many other places. From 17-19, I probably just went to Fabric. It was a lot of drum and bass and jungle nights – people like Commix, Goldie, and Pascal. 

A lot of my friends were into drum and bass when I was younger. Hip-hop, garage and drum and bass – that was what everyone was listening to and going out to. One of my music teachers at the time was a DJ and he used to sort me guest list for Fabric all the time. We just rolled up there feeling super cool! 

What was it like when 'I Wanna Feel' topped the charts? What did you learn from that experience?

It was just so crazy and weird. That was at a point when I wanted to make something that was influenced by what I was listening to and what my mum was listening to when I was a lot younger. Something that felt a bit more old school essentially.

I used a really old Toni Braxton sample, wrote some chords and just put some house drums over it. It sounds so basic, but that’s what I did. I didn’t have a mentality of wanting to write a big record. I just wanted to write something that I could play out, that people would like. Then after that point I went back to writing whatever I wanted to make.

It wasn’t until four months later when everyone was like, ‘This is going to be a really big record’ and I thought, ‘Oh shit!’. I gave it to a couple of DJs I knew like Skream, then it just escalated. He was playing it non-stop then Zane Lowe asked him for it, then Annie Mac asked me for it and I gave it to her. I was like ‘everyone really likes it – that’s great!’ 

A year later it was a number one record, it was crazy. It was all good, a really amazing experience. Most people don’t think that’s going to happen to them once in their career. It’s not something I ever thought about – radio play-listing. It was quite crazy to experience that so early. 

That was the first big thing that happened. I’d put out stuff through Huxley’s label, some tunes on Defected and tracks with Route 94. It took a while to sink in. It wasn’t until my friends were saying they were hearing it (‘I Wanna Feel’) everywhere and then I was a question on a TV show. I was just thinking, ‘This is so weird’. 

I’d always felt like an underground artist and wanted to make underground music that I love to play and that’s it. But suddenly I’d been put into a spotlight. Regardless of whether the record had gone number one or nothing at all, I was just so happy that people really liked it. That was all I wanted with that record, for it to be something that people really connected with. 

How has your music and what you're into developed since then? 

I just make music that I really want to play, and that’s it. If something happens, organically, and I’m like, ‘I might get a vocal’, then that’s cool. But I don’t go to the studio everyday and think, ‘I need another big record’, I really don’t want that. I feel like that would just take away from what I’ve done. I make much better music when I’m concentrating on what I want to do and not thinking about the bigger picture. 

I like stuff that sounds a bit more old, live, percussion-y and more Latin. I guess that all falls under house. I like stuff that has a groove. When I first started really, really wanting to produce house it was people like Guti and Nic Fanciulli that I went to see first. 

When I was heavily getting into it that was what I liked, but not what I made straight away because I was still working out what I wanted to make. That’s the nice thing about house – I guess you can get away with making anything, really and truly, because it’s such a broad spectrum. 

What should people expect if they've not seen you DJ before? 

A lot of older stuff, from ’96 and ’97 – with a Latin groove. I like stuff that sounds like it’s come from a really grotty studio – somewhere where it’s all been produced live and sounds kind of weird. I play stuff that’s just bouncy and has a real good groove to it. 

I pride myself on finding records that people haven’t heard before. It’s a longer process because anybody can play at a club and smash out songs that are known – that’s easy. But the thing I always found really inspiring when seeing artists like Guti was that I’d watch their sets and not know any of their songs, but still think they were smashing it. 

You're playing at Sankeys in Manchester on Saturday with Bontan and Solarris, then Circus at Egg London on 16th April with Yousef and Kydus. How are you feeling about those shows? 

Really good! I’ve played Sankeys quite a lot – I really love it. It’s one of the best places to play in Manchester. It’s a great line-up as well. Bontan I speak to every so often and Solarris is one of my best friends anyway so it’s really cool.

I’m really excited for Circus in London as well because Yousef is someone who supported me from the start, getting me to remix Carl Cox’s ‘Time For House Music’.

What do you think of the electronic music scene at the moment? Where do you think it's heading next? 

I think it’s been in a great place for the last ten years. I try not to get too caught up with what’s going on, though. I have a group of people that I hang with and work with and that’s kind of it. That’s the world that I’m in. I think I’ve been lucky to be able to have a number one and still make the music that I want to, with the people I’m inspired by. I think that’s rare.  

When you have time off, what do you get up to? 

I don’t really ever have days off, but I love travelling. My friends and I will end up going to New York, for some reason. To be honest, I literally get up and want to go to the studio. For me, making music is like having a day off. It’s the best thing. My work is DJing, which I love, but my downtime is when I go to the studio because no one is around, it’s just me and whoever I’m working with. 

What are your plans for the next few months? Any new music or shows you can tell us about? 

It’s not set in stone yet, but I’ve got some tracks coming with Tribal Sessions Ibiza resident Manu Gonzalez, some new stuff coming with Route 94, then just my own bits. I’m just working out where to put it really – what labels to go to. 

I’ve got a lot of gigs coming up, Snowbombing and then Ibiza! The thing is, Ibiza starts before you even know about it. It’s just so soon now – the first show is May 24th. I can’t wait, though, because you go there from May to September and then you’re not there for six months.  

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