Page 45 - Zone Magazine Issue 030 - Lexicon Avenue

You also ran your label Forensic. What was
the reason to create your own output?
Have plans to create a new one soon?
Myself, Scott Bradford and the other founders of Forensic felt that we were putting a lot of stuff scattered across many labels. We felt, after Shindig Records which was controlled by a major label in the south , that we needed a home for our output that was truly Newcastle back in 1999.
Bill Brewster came up with the tag line 'Deep House from the Deep North' although we ended up licensing our first release (Lexicon Avenue – Here I am) to Deep Dish Recordings as a single and the remix we did for DDR was anything but deep, keeping it a home for us and other projects like Echomen , Mooncat and Little Green Meen on Forensic worked really well for us without tying any of us in exclusively.
Do you find it hard to balance running a
label and making music?
I was lucky enough to just concentrate on the music. Scott Bradford ran the day to day label stuff really. He was brilliant at it too – a natural. He also ran Shindig which was a massive club night simultaniously at the time. Legend.
Where was your first clubbing experience in
Ireland? Can you tell us about it, scene, etc?
Several trips to the Emerald Isle over the years and although the specifics are hazy (haha , the thing that stayed with me is the welcoming party mad energy of everyone in the scene there.
Apart from electronic music what other
genres do you listen to and who are your
favourite artists outside of electronic?
Massive fan of Radiohead. Love the evolution of their
albums. I do like other bands and artists like Metronomy , Tame Impala , Hot Chip ,Husky Rescue (off the top of my head as I was listening today but there's many more) outside of the house scene who are current. Then there's obviously the nostalgia from 70s onwards too.
With your recent release of Michael & Levan, Stiven Rivic - Blackout (Lexicon Avenue Remix) on Kunai Records, selected in Best New Progressive House chart for October month on Beatport, where is your next stop with Lexicon Avenue, future plans on? Any other incoming project?
Yes – that remix is on the latest Global Underground too. Theres a remix of a classic Forensic track and I'm working on 2 other remixes and 2 other projects right now.
What else is planned in the coming months, personally and into music?
As above, also in talks to return to South America to play. The productions are taking most of my time up, after a long hiatus.
Tell us something about yourself that might surprise people.
OK. So, in '94 I made a house track that immediately got hammered by everyone from Graeme Park to Masters at Work. 'HappyClappers – I Believe' that project snowballed and I ended up doing TV, Radio and PA appearances – as per my contractual obligations. Lots of remix work too. Although it was a national crossover project – I never stopped doing the underground stuff which has given me the opportunity to see the rest of the world so I'm eternally grateful for every aspect of this scene.