DJ Allister Whitehead Interview / Profile

Allister Whitehead is one of the original acid house fledgling’s who has gone on to become a household name in club folklore. He’s all set to produce a mix album with Ministry Of Sound and his own Galaxy radio show. And he’s even stopped wearing his rather loud collection of jumpers.

THE WHITEHOUSE EXPERIENCE

What’s on your plate at the moment?
“Plenty. Actually, I’ve just come back from my holidays, only to find a mountain of production work to get on with. Tom Fredricks (Allister’s partner-in-crime, he also used to work with) wants me back in action as quickly as possible. I haven’t actually DJ’d at all this year. The last night I worked was Hogmany, so I’ll be looking forward to my gigs this weekend.

My next remix is a song by Sharon Dee Clarke, ‘Till I’m Ready’. I think Robbie Rivera is also doing a mix. Sharon is a great singer, her vocals are what you would call “diva like”. You know, big and strong. I’m looking forward to getting my teeth into it. After that, I’ll continue with the search for vocalists for Tom and our album (the group’s name is Whitehouse. ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’, their last single, was a big success). We’re trying to find somebody a little different, maybe even someone from the early days of house, but getting hold of the right people, and fitting round their schedule, is proving to be fairly difficult. I love listening to singers like Martha Wash (ex-weather girl turned house diva). She can really deliver a strong vocal. That suits our style of music”.

It’s easy to pigeonhole a DJ’s musical preferences, so how would you describe your own style?
“Well, it’s almost impossible to say that I play any particular brand of music, because even within one set, in one club, I could go from garage all the way through to some really dark choices. However, forced to give my stuff a tag, I’d call it American disco, in a modern style”.

What are your current favourites?
“I’ll try and remember what I played on New Year’s Eve… The tracks that caught my ear were firstly, a white label called ‘Larry’s Theme’. There’s a big Latin influence on it, but I can’t remember any information about it. I got a tune a couple of months ago on Diffusion, which is a really consistent label. It’s called ‘Let It Reign’. The group are Real Soul. It’s been a favourite of mine for a while now”.

Anything other releases you want to mention?
“Yeah, a track that’s not had much publicity or promotion, ‘Tonite’, by Superior. I heard it on the radio today. It’s really classy and funky, and could well be a major success. Also, I played the Unusual Suspects, ‘1999’ at ten to twelve on Hogmany, and it was wild. It got an incredible reaction”.

What gigs will you be doing over the next few months?
“I can’t wait to get back on the decks! This weekend, I’m doing Progress and Moneypenny’s. They’re both tremendous nights with really musically aware crowds, which just makes my job so easy. But this year, I’ll probably be doing slightly less gigs, concentrating more on the production and writing, rather than careering round the country every weekend. I’m still involved with Cream, on a once a month basis, which is cool. That way, my nights there are still fresh and special.

“On the other hand, I definitely don’t want to lose touch with any of the other areas of the UK. I’ll still be going up north a few times a year. It’s important to keep a grip on the scene, and to be able to tap into the people’s vibe when you’re out working. Not that it ever influences my style or choice of music, I’ll still be doing my own thing and sticking to my guns. For some people, it’s really easy to get side-tracked if they listen to another DJ working. I believe that it’s good to be insular so you’re bringing your own style to the crowd when you’re working, not somebody else’s. Too many DJ’s get caught up in wanting to be somebody else. They should create their own persona, and choose their own music. It would keep everything so much fresher”.

You’ve had a long running relationship with Fantazia. Are there plans to do any more albums?
The ‘British Anthems Vol 2’ mix compilation album is out now. Jeremy Healey and myself have been doing these for a long time now. My contact actually ended at Christmas time. It’s been five years since the first one, so it’s probably a good time to change. They’ve been very successful as well as enjoyable to do, but you’ve got to move on to something new. The next mix album I’ll be doing is with the Ministry of Sound and Galaxy radio, which is my show and is going well, thankfully. So we felt it would be good to get involved with a major name, to promote and sell the Galaxy album, as well as link up with the Ministry reputation. Mix albums are just snapshots of DJ’s sets at any one give time, they don’t represent anything else except a certain DJ’s choice of tunes. But if you’re lucky enough to have good taste (he starts laughing here), then they can also be a nice little earner! The Galaxy album should be released around April time, so we’ll start putting together a set list at the end of February. No use in starting it too soon, or the tunes would be stale. The next one after that should be myself and Tom’s ‘Whitehouse’ album, but it probably won’t be finished until the end of summer. By that time, we’ll have a couple of vocalists, and enough material to complete it”.

IN THE BEGINNING, THERE WAS HOUSE….

You’ve been in the business since the first explosion of the acid house scene. Is there anyone who really influences you in, say, a technical way?
“The people who influenced me were probably the people who influenced the whole of the UK club audience at that time. The American influence counted for a lot at the beginning. The real pioneers of mixing came from the hip hop scene in the USA. They used to do tricks in their sets, which quickly caught people’s eyes. I remember hearing a Tony Humphries set. It was completely blended and mixed – wow! Now that was something a little different and special.

It was still only 1988, and the scene was very small. Graham Park quickly became a figure everyone was listening too, he had enormous influence on people at that time. Paul Oakenfold wasn’t mixing at that time. Nobody really was! Quickly though, it become clear that mixing was the way ahead, soon everybody was in on it, perfecting their techniques and getting into the scene. So it started to grow, gaining its own identity and musical style.

Up and down the country, there were still radical changes in musical style. In the North of England, we were playing almost an early version of techno. Two DJ’s at that time had begun playing this stuff, they were called Winston and Parrot, and along came a rather well known nationally renowned DJ from London who actually called it ‘Faggot Music’. I won’t tell you who it was though. He was young at the time, but in London they were playing a lot more rare groove and funky stuff, so he was, shall we say, a little sceptical. But soon enough he was playing the stuff, and today he’s a massive name”.

Tell us who it was ‘coz we’d love to know?
“Absolutely not! He’d give me too much of a hard time”!

DANCE MUSIC TODAY AND TOMORROW…

Dance music is Pop music. Discuss.
“Where do you want to start? In today’s terms, I think it’s a very valid point. The output now, compared with even six or seven years ago, is probably about ten fold. Therefore it’s become much more accessible to a wider audience. Tracks like ‘Jack Your Body’ or ‘Voodoo Ray’ were still massive at a time when there was very little dance music in the charts, so it has always been pop music, but to a lesser extent. The technological grounds that dance music has broken into has probably affected pop music, rather than the other way round. If it hadn’t been for all these advances, then the ability to make music wouldn’t be as available, therefore it makes a huge influence on all forms of popular music.

“Music nowadays is so diverse, any particular person with their own start on music can go into the studio and create something without any real requirement of a musical background. Of course, it helps, but modern equipment such as pro tools, (the latest Digital technology, making production even simpler) on the Apple Mac Computer, can make it so simple, it’s frightening. Not only that, but there are no perimeters now as to what sounds you can make. Anything can be sampled into a computer, regurgitated and made into something infinitely usable. Its so simple”.

What about the future? Do you see any changes in the kind of house music you’re playing?
“Personally, I’m leaning towards slowing tracks down slightly. I’m not into the stuff that’s just banging, full on. There aren’t as many big drum rolls in modern tunes. I have a feeling that generally, music will be funkier. It’ll also become more musical, with a greater emphasis on the actual song and message, rather than the production elements. I’m quite glad of this because, hopefully, it’ll play right into my hands, as I’ve always stuck to my guns, and played that type of music”.

THE FUTURE SOUND OF ALLISTER

What about you’re actual DJing skills, is there still room for improvement?
“Most definitely. Anyone who says they can’t improve is a liar. Technically, there aren’t that many things you can introduce to your set, because it’s hard to listen to somebody who is using too much technical stuff, and not letting the music speak for itself. The area that I can improve on most is in reading the people in front of the DJ box. The crowds in a night-club are never the same, wherever you go. It requires one hundred percent concentration at all times to get it right. And there’s no better feeling than if you’ve got the balance of music down to a tee, and the crowd responds accordingly. Its still a sublime experience.

Apart from DJing, I can see the most improvement coming from the way we’ve been doing our remixes and writing our own material. It’s a natural progression for me to do these things, and because they’re still fairly new, there is much more room to improve”.

Are there any highlights in your remixing career?
“Myself and Tom did a number of major remixes last year. We did a version of Natalie Imbruglia’s ‘Smoke’. The original track was only around 45bpm, but vocally, we felt that it was pretty unusual, and worthy of a stab at it. As it was, when we started to fiddle about with her vocals, they were really affected, so she still sounded natural. I really enjoyed putting my own touch on that track. Galaxy went on to A list our version and HMV said it was a brilliant seller.

We also did a touch for Rachel McFarlane last year, called ‘Lover’. Tom and I decided to create the whole drum track ourselves, rather than use some sampled loops. It took me hours and hours, using lots of tom tom sounds, but it ended up being a real triumph. It sounded superb and fresh. Later in the year, Mark Picchioti actually sampled the entire drum track for a ‘King English’ track on Nervous Records, and when I heard it in some club somewhere, I was totally taken by surprise. I was dead chuffed as well, because I love his work, so it was a real compliment for me”.

Have you turned down remix work with anybody famous?
“We decided to turn down the Billie track ‘She Wants You’. We were really short of time between doing the ‘Whitehouse’ stuff and another remix, and anyway, we felt that we couldn’t take it anywhere. It’s important that we keep our integrity intact at this stage, because we’re still not that big when it comes to doing remixes. On the other hand, if David Morales was to do a version of Iron Maiden, nobody would even care. But if we did it, we’d get laughed off the face of the earth. There’s a fine line to tread, and we’re going to be careful. We don’t need the money, just the same as we don’t want to let people down with something we’re not really into. It’s only fair”.

Are you a typical vinyl junkie?
“Totally. Anyone who’s DJing for any length of time has to be, or else they’re lying. I don’t keep them in a good condition as I should, but I’ve got a garage and a room full of them. I get round to throwing some out every five years, but it breaks my heart to do so!!”

What about recreation. Do you have other interests?
“I’m a bit of an anorak when it comes to old comedy videos. I could watch them for hours on end. I like to read also, mainly books, rather than magazines. I hate reading about myself, I say so many stupid things at the time, that I cringe when somebody tells me what I said”.

What football team do you support?
“Derby County. I was born on the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire borders, but my big brother was a Derby fan, so I am as well”.

Would you have paid 7.5 million for John Hartson?
“What! Who Has?” (Remember, he has been on holiday….)

Wimbledon!
“You’re joking! That’s incredible. He’s hardly a fashionable player, and he’s not even fit!” (Much laughter as this point, rather like Harry Rednapp, the West Ham manager).

Well, here’s your chance to set the record straight about your love affair with loud jumpers!
“I do get a bit of a hard time about that, actually! Yes, I do own a lot of jumpers, but I’m erm, out of that phase (more hysterical laughter). It’s a historical thing from several years ago, and it seems to have stuck. I’m not denying it, but let’s just say I’ve seen the light. I’m fed up getting slagged on the radio about it! However, if that’s the worst thing anybody says about me, then I’m a happy man!”

And with that, he disappears into the distance. Allister Whitehead – supremely amiable with a good sense of humour, and a handy knack of playing some dynamite tunes. Not half bad….