Copyright

Defected, Soulfuric, Copyright Recordings

04.12.2007 ::: Words by Toni Tambourine

Not many production outfits get their first proper tune out on a heavyweight label like Soulfuric Records, but that’s exactly what happened to Copyright when their ‘Where Would You Be?’ production was released by the legendary US imprint in 2000. And it’s proved no flash in the pan for musical partners Sam Holt and Gavin ‘Face’ Mills (third member Scotti de La Hoya departed in 2003), who’ve since followed that auspicious start with a slew of quality soulful house productions, among them ‘Good For You’ with Angie Brown (Soulfuric) and ‘We Get Up’ with Bryan Chambers (Z).

Sam and Gavin met in the late nineties, introduced by a mutual friend (‘Matt Jam Lamont’s missus’ laughs Sam) and hit it off immediately thanks to a shared musical vision. Describing himself as a ‘jobbing DJ’ in Manchester, Sam had discovered the tail end of the Manchester club scene originally helmed by Graeme Park and Mike Pickering, and played at the legendary Hacienda, but as things cooled off up North he made his way south to London. Though he immediately set about honing his production skills by shunting out a few exploratory white label releases, Sam found himself slightly sidetracked by a parallel career in advertising, rising to director of Team Saatchi, a dedicated agency within the advertising mogul focusing on cooler brands. But as the productions blossomed and the DJ diary filled up, something had to give and the day job duly got the elbow in 2005 – a year when more people were quitting the dance music business than joining it full time.

Gavin meanwhile has enough London dance music credentials to make an entire pub quiz out of. The North London lad acquired his first set of decks from Aston Harvey (later of the Freestylers) and progressed through the early electro and hip hop scenes before arriving at house and jostling his way behind the decks at some of the iconic founding names of rave culture – Energy, Biology and Raindance, shedding his hairdressing job along the way when one Saturday night he earned more playing records than the entire rest of week cutting hair. Gavin’s long and impressive production career kicked off proper with the cult classic ‘Hypnosis’ by Psychotropic in 1990 and spans a host of releases on the Catch label (with Brian Tharme) by Anorak Trax (early disco sample grooves) – and Banana Republic plus a long stint engineering for UK garage dons Tuff Jam. But having been sucked deep into the UK garage sound, meeting Sam was just the chance he needed. ‘I just couldn’t take the music any more’ he laughs. ‘I’d always been into the US sound and that’s exactly what Sam wanted to do’.

Their early productions – including ‘Where Would You Be?’ – centred around disco sample tracks either as white labels or under their One Track Mind moniker but with Gavin’s production skills and Sam’s drive it wasn’t long before they shifted into original work. ‘We love songs, that’s our essence’ says Sam. ‘Our stuff is drum programming led, we’ll find a break and use it as inspiration, but we’ve developed our sound working with live musicians and Gav has a great musical ear and can play flute and piano. We try to make peak time records with an element of soul, whether it’s Afro, techo or disco flavoured.”

Where some production partnerships become little more than marriages of convenience, it’s clear that Sam and Gavin’s relationship goes way beyond professional necessity. Though like all the best duos they do have complementary skills – Gavin as the musician and ‘studio rat’, Sam as conceptualist and business force – their closeness is emphasised by their DJ routine. Travelling to every gig together, an itinerary that takes them to some of the best clubs in the world, they always play in the same set from the same box, a box that harbours disco, soul and techno classics alongside the more expected soulful house. Naturally both found inspiration among the first generation of house producers and the US legends like MAW, Todd Terry and Roger Sanchez, but Sam will also admit to a liking for more diverse sounds such as the Jam, The Clash and Stevie Wonder while Gavin’s something of a jazzer on the sly. Such a panoply of influences has led the pair to a lucrative side career composing music for advertising campaigns; among the ads in which you may have unknowingly experienced the alternative Copyright sound are those for the Recycle Campaign, Toyota cars and Sport England. Neither does it hurt that Gavin’s years in the studio have resulted in an accumulation of vintage keyboards and guitar pedals. ‘It started because I found that the sounds on digital keyboards didn’t really blend in with the analogue sounds on sample tracks – my favourite is the Prophet 5, that’s one you’d know from Earth, Wind & Fire, George Duke and Herbie Hancock.’ Gavin’s studio boffinry extends to such lengths as the possession of a saxophone widgit so rare that Courtney Pine phoned up to borrow it.

While the Copyright sound was a stalwart part of the strictly soulful house sound of the early years of the 2000’s, tracks like the fiercely percussive ‘Bulo’ featuring Shovel (Soulfuric), a kind of latter day Real 2 Real for the underground, and a remake of the Police’s ‘Voices’ which introduces a cheeky acid bassline, show a recent tendency for moving outside the box. ‘We do want to take our sound somewhere else’ says Sam. ‘We’re not scene jumpers, but we can change within what we do.’ And with the launch of Copyright Recordings in 2004 – the debut release was Imaani’s ‘Running Away’ – they have the freedom to chop and change as they please, though that doesn’t stop Defected, who run the label for them, pinching the odd production such as ‘Bring Me Love’ featuring Imaani or Song Williamson’s ‘He Is’.

The hairdressing and advertising industries look like being a man down each for some time to come.

Nocturnal: What makes you unique as DJs?
Gav: I think it’s the way we play together. I mean we’ve been playing together for seven years now and we don’t have separate record boxes, we both play out of the same box. We think about what record we’re going to play together. For example if I’ve put a record on I’m already thinking about what record Sam might play and the same goes for him.
Sam: Recently we’ve been getting clubs to install four decks and two mixers, so there can be parts of our set where several tracks are playing at the same time which makes us completely unique. We’re not DJing as Sam Holt and Gavin Mills, we’re DJing as Copyright.

Nocturnal: How did you feel when you where asked to do the next ‘Defected In The House’ mix for Miami 2007 ?
Sam: Really chuffed, it is a great honour for us to represent a label such as Defected.
Gav: It feels great to be in the ‘In The House’ club. Plus, we get to play all the new tracks, two months before anyone else.

Nocturnal: How do you know what the big tracks of the new year are going to be?
Sam: You kind of get a sense on certain records. You have to look for a track that stands out, a track that is different from the rest. The artist is a big clue as well. Most people will release tunes in January and February for the summer. The days of handing out tunes round the pool in Miami at the conference are long gone.

Nocturnal: What is so important about the Miami Winter Music Conference? What relevance does it have in the UK?
Sam: It has been an established gathering for so long now, and over the years there have been so many big records that have been born out of that conference. It brings industry and clubbing together, it’s almost like a showcase of the year’s music.
Gav: I think it gives producers something to work towards, it helps bring better music to the scene.
Sam: Yeah, Miami’s like a spotlight, so even if you don’t go, you still see what comes out of it.

Nocturnal: Describe one mad moment you’ve had at the conference?
Gav: We were at a label party one night. We came out with Knee Deep after drinking rather a lot, and we went for a burger. On the way back to our hotel we went down Lincoln which has loads of little swimming pool things along it, that are only about 2-3 inches deep. So I said to Basty from Knee Deep, ‘I dare you $50 to dive into that head first.’ So he said ‘OK yah, I will do this’. So he strips down, at 4 in the morning in just his Calvins, does a little Flintstones run-up and dives in head first. We were just cracking up. It was the best $50 we ever spent.

Nocturnal: What are the differences between the 2 Miami mixes on the CD?
Sam: The first CD is your daytime mix; chillin’ by the pool with your pina colada and your dope shades on. There’s a lot more down-tempo musically driven tracks. The second CD is night time, where we take it into the club and it’s still soulful but we’ve got some bangin’ beats in there.
Gav: Yeah, some deeper and darker stuff in there. The third CD is a collection of Miami classics that we’re compiling right now. All the biggest tracks from the Miami clubs over the years.

Nocturnal: Do you think you’ve captured the spirit of the conference with this mix?
Sam: We’ve been going to the conference for 8 or 9 years now, so we like to think we know the daytime poolside vibe. We think of that, we do the mix. We go club hopping, to 5 clubs in one night. You go to one club and it’s banging techy stuff, in another it’s really soulful. Y’know it’s that real mix but all really great music, and that’s what we’ve tried to do with the comp as well.

Nocturnal: What are the exclusives on the album?
Sam: The new Soul Central single ‘Time After Time’, new Copyright produced record featuring Lisa Millet ‘Don’t Bring Me Down’ and exclusive mixes of Mr. V ‘Da Bump’.

Nocturnal: Which record are you most proud of?
Sam: For me its ‘We Can Rise,’ it sums up where we are at the moment and our DJing experiences so far.

Nocturnal: What is it about a track that makes it quality? Is there anything you do when you set out to make a record?
Gav: The first thing we think of when making a record is; would we play it?
Sam: We pay a lot of attention to beats. House music is all about the groove so the beat is the foundation to the track.
Gav: It has to have a distinctive element that makes it stand out from other tracks. It has to be timeless. Some records die out with in months but truly great records can still appeal to people ten, twenty, thirty years on.

Nocturnal: Last year was a big year for you, what are your plans for this year?
Sam: We’re currently working on our artist album with Defected.
Gav: We don’t have a name for it yet, but something to do with the international flavour of the album. We’re trying to make the album so it’ll appeal to people right across the globe.
Sam: Because it’s a big deal, doing an album, you’ve gotta find that one sentence that probably means something to me and Gav that describes what we do, and it is something to do with jet-setting about.

Nocturnal: When is that due for release?
Sam: Hopefully July, but we’re currently also working on other interesting projects that may not be album based.

Nocturnal: Next Single?
Sam: We don’t know yet. We’ve got a few in the can, but nothing has been decided.
Gav: We’re gonna have like four or five new tracks for the album, and once we’ve got those completed we’ll be starting to think ‘which is the new single from these?’, but the album is the focus right now.

Nocturnal: How do you feel about criticism? Do you get criticism?
Sam: There is good and bad criticism. If you’re successful in any business you’re going to get criticism.
Gav: The criticism we do get, for example “Why can’t Copyright stop doing that tired Afro sound.” I take it with a pinch of salt. Why do people bother to criticise, I don’t go out of my way to criticise others?

Nocturnal: Truthfully, describe your lifestyles?
Sam: I’m actually really into design, but I’m very minimal. I’ve got an old Victorian flat but it’s very minimal and very modern. I also get a lot of inspiration while on our travels. I’m mad on fashion, really into Adidas trainers. I’ve probably got fifty or sixty pairs to my name.
Gav: ANSWER.

Nocturnal: Favourite pair?
Sam: Adidas Super Skate. Haven’t actually got a pair yet, but I did see a pair on e-bay for fifteen hundred, so…

Nocturnal: What about you Gav, describe your lifestyle?
Gav: I like to decorate my flat with furniture from around the world. I picked up an art deco Cuban style sofa from Thailand and got it shipped back. It turned out that the cost of shipping it home was more expensive than the furniture! I also like to collect toys, Urban Vinyl stuff mostly. They’re like little crazy characters that sometimes wear funky little clothes, they’re collectables. Both Sam and I love to collect stuff, I think it stems from collecting records. Most DJs I know have a real passion for collectables.

Nocturnal: Why is it that you always wear Adidas to gigs?
Sam: It gives us a look and we both love.
Gav: I think it gives us an identity. Roger Sanchez wears a Kangol hat backwards and has a goatee. I mean we’re two guys from the UK and we can’t pull off that Bronx look, so I suppose this is our own kind of look.

Nocturnal: Is it true that DJs always get the girls?
Sam: Yes.
Gav: Not always, I remember one time we did go back to the hotel without any girls.

Nocturnal: So What Do You Think The Attraction Is For The Girls?
Gav: It’s cos we’re good with our hands.
Sam: I think truthfully, we’re often stood in a club before our set and a girl will walk past and not give us a second look. Four hours later after our set she wants to be our best mate! I think it’s the fact that we’re up there performing that turns the ladies on. It’s an asset. We often travel to some exotic places all around the world, and we get to see a lot of exotic women.

Nocturnal: What would you say is a negative aspect of being a DJ?
Gav: Not having a social life. I would love to spend a Saturday night staying in, but we rarely get weekends off.
Sam: Proper relationships can be tested, because of our schedule.
Gav: I hate the whole airport thing too.

Nocturnal: So, would you say travelling is a pain?
Sam: Definitely! Don’t get me wrong though, the time spent playing at these wicked clubs is what we live for, but the time spent travelling to them gets a bit much sometimes. Gav said to me the other day while we were waiting in a queue at Gatwick, “this is where we earn our money”.

Nocturnal: Do you find you are ready to perform and do your best after a long time spent travelling?
Sam: Personally I find that I can be ill, tired whatever but when I’m DJing that’s what I do. It almost normalises me and takes me to a happy place.
Gav: Yeah, if the gig’s good you just pick up that energy, the vibe carries you.

Nocturnal: What kind of punters do you hate to meet on your travels?
Sam: The ones that you can’t hear, while DJing. Even when you’ve told them you can’t hear them some will still carry on talking to you.
Gav: People who are really drunk and people who ask for requests.

Nocturnal: What about when you are travelling, what do you eat?
Sam: Well, we always try to eat healthy, but when we go away its room service. Saying that you can’t beat a DJ midnight burger.
Gav: It’s like a tradition every time we go to the airport with Dunmore (Simon Dunmore Defected Head) , we go and have a McDonald’s before we get on the flight.
Sam: It’s feel good food.

Nocturnal: Name your top three wedding songs?
Sam: Lionel Richie ‘All Night Long’, Village People ‘YMCA’ and Diana Ross ‘Upside Down’.
Gav: The Beatles ‘Twist and Shout’.

::: Related Links

::: www.copyrightproductions.co.uk

::: www.defected.com