“In the mid nineties they’d play what they called Techno at Turnmills, but if you’d listened to it now you’d call it Trance. When the Trance sound exploded big in 97 & 98 I played some of it, too. If you listen to it now you’d class it as Hi- Nrg”. That was Andy Farley – the ‘Godfather of Hard House’ describing the evolution of the high octane sounds in the nineties; and that just sums up how well the man knows his music. Indeed few can claim to have a better grasp. From championing the sound of Hard House as we know it today back in the previous decade; playing up and down the country week in week out; being one of the most prolific producers out there and mixing a whole plethora of albums; whilst all the time being highly consistent and keeping his sound fresh and progressive, Farley has left one permanent ink stamp on the scene!

So who better to have headlining at Storm’s monster New Year’s Eve event? Not only will Andy Farley be delivering one blistering Hard Dance set to 2,200 mad up-for-it clubbers, but he’ll also be popping in to the White room to take every one down memory lane with a bit of Old Skool House nostalgia. To find out how he’s preparing for that, we sat down and heard the Godfather give the night his blessing……..

Andy, Storm have managed to bag your Djing skills exclusively for their NYE event which is shaping up to be an absolute stormer. What made you choose to play for Storm as opposed to anywhere else that night?

Storm’s was the best New Year’s Eve gig I did last year out of the four I had, so when they asked for me exclusively I jumped at the chance. It will also be nice for once not to be tearing around the country and can socialise, and the added bonus is I live just twenty minutes away!

The Emporium always seem to attract a certain type of clubber; that being the up-for-it, unpretentious type, that come bringing a happy vibe to the place. How much do you enjoy playing to that type of crowd?

Hard house crowds are very unpretentious which for clubbers and djs alike is great because everyone knows each other so there’s always a big crowd of people you know, and Storm is a perfect example of this as people travel from all over to come there.

Storm are very particular in their methods and often look to getting the small details right in order to put on one great night all round. What else do you think makes them stand out from the other brands?

They always put on a strong varied line up, have a great club to work with too so you know when you go there you’re going to have a good time

Back in February of this year, you played one memorable set @ Storm in the form of ‘Farley time’ which was an all night long gig, can you give us a rundown of how that set went for you?.

My six hour set there was amazing. It was only the second time I’d played for that long, the first being way back in 1995 when I was resident at Subway and played the whole night. It was great fun to play some of my big tunes of the last ten years or so along with my current big tunes. I was surprised at how quickly it went and I only needed one toilet break! Thanks to Garbo for the champagne bucket as a temporary toilet, just hope he’s emptied it ha ha!

When you play the second set of the night, which is your Old Skool House set, is there any particular era and style that you are going to be showcasing? Say for instance the early nineties ‘piano House’ sound?

I’m going to play a mixture of classics, mainly from my favourite era of music 1994-1996 when I played at Tin Tins in Birmingham.

When ever an Old Skool classic track gets played in a club, the 18 year old kids always seem to throw their hands up in the air and identify with it, even though, they wouldn’t have been old enough to dance to it the first time that it came out; why do you think that is?

I think they will have heard a lot of them on the radio as they were growing up as a lot of the classics made it into the top 40, plus a lot of the early tracks had good anthemic qualities about them which made them instantly likeable

You’ve recently completed two colab productions with Dom Sweeten (Base Graffiti), namely ‘Bail out’ and ‘Quiche or noodles’, both soon to be released on Tripoli Trax. What can we expect from those two numbers?

They’re both tough tracks but with funky basslines so you can play them early or late in your sets. Bail Out has a dirty catchy riff in the middle whilst Quiche Or Noodles has a more uplifting synth riff whilst being pretty banging

You’ve both also recently remixed ‘Bamzooki’, due to be released on Kak-Tai. What did you look to add to that re-mix?

The original was amazing, so I set out to swap the two main sounds around, so that the hoover kicked in early, then changed it to more hard techy percussion similar to that I used on Barriers

Another production effort of yours has been the colab with Nick Denton – ‘Big Dipper’ as part of the Toolbox V series. What kind of response has that been getting so far?

That has been going down really well. The nice thing is I had a good long run on it before it got released so plenty of time for people to hear the track and ask after it

Some DJ’s really seem to go mad behind the decks , but you appear to be quite sober in comparison and normally have a very conscientious look on your face; so is there an awful lot of thought in what you’re doing going on there?

Definitely, I’m using mixing for two to three minutes and thinking two records ahead about what I’m going to play. I do shake my ass whilst I’m mixing though and have been known to dance on occasions ha ha!!

You like to turn up at least half an hour before the start of your set to gauge the mood and the vibe, but when you’re standing there reading the crowd, what are you actually looking out for?

Just seeing what they’re into musically, how vibey they are. Sometimes people may be dancing but not reacting to the music and so on so you need to read that and then transfer it into your first few tunes which is essential.

Nearly twenty years ago, you started out your craft merely as a hobby. Did you ever dream that it would one day result in you playing in countries like Japan and Australia?

No never, I just used to buy a load of vinyl and decided I wanted to have a go at what I was hearing when I went out, which I guess is the same as most people. I never used see it as something that was going to be my full time job taking me across the world, which is why I’ve never taken it for granted or abused it as it’s been hard work to get here!

Now that we’re near the end of 2007, what sort of year do you think it’s been for dance music and what are the positive aspects that we can take from it?

Musically I think it’s become very diverse with a lot of djs crossing genres which can only be a good thing. As for hard house, I think 2007 has been the best year for about 3 or 4 years for great variation in the tunes being made.

Going in to 2008, can you see any trends developing and is there anything that you feel needs to be added to dance music that is currently lacking?

Dance music is always evolving and it’s hard to say what is going to be the next big thing, though I’m told it’s going to be bassline house?!!

You certainly aren’t showing any signs of slowing down at the moment, so what does the future hold for Andy Farley, moving forward?

More of the same: continue to try different sounds and ideas in my productions and keep pushing hard house forward!

And finally, come Storm NYE, what Hard Dance tunes of yours are really going to get every bodies adrenalin glands pumping?

Omega 3 – Fishy Situations
Defective Audio – Nails
Matt Pick-up, Riggsy & Dave the Elf – Elevate
Base Graffiti vs. Andy Farley – Backs Against The Wall & The Jinx
And some cool classics of course….

Remember to catch the Godfather playing not one, but two sets @ Storm NYE, Monday 31st December, @ the Emporium – Coalville!

Keep up with all things in Farley world by checking out: www.andyfarley.com

Feature by Greg Lynn
©Greg Lynn 2007