Haji & Emanuel - The Pressure
Oct 6, 2008 23:48:52 GMT -5
Post by 🅳🅸🆂🅲🅾 on Oct 6, 2008 23:48:52 GMT -5
Subject: Haji & Emanuel featuring Beverley Knight & Bryan Chambers
This is a cover of the Sounds Of Blackness classic. It featured the amazing vocal talents of Ann Nesby. It had some amazing mixes by Frankie Knuckles, CJ Mackintosh, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Jazz N' Groove, Booker T, and Junior Vasquez & Razor N' Guido. Frankie's are the ones to hunt down if you're interested in this.
Listen to the Frankie Knuckles mix.
Listen to the new and 'improved' Haji & Emanuel one.
Seamus Haji & Paul Emanuel have teamed up with Beverly Knight and Bryan Chambers for this cover.
Beatport and Traxsource are already selling the main version.
Here is an interview from NocturnalMagazine.net with Seamus Haji where he talks about that and some of his other recent activities.
The story continues…
There is a distinct possibility that the name Seamus Haji may already be familiar to you. One of the most creative and technically gifted house DJ’s of our time with many more strings to his bow.
Seamus, a sensitive Capricorn of Irish-Indian descent (that explains the name then!) began his DJing career at the tender age of 16 with a South London Soundsystem playing a mixture of early House, Soul and Hip Hop. With a barrel-full of drive, enthusiasm and determination he went on to secure his first residency at The Satellite and later took on regular guest spots at MOS, Garage City, Release The Pressure, Hard Times and Back To Basics.
He then became a regular fixture at the likes of MOS, Code, Bed and Pacha, London. He has also enjoyed numerous residencies around the globe, including four years at Pacha, Ibiza where he gathered an army of fans, possibly something to do with his rather dashing looks as well as his DJing ability of course! Musically his strength is his diversity playing as comfortably alongside, for example, Kenny Dope as Steve Angello. And his sets are now known for the wealth of his own productions and remixes as well as more than a smattering of trickery on the Pioneer CDJ1000’s (for which he has been an official ambassador)
As well as DJing, producing and remixing, the past 10 years have seen Seamus gather a wealth of musical experience and knowledge. Having spent many years working in London’s foremost independent record shops, A&R roles at Slip ‘N’ Slide and of course Defected, plus writing for Blues & Soul, Echoes, Touch and Muzik magazines, Seamus is known & respected by DJs & producers of many genres of Dance around the world.
Armed with this background, it made sense to set up his own record label, Big Love, with Defected co-founder Janet Bell. “Big Love is an organic, lo-pressure imprint for quality, club-based international house whereas Soul Love is it’s fairly self-explanatory Soul Sister”. Big Love has established itself as a must buy label for many DJs around the world.
The trainspotter in you may be aware that Seamus has had multiple creative personalities over the years: Big Bang Theory was his funked-up house personality which produced a hit with ‘God’s Child’ for Defected Records. Mekkah was his soulful, more vocal orientated personality. ‘Race Of Survival’, the first release on Soul Love, has become a classic. 11th Dimension was his darker, tougher more futuristic side which saw his early collaborations with Paul Emanuel. Get This! was a cheeky Go-Go/House fusion which won devotees from some very diverse corners with “Ya Underwear” being a massive global 12” seller. While Ijah, after a brief outing in 2003, resurfaced and made waves with a signature take on Kim English’s classic “Nitelife”.
And then came “Last Night A DJ Saved My Life”. Seamus released his cover of the 80’s club classic under his own name in 2004, he was the first to produce a vocal record in the now ubiquitous Electro-house style, and its huge popularity sowed the seeds for his future hit.
Now finding his feet with his new sound, Seamus teamed up with Paul Emanuel to produce “Weekend” a cover of the Class Action classic sampled and made famous by Todd Terry in the mid 80’s. Under their Haji & Emanuel moniker, they gave this an electro tinged house vibe that was a worldwide club hit for Azuli.
Haji & Emanuel then covered “Take Me Away” and again, produced a massive club hit which charted Top 50 early in 2006 with no radio, video, marketing etc on 12” alone!
2006 was when it all seemed to come together for Seamus. He was thrilled to mix his own Sessions compilation for Ministry in the company of Josh Winx, Derek Carter and Steve Angello. He (along with Paul Emanuel on many but not all) did a number of amazing remixes which really cemented their signature sound and spawned many imitators. Tom Novy “Your Body”, Mish Mash “Speechless”, Degrees of Motion “Do U Want It Right Now”, Paul Harris “Find Yourself A Friend”, Dajae “Brighter Days”, Sugababes “Easy” were just some of Seamus’ remix highlights in 2006 culminating in his fantastic remix of Booty Luv’s “Boogie 2Nite” which took the record to No 2 in the Nationals.
2007 fittingly kicked off with his standout remake “Last Night A DJ Saved My Life” being signed to Apollo and going Top 15 in the UK National Charts (accompanied by a somewhat ground-breaking video!) and being feted by the likes of Pete Tong as the next big thing! After this came his record-breaking feat of becoming the only producer to have ever had the lead remix on the Top 4 records in the Music Week Club Chart. And being for such diverse artists as Just Jack, Roisin Murphy, Stonebridge and not forgetting Rihanna’s No 1 hit Umbrella, these were no bish bash bosh jobs, every one awesome in its own right.
Most recently he has given his in demand remix touch to The Ting Tings “Shut Up And Let Me Go”, Mariah Carey “Touch My Body”, Rihanna “Take A Bow”, Moby “I Like To Move In Here”, Robyn “Who’s That Girl?”, Calvin Harris “Colours”, Orson “Aint No Party”, J Holiday “Bed” and One Night Only “Just For Tonight” whilst still finding time to work on his follow up singles, “Head To Toe” featuring early 90’s Hip House legend Doug Lazy and the latest being Seamus Haji vs Lords Of Flatbush “24 Hours (NiceTightDerriere)”.
The last year has also seen him diversify and apply his skills to making both broadcast and stadium music for a number of UEFA international football championships.
He has just completed the new Haji & Emanuel single “The Pressure” featuring Beverley Knight and Bryan Chambers – a spine-tingling, goosebumping cover of the Sounds of Blackness epic – set for release early Autumn.
Seamus Haji has become synonymous with quality, his DJ sets never disappoint, he’s a technical wizard and his productions are phenomenal. With DJ requests and remixes going off you get a sense when someone’s time has come, and for Seamus that time is now.
“The Big Love philosophy is to embrace everything, all cultures, all creeds, all sexes, all races. Black, white, straight or gay, it’s all encompassing. Its the same for our music we love House music in all its wonderful shapes & forms” Seamus Haji.
Seamus Haji is a lucky guy. With over 20 years experience in the business he looks great, he has his own record label, enjoys being able to travel around the world doing international DJ dates. He is also the guy credited for pioneering the now universally acknowledged ‘electro house’ sound with ‘Last Night a DJ Saved My Life’, as sound that totally rejuvenated house. It was also Seamus who was behind the chart success of Booty Luv, remixing their unforgettable pop smash ‘Boogie Tonight’ a track so big that that no one in dance music could hide from it!. Here Seamus gives his personal insight into the world of Dance music.
Nocturnal: How long have you been in the business for?
Seamus: Well over 20 years now, I started off when I was 16 DJing at illegal warehouse parties and house parties. I’ve been making a living from being a DJ over the last 10 years, and in the last 5 years I’ve been more professional in the studio.
Nocturnal: You’ve always done very well as a DJ. You managed to get your profile around and played at some of the key places across the UK and Internationally. Even before ‘Last Night A DJ Saved My Life'?
Seamus: I was lucky enough to play at clubs like Back to Basics and Hard Times, back in the days when you actually had super clubs; I’m going back 12-14 years ago. The club scene in the UK was really strong back then. A few years after that I ended up working at Slip and Slide and then working at Defected which really helped raise my profile.
Nocturnal: Did you play out as a Defected DJ at that time?
Seamus: When I started at Defected there was only four of us in the office, and that included the receptionist! I remember when I did the first ever Defected tour back in 1999, basically I had to put it together, it was me and Simon Dunmore and a few guest DJ’s that were on the label playing up and down the country, lugging the banners around with us. It was a really small operation back then, that’s how it all started.
Nocturnal: Who are they guys that you are paying attention to at the moment?
Seamus: I get sent music through from the obvious guys like Axwell, as well as Dirty South and TV Rock. The Australian boys are really coming through at the moment. There are some other names that are coming up through like Jaris Voorn from Holland, I’ve used his remix of ‘Dark Flower’ that’s on the compilation. There’s also EDX who’s doing really good stuff.
Nocturnal: When you look for records do you still go through Beatport or do you just make decisions from recommendations and from the charts?
Seamus: If someone like Axwell sends me something, I’ll give that priority but I still go through Beatport, I go through the top 100 and I’ll buy 10 – 20 tracks per week. When I’m on there I discover all these new names, there are a lot of young kids coming up from a slightly progressive background, who are doing some interesting things with music, they are mixing up the styles. There are obvious names like Deadmau5 who has made a big name for himself. There’s a mixing of genres, slightly techy, slightly progressive, some of its slightly trancey which is why Deadmau5 has a broad appeal there’s a lot of influence from him and Eric Prydz under his Pryda monica.
Nocturnal: What is the philosophy behind Big Love and you’re A&Ring?
Seamus: When we started the label it was literally something to release my own productions. I was making a lot of records under different monikers. Probably like Dave Lee with Z Records which is kind of an imprint for all of his productions. We got off to a flying start with a few records on the label which was great. Then it got to a point where I couldn’t make all the records, and I started doing remixes for other labels, we built up a good reputation and people wanted to sign tracks to us. The thought was to put music out there that we love. We wouldn’t just jump on the latest bandwagon, if minimal techno’s the new thing we’re not going to just release that and stop releasing house records with vocals on them. We just wanted to release stuff that we like and people can interpret it the way they want to interpret it.
Nocturnal: Would you say it’s strictly underground or are you looking for a couple of crossover tracks now and again?
Seamus: It’s just underground, we’ve been fortunate for certain tracks to have more mass appeal and become really good sellers like Haji and Emanuel ‘Take Me Away’ and obviously ‘Last Night A DJ Saved My Life’ which went on to be a pop record, we didn’t plan it - it just happened. There’s a slight commercial idea there but it wasn’t like we did it to be commercial, people just picked up on it.
Nocturnal: What advice would you give to kids who want to be DJ/Producers and want to set up their own labels?
Seamus: Keep your overhead low, don’t get too ambitious! Have an idea of what you want to do, have an identity, have the right artwork, have a musical direction and don’t waiver from that. For us as a record label it’s not like we’re just a label and we just live off of that. I make records, I remix and I DJ, it’s all in the same pot. It’s not a get rich quick philosophy, it’s more like a labour of love!
Nocturnal: Is this the first compilation that you’ve done that really celebrates the label?
Seamus: Yes, this is the first fully-fledged Big Love CD compilation.
Nocturnal: Do you think this will be the first in a series?
Seamus: We’ve got a lot of music coming in on the label and this encompasses a lot of material on the label that’s forthcoming. We’ve always intended on doing Big Love compilations, we wanted to be in the position where we had our own repertoire now the profile is there, so we intend to do more of these in the future.
Nocturnal: On the compilation what are the outstanding tracks to you and what are the exclusives on there that nobody else can get?
Seamus: The big one is the new Haji and Emanuel single ‘The Pressure’ which features Beverley Knight and Bryan Chambers it’s a remake of the Sound of Blackness classic which we really love. We’ve always thought about doing a cover of it and we think it’s a really good time with what’s going on in the world at the moment. I’ve been playing it in the clubs and it’s working really well, its been fantastic, its been a breath of fresh air for people. A lot of the time they’re not really hearing a big vocal record, like a proper song peak time in a club and it really works. It’s quite a diverse compilation there’s big vocal records there’s slightly deeper techy stuff and there’s a new single we’ve signed by Ran Shani who’s a name to watch. And there’s the Freakx Brothers track called ‘Ghettoblaster,’ there’s also remixes I’ve done which you wont normally find on a compilation such as the Haji and Emanuel remix of the Ting Tings latest single ‘Shut Up And Let Me Go.’ I did a remix of Moby ‘I Love To Move In Here’ and I’ve also done a remix of Shakedown ‘At Night’ which I’ve played out in clubs exclusively.
Nocturnal: Tell us more about the 'At Night' remix?
Seamus: I did the remix live, I didn’t do it on Abelton at home. I planned what I was going to do, I just wanted to mix it live as it has more of an energy about it and it feels a bit more natural.
Nocturnal: What’s the difference between the two mixes?
Seamus: The entire pack begins like how I would start off in a club then it builds, CD1 is mostly vocal, it has a bit of a sexual vibe when it starts off with the lyrics and then it gets more in to a party vibe then it gets a little bit tougher. The second CD is more Latin and tribal to begin with, less vocal with more of a summer feel, like how I’ve been playing in Ibiza. It gets a bit more techy towards the end, like the MTV mix of ‘Chime.’ It’s a good mixture, for me, it’s everything that I like about house music.
Nocturnal: What’s your next big project?
Seamus: I have just completed, with Paul Emanuel, a cover of the Sounds of Blackness classic “The Pressure”. Both the Original and Frankie Knuckles mixes are so revered that it could be pure folly, but that said, with Beverley Knight and Bryan Chambers giving cracking vocals plus the edge we’ve given to the production, it’s feeling really good. It’s definitely got the goosebump factor!
I would take the Sounds Of Blackness original and it's accompanying mixes any day. The production on this new one is decent, however, the vocals lack the power, emotion and energy that the original ones have.
This is a cover of the Sounds Of Blackness classic. It featured the amazing vocal talents of Ann Nesby. It had some amazing mixes by Frankie Knuckles, CJ Mackintosh, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Jazz N' Groove, Booker T, and Junior Vasquez & Razor N' Guido. Frankie's are the ones to hunt down if you're interested in this.
Listen to the Frankie Knuckles mix.
Listen to the new and 'improved' Haji & Emanuel one.
Seamus Haji & Paul Emanuel have teamed up with Beverly Knight and Bryan Chambers for this cover.
Beatport and Traxsource are already selling the main version.
Here is an interview from NocturnalMagazine.net with Seamus Haji where he talks about that and some of his other recent activities.
The story continues…
There is a distinct possibility that the name Seamus Haji may already be familiar to you. One of the most creative and technically gifted house DJ’s of our time with many more strings to his bow.
Seamus, a sensitive Capricorn of Irish-Indian descent (that explains the name then!) began his DJing career at the tender age of 16 with a South London Soundsystem playing a mixture of early House, Soul and Hip Hop. With a barrel-full of drive, enthusiasm and determination he went on to secure his first residency at The Satellite and later took on regular guest spots at MOS, Garage City, Release The Pressure, Hard Times and Back To Basics.
He then became a regular fixture at the likes of MOS, Code, Bed and Pacha, London. He has also enjoyed numerous residencies around the globe, including four years at Pacha, Ibiza where he gathered an army of fans, possibly something to do with his rather dashing looks as well as his DJing ability of course! Musically his strength is his diversity playing as comfortably alongside, for example, Kenny Dope as Steve Angello. And his sets are now known for the wealth of his own productions and remixes as well as more than a smattering of trickery on the Pioneer CDJ1000’s (for which he has been an official ambassador)
As well as DJing, producing and remixing, the past 10 years have seen Seamus gather a wealth of musical experience and knowledge. Having spent many years working in London’s foremost independent record shops, A&R roles at Slip ‘N’ Slide and of course Defected, plus writing for Blues & Soul, Echoes, Touch and Muzik magazines, Seamus is known & respected by DJs & producers of many genres of Dance around the world.
Armed with this background, it made sense to set up his own record label, Big Love, with Defected co-founder Janet Bell. “Big Love is an organic, lo-pressure imprint for quality, club-based international house whereas Soul Love is it’s fairly self-explanatory Soul Sister”. Big Love has established itself as a must buy label for many DJs around the world.
The trainspotter in you may be aware that Seamus has had multiple creative personalities over the years: Big Bang Theory was his funked-up house personality which produced a hit with ‘God’s Child’ for Defected Records. Mekkah was his soulful, more vocal orientated personality. ‘Race Of Survival’, the first release on Soul Love, has become a classic. 11th Dimension was his darker, tougher more futuristic side which saw his early collaborations with Paul Emanuel. Get This! was a cheeky Go-Go/House fusion which won devotees from some very diverse corners with “Ya Underwear” being a massive global 12” seller. While Ijah, after a brief outing in 2003, resurfaced and made waves with a signature take on Kim English’s classic “Nitelife”.
And then came “Last Night A DJ Saved My Life”. Seamus released his cover of the 80’s club classic under his own name in 2004, he was the first to produce a vocal record in the now ubiquitous Electro-house style, and its huge popularity sowed the seeds for his future hit.
Now finding his feet with his new sound, Seamus teamed up with Paul Emanuel to produce “Weekend” a cover of the Class Action classic sampled and made famous by Todd Terry in the mid 80’s. Under their Haji & Emanuel moniker, they gave this an electro tinged house vibe that was a worldwide club hit for Azuli.
Haji & Emanuel then covered “Take Me Away” and again, produced a massive club hit which charted Top 50 early in 2006 with no radio, video, marketing etc on 12” alone!
2006 was when it all seemed to come together for Seamus. He was thrilled to mix his own Sessions compilation for Ministry in the company of Josh Winx, Derek Carter and Steve Angello. He (along with Paul Emanuel on many but not all) did a number of amazing remixes which really cemented their signature sound and spawned many imitators. Tom Novy “Your Body”, Mish Mash “Speechless”, Degrees of Motion “Do U Want It Right Now”, Paul Harris “Find Yourself A Friend”, Dajae “Brighter Days”, Sugababes “Easy” were just some of Seamus’ remix highlights in 2006 culminating in his fantastic remix of Booty Luv’s “Boogie 2Nite” which took the record to No 2 in the Nationals.
2007 fittingly kicked off with his standout remake “Last Night A DJ Saved My Life” being signed to Apollo and going Top 15 in the UK National Charts (accompanied by a somewhat ground-breaking video!) and being feted by the likes of Pete Tong as the next big thing! After this came his record-breaking feat of becoming the only producer to have ever had the lead remix on the Top 4 records in the Music Week Club Chart. And being for such diverse artists as Just Jack, Roisin Murphy, Stonebridge and not forgetting Rihanna’s No 1 hit Umbrella, these were no bish bash bosh jobs, every one awesome in its own right.
Most recently he has given his in demand remix touch to The Ting Tings “Shut Up And Let Me Go”, Mariah Carey “Touch My Body”, Rihanna “Take A Bow”, Moby “I Like To Move In Here”, Robyn “Who’s That Girl?”, Calvin Harris “Colours”, Orson “Aint No Party”, J Holiday “Bed” and One Night Only “Just For Tonight” whilst still finding time to work on his follow up singles, “Head To Toe” featuring early 90’s Hip House legend Doug Lazy and the latest being Seamus Haji vs Lords Of Flatbush “24 Hours (NiceTightDerriere)”.
The last year has also seen him diversify and apply his skills to making both broadcast and stadium music for a number of UEFA international football championships.
He has just completed the new Haji & Emanuel single “The Pressure” featuring Beverley Knight and Bryan Chambers – a spine-tingling, goosebumping cover of the Sounds of Blackness epic – set for release early Autumn.
Seamus Haji has become synonymous with quality, his DJ sets never disappoint, he’s a technical wizard and his productions are phenomenal. With DJ requests and remixes going off you get a sense when someone’s time has come, and for Seamus that time is now.
“The Big Love philosophy is to embrace everything, all cultures, all creeds, all sexes, all races. Black, white, straight or gay, it’s all encompassing. Its the same for our music we love House music in all its wonderful shapes & forms” Seamus Haji.
Seamus Haji is a lucky guy. With over 20 years experience in the business he looks great, he has his own record label, enjoys being able to travel around the world doing international DJ dates. He is also the guy credited for pioneering the now universally acknowledged ‘electro house’ sound with ‘Last Night a DJ Saved My Life’, as sound that totally rejuvenated house. It was also Seamus who was behind the chart success of Booty Luv, remixing their unforgettable pop smash ‘Boogie Tonight’ a track so big that that no one in dance music could hide from it!. Here Seamus gives his personal insight into the world of Dance music.
Nocturnal: How long have you been in the business for?
Seamus: Well over 20 years now, I started off when I was 16 DJing at illegal warehouse parties and house parties. I’ve been making a living from being a DJ over the last 10 years, and in the last 5 years I’ve been more professional in the studio.
Nocturnal: You’ve always done very well as a DJ. You managed to get your profile around and played at some of the key places across the UK and Internationally. Even before ‘Last Night A DJ Saved My Life'?
Seamus: I was lucky enough to play at clubs like Back to Basics and Hard Times, back in the days when you actually had super clubs; I’m going back 12-14 years ago. The club scene in the UK was really strong back then. A few years after that I ended up working at Slip and Slide and then working at Defected which really helped raise my profile.
Nocturnal: Did you play out as a Defected DJ at that time?
Seamus: When I started at Defected there was only four of us in the office, and that included the receptionist! I remember when I did the first ever Defected tour back in 1999, basically I had to put it together, it was me and Simon Dunmore and a few guest DJ’s that were on the label playing up and down the country, lugging the banners around with us. It was a really small operation back then, that’s how it all started.
Nocturnal: Who are they guys that you are paying attention to at the moment?
Seamus: I get sent music through from the obvious guys like Axwell, as well as Dirty South and TV Rock. The Australian boys are really coming through at the moment. There are some other names that are coming up through like Jaris Voorn from Holland, I’ve used his remix of ‘Dark Flower’ that’s on the compilation. There’s also EDX who’s doing really good stuff.
Nocturnal: When you look for records do you still go through Beatport or do you just make decisions from recommendations and from the charts?
Seamus: If someone like Axwell sends me something, I’ll give that priority but I still go through Beatport, I go through the top 100 and I’ll buy 10 – 20 tracks per week. When I’m on there I discover all these new names, there are a lot of young kids coming up from a slightly progressive background, who are doing some interesting things with music, they are mixing up the styles. There are obvious names like Deadmau5 who has made a big name for himself. There’s a mixing of genres, slightly techy, slightly progressive, some of its slightly trancey which is why Deadmau5 has a broad appeal there’s a lot of influence from him and Eric Prydz under his Pryda monica.
Nocturnal: What is the philosophy behind Big Love and you’re A&Ring?
Seamus: When we started the label it was literally something to release my own productions. I was making a lot of records under different monikers. Probably like Dave Lee with Z Records which is kind of an imprint for all of his productions. We got off to a flying start with a few records on the label which was great. Then it got to a point where I couldn’t make all the records, and I started doing remixes for other labels, we built up a good reputation and people wanted to sign tracks to us. The thought was to put music out there that we love. We wouldn’t just jump on the latest bandwagon, if minimal techno’s the new thing we’re not going to just release that and stop releasing house records with vocals on them. We just wanted to release stuff that we like and people can interpret it the way they want to interpret it.
Nocturnal: Would you say it’s strictly underground or are you looking for a couple of crossover tracks now and again?
Seamus: It’s just underground, we’ve been fortunate for certain tracks to have more mass appeal and become really good sellers like Haji and Emanuel ‘Take Me Away’ and obviously ‘Last Night A DJ Saved My Life’ which went on to be a pop record, we didn’t plan it - it just happened. There’s a slight commercial idea there but it wasn’t like we did it to be commercial, people just picked up on it.
Nocturnal: What advice would you give to kids who want to be DJ/Producers and want to set up their own labels?
Seamus: Keep your overhead low, don’t get too ambitious! Have an idea of what you want to do, have an identity, have the right artwork, have a musical direction and don’t waiver from that. For us as a record label it’s not like we’re just a label and we just live off of that. I make records, I remix and I DJ, it’s all in the same pot. It’s not a get rich quick philosophy, it’s more like a labour of love!
Nocturnal: Is this the first compilation that you’ve done that really celebrates the label?
Seamus: Yes, this is the first fully-fledged Big Love CD compilation.
Nocturnal: Do you think this will be the first in a series?
Seamus: We’ve got a lot of music coming in on the label and this encompasses a lot of material on the label that’s forthcoming. We’ve always intended on doing Big Love compilations, we wanted to be in the position where we had our own repertoire now the profile is there, so we intend to do more of these in the future.
Nocturnal: On the compilation what are the outstanding tracks to you and what are the exclusives on there that nobody else can get?
Seamus: The big one is the new Haji and Emanuel single ‘The Pressure’ which features Beverley Knight and Bryan Chambers it’s a remake of the Sound of Blackness classic which we really love. We’ve always thought about doing a cover of it and we think it’s a really good time with what’s going on in the world at the moment. I’ve been playing it in the clubs and it’s working really well, its been fantastic, its been a breath of fresh air for people. A lot of the time they’re not really hearing a big vocal record, like a proper song peak time in a club and it really works. It’s quite a diverse compilation there’s big vocal records there’s slightly deeper techy stuff and there’s a new single we’ve signed by Ran Shani who’s a name to watch. And there’s the Freakx Brothers track called ‘Ghettoblaster,’ there’s also remixes I’ve done which you wont normally find on a compilation such as the Haji and Emanuel remix of the Ting Tings latest single ‘Shut Up And Let Me Go.’ I did a remix of Moby ‘I Love To Move In Here’ and I’ve also done a remix of Shakedown ‘At Night’ which I’ve played out in clubs exclusively.
Nocturnal: Tell us more about the 'At Night' remix?
Seamus: I did the remix live, I didn’t do it on Abelton at home. I planned what I was going to do, I just wanted to mix it live as it has more of an energy about it and it feels a bit more natural.
Nocturnal: What’s the difference between the two mixes?
Seamus: The entire pack begins like how I would start off in a club then it builds, CD1 is mostly vocal, it has a bit of a sexual vibe when it starts off with the lyrics and then it gets more in to a party vibe then it gets a little bit tougher. The second CD is more Latin and tribal to begin with, less vocal with more of a summer feel, like how I’ve been playing in Ibiza. It gets a bit more techy towards the end, like the MTV mix of ‘Chime.’ It’s a good mixture, for me, it’s everything that I like about house music.
Nocturnal: What’s your next big project?
Seamus: I have just completed, with Paul Emanuel, a cover of the Sounds of Blackness classic “The Pressure”. Both the Original and Frankie Knuckles mixes are so revered that it could be pure folly, but that said, with Beverley Knight and Bryan Chambers giving cracking vocals plus the edge we’ve given to the production, it’s feeling really good. It’s definitely got the goosebump factor!
I would take the Sounds Of Blackness original and it's accompanying mixes any day. The production on this new one is decent, however, the vocals lack the power, emotion and energy that the original ones have.
