S-J and Baby Doc. The names are as evocative of the formative years of hard house as that of Tony de Vit, Ian M, Steve Thomas, Pete Wardman and the hoover sound itself. S-J and Baby Doc had a number of massive hits in the 1990s, most notably 'Fever', 'Shiver' and 'I feel divine'. Their tracks appeared on the pioneering labels React, Rising High Records, Positiva, Prolekult and Trade plus their own Arriba label. If you don't go quite that far back (or your memory's shot), you'll will still know the sexy voice of S-J and the seminal sound of Baby Doc and S-J from the Tidy Trax remixes from Glazby and Maddox of 'I need You', 'Ploughman's lunch' and 'What you do to me baby'.

S-J and Baby Doc parted company about five years ago. But now the original hard house diva is back! S-J provides the vocals on two of James Nardi's brand new tracks on his forthcoming Killer Hurts recordings CD release: 'Slave' (also produced with Julian Dwyer) and 'She's back' (funnily enough). Also on the release see’s the mighty Motek, the slamming Crackerjack & the awesome Back Twister to name a few.
I wanted to know what prompted this overdue return to the hard house scene and what she's been doing in the meantime. I was also eager to hear about what it was like being involved those early years of the emerging scene...

Hi S-J. Perhaps first you should tell us what tempted you out of 'retirement'. How did you come to work with James Nardi on these new tracks?

James approached me as Sandra Strachan's (now Nardi’s) husband. Sandra had been really good to me in the old days trying to get our tunes onto Playstation games and generally being a good fun friend. I literally thought ‘why not!’ I do believe in Karma and always have put myself out for others - doing vocals is fun and I find it really easy.

What goes around comes around, eh? But presumably there was also something in James's distinctive style of music that also attracted you back to the studio?

Well the tunes were really good and like I said before I find vocal-ing really easy and a lot of fun.

Have you kept in touch with what else is happening in 'hard dance' these days? Are there any other current producers you particularly like?

I'm totally out of the loop... My taste has changed somewhat. I've been dating DJ Mark Westhenry for last four and half years and he's renowned for his house music DJing, so I've probably become more of a house music fan.
I’ve just started a project with my dear friends Steve Thomas and Nick Tcherniak with our first tune Ven Conmigo coming out in Filthy Grooving Records in October. We've just finished the follow up Rhytmo Urbano also coming out on Filthy Grooving Records ...

Tell us what you’ve been doing since you parted with Baby Doc.

I decided to spend the last three years going back to my roots pursuing a jazz career, forming a band with some really talented musicians with residencies at Too2Much, Kensington Roof Gardens and Essence to name a few. With two promo albums being very well received this project is currently being taken to the next level as I've teamed up with my old record company boss at React, James Horrocks who has great visionary ideas!
I've been described as a modern day Peggy Lee - which is of course very flattering.

Well you both had ‘Fever’, didn’t you lol

I've also just started a Euro-trance project and have a track in production with Simon Langford from the SoulSeekers - it's a complete hands in the air unashamed floor filler which again I am teaming up with James Horrocks to finish an album focusing on the fact that I'm still one of only a handful of women who ever wrote this stuff. Fingers crossed !

Ok, let's talk about the early days of your musical career, when the hard house scene as we now know it was just emerging. First, how did you come to work with Baby Doc?

I think it's well documented that we were dating for 10 years and we met at Club UK and the rest is history.

Trade was THE influence of the 90s. It was the most eclectic mix of freaks and eccentrics from every walk of life! Our normal wasn't normal and we religiously went every Sunday. Attracting some of the music scene’s most talented people, Trade was seminal.
It's hard to explain how amazing it was to hear all your records become Trade tunes ... ‘Fever’ was played every week for a year by all the DJs.
I was also conscious of acknowledging all the DJs by giving them all remixes of my tracks on React. This was often the first time many of them had ‘remixed’ and I'd like to think that we all helped each other along our paths to success.
Obviously Tony de Vit was a very dear friend and huge influence and I still miss him and would love him to be here just to see where he would have taken things.
You can see me on YouTube singing at the last ever Trade at Turnmills which of course was an honour ...Laurence Malice is a very dear friend and his influence on the scene continues to be huge ... just look at how Trade is now going to have its 19th Birthday at Ministry - amazing!

Fantastic.. What was your career highlight or favourite memory?

As BabyDoc and S-J we toured the world and literally there are so many highs - probably getting onto a private plane from Brisbane straight onto Sydney's Olympic Stage to a screaming crowd of well over 20,000.
Another high was singing ‘I feel divine’ in front of 100,000 fans in Malaga!!
Seven years at Dance Valley with Carl Cox....

Phew! Would you call the music you produced back in the early days trance, nu nrg or hard house?

We made good music for its time. Often capturing the moment - many times we'd come back to studio after Trade and start something. Our music was all of those things...

Most of today's top hard house DJs still look back to that early sound and style that you pioneered. Do you think it's just the nature of hard house to sample and remix the past - or should producers strive to create wholly fresh, new sounds?

It's extremely flattering to have people use, borrow or steal your sound. I've always thought Baby Doc and S-J as originals so if that's still the case then that's very flattering .... I think the main thing is to enjoy what you do - if it gives you pleasure then do it ... who cares what people think!

Finally then tell us a bit more about your hard house come-back and your plans. Is your collaboration with James just a one-off? Or can we expect more?

James promises to produce more tunes so as long as he keeps asking I'll keep vocal-ing.

Good stuff! Finally finally let's test your knowledge to see if you really are a hard house diva.

Question 1: Who invented the hoover? Was it (a) Baby Doc (c) Commander Tom (d) Joey Beltram (e) Tony de Vit (f) James Dyson?

Well of course I'm going to say Baby Doc !!! Tony close 2nd .. and how can we forget the awesome Commander Tom. Joey Beltram was pretty early on ... I'd say it was a matter of opinion...all have produced incredible tunes ...
James Dyson definitely didn't in musical terms

Yeah but he knew how to clear a floor, though, eh?

Thanks S-J

Dr Nutter.

End of exam paper

Tracklist:

1. Tekneak & James Nardi – Arrythmia
2. David Roche & James Nardi – Motek
3. Matt Capitani & Hi Freak1c – Twisted House
4. James Nardi & Julian Dwyer – Supernatural (Matt Capitani rmx)
5. James Nardi featuring S-J – She’s Back
6. Tom Parr – Back Twister
7. Batten & Brow Vs James Nardi – Crackerjack
8. James Nardi & Julian Dwyer featuring S-J – Slave

It features:

.5 x Killer Hurts studio productions, 2 brand new signings & 1 stonking remix!
.James Nardi & Julian Dwyer’s first original track this year.
.The return of the mighty S-J (React/Arriba/Trade).
.Appearances from Killer Hurts favourites Matt Capitani, Tekneak and Batten & Brow

Massive support from Paul Glazby, Defective Audio, Nik Denton, JP & Jukesy & Rodi Style!

Samples can be heard here:
facebook.com

(to play samples in IE click on first track, then go to the end, to move on the next track. All working fine in Firefox)

Available for direct pre order now & be the first to get a copy before it hits the shops.

UK (Inc P&P) £9.99
Worldwide (Inc P&P) £12.50

Payment via Paypal to: james_insekt@hotmail.co.uk

Or see the button on the FB KH Fan page:

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