Paul East takes us on an odyssey of sounds for episode 85 of the AMF mix series. A veritable treat for the ears his 4 hour genre spanning mix is not one too be missed. Read our interview with Paul below.
Hey Paul, thanks so much for coming on the AMF blog, let’s dive straight in. I always like to start these interviews by asking my guests to introduce themselves and tell us a bit about their DJing journey. When did you start DJing and why and what twists and turns have gotten you to where you are today?
Not at all, thanks for having me! To be honest, it’s been a fairly long and slow route to where I am now! I’ve been going out and buying records for a long time. Growing up in Plymouth then moving to University in Liverpool then Leeds in the late ‘90’s early 2000’s. It was the time of Cream and all that but plenty of smaller nights too, techno at Voodoo & The Orbit, Bugged Out!, hip hop/drum and bass at No Fakin’. Plus the trips down the East Lancs to Electric Chair… So all that came into play, moving from the indie stuff I’d been buying back home to more dance music.
You just meet more and more different people, hear new music and the curiosity grows. I think it was around that time that Gilles Peterson moved to Radio 1 and that plus the influences of the people I was living with from ska and reggae to Detroit techno just fed that need for hearing new music.
After that I moved to London and mostly played parties put on with mates, as well as going out a lot. Soul music was always there for me too and I was lucky enough to catch many legends who are no longer with us, Prince, Isaac Hayes, Terry Callier, as well as DJs like David Mancuso and the Body and Soul crew. Southport Weekender was a yearly event too back then. Add to that being able to spend my Saturdays around Soho and beyond – Vinyl Junkies, If, Mr Bongo, Disque, Haggle amongst others. And the radio, so Norman Jay, Ross Allen and the rest. Not many of those shops are left sadly but I still have the records!
After a bit of travelling, I moved back up North, so catching some amazing DJs at a great night I have to namecheck, called Cutloose (Idjuts, Thomas Bullock, Lexx..), plus the mighty Aficionado of course.
I think those experiences with all the other bits that had gone before just opened my eyes to what DJing can be, not just playing records to mix or banging them out for 2 hours but making the night a proper journey – as much as that phrase gets overused!
So yeah, a bit of a mixed bag, just collecting records and doing the odd bit here and there. On a punt I hit up Jason Boardman who was booking at a little bar called Nook near where I live and getting a semi regular slot there which took a bit of a break during Covid. Like a lot of folks then took to the online stuff doing the Mixcloud thing. Recently I’ve been fortunate to hook up with Paul at Test Pressing and started doing some reviewing for them, so big shouts to Apiento for putting me onto a lot of new music that’s out there. I just need to repay the favour more!
I’ve been lucky in that the gigs I’ve had they just let me play what I want and people seem to like it. All the DJs I admire have always played with no boundaries and while I’d never compare myself to them in terms of skills or selections, if I can bring just a bit of that spirit across in what I do I’m happy!
The mix you’ve put together for AMF is certainly an experience, clocking in at almost 4 hours it’s definitely the longest mix we’ve had submitted. Was this a deliberate choice or more of a case of turning up to record something and just having a really good time?
I just tried to give a bit of a flavour of what I’d do given the decks for an afternoon/evening. I’m just open to anything. There were so many things that didn’t make the cut, afro, brazilian, folk, dub…there’s so much great new music coming out too, so hopefully some of the bits later on bring that in. There was a plan in there, it’s all vinyl so there were a lot of extras that were hovering round the stack as well. I wanted to take the listener through the styles and tempos but hopefully in a natural way and have some fun with it too. Also, you know, if you don’t like this one, hang on for next!
Cosmic, chugging, trippy, sleazy and squelchy. These are just a few words I’d use to try and describe your mix. Would that be fair and what is it about this vibe you really enjoy when mixing music?
Haha, I’ll take that as a good description! Don’t get me wrong I like fast music, I guess my definition of a banger these days is a bit more sedate maybe? I’ll use another overused term which is groove, plus soul of course, I try to play music that hopefully moves you in some way. Whether it’s the head, the heart or the feet. It needs to have something in there to make you go ‘what is that?!’.
I know this is going to be a bit difficult as your mix is clocking in at over 3 hours but are their any tracks in it that are firm favourites of yours? Any that you return to time and again that you just can’t not play in a DJ set?
That’s a good question. There’s a bit of an obtuse side to me that doesn’t like to play the same thing twice! So there are probably more tunes that aren’t in there for that reason. Saying that, New York Skyy ‘Call Me’ I’d always have in the back pocket, disco is always there for me. Then at the more modern end, but calling back to some of the classics, is the Parkway/Mark Seven track. I also couldn’t really do this without playing something from Rhythm Section and On The Corner either, two great newer labels…I’d like to think they’re all there for a reason and work together. My opinion of course, hopefully your listeners agree!
And finally, what’s on the horizon for you DJ wise? Is there anywhere we can see you playing out in the near future or will you be on the radio waves anytime soon? Where can we catch you?
I do a semi regular thing at Nook still plus occasional Sundays at a bar called Archive. Both vinyl only just play what you feel type things, which are great fun. Shouts to Robin on those. Radio is probably where I do most at the moment, just fits with life stuff. I also do a weekly show on Vinyl Night Radio which came out of the open decks nights at another local spot, Feed General Store. It’s live only with no playbacks, keeps it really immediate. Need to namecheck Alain and also Morgan on that front as that was my way into actually talking over records as well as playing them.
I’ve got a monthly slot on Loose.fm which I’ve had since the station started. So also a big thanks to those guys. I’ve branched out a bit with that recently and had some really great guests doing interviews, Kevin Griffith from Isle of Jura and Stuart Leath who runs the Emotional Rescue/Especial/Response labels and a few others in the pipeline – so watch out. There’s also a late night regular on Voices too, that’s more based on the leftfield dancier stuff I’m into called the Esoteric Dancefloor. Again, just opening up to new and interesting music. So yeah, plenty going on but always open to more!
