Steve Parry Interview: We are trying to create a family with the label

Every city and scene has their linchpins. The individuals that are embedded in the fabric of their music culture. Liverpool has more than its fair share, but one man has been instrumental on the city's scene over four decades, Steve Parry. First catching the acid house bug in the late eighties as a teenager, he helped run legendary record shop 3Beat whilst frequently playing at Cream, running his own intimate soiree Alderaan as well.

Steve Parry live at 303 (Selador Records Party), Williamson Tunnels, Liverpool 23-11-13 by Steveparrydj on Mixcloud

Last decade some him consistently playing at the important clubs in the city Circus and Freeze among them, and in recent years he's teamed up with long term Friend Dave Seaman to start Selador Recordings, which also spawned two parties (the first of which you can hear Steve's DJ set from above).

With the second to team up with Steve's occasional shindig Luna and Frisky Radio on Saturday 29th March at The Boutique in Liverpool (ticket link here), we caught up with Parry to talk labels, grooves and industry conferences.

You've got a Selador party in your native Liverpool coming up, which is the second one for the label in recent months. Are you planning on doing more regular stuff for the label in the future?

Well it wasn’t originally planned to be another Selador party. The first one in November was put on by our friends at 303, and was great. This one is a Luna event (mine and some good friends little occasional little party), and it just so happened to land on a date when Dave was available and in the country.

So we just put 2 and 2 together really and it actually came up as four (for once), so we were happy as the last Selador party with 303 was a lock out and people seemed to really enjoy it, so we though hey, why not!

What attracted you to the boutique? They've got a lot of variety on over the next few weeks alone, with Caspa, Kruse &  Nurenberg, Sante and yourselves hitting the club?

My friend runs The Boutique and has been trying to get me to see the venue for months, The Luna lads popped in for  a meeting the other weekand we instantly loved the place, it was everything we wanted from a venue. They’re trying something a bit different and putting on good small underground events, all really pushing the venue hard with some great guest DJ’s playing, some very good bookings. 

They’re getting good crowds in too, so its all a bit fresh and exciting, so we were more than happy to join them. It looks great and the sound system is amazing!

So tell us more about Luna., What's the thinking behind it as a party and what else can we expect to see from you in 2014?

Luna was set up a few years back, as small nights seemed to have fizzled away in Liverpool, and i always loved playing really small venues and playing to like minded people. Since we set up a few years ago, there are loads of little nights again in the city, which is great. So we wanted to still do a few small events at the right times of the year for our friends and like minded clubbers.

So Dave is next up, and we have  a few things up our sleeves for later in the year, but we’re not telling you just yet! I just enjoy the intimate vibe of a small venue, it's about the atmosphere and to feel like the DJ is at the party too, almost like being in somebodies house...

How is Selador as a label doing? You've nearly made a year of trading, what have been the highs and lows of the imprint so far?

Coming up to our first birthday, so we are still pretty new in the World of record labels, but we’ve had a good start, with tracks and remixes from some great producers including Gabriel Ananda, Samu.l, Robert Babicz, Piemont, Just Be and Dave too. It's been a lifetime ambition to set up a lebel, and its very hard work, and its certainly not about the money, it's more a labour of love!

It's all been a learning curve and all very exciting. Highs have included great support from some of the world's finest DJ’s and hearing comments from people, lows. well none really - its good fun but very hard work, but i still love it. I guess the only downside for this nowadays is its very difficult to do it as a full time job.

What else have you got coming up in the future for it?

Released on 17th March is Dave Seaman & Funkagenda with 'Naughty Forest', which has got remixes from Nicolas Maseyeff and Dapayk its a great package (if i say so myself!), I love it. (You can listen to the track below).

After that we will have a Selador Showcase, a selection of ten tracks from various artists and will musically range from deeper stuff from Samu.l to more peak time stuff from Marz Marzenit.. its basically like a full DJ set of music in one collection! Also on the label in the future will be another track from Dave, a new release from myself and new EP’s from Robert Babicz and AFFKT.

What artists are you looking to nurture via the label?

We are trying to create a family with the label, getting artists to come back to the label with new tracks and remixes, so Piemont, Robert Babicz, AFFKT, Han Haak, Samu.l and a few others we are trying to get to feel at home with us, rather than just release a load of random tracks that aren’t connected by various artists.

We aren’t going for just one musical sound either. Both me and Dave cover all sorts via our DJ sets, deeper house edged stuff through to the techiers stuff, melodic music and then full on techno, depending on where and when we are playing, so we try to reflect that in the label.

So we've got more of your productions to look forward to then?

Yes currently in the studio maikng something that's pretty acid house, full on 303 edged… hopefully finishing that very soon! And then hoping to do some remixes for the label too. 

We hear you are off to the Brighton music conference. Having been a regular attendee of ADE in recent years, how important for you are these industry get togethers?

For people like me that work alone and don’t see many people from day to day, its great, as i chat to people by email, skype, social media, so its great to put a name to the face and have a beer or six. I always really enjoy these conferences, its properly full on, loads to do, see, chat about etc, and networking overload, but I love it.

I always make good contacts and come back with lots of good work connections too. I have friends from the UK that I only ever see in Amsterdam for ADE which is quite random! Its also great the Uk finally has a festival again, seeing as though its still one of teh Worlds musical hubs for underground music.

And finally what else lies in the future for Steve Parry?

Luna and Selador will be keeping me busy, as will being back in the Studio and my companies SMP3 Music Promo and SMP3 Music Management. I’ve also manged to fit in a radio show at FRISKY on 25th March as a featured Artist of the Week. I haven't been on air for about 15 months (I had a radio show ‘The Red Zone’ on Juice FM for 10 years before that)  - so its nice to be back. It's a one off show, but hopefully the start of more.

Gigwise I’m playing at Gallery @ Ministry 11th April, Im also in Brighton for the above conference and speaking on a Panel, plus lining up some other gigs, Local, National and International so thats all nice too. Plenty to keep me on my toes for sure!

Tickets are no longer available for this event