Could you please introduce yourselves ?

Hello…we are Velvet! I’m Tania von Pear and he’s Graeme Lloyd

Where and when did you get your first taste of house music and who were your early musical heroes?

T: I used to get passed cassette tapes of Sacha at school…they were copied so many times the quality was shit but the music was amazing! When I went to college I bugged the only guy with decks until he taught me to mix. The DJ that really inspired me early on was Roger Sanchez...technically he remains one of the finest DJs in the world.

G: I was a dancer originally, and worked with alot of dance acts in the 90s, including Baby D, Camisra and was lucky enough to be part of Strike. This gave me close access to a lot of the big DJs working with guys like Andy from the Plumps and Matt from the Freestylers. Tall Paul was my first big influence, used to watch him play at The Gallery and when I first played in the main room there, was a real dream come true.

What were you guys up to before you decided to hooked up to together ?

T: I was lucky enough to land a residency with The Gallery and started my own night, Going Places. I also have a weekly radio show on Ministry of Sound every Tuesday evening 10-12pm and I write for Beatportal and M8 Magazine plus during the day I work for Om Records. I've travelled the world DJing visiting places including Argentina, Denmark, Russia, Ibiza, South Africa, Poland and many many more.

G: This year has been a really big year with production and gigs, have been playing at the Gallery on a regular basis for the past couple of years, and have also had the privilege to play at some really top clubs like Amnesia, Pacha and Bora Bora, I love playing internationally and have played a lot across the world in far afield places like India, Russia and Australia. As well as places like The Cross, Turnmills and Ministry in the UK.

You both have equally successful careers on your own, why have you decided to hook up together and how did the partnership evolve ?

T: Well, basically, we’re mates! Plus Graeme is one of the few people in the industry who I totally trust and have complete respect for – for me these are the essential ingredients for a good partnership and also being able to be locked in a room together for hours on end!!

G: Couldn't put it better myself!

You’re part of an exciting wave of new DJ duo’s and production talent that’s busily breaking through big time. Is there a definitive ethos or technological skill-set behind this revolution, or is it just a case of it being your time now?

G: I think its a case of people working well together, and bringing together various ideas & skills. With us we both having strong production and DJ skills, essentially we also gell as we both understand the business element to the industry - which is important in such a competitive industry. Its good to put your heads together, come up with fresh new ideas, and also being able to bounce things off each other, works really well for me.

T: Well said...you see why we work together so well, we happen to agree on most things. It's a bit like a Star Trek mind meld...

Tell me a bit about Your Debut at Twisted Disco at the Cross if you please.

T: Well….the plan is to debut our new track and also a live set encompassing our tracks and tricks!

G: I love that dark room at the Cross, the sound and the atmosphere in the is just wicked, doing a 3 hour set will be awesome.. I love playing long sets and really work the music. As T said we'll be playing some stuff that we have been working on in the studio, and I am so looking forward to it. Just gutted the venue won't be there for much longer, it's really sad as it's been a rock on the London scene since i can remember.

I am a die-hard vinyl addict, though I appreciate times must change and life will go on with CD's, Ableton etc. What’s your take on all of this and what do you tend to use during your sets ?

T: I am sorry to say that my days with vinyl are over and it’s solely CDR’s now…however I am considering the Serrato system after seeing it close-up in action yesterday…

G: I took a long time to convert to CDs but now i love it, as a house DJ i find I can be far more creative on CD than I was with Vinyl.

What sort of sound can we expect in a club from Velvet ?

T: Dirty, teched out beats. Lots of vocal drops n snippets and more!

You’ve toured in some pretty far out places individually, like Russia, China and Ibiza. Which have been your favourite countries or cities so far, and what’s the next global destination you want to bring your music to as Velvet?

T: I think being a duo is fabulous for the studio but more difficult on the gigs front since a promoter has to book two flights, two hotel rooms etc. However, a big market for both of us is Russia and we are working on a mix album for that territory to get the name out there.

G: I have played in so many wicked countries everyone has something different to offer, I just love Austalia though and want to buy a place over there, so i can spend winters producing in the Sun!!!

How do you describe the music you came up with in the studio, does it fit into a particular genre?

G: Mmmm difficult one, I really don't like to pigeon hole what we do, I am very influenced by techno house and electronic sounds, and also love nice progressive sounds, so I try to mix these together in the studio. Tania adds the funk, and when you put them all together you come up with 'Velvet'.

T: We make house music!!! From house comes techno, progressive, electro and all the other sub genres...so for me house is what it's all about, it incorporates everything.

For the benefit of any techno-boffins that might be reading this site, what studio equipment do you use?

T: Well, Graeme should answer this one..

G: Well i have 4 mac G5s running a host of programmes, the main one we use is Logic, on 7.2 at the moment and will move on 8 soon. I create sounds mostly in soft synths, my fav at the mo is 'Blue', really love all the control you have in this synth. For any vocal or hardware plugins we use an o2r digitol mixing desk. But most of the work is done in a software world.

What tracks do you have coming out in the future

T: We are currently working on two remix projects and will be debuting our first original production at The Cross. Currently it's called 'Tania Feels Horny' so we'll have to get back to you on the name!

G: I also am releasing 'Candiru' on Playtime Records. Look out for it! -Fanciulli's been banging it all summer.

Do you have any UK residencies that people can catch you at?

G; Currently I am resident for Dark Deco, they're working on various events at the moment and I will be playing for them at The Cross until the end of the year and at Jaded @The End on November 18th.

And of course you can hear me on Ministry radio Tuesday Sept 25th at 10pm, as I will guesting on Miss von Pear's weekly Ministry show.

T: I am the house resident for The Gallery so you can catch me there plus my own night Going Places.

Which other DJ duo’s do you really admire, be they old hands or rising stars?

G: well I think we both really admire 'Faithless' , although they're not a DJ duo, I think they are one of the most talented duo's in dance music. We have both had the honour to play with Sister Bliss and she really is an Inspiration.

T: I agree 100% Sister Bliss is the one for me...she rocks it everytime.

Everybody loves the sunshine; what about you, what do you love (apart from the sunshine!)?

G: well theres my Beautiful girlfriend, my dog and my couch with something on telly to have a bet on..

T: I love dancing in the dark, discovering new music and playing records (or should that be CD's....!)

What is your top tune of the moment?

G: Has to be Tommy 4 Seven and headtalk....... what about you Tania.....?

T: You little bugger!! You know that one is mine!!!

What would be your five desert island discs and would you bother to take a book as well?

G: The End- The Doors
Faithless- Insomnia
BBE- 7 days in one week
Lustral- everytime
Van Morrison- moondance

T: Prince 'Purple Rain, Tribe Called Quest 'Can U Kick It', Soul II Soul 'Keep On Movin', Madonna 'Get Together', Michael Jackson 'Billie Jean'

Cheers guys!

Catch VELVET's 3hr marathon set at Twistedisco @ the Cross Friday 28th September!!!

www.myspace.com/taniavonpear
www.myspace.com/djgraemelloyd