During the Build up to the Hard House Academy at the Brixton Academy, ClubTheWorld caught up with one of Londons Hardest female DJ's.
We asked Lucy Fur the following questions:
CTW - How long have you been mixing for and could you describe to us a brief history of how you got to where you are in your DJ career?
LUCY - I started buy records around july 2000, and my decks shortly followed. I then got addicted to mixing and continued to practise for a year. I played my first gig in a pub in Hertfordshire to about 20 people and loved it!!! I then went on to get my first residency at Exessential in Lydd where funnily enough I experienced my first all-nighter experience at the age of 16!!!! After a year of getting the odd local booking I decided to take on London as I felt ready for the challenge, and a lot of hard graft later here I am!!
CTW - If you could play back 2 back with any DJ who would it be?
LUCY - That's such a hard question! I am quite selective with who I play with, I think you have to be due to music styles. If you would have asked me a few weeks ago it would have been Mark Leish but that's been done now and what fun we had! So on that note, it would be someone like Ben Stevens, A Star or Caroline Banx! I get on so well with all three and that's really important whilst doing b2b because you need to have a giggle about it.
CTW - I saw you play for Lashed at the SEOne club in the "All Girls Room", for me this was the best set of the night. You also played other events that weekend. Would this be a typical example of a weekend in your diary? and are there any big dates you have that we should know about?
LUCY - Thank you!!! I really enjoyed myself and feel my true style was exposed that night. Yeah, that weekend was rather hectic and the winter months have been like that. The summer is always quieter but there are still events I am looking forward to over the next few months. The 29th May is Hard House Academy at Brixton Academy which is a firm favourite. I've been going to this event for a long time and to get to play there now is amazing!!! The line-up for this one is fantastic too!! Also that weekend, I start my new residency at Wired in Brixton the morning of the 30th, so I will keep you posted on that. There is a Frantic event being held at the end of June which is also exciting but you will have to listen out for more details of that one too! And I am very excited to be asked back to Wildchild which is held over the august bank holiday later this year! My next ultimate goal is the Tidy Weekender, so im going to start working on that soon!
CTW - You played the main room at the last ever Frantic event at Camden Palace, what did this mean to you?
LUCY - To play for such an event is something I only used to dream about .I really thought it wasn't going to happen for me main room camden-especially when I heard it was closing. My first london clubbing experience and the ultimate aim, and then Frantic asked me to do it! I felt sick every time I thought about it. I was talking to Tara (Reynolds) the week before and she was really making me hyper about it! Mark actually filmed 25 minutes of my set at Camden for all my friends who couldn't make it-and it has been seen by my mum, dad, brother and sister! When I watched it back the next day I had tears in my eyes-says it all really!
CTW - You are known for playing the some of the hardest music we know in this scene. are there any other genres you play?
LUCY - The nice thing is i've always played this way and haven't changed that for any club or promotion. I do really like vocal funky house, house, techno and funky techno too. I played my first techno set the other week, and must say it felt a bit strange! If my budget would stretch, id love to play more styles for one off exclusive gigs, but, well I love the filth I really do!
CTW - Talking about other genres, your partner plays techno. As you are aware the hard dance scene is heavily influenced by techno at present. Is this a thing so you can swap ideas and borrow his records etc?
LUCY - Ha ha!! I borrow all Marks records!!! My favourite producers are Mark EG, Lars Klein and DAVE the drummer, labels Blackout Audio, Hydraulix and X-series. I am aware of the techno influences in hard dance but I don't really like this cross over stuff. It should be Techno or Hard house for me!! I would never play techno in a hard house set, I feel like that would just be following the trends. Within my style I try to keep an original hard house sound with up to date samples
CTW - The hard dance scene appears to be getting harder and harder over recent months. This must be great for you, but where do you feel the direction of the music will go once it has reached where it appears to be heading? Can you see other genres influencing the scene like techno has at present, which may change the music direction?
LUCY - It's great that clubbers and promotions are wanting it harder now, gives us harder djs a chance to shine! Its difficult to predict where the music is going due to all the influences, music will take its own route. The harder stuff has always been around just that recently its getting exposed more in the main rooms as opposed to just being an underground or backroom sound. The direction the music will take will be down to the producers that are making it. Hopefully they can find a new sound that will appeal to the harder generation.
CTW - I've noticed on a few websites you have quiet a fan base building. To me this seems great, can you describe to us how this makes you feel?
LUCY - I feel overwhelmed when I login to websites and see there are threads about my performance the night before! I think its great that people want to come over and say hi when im out. Im very approachable but still a bit shy-you will never get a good photo of me! I remember what it was like as a young clubber, fully respecting the DJ because of the way they made you feel whilst they were playing. A big part of DJing for me, is making people feel like that, so yeah its fantastic to know its happening.
CTW - With the Hard House Academy just around the corner, what can we expect from you at this event?
LUCY - Well I am very excited about this as I have a lot of new material to play. I have just started cd mixing too and I have many beasts ready to unleash. I like to play upfront unheard material to keep the crowd engaged, nothing worse than hearing the same tune 5 times in a night-no matter how good the track!
CTW - Knowing you personally I can say that you are a very down to earth individual and have a great attitude. You always have time to speak to people, which i feel is a great asset. However there are some DJ's who don't appear to have this attitude. What are your thoughts on this?
LUCY - Mmm well all I can say is that we are all human. There have been many Djs that I have met who haven't even attempted to engage conversation or a friendly 'hi'. We all have to be in this industry together so there is no point in having your head up your own arse. And what many Djs have to realise, its the clubbers that put people where they are- I will always have time for people. If I seem busy, that's cos I am but still come over and say hi!!!
CTW - Which DJ's and producers have given you inspirations?
LUCY - In the beginning it was the original Tidy girls. Lashes, Pin-up I loved them all. Lisa was fantastic in 2000/2001 she definately made me want to start djing. Undoubtably Paul Glazby. He bought my record collection to life, the birth of VC!!! But before VC was even around, I had many of Paul's tracks that he had remixed on old 12 Inch Thumpers and white labels. Followed by Tara Reynolds. The nicest DJ you will ever meet and boy what a talent she has. She's really built herself up to Tidy girl Tara!!! She so deserves it!
CTW - Quick fire round:
- Favourite all time tune? There are too many to mention, I really cant answer that sorry!
- Which mixer? Pioneer or Allen and Heath? Pioneer!!
- Vinyl or CD? Vinyl baby yeah!
- Prefer to play small or big venue? Not about the venue mate, all about the crowd!
CTW - Finally we hold great faith that your future is going to be very bright. What plans do you have for your future?
LUCY - Future plans definitely involve production, can you imagine the Fur on vinyl ouch! To play at Tidy as I mentioned before. And to get as many bookings as poss For a demo, please email djlucyfur@hotmail.com
ClubTheWorld would like to thank Lucy Fur for her time and would like to wish her the best of luck for the future and for The Hard House Academy at Brixton Academy on 29th May 2004
