Bad Passion Talk

Music

BAD PASSION PROJECT, a London based collective of DJ's, producers and Musicians behind the mighty fine club night BAD PASSION and all round gents sat down with R$N for a little chin wag to coincide with their remix of the excellent rising stars Last Waltz…

Hailing from beneath various rocks around the North East of England Chris Stoker, Andy Bainbridge and Dan Mitchell have spent the past four years gaining a loyal following for what has now grown up to be one of London's more discerning parties with a string of guests number the likes of KZA, DJ Buck, Theo Parrish, Idjut Boys, Eric Duncan, Kenji Takemi, Soft Rocks, Phoreski, Mark Seven, Thomas Bullock and of course fellow resident, Cynic records owner Felix Dickinson. Not a bad little CV for a few year's work…

First off, please introduce yourselves and tell us how Bad Passion came into being…

CHRIS – When Dan and I moved to London, there were only a handful of parties playing that we wanted to hear. I knew Andy a little bit from back home and one of my friends was living with him already so we all started hanging around (had it not been for these circumstances I’d have kept him at arms length) We used to end up back at each others houses off the back of nights out, playing records and as our tastes met somewhere in the middle it made sense to put on a party that would be a melting pot of what we were collectively into and would also give us the platform we needed to play.

ANDY – I met Chris at a Shindig after party at the Baltic art gallery when he was doing the upstairs and I was doing the down. I'd been in London for a few years playing here and there, then Chris and Dan moved down and we decided that we should do something as we were all into the same kinda stuff.

You’re said to ‘Hail from beneath various rocks around the North East of England’ what was your musical upbringing under said rocks and when did you come to settle in the smoke?

CHRIS – My Dad got me into ACDC, Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath etc. etc. at a pretty early age. I used to listen to all of his records then he bought me a copy of Appetite for Destruction by Guns N Roses, which was the first piece of music I owned. Then after the obligatory Hip Hop and Indie phases started getting into more electronic stuff. In about 2000 a good friend of mine Antony Daly gave me an Italo mix which was my introduction to that kind of thing, and on it was the track BAD PASSION which is where the name came from. Since then I just by bits and pieces from all over and try to put it all together.

ANDY – I spent most of my time the same as most in the north in the mid 90’s, travelling to Middleborough going to the Arena and the Empire or the Shindig in Newcastle or Sedgefield for the Manor Born. Also Basics, Up Yer Ronson and Hard Times etc. The Arena and Shindig in the early days though were pretty special.

You’ve put on some heavyweights at your nights over the years, the likes of Theo Parrish, Eric Duncan, Thomas Bullock and Felix Dickinson. How do you go about choosing who to book and what have been your favourite nights so far?

CHRIS – Despite us all being into various things there are only a few people we can all agree to actually get on and it’s because of that we keep the residents Felix Dickinson and Phoreski in constant circulation, as well as ourselves, so that people are coming for the music and the night, as opposed to it just being about a guest. Some of the best nights in my opinion have been with those two on. We’re all good friends so we all enjoy it more. Of all of our parties now, every other one is a resident’s night. Other than that though some of the early ones with Mo Morris and Eric Duncan still resonate as some of my favorites. KZA and Spun where really good too.

ANDY – We always just put on people who we know will play stuff we’re into ourselves and we can trust to keep the night diverse. My favorite night was Eric Duncan, it was our second party and the place was still dead at 00:30. I was almost ready to do a runner but out of nowhere it was suddenly rammed. Eric turned up and said he was only gonna play for 2 hours but after the two he was like "there's no fucking way I'm getting off" he absolutely smashed it. It's always special when Phoreski plays too.

You’ve recently moved into the world of remixing, with the Mountain of One mix and now the mix of Trinket on the Last Waltz EP on Futureboogie records. Who does what in the process, are you all involved or is it just one of you doing all the work and the others sitting around drinking tea?

CHRIS – The AMO1 mix was with a close friend of ours, Matty Forster along with Dan and myself. That was a couple of years ago now. For the Trinket Remix, Andy and I teamed up with an engineer called Saul Richards, who is part of the Machette Savane project with Andy (they actually have their first release due out on Redux soon). Essentially he’s at the controls, as that’s what he does for a living, producing music for TV and sound tracks. But in terms of the writing, producing and the playing of instruments it’s a collective effort, then Saul brings it all to life.

Beyond that, you’ve said you’re going to move into putting out your own original material, both as a collective and with solo projects, how’s that coming along?

CHRIS – We’ve talked about doing a label for a while and now that we’re working on music together, as well as with other people, it’s a good platform to release it all We can also cross-pollinate remixing for each other, as well as the likes of our Last Waltz who we remixed Trinket and Jamie Blanco, who I’m working on something with at the minute.

And you’ll be giving birth to Bad Passion records, too?

CHRIS – Not sure if we’ll be calling it Bad Passion Records. We’ve been back and forth with a few options. We’ll decide nearer the time.

What’s the remit for the label, are you planning on using it as a vehicle exclusively for your own stuff or will you be doing a & r for it and putting out other artists, too?

CHRIS – As I mentioned before, it’ll initially be a vehicle for BAD PASSION, as well as other spin off projects that were working on but we have a lot of friends who are doing great stuff. So as long as the cap fits we wouldn’t have issues with putting out other people’s records.

Surely only a matter of time before you bring out your own cocktail. What’s it going to be called and what’s in it?

CHRIS – Oddly enough Andy, myself and a couple of others are in the infancy stages of trying to get a bar/venue of our own off the ground. Having said that, what we say were gonna do and we actually end up doing are rarely the same but if all goes to plan then naming cocktails will be another job to add to the list In the not too distant future. This loosely came up in a conversation last week and we decided on one being called the Ken Barlow. Credit will go to Chrissy Graham for this one and anyone close to us will know the story behind it.

I saw that you recently played in Japan, what’ve been the most interesting and far flung places you’ve taken Bad Passion to date?

We also played in Jakarta a couple of years ago but other than that nothing particularly weird or far flung. The Boat parties in Croatia are always pretty interesting. Although If you asked Andy about the last one we did he’ll question if he was even there or not. We’re talking about maybe doing a BAD PASSION party in Japan on our next visit.

Complete the sentence: I'm proper techno because….. someone told me it was cool.

Who's more techno and why; your Mum or your Dad?

CHRIS – Usually I’d have said my mam, but since retiring from the police at the end of last year my Dad’s getting massively into E’s. Last time I went home he was washing the car off his tits with Underground Resistance blasting. He’s actually on about setting up a studio in the loft and has been pestering us for a residency at BP.

How many DJs does it take to change a light bulb?

CHRIS – Probably not nearly as many as it does to get the decks and mixer working where we are concerned.

Are you a kick drum, hi hat or a snare? And why?

CHRIS – Andy would be a kick drum on account of dull thud he makes when he falls over. You’ve probably heard on the grapevine that he’s a fool and a walking calamity. That’s a whole different interview.

What item of clothing in your wardrobe are you most ashamed of?

CHRIS – I can’t say I’m ashamed of them as I actually rather like them but I’m pretty sure Andy, as well as a few more of my mates would think otherwise about some trousers I wear with laces up the back.

ANDY – Nothing in my wardrobe but I get extremely embarrassed when Chris turns out in his lace up bondage pants!

Each of you can take one record with you into the afterlife, what’s it going to be and why?

CHRIS – It would be a toss up between Fantasy by Carole King and Can’t Hide love by Creative source.

ANDY – Deguello by zz top, never tired of it since my dad used to play it when I was a nipper.

Finally, sum up the ethos of Bad Passion in under ten words……..

"If it’s still empty at 1……..leg it”

See… we told you right gents! BAD PASSION, coming to a disco near you.
Have a little look and listen at all the below… they might even do a mix for us one day… if they're lucky! Well, no if we're lucky. They keep spurning our advances…

BAD PASSION's 4th birthday take place in October with something very special lined-up… watch their spaces:

badpassionproject.com/

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