AN INTERVIEW WITH
NEIL FEARNLEY - 10-8-2000
Who has had the greatest influence on what you listen to today?
At the tender age of about 13, when we are all so impressionable, a local group of lads promoted a function in a small venue near to where I lived. The name of the night was called 'Funk Fusion'. This coincided around the time that Channel 4 were airing Soul Train, which was a popular weekly music show that was dedicated to Soul and Funk music of the time. This new sound I had discovered completely inspired me and was really the first time I had ever "got into" music. The music had feeling and rhythm unlike I had heard before. The 'Funk Fusion' parties were a regular thing for me, but sadly the local council decided they were becoming too popular and attracting too many people from out of town, so they pulled the plug and closed them down! 'Funk Fusion' was probably the start for me, it introduced me to the world of dance music. It was out purchaseing my own set of Technics SL1200's, and whole heap of records.
After about 6-7 months of playing and practising on an almost daily basis, I decided to start putting on my own events in my local town. Bearing in mind I was only about 14 years old. I guess in a way I was trying to feed off of what 'Funk Fusion' had started. I hired the sound equipment and lighting and charged everyone an entry fee. A few friends and myself were the DJs for the night, and it went off well. However as before, the council decided it was no good for the town and thus closed it down!! However……….from this point on I was hooked on the buzz of DJ'ing!!!!
Who are your musical idols both now and as a Child/ Teenager?
Very Tricky question, I don't think I have ever said that any one particular person was my hero when it comes to music, because I believe there is are many individuals who excel within there own fields and genres of music. During my time I have listened to all kinds of music from Hip Hop to House, from Soul to Funk, but now its House and Garage music where my heart is. Once again within this field there are DJ's and artists who excel at what they do and it would be wrong to compare them against anyone else. Individuality and creativity with music is the key to success as a DJ. Some of my favourite DJs in the world include Louie Vega (MAW), David Morales, Paul Trouble Anderson, Linden.C, Femi.B, Roy The Roach, Niki Holloway, Danny Tenaglia etc etc. As for production favourites this changes regularly but some of my current favourites include: Pound Boys, Spiller, Joey Negro, Sandy Riviera, Jose Burges, Masters At Work, Robbie Rivera, Boris Dlugosch, Kaje, Charles Dockins, Bini + Martini, Richard.F etc etc.
My Current Charts Can Be Viewed At:-
How did you get into the World of Djing?
In about 1991 I used to run a function called the "Crunch", here in Aylesbury. I was resident along with my good friend Dom Palermo (whom I still produce and present my weekly radio show on Mix 96 with). I wanted to bring something to the town that nobody had ever done. Rather than just have local DJ's (no disrespect to them cause some of the best DJ's I know are just bedroom Dj's). I decided to book some "names". Our first night saw Dean Savonne with Henry performing a live PA. The night was great and went off well with the folk of the town. Later on I booked Paul "trouble" Anderson and Bobbi and Steve amongst others. Once again it was getting popular with over 900 people in some weeks. The council once again put there heavy foot down and refused us a bar license, hence the attendance went down!!! (a town full of beer heads) This at the time was a bad thing for me, but by undertaking this venture I had now met Bobbi and Steve and the other Dj's on the London circuit. By now I was a regular at Garage City which was then at No1 Nine Elms Lane in Vauxhall now better known as the Coloseum One Saturday I saw Steve on the steps up to the club and had a chat, He asked where he knew me from and I explained about he played for me in Aylesbury. A conversation struck up and we got talking about what Garage City was planning over the Christmas period. I told him there was a lot of us from Aylesbury who come to his club and could he let me know. I gave him my phone number, and never expected to hear from him again. About 1 week later he phoned!!! Stunned and shocked he told me what they were doing. We once again got into a great conversation. What a nice guy he was and so totally unaffected by his standing in the music world, which I was really impressed about. Later on I was to meet his twin brother Bobbi , who like Steve was one of the nicest guys I have met in the music business. During the conversation I told him I was a DJ, which he did no know. He suggested I send him a tape. I did, but never in a month of Sundays expected to hear back from him. A couple of weeks later he called me offering me a spot during Christmas Eve at his club night he was running at Villa Steffano in Holborn in London. What a major result!! I could not believe my luck That Christmas Eve I played the most nerve racking set of my life, but what a buzz playing for the first time in a top club in London. There was a whole coach load of friends from my home town that night, which was good for me and good for the numbers in the club. I have always had a lot of support from my friends and there is always someone in toe when I am out and about playing.
Being a DJ what styles of musics do you prefer to play today?
Since the beginning of House music back in the mid 1980's, I have been hooked on the sound and never really strayed from it. Although through the years we have seen different types of House come about, I have always gone for the soulful sound. Currently I can be spotted playing American style Garage & House and funky Disco House.
I never really got into the Acid House, Hardcore or Drum & Bass scenes when they were big and that's probably the only gap in my record collection during that period. I am also not very keen at all with the "Speed Garage" scene which is currently blowing up all over the UK. Its not that the music is that bad (though not very keen on it) its just the scene seems to have a lot of attitude surrounding it. And I like to play and go to clubs where people are carefree, happy and don't care if your not wearing a Prada shirt or drinking champagne at the bar all night!!
Can you tell us where you have played past and present???
I have been lucky really, having had the opportunity to travel and play some of the best clubs. Here in the UK I have played such clubs as Garage City, Ministry Of Sound, Freedom @ Baglys, Camden Palace, The Glass House, The End, The Sound Republic, The Lounge, Epping Forest Country Club, plus many many other one off's at venues all over the Country.
As for overseas I have played in Tallin in Estonia, Helsini in Finland, Riga and Dzintari in Latvia, Emporium (Aiya Napa), Spot club (Aiya Napa), Kanya (Ibiza), Australia, Tenerife and Kos. Future dates could also see me playing in New Zealand, North America, Switzerland and Canada.
Full details on the clubs I have played, including flyers can be found at:-
I also Produce and present a weekly show on Independant Radio Station Mix96, Broadcasting on 96.2FM. As well as this I send regular mixes on CD to radio stations across the world and they are broadcast in Canada, Latvia, Estonia and Sweden also across the world wide web from various website including:-
www.1groove.com
www.uk-rumbal.co.uk
And many more will be added to this list soon. Archives of the mixes can also be found on this website and downloaded in MP3 format at:-
Have You Ever Produced and Released any tracks of your own?
That is the next chapter in my musical life…….Recently myself along with Andy Hughes and Dave Harman of Shed Central Records had Philip Ramirez (Keep The Faith, See The Light) over into the studio to record some vocals for us. The track is well on the way to completion and hope for it to be out later this year. The track will be titled "Loving Is Really My Game" and those of you old enough who remember Silvester and Brainstorm then put the 2 together, put some wicked sounding disco samples behind the voice of Philip Ramirez and it gives you an idea what we are cooking up. This will of course be my first release but I certainly do not plan to make it my last so WATCH THIS SPACE!!