Luke Solomon Interview

Music

Ahead of Saturday, which we're starting to get rather excited about in the brand new E8 venue we caught up with the gentleman that is Luke Solomon for a very Talking Heads themed chat. Check the man in the flesh on Saturday, that's what we'd recommend. 🙂
Over to you Luke…

Hi Luke, Thought I´d make things a little more exciting than just your straight up what´s your top 5 records nonsense that I know you probably spend all day answering! We share a love of Talking Heads – your Little Creatures night was named after the album obviously – Naive Melody is pretty much my favourite song ever and I used to run a few nights with TH title lifts too. Anyway, bear with me on this as I´ve tried to tie it into you and Classic.

"The less we say about it the better. Make it up as we go along. Feet on the ground. Head in the sky" Naive Melody & the Stop Making Sense version
Is that pretty much the Classic manifesto right there? Maybe not the less saying part?!
Ha….not sure about the feet on the "ground" bit back in the old days, but now, yes. It truly is our manifesto.
And the "make it up as we go along" speaks volumes….hustling and winging it continuously. And trying to do it all with our heads in the sky…. Or at least thats what we like people to think.

"Look at my hair, like the design…" Warning Sign
What´s your favourite haircut you´ve ever had.
Probably my current one. I had a version of this haircut in the early 90´s…a couple of wild flat tops back in the 80´s. But I think this current mohawk is definitely my favorite. Inspired by Stump.

"I´m checkin´ it out… I´m checkin´ it… some good points, bad points. Find a city, find myself a city to live in." Cities
Good points and bad points to living in London… anywhere else you´ve found you´d like to live.
I love London, I hate London. But I generally put the "hate" down to people, and I´m not really a big people person. I have my friends for sure, but I have friends all over the world. The part I love about London is the history and the architecture. Fascinated by it. I spend a lot of time reading and learning.
If my ears give in. I´m going to become an architect. One day. May be.
I could happily live in California, but it would have to be out of the city. And Chicago. But the winters are fierce.

"The band in heaven, they play my favourite song, play it once again, play it all night long…" Heaven
If we cast aside whether it exists for a minute, what would be your song they´d play all night long?
Favorite songs always depend on my moods. A time in my life. Whether I am happy or sad. A lot of factors.
If I were to narrow it down to this question, which is pretty damn difficult….and is only relative to right now….It would be Betcha Wouldn´t Hurt Me – Quincy Jones. But then tomorrow it might be Ghosts by Japan. The day after that it may be Goodbye Horses – Q Lazarus. And the day after that, and so on…
It´s all about moods. And I have LOADS of those.

"This ain´t no party, this ain´t no disco, this ain´t no foolin´ around…" Life During Wartime
Well it kind of is isn´t it… favourite disco of recent times?
Right now it would have to be Moxa in Italy. I am in my 7th year of residency, and pretty much a part of the fabric. It is my home and it is a very special place. The one club where I can truly be myself, play what I want, and feel no pressure.

"There´s a party in my mind… and I hope it never stops" Memories Can´t Wait
Agree?
I have found that as I get older I have these "moments." I can´t quite explain the emotion, but it is happy, almost ecstatic. It will be a memory of my child hood, my teen age years, a conversation, a place, any number of things. But for that moment, I feel completely over joyed to have experienced that memory. Good memories are good. And some times the bad ones need to be remembered to.

"I´m looking and I´m dreaming for the first time. And I´m inside and I´m outside at the same time. And everything is real. Do I like the way I feel?" Television Man (Dance mix is the best)
"There are no big secrets
Don´t believe what you read" Making Flippy Floppy
Agree?
This makes my want to rant out out my own personal political diatribe. I am a very opinionated and out spoken person and always have been. Got that from my Dad. But this doesn´t feel like the time or the place somehow…

"Well we know where we´re going but don´t know where we´ve been…" Road To Nowhere
Any idea where you´ve been?
Man. Yes. I have lived a pretty "colorful life." It has been a huge journey that certainly hasn´t finished. There has been a lot of sadness, and a lot of happiness, and I guess that has become part of where I am at right now . I don´t wish any of it had been any different. I certainly wish some of it had never happened. But that´s only natural.

"The world has a way of looking at people
Sometimes it seems that the world is wrong
She loves the world, and all the people in it
She shakes ´em up when she start to walk." The Great Curve (with Rober Palmer on bongos??)
Have a ´she´ like that?
You know what. I don´t know anyone like that. I have heard that they exist. But they never gravitate to me.

"What about the time?
You were rollin´ over
Fall on your face
You must be having fun" Slippery People
Derrick rescued you from any toilets recently or are those days long gone?! 🙂
Ha ha ha. No we are pretty much on a level playing field these days. I have rescued him a couple of times, let´s get that straight. Never from a toilet though.
I have a mischievous side that I will never lose. I have just learnt how to control it. But every now and then…….look out.

"And You May Find Yourself In Another Part Of The World
And You May Find Yourself Behind The Wheel Of A Large Automobile
And You May Find Yourself In A Beautiful House, With A Beautiful Wife
And You May Ask Yourself-Well…How Did I Get Here?" Once In A Lifetime (ooh and the SMS version of this too is ace)
My epitaph.

Classic Is Your Friend
Derrick Carter, Luke Solomon, Rob Mello
This Saturday
Hackney Downs Studios,
Amhurst Terrace, E8 2BT
Map Link
Tickets £10 – £15
10pm – 6am