The Audiowhores have been riding the waves of DJ and production success since they formed back in 2000. With tracks released on a plethora of labels, including Soulfuric, MN2S, Peppermint Jam and their own Tempogroove imprint, they have their feet planted firmly in the forefront of the UK house scene. Similarly their versatile and technically brilliant DJ sets which incorporate everything from deep and soulful sounds to tougher and chunkier beats, have won the pair thousands of fans worldwide.
Next Saturday (Fe bruary 16th) they perform live at The Island for the huge launch party for the major new house label, House-Trained. Spinning alongside NYC’s very own DJ Disciple, London firestarter Raymundo Rodriguez, acid house maestro and all-round legend Steve Proctor, the Layabouts and Phil Loraine & Stu Hall, they’ll be a welcome addition to the capital’s party scene that weekend for what promises to be the mother of all house parties.
We caught up with them to get the lowdown on Manchester’s finest…
Where would you rather live - Manchester or London? Why?
Adam - Well we've both lived in Manchester all our life, so I don't think we need to answer that one really!!!
Sell Manchester's music scene to us - why do you think it's been so influential down the years for dance music and the industry as a whole?
Adam - Not sure really but I guess the Hacienda played a major part in the introduction of house music to the UK. I was there a lot during the nineties - I didn't appreciate what I was part of at the time. I just remember thinking.....fuck me, this is good fun!!
Three people you'd kill to work with in your lifetime - who, why and what would you dream of doing with them?
Adam - Sienna Miller, Heidi Klum and Gisele Bundchen.....I'll leave the rest to your imagination!
What gets you going in the studio?
Graham - Well certainly a good cup of tea to start with, then comes along some beats, always gotta be the beats for us - they always bring inspiration to the rest of the track.
What one track would you most love to remix or work on that we wouldn't ever suspect you of being remotely interested in?
Graham - Hmmm well you'd be surprised really, we both like all sorts of things. There's certainly some wicked producers out there making great pop songs. A lot of the Beyonce kinda stuff we're liking, producers like Neptunes, Dr Dre etc. I could imagine us doing a nice quirky remix on some of the nu rave stuff that's out at the moment too, CSS, LCD Soundsystem etc. I would also love to remix the likes of Jack Johnson and my current favorite Tom Baxter
You've been together 8 years now - did you ever think you'd last that long? Have you had your ups and downs, trials and tribulations or has it been gloriously smooth sailing?
Graham - Pretty smooth sailing really. You always get the odd bit of politics in house music, that's something that's pretty hard to keep away from, but its not in either of our characters to blow things out of proportion so we've done pretty well in that respect.
What were your initial thoughts on meeting each other?
Adam - Don't remember really.....we were both completely bollocksed at the time!!!
What are your feelings on the digital revolution that's going on around us at the moment? Have you em braced it or are you desperately trying to bat it off with some 12" vinyl?
Adam - If you'd have asked us that 5 years ago, we'd probably have given you a really serious answer about being vinyl to the core, but it's old news now - I can't remember the last time we played a 'real' record!! We're completely down with all things digital - it just makes things so much easier. The important thing is that people keep buying legal files......and they're so cheap there's no excuse really.
Where do you normally shop for your tunes?
Graham - We try to mix things up really, just like in our DJ sets....we shop digitally for mp3s at Traxsource for house and soulful house, Beatport for the proggy bits and Dancetracks Digital for the more diverse and quirky bits.
How big are your record collections and what are your most prized possessions in them?
Adam - I've probably got somewhere in the region of about 10,000 12", although I've never sat down and counted! Difficult to put a finger on the favourite, but the original double pack promo of Soulsearcher - I Can't Get Enough is very precious to me. It's one of the biggest tracks of all time for us. That, or my first ever record......Ace Of Spades by Motorhead!!!
Is there one tune in particular that you've wanted to get your hands on for ages but can't find anywhere?
Adam - It used to be like that in the days of vinyl, but these days it's pretty easy to track down things digitally.
Has there ever been a sample that you wanted to use in a track that kicked ass but you had problems with the licensing thus depriving us of a stunning new Audiowhores tune?
Adam - Not that we can recall - we haven't sampled anything for a long while, but if we did we'd try and steer clear of the majors. We did replay an old 80s track recently hoping it was the next Eric Prydz, but by the time we'd finished it, we'd gone off the idea!!! We may bang it out later this year because it seems to have been pretty well received.
Graham I know production is a bit more of a passion for you than DJing - what would your dream set-up be?
Graham - I'm quite pleased with our current setup really, I prefer to have a working enviroment that im confident in, rather than have shit loads of equipment that I know little about. Saying that though I have got my eyes on a Moog Little Phatty and possibily some other analog synths!
Do you like to work with live instruments when you produce or do you prefer electronic recordings and samplings?
Graham - Back in the day we used a lot of live instruments, Rhodes, guitar, bass, strings etc. These days we tend to find that we're playing most the stuff in our self, the kind of music we are making is a lot more dance floor orientated but still keeping the soul.
You're playing at House-Trained at The Island on Fe bruary 16th, alongside DJ Disciple and acid house legend Steve Proctor. It's the label launch for House-Trained, which has big backing from Universal Music. How important do you think it is that we have another house label with significant financial support to invest in artists?
Adam - It certainly can't be a bad thing! Most house producers try to be cool and keep things underground.....us included. But there is nothing more healthy for a producer than a big crossover track and it's rare that happens without the backing of a major. I'm sure our turn is just around the corner!
They're looking for new young producers to join their ranks. Have you got any hot tips that the label should follow up? Is there anyone out there that's particularly caught your eyes (or ears) over 2007?
Adam - There seems to be an awful lot of good stuff coming from Holland these days.....oh, there and Manchester - have you heard of the Audiowhores?!!!
Talking of production, what have you been up to in the studio recently? Have you got anything juicy that you can tell us or are you saving it up for Miami?
Graham - We've really found our groove again in the studio of late and we're really pleased with our current sound. It's a lot edgier than our previous stuff and it should be really playable. We're just putting the finishing touches on 4 original productions with various artists featured on vocals. We have also just finished a remix for Danism on MN2S with Kathy Brown on vocals, that should be ready for Miami. We're also half way through a project for Z Records too which is sounding quite hot too.
Do you think Miami is that crucial to the dance music industry anymore? I know a lot of people that came back last year thought it had lost its business/networking vibe due to the vast hordes of marauding American kids on spring break. What are your thoughts?
Adam - Whenever we've been to Miami, it's been more about partying than networking but I think it is important to meet your peers and idols and it's great to see everyone in the same place at the same time. So I hope the whole Miami thing runs and runs forever.......but Ibiza and the ADE never fail to impress so it's got competition!
Any plans to do Ibiza this year? If yes, where can we catch you?
Adam - We've both got trips to Ibiza planed this year although we've haven't confirmed any dates as yet. We're working on it!!
Finally what kind of set can we expect from you on the 16th? Will you be bringing out some old school flavours? And will you be getting some dance floor action in either side of your set?
Adam - Oh yeah, you can't count on us to party has hard as anyone.....nothing better than a good old knees up! As for our set....we try to mix it up as much as possible, but overall we'd describe our sound as 'proper house', be it afro, electro, soulful or progressive....and we don't go anywhere without the odd classic tucked away in the wallet.
www.house-trained.com
Advance tickets for just £12 are available now from http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?query=search&INTERFACE=ticketweb&category=misc®ion=xxx&search=house+trained&beginmonth=01&beginday=24&beginyear=2008, tickets can be bought on the door for £15.
There is a huge guestlist for this one – see if you can get on it by mailing theisland@wearebeautiful.co.uk.
