Tally ho, you lot. Normally I like to keep this blog fairly lighthearted and try to avoid getting too political about things, but today is a bit different.
Below you'll see a short film made by one of our talented correspondents - Max - about the steady decline of club culture in the UK. I know that a lot of you are based overseas (bad luck), but the principals discussed in this film are pertinent to all big cities. The last few years have seen a number of famous and not so famous clubs close their doors in the face of heavy handed local authorities, outdated licensing laws and the predations of planning authorities. The club that this film focuses on, Passing Clouds, was the sort of venue that our scene relies upon. We're never going to be in a super-club like Fabric, which can rally the support of thousands of passionate followers. We need these open-minded venues to support our scene, which the mainstream are not going to back. In fact, Passing Clouds was one of London's top vintage remix venues - in my top five places to check if I wanted a last minute night out. Around the same time that PC closed its doors for the last time, another of vintage remix's first homes shut down, the Bedroom Bar. As Chris Tofu indicates in the film, the developers and incomers are not interested in preserving cultural hotspots if they can make more money by turning them into flats, while in the unlikely event that a venue doesn't disappear during a 'regeneration' project, the chances are they're going to want to play mainstream, middle of the road music. They're risk averse, these developer types. Anyway - Check out the film, and have a read of Max's 'Director's Notes' below. And if there's a venue near you that's under threat, stand up and do your bit to protect it, lest we all have to listen to Deadmau5 and his ilk forever more. Toodle pip Jack the Cad
‘Passed Clouds: A Story Of A Dying Club Culture’ is a
documentary about Club Culture and the closure of clubs throughout the UK.
This documentary was originally made for my final university
project, and it is about an issue which is very close to my heart. Nightclubs
and grassroots music venues are seeing their doors shut, up and down the
country, many of which receive no fanfare at all.
The documentary intends to bring a focus on to clubs such as
Passing Clouds and bring attention to other grassroots venues that have faced
similar fates. As a DJ myself, I performed at Passing Clouds and Bedroom Bar
only a few weeks before they each had to shut their doors. I had some of my
first ever gigs at those venues, and to see them get shutdown was totally
devastating.
It is fantastic to see people rally to save clubs such as
Fabric, but unfortunately most clubs don’t have the following or financial
capabilities to keep their doors open in hard times.
The closures come down a few key reasons: the price of
property, increases in rent, drugs, noise issues, as well as local councils
enforcing difficult to meet restrictions & being unsupportive of the
nighttime industry.
In the documentary I speak with a number of industry
professionals who share their thoughts on the closures and the reasons behind
them, as well as sharing their personal anecdotes of what club culture means to
them.
I also explore how clubs and music venues play an invaluable
economic role to our society, but even more importantly, how they play a
significant role in bringing people together and creating communities which
otherwise might not have existed without these venues & spaces.
Last year the BBC made a short documentary on the topic of club
closures, but I felt that it trivialised and failed to truly show the meaning
that club culture plays in many people’s lives. One of the key problems I found
with was their choice of interviewees. One on whom was Steve Aoki, an American
EDM DJ. I felt he was highly unqualified to speak on the topic of UK club
culture, and that his fame was the only reason for being in the documentary. It
ends up coming across as very corporate and unrepresentative of real
underground scenes. My documentary attempts to try and look at the topic from
the people who are really involved in the scene, and to give an unfiltered view
into how the people who are really being affected feel (Rather than a multi-millionaire
DJ who doesn’t even live in this country).
The main purpose of the documentary is to inform people about
the significance that club culture plays in many people's lives, and to show
that it is more than just going out and getting pissed with your mates on a
Friday night; but rather it is about music, love & human connection.
It doesn’t matter what music you like, whether it’s Electro
Swing or Jungle or Techno, if you care about your subculture, it is time to
stand up and protect it, because if things keep going the way they are, there
will not be anything left to protect.
If you are interested in reading more about the topic, here are
a couple different reports which I used in my research for making this
documentary:
Nighttime Industries Association: ‘Forward Into The Night’:
Last but not least in this year's Swingamajig preview are the mighty Chicken Brothers - pioneers of the scene in Liverpool and festival fields around the land, scratch maestros and all-round good eggs. One member of the flock has just flown back in from Oz, setting a new world record for 'Longest Flight by a Chicken' in the process, so the answers are a little brief, but entertaining and informative none-the-less.
Jack: You’ve played a few Swingamajigs now – can you share your best memory of the festival, if you can remember any of them?
Our favourite memory would have to be at the first ever Swingamajig — playing the closing set with an audience made up of loads of UK producers, DJs and performers all getting down and interacting. A particular highlight of that set was when Odjbox approached us to request some Odjbox... He also went on to say that we were top of the list of people to play the electro swing office Christmas party, being "the dj's DJ..."
Jack: The Chicken Brothers have a habit of popping up during other people’s sets – have you got any guest appearances planned?
Not due to do any cameos at Swingamajig this year as we will be working all day helping to run the event in different areas. But we will be on hand to play the opening set at the after party, and as a reverse cameo we have our newest member Mike coming down on rooster duties [I think that means MC duties. Ed.].
Jack: You have a hand in loads of events and festival stages and so on. What is it that sets Swingamajig apart from other festivals?
Swingamajig is special to us because we have been involved in it from the beginning, and now help to run various areas of the production as well as perform. It's filled to the brim with our favourite acts, producers and DJs. Plus the crowd are next level awesome! It's a solid date in the diary every year.
If you've got your ticket yet, I think there's still a few left, but don't delay. There's so much more to do in addition to the music. I've been asked to take part in some sort of table-football event, so watch out for that; there's dance classes, something called the Bacon Cheeseburger Piewhich sounds life-changing (or perhaps life-ending), and performances from the likes of Oh My God It's The Church, magicians and all sorts of scantily clad ladies. The festival's tagline is 'A show like no other'. They're not wrong. It is, as Odjbox said, the vintage remix world's office party, so there'll be some tired legs and sore heads come Monday morning.
Next up in the Swingamajig preview series is Mike aka Dutty Moonshine. Mike is not only a pioneer of the vintage remix sound, but he's also one of the most energetic and innovative people in the scene, always pushing boundaries. He's got a reputation as a shit-stirrer and a party-starter, is wanted for crimes against electro-swing, nature and common decency. Approach with caution.
Jack: How important a role has Swingamajig played in bringing new vintage remix acts to the world?
Dutty Moonshine: The vintage remix worlds owes a lot to two places, the Mayfair field of Boomtown and the big, bad and heavy Swingamajig.
Swingamajig is one of those places that when you get asked to play it is a nod of recognition. The guys running it have such a finger on the pulse and they're providing such an amazing platform for some of these artists - to play in front of 4000 fans of the scene - that all the acts should be turning up with chocolates and flowers for the production team.
When Swingamajig says you're good the world listens.
It's also a who's who of the scene, so many people in the crowd run events or are acts that may have played previous years or the near future, bring your A game or don't bother coming.
Jack: Youve played at Swingamajig a few times, but i gather this time its not a swing set... what can people expect? Dutty Moonshine: They can be expecting what I'm good at, mash up DJ-ing! It was mash up DJ-ing that got my early contacts which helped me launch Dutty Moonshine; it was mash up DJ-ing that gave me the idea of fusing big dutty basslines with swing music and it is mash up that will forever push me forwards to work out what you can and can't do.
I'm going to be rocking a big-ass-multi-genre party set and I'm bringing backup in the shape of DJ Binge. He's the DJ in the big band on stage and he's the DJ that inspired me hugely back in the day with his style.
Tom (of Electric Swing Circus and Ragtime Records) specifically asked me do a party-style set because while Swingamajig is a vintage remix festival it's also so much more. Hence seeing acts like Document One and Freestylers on the bill. Tom knows this is what I'm best at and he's asked me to unleash the fucking mayhem!
He also knows Dutty Moonshine is one of the few acts that can follow the Correspondents when it comes to high octane energy music. I hope you're getting your cardio in now, you thought my vintage remix sets were good wait until you hear this set!
We're going to be slaying party and bass tunes on 4 decks like there's no tomorrow. Jack: Describe Swingamajig in three words. Dutty Moonshine: Decadent Dastardly Mayhem
Next up, find out what the motherclucking Chicken Brothers have to say...
When I was asked if I wanted to cover Swingamajig again this year there was only one sensible answer. A big fat, hairy yes.
There'll be the usual JtC review appearing at some point after the event, [watch out for the traditional 'I don't remember what happened after this...' line] but by way of a preview I've been in touch with some of the people playing at this year's festival to ask them what makes it such a special event.
Speaking for myself, I love any event where a huge chunk of the vintage remix family are together in one place; I feel sure that having all these amazing artists together in the same place has provided the catalyst for some cool collabs and innovative projects. The crowd at Swingamajig are always a super-friendly, stylish and hard-partying lot, the importance of which cannot be overstated. But what really makes the event special, for me, is the time, care and attention that the Ragtime Records and ESC put into it all - they love this scene, they love this sound, and that really shines through.
First up, I spoke to Jo, aka Madame Electrifie, who played at the first ever Swingamajig way back in 2013.
Jack: What was the best performance that you’ve seen at Swingamajig over the years?
Madame Electrifie: There are too many to try and remember, it’s been great to see electric swing circus grow and develop into the amazing live act they are now over the years. And Smokey Joe and the Kid are a definite contender, I’m really looking forward to seeing them again this year.
Jack: How has the festival evolved and grown over the years? What have been some of the changes that you’ve liked most?
It’s quite crazy how long it’s been running, I just had to check back and see that the first one was 2013 which is mad. I remember the first year was like a huge meeting point for all these artists that I was aware of musically but had never seen in person, I made so many long-term friends from that event, people I’ve since had the privilege of playing alongside many times. I was unable to make it last year so I am really interested to see how much it has grown since my last visit.
I like the fact that although Vintage Remix and Electro-swing are still at the heart of the event, the festival has grown and adapted as the scene has. There are some people who have been involved in the scene right from the start, so of course their sound and influences have developed over that time, which is great as it would be a bit repetitive otherwise. The festival has developed to accommodate that development whilst still offering a good slice of vintage action for the new comer. Bringing in acts from the Ghetto Funk and Breakbeat world really helps add another dimension to the programming, which is important to add some variation to the event and keep in interesting.
Jack: What has been your own personal favourite set (i.e. that you played), and what do you think you’ll be spinning this time around?
My first ever swingamajig set was so much fun, way back when! Although I couldn’t see over the decks if I remember, which happens far too often!
This year I’m playing before The Freestylers (WAAAAA!), one of my favourite acts of all time, so I’ll be visiting some old-skool breaks influences and splicing these with my all-time favourite floor filling electro swing tracks that have rocked previous years at Swingamagic – it’s one place you know the audience will want to hear them, so it’s going to be a bit nostalgic, but in a good way, and you know, banging too!
Next I spoke to one of the UK's most up-and-coming electro-swing DJs, Emma Clair
Jack: This is your first year performing at Swingamajig – have you been as a guest before?
I’ve never been to Swingamajig, as I have always been tied up with DJ gigs! So the fact it’s my first time performing and my first time experiencing the wonders of the festival itself, is unbelievably exciting!
I’m honoured to be playing the closing set on the Vintage Terrace with my partner in crime, Andy McBain who will be bringing an element of live performance to our set with his amazing clarinet skills! (shameless plug haha)
Jack: Who are you most excited about seeing perform?
Argh.. there are so many amazing acts on the lineup, it’s hard to single anyone out! But, for me, it has to be Elle & The Pocket Belles! I’m in love with their song “Swinging Together”, and I still regularly play it in my DJ sets.
I’m also really excited about seeing Sam & The Womp – they definitely bring the ‘fun’ element to Electro Swing, which is something I always try to push too!
Also The Electric Swing Circus (honest – Tom didn’t ask me to say this, it’s actually true) – They absolutely blew me away when I booked them to play at Prohibition earlier this year, so I can’t wait to see them in action again!
Jack: What about the sideshows and other entertainment – what tickles your fancy there?
Ooh again, this is really tough, there is so much going on!!!
I’ve heard good things about Vicky Butterfly, so I am looking forward to seeing her do her Burlesque thing.
The Swing Era Dance workshops are definitely on my list of things to check out!! I’m hoping to pick up some moves to bust out on the dancefloor… that’s the plan anyway…
And finally.. I will be paying the food court a visit! I’m hoping for some vintage treats to satisfy my extremely sweet tooth!
Watch this space for Part 2. dropping later this week, and featuring the Chicken Brothers and Dutty Moonshine!
Duke Skellington is an American electro-swing producer and DJ from Los Angeles, and he is also part of the production duo The Vaude Villainz. He is also a promoter for Electro Swing events in the West Coast of America and runs his own podcast with Professor Watson, called the Jitterbug Jukebox. I caught up with The Duke, and spoke about a few things such as the American Electro Swing scene, his own music productions and his history behind how he got to where he is now as a producer, and we also spoke about some of the projects that he is working on.
What is the American electro-swing scene like, could you tell me a bit about it?
I have my best insight in California, what I can say about it is that in LA it is growing. We have a core of people. It’s weird, a lot of people like the sound but they don’t know it is an actual scene. I went out to see Parov Stelar and I saw Caravan Palace and it was massive! Jam packed, really big arenas, it was crazy; but as far as the local electro-swing events, we haven’t figured out how to tap into that group yet.
I think what it is, these people hear groups like Parov Stelar and Caravan Palace, they don’t know it’s a scene, they think it is like house music with a bit of swing in it, and they say ‘I like it’! They think of these supergroups as being unique to themselves, rather than part of this global movement. I think there needs to be an education process in bridging the gap between those artists and your Dutty Moonshines and Catjams, the artists doing really great music, but they’re not as massive as those guys… yet.
Me and a couple other buddies, The Gentleman Callers of LA and a guy from Swingtronic, Marshall, we had a meeting at the beginning of the year. We have some big strategies in place to take over and bridge those gaps and to build the networks and throw the events! LA is tough though, it’s big and it’s super spread out. If we throw a big event in Downtown LA, all the people in the West Side and Long Beach, they don’t want to drive out to it because they don’t want to deal with drinking and driving and it’s super expensive to get a taxi! So we’re trying to bring electro-swing to every little community in LA, and we’re looking to build our base.
I feel with other cities in America, except San Francisco, they are right there with us, I think they are in a similar place, but I think they just don’t have as a big of a crowd.
We throw these parties called Trapeze parties, it’s like a warehouse rave, but with electro-swing mostly, and we have burlesque dancers in between, we have magicians sometimes too. We have a bit of a circus element. We have a certain crowd of what we call ‘Burners’, some gypsy, some hippy, artsy, folky kind of people, all kinds of ages, from late teens to thirties. A real hodgepodge of people coming to our electro-swing events.
What have you found Los Angeles crowds respond best to at electro-swing/Vintage Remix events?
That’s tough… there are different crowds that respond to different things. I’ve DJ’d at different events, like Swingtronic for example is an event which is people who are mainly into classic Swing and are into classic Swing dancing, but also there is a part of the night where we bring in electro-swing, and when I am DJ’ing there, I play less grime-y and less bass heavy stuff and more classic electro-swing like your Parov Stelars, and a lot of the Freshly Squeezed stuff. It can be House-y but it doesn’t get too electronic. Although, when I do Trapeze, I get really bass heavy and grimey, I bring out the stuff that crosses over into the really really glitched out and nasty stuff and people love it! If I were to talk about Americans in general, if I had to pick a majority, I would say they lean more towards the more electronic and bass-y stuff, but there definitely is a crowd for more ‘classic electro-swing’.
Where did the name Duke Skellington come from?
I was just doing plays on words and with old Swing artists names, and I was actually going to go by ‘Duke Skeleton’, and I was talking to a few friends about it but they kept saying ‘Duke Skellington’ and I was like why do you keep calling me that? I was then like, ‘wait a minute…’ if everyone is saying that, maybe there is something to it. So I did a poll with a few of my friend’s who I really value their judgement and I asked them what they preferred and they unanimously said they preferred ‘Duke Skellington’.
What plans do you have for your upcoming productions?
The plan for this year is a want to put out a free remix tune every month. It will be free for thirty days and each tune I want to ramp it up so that I can get more followers and stuff… on top of that, under The Vaude Villains I am releasing an album on Ragtime Records, four songs are coming out in the next month or two. Also, some stuff on Green Queen, on a compilation, it’s a song called Turtle Glitch, it’s a remix of a song called Turtle Twist. It’s a really fun track. I would like to have a 4 song EP out this year under Duke Skellington that is going to be mostly original joints, I want it to be with vocalists, and as much as I love doing remixes, I think I’ve got to break out of doing the remix thing and put out some originals too, so I can put my stuff out there in its own lane.
How long have you been producing and have you produced under different aliases before?
Yeah I’ve been producing since I was 15 or 16 years old in the late 90’s doing electronic music, back then the scene was so different… even before that I was a piano player and I wrote my first actual Swing song when I was 14.
I was into Swing music before I was even into electronic music. In the 90’s there was this style of music called The Swing Revival, Neo Swing. There were bands like Royal Crown Revue, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Squirrel Nut Zippers, and I was super into it! I was then playing in bands and then I got bored of the band scene, and then I got into electronic music. I never really thought those two worlds would collide and I always thought I would have to choose one and never thought they would end up blending together.
Since that time, since 1999, I’ve done a few different genres. I was really into Aphex Twin, what they call IDM. I did music under the name ‘Chad Cells’. It was very IDM-y and Aphex Twin-ish. I still have a soft spot in my heart for that guys music. I also used to rap! I did Hip-Hop for a long time, been in different Hip-Hop groups and put out some releases. All throughout that time I’ve experimented with House, DnB, a little Dubstep before it got too big, pretty much everything under the sun.
Because of my age I’ve done a lot - I was in the military, I have a kid - so there were different points in my life where things would take me in a different direction and I couldn’t focus on music as much as I wanted to. So there was a certain point where I was like, I can’t let life keep taking me away from what I am passionate about, so in the last few years I’ve really started buckling down on production and I’ve been trying to learn new ways to do things in a quicker way and a more efficient way.
I think there is a point in every producer's path where they go ‘man it’s good but it doesn’t sound like the stuff I’m DJ’ing, it’s not quite there’. I think every producer gets to that. Either one of two things happen, they either quit or they go ‘you know what, I’m not going to stop until I figure that out’. That’s where that fire got lit in me, where I’m like ‘I’m going to figure this shit out’. I thought my songs would be good but they would have something missing. I’ve been developing these techniques to figure out what other people do and trying to apply that to my own stuff. I feel that’s been a big part of my evolution in the last few years, I feel my production skills have gone up. I’ve only been doing electro-swing for about two years, but it now feels like a natural style for me.
Which artists influence you and your music? In the electro-swing community, and outside of it too.
So definitely Aphex Twin and Squarepusher were my early influences for sure, outside of ES that is. Inside of ES it would be… you know what, it would be that song by Gramophonedzie ‘Do Right’, I heard that song maybe four or five years ago, I thought it was amazing and I didn’t even realise it was a genre. I loved hearing the old and the new mixed together. That kind of planted the seed, so that song influenced me back then. I now think songs like Swing Break, those more glitchy Swing tracks, everybody from Howla to WBBL to Phibes, those guys all doing there thing have been very influential to me.
So you run your own podcast called the Jitterbug Jukebox. Could you please tell me a little about it, what it is, and what you discuss on your show?
Jitterbug Jukebox is a podcast with me and my partner Marshall AKA Professor Watson, and basically we’re focusing on the music from the 20s to the 40s and the subcultures that surround it and also in its current form of Electro Swing, which is big in Europe and it is building here in the US. We focus on interviewing artists, fashion, dancing; Marshall’s a professional Swing dancer, so he talks about Electro Swing and Swing dancing and how those areas go together. We want to do more historical sections on artists from those eras, that maybe people don’t know about their history. We’re focusing on Swing music from the past to the present and we try and cover it from every angle.
What is the Swing DnB and general Drum and Bass scene like in Los Angeles/America? What’s it prevalence in the Electro Swing community?
I’ll be blunt, there isn’t a strong scene for it, people don’t even know it’s a thing. It just gets lumped into Electro Swing in general. Drum and Bass though, I have friends who have been doing DnB for almost 20 years! I had a conversation with one of my buddies who has a DnB radio show, and his feeling on it is, and I don’t know if other people feel like this but, he thinks the UK is so prominently doing DnB that when he throws an event, he says he can’t get people to come out to it unless there is a big UK headliner. There is a core of people who love DnB, but they kind of look to the UK… but I know there are a lot of producers in the US who do DnB, but I’m sure there are American producers who have been successful with it, but I haven’t gotten too deep into American DnB producers. What I do understand though about the DnB scene out here is that they do very much look to the UK. Whilst other things like Trap, that may not be so much the case. I used to be into Jungle in the late 90’s, that was the shit! I was getting my mind blown every event I went to!
What production software do you use and why?
Ableton Live. I like it because it has treated me the best over all the years! I’ve used like five different DAW’s in my history of production, my last one I was using was Logic Pro and I was using that up to 2010, but yeah Ableton Live has some key features in it that I will probably keep using for a while longer.
What music, other than electro-swing do you particularly like?
I’m an Old-Skool Hip-Hop kind of guy, so definitely Hip-Hop. It’s funny my 9 year old son, he gets me listening to songs I would never listen to. They are like the pop radio Hip-Hop stuff, but I probably know more lyrics and songs that are on the radio than I have ever known in my life!
I actually tried to show him how easy it is to make a Trap beat, I build 808’s and I have drum kits, so I said if you want to make music like this, this what you have to do. So I started messing about, so I then decided I’m gonna make this into a Swing and Trap tune, it’s almost there!
Sam Baker asks if the electro swing can play a similar role in combatting toxic politics as the original sound.
As we envelop ourselves in the re-creation of a genre long thought dead, reviving fashions, songs, and slang, it’s brutally important that we do not ignore the deeper meanings and the historical parallels, as well as the differences between our world and those of ages past.
Swing has meant many things to many people throughout it’s century-old history. To many Americans, it represented the opulence of the Twenties, and later an escape from the desolation of the Thirties. For blacks in Harlem, it meant a means to own their own personage in an era where most minorities were kept from owning land and exercising their right to vote. In Europe, it was a cultural travel-agent, allowing people to leave their homes and scoot across the Atlantic and the English Channel by means of the short-wave radio and innumerable local dance halls. Even the Nazis couldn’t quell the thirst for swing’s syncopated rhythms and blasting brass.
The music known today as electro swing is often very much apart in terms of performance from the genre we celebrate. Today it is mostly DJ/Producer-centric, albeit with a handful of stellar live bands and live-electronic hybrids; however, the early days of swing and jazz in general were a free-for-all of wild improvisation and musical conversation. What it’s lost in spontaneity though, it has made up for in community forged through means never before imaginable. Early swing made a world tour by way of the radio, and to this day has continued to step in time with the forefront of technology.
Swing bands, once eschewing even amplification, have now taken up the mantle of electronic bass and digital performance. DJs freely meld together sounds from the early years of jazz and swing with sounds so forward they sound as if they’re from a future which has yet to come. And somewhere in this tug and pull of yearning for the past whilst reaching for tomorrow, something is cooking the likes of which haven’t been seen since the hot houses of New Orleans’ Red Light District on the eve of the Great War and the birth of the modern era.
Swing is distinctly American, and yet it is not. The rhythm and the melodies came largely from traditions rooted deeply in Africa, fuelled by Hindu cannabis spread by the Spanish, and nurtured at the breast of a largely French city before steam boating up the Mississippi and out through the arteries of a nation still searching for it’s voice and identity. Today, we see and hear the results of it’s curation to and by the rest of the world and the results have been astounding.
Unlike many other popular musical movements, such as hardcore rock and mainstream EDM, the progenitors of electro-swing and neo-vintage connect across borders and disparate cultures, almost instinctively. This reminds us all of the fact that we are global citizens first, and national citizens second.
In the era of European fascism, swing was a bridge between increasingly separated worlds. Men like Günter Discher risked life and limb to collect and share the sounds and styles of swing, eventually spending three years in a concentration camp for his brazen defiance of the Nazi’s cultural control.
Swing wasn’t outright banned, but was controlled and scrutinised, it’s patronage punished. It was “nigger-kyke” music in the eyes of the Nazis so those who enjoyed and proliferated it were identified as enemies of the state, routinely being beaten, arrested, and thrown in concentration camps.
Now, we face a wave of democratic nationalism which threatens to undo more than a half century of multicultural integration and democratic advancement. As people seeking power aim to split people across ethnic divides, it’s all the more important to highlight what we share with our fellow humans.
We are not, as many people like to claim, at the gates of fascism. Fascism took hold as a reaction to a very real threat of communism, in an age where Bolshevists had just violently stripped entire classes of people of their land, wealth, and titles and in which Communists clashed with authorities in the streets of Germany using guns and grenades. Hitler, for example, was able to play off these fears and invoke Article 48, allowing for suspension of democratic rule in the face of a state crisis.
Things may seem grossly divided, but we aren’t embroiled in the often-fatal political violence of the 30’s. We are; however, seeing a rise of ethnic nationalism which threatens to undermine and unravel the European Union, as well as the relative peace enjoyed in America. The far reach of this is hard to predict, but it would certainly lead to less stable markets and more polarised populations. Unlike the fascists, the modern nationalists seek power through democracy, as opposed to trying to unseat it. It’s a crucial difference and important to avoid alarming sensationalism which only further divides us. This still doesn’t bode well for free and prosperous societies, as even those nationalist surges which do well by economic indicators leave behind those they characterised as out-groups to scapegoat in the pursuit of power.
So here we are, swinging into the future with our hearts in the past. As we, strap on our suspenders, don our stetson hats, and groove to house beats beneath the swing-era hits, let’s remember where we come from and keep close to heart where we can grow from here. As the swingjugendof Germany did, we must strive to highlight what we share in common, and express ourselves through voice of art and dance, transcending class, creed, and borders. Those who seek to divide us don’t stand a chance if we continue to come together over what we love — building bridges instead of walls.
— I would like to thanks Benjamin Studebaker, longtime friend and current PhD candidate at Cambridge, for taking the time to discuss the histories of fascism and nationalism in modern times.—
Greetings, Tom here from the Electric Swing Circus and Swingamajig Festival here with a guest blog for the one and only Jack the Cad.
So it is April 2016 and where has the time gone? This spring has been a bit of a rollercoaster, but very soon we will have produced a 4000 person festival, and released a new album – note to self: next time don’t try and do both at the same time.
For those who don’t know me, my name is Tom Hyland and I’ve been involved in the world of electro swing for about 5 years now. I play guitar and do a lot of the management for the Electric Swing Circus, based in Birmingham.We tour around the UK, Europe and the wider world with our unique style of electro swing. I also run a record label called Ragtime Records with my partner in crime the C@ in the H@, and also produce an urban festival called Swingamajig.
Every year without fail I am told both that: ‘Electro Swing is dying’; and ‘this is the year Electro Swing really takes off into the main stream’. So far neither has happened, and I don’t think they will. The scene has developed over the last 5 years and looks massively different to how it did, but I think that is the beauty of it. Things change and adapt and the music and events that are happening now have come a long way from where they were when the scene first appeared.
With two new projects on their way, a brand new album and a new edition of our festival, what are we doing to the reflect these changes?
First, let’s talk about the album: Our sound is distinctive and doesn’t always conform to the expectations of what electroswing should be and I think that comes from our writing process. We come from a really diverse musical backgrounds and all six of us sit in one room and write together so our diversity shows in the songs. We consider ourselves a vintage remix band in that we fuse things that are old with this that are new, but that can be anything. There is a healthy dose of rock in this album which you can hear a little clip on our Crowdfunder video at (00:52)
Ah yes, you spotted it: we have a Crowdfunder campaign. Of course we do! You can preorder a copy of the album as well as securing treats such as limited edition vinyl and festival tickets. Take a look at the link and check it out.
We will be releasing one of the album tracks to coincide with Swingamajig, our one day festival of vintage mayhem and delight, on May 1st in Birmingham. (You should come – it’s honestly the most fun you can have on a bank holiday!) You can find out more here, and read Jack's report from last year here.
There will also be remixes from some fantastic producers: C@ in the H@, Aries, and Father Funk. You can hear a preview of two of the tracks below.
The recording process has been really interesting, we have worked in two studios, one in Wales and the other in Devon. It’s taken us quite a while to get it right;the first three sessions we just re-recorded everything each time, getting it closer but not quite there, however now we’ve settled into a rhythm and are making some great music. It’s been really good to experiment with recording, what works what doesn’t, how to integrate electronics, where they should and shouldn’t be. With a recorded track you can hone in on each part and really get into the details and it has been a lot of fun to explore. One thing that we have worked on is to make sure that we still sound like a live band, a live band that makes you want to dance. Getting the energy and emotion into the music is really important to us and I think we have made it work...
And what’s next? The festival of course. Swingamajig – a show like no other
I’ve always wanted to run a festival; I love the idea of sculpting an event into the ultimate day. Maybe it’s part of human nature: we all think we know how to run a pub, we all think we know how to throw a party. The thing is, I really do know how to throw a party!
After the success of our monthly nights at the Hare and Hounds we were inspired to create something bigger. I wanted to immerse the crowds in the magical feeling that I enjoyed when I first discovered electroswing. I wanted people to feel transported from their normal lives into an exciting and exhilarating environment where the music was just one part of the wonder. The dancing, the outfits, the entertainers and the music all combine to provide that perfect feeling.
No doubt it is a lot of work, but the end product is so joyful and spectacular that even the headache of programming doesn’t dampen my enthusiasm.
The opportunity to work with the team from Shambala festival was too good to pass up and we were honoured to be invited to run our Speakeasy Stage at their yearly weekender. They have also contributed to our work at Swingamajig since 2014 and having their knowledge, experience and dedication to good vibe parties alongside us is invaluable.
So what’s new this year? This might surprise you: there’s not so much electro swing.
Don’t get me wrong, we have some of the best live acts and DJs in the genre playing ( I’m particularly excited about seeing Swingrowers and JFB perform live), but this year there is so much more going on.
Our vintage content is really strong with top swing and rockabilly bands; we have a load of gypsy punk and Balkan folk with bands like Balkan beat Box and the Destroyers; while, on the electronic side of things, there is everything from dubstep (Stenchman) through to Jungle (Aries), and everything in between.
And of course, as always, the music is just one element of the event. There is a cabaret with internationally renowned performers (including ex cirq de soleil), there’s street food, there’s art installations, there’s games and the list goes on. For me this is really important: the whole event is vintage inspired but really broad, whether you are 18 or 80, there’s stuff you will love all day and all night.
Without question, the attendees provide another vital element – I’ve rarely known a crowd so enthusiastic or so very well dressed as an electroswing crowd!
We start the show at 14:00 with a 16 piece big band and it all kicks off from there with workshops and cabaret during the day and DJs by night, finishing up around 06:00! Check out the full line up here.
Tickets are available from our website for just £25 (which is an absolute bargain!) http://swingamajig.co.uk/
Well I hope you like the music and we’ll hopefully see you in May. If not, the ESC are going to be hitting the festivals in style this summer so we will show you some of the new material soon.
I grew up on a farm with two younger brothers. We are all quite close in age, and when we were aged between 8 and 13 our mother found that having three young lads charging in and out of the house covered in dust, mud and the nameless detritus of a farm yard, fighting and generally being boys was quite hard work. She got around this problem by not letting us in the house for weeks at a time. This may have you hunting out the Childline number but let me stop you there, as it wasn't quite as barbaric as it sounds (though there was a hint of Lord of the Flies about her solution). Instead of sleeping in bedrooms like normal people, Mum preserved the orderliness of her house by making us camp on the farm.
At the start of the summer we'd pitch a number of tents on the farm and each evening we would pile onto one of the farm vehicles shortly before dusk and trundle up to the campsite, where we would produce that particular type of cremated-on-the-outide-raw-on-the-inside sausages that only a really good campfire can deliver. The next morning we would return to the house and spend the day frolicking in the garden and hitting each other. I don't recall how we washed, but I suspect that we were not that concerned. The summers were long and dusty, hot and seemingly endless. What days.
I mention this childhood memory as it was painfully reminded of it as I struggled to pitch my tent against the biblical rain at Boomtown this year. I reflected, as I cursed and wiped the rain from my eyes, that camping seems to have lost some of its appeal in the intervening 20 years. For one, the tent seems far smaller, and my ability to spring from my sleeping bag full of vim and joi de vie after a night sleeping on the grass is very much reduced.
It is for this reason that given identical lineups and all the rest, I'd pick an urban festival over one in a field. Swingamajig in Birmingham is an excellent example of the breed, but the schelp back from the midlands to London the following day is a brute.
That's why when the promo material for the London Remixed festival starts arriving I feel a little frisson of excitement. Organised by Continental Drifts (Chris Tofu's event production company), it comes at just the right time in the year to help banish the rapidly blurring memories of Dry January (why would you do that to yourself?!), and to get the juices flowing ready for spring.
If you haven't been to London Remixed before, its a "a celebration of the best emerging musical talent and genres and will offer creativity, fun and madness, complete with buzzing atmosphere". As the name implies, the festival is all about the remix. Over the course of the weekend you can catch Latin Grooves, Afrobeats, Tropical Bass, Vintage-Remix, Desert Remix, Balkan Beats, Urban Roots, Acoustic Soundclash and Brass Band Remix. But you'll be most interested in the electro-swing, Vintage Remix and whatnot.
My top tip is to make sure you catch Symphonica & Mr. Switch. I missed them at Boomtown and can't forgive myself. Just check out these videos of what to expect. Its not electro-swing. It's not even vintage remix. I don't know what to call it other than "thoroughly splendid".
Other acts to catch over the weekend include the Temple Funk Collective (whose brass section also forms part of the Dutty Moonshine Big Band) and brassy hip-hippers 'Dat Brass'.
I know this blog has lots of readers who also make music - if that's you, don't miss out on a day of free ‘Remix Workshops’ with professional music production tutors and established music producers. This is a unique opportunity to mingle with industry professionals and to gain tips on how to progress creatively. Along with sessions for beginners and intermediate remixers running throughout the day, there will be another Remix Speed Dating session for bands, producers and industry bodies to meet up and swap ideas at Rich Mix.
I’m a big fan of Vice, and particularly enjoy the writing of people like Clive Martin and Joel Golby, whose takes on modern life are both refreshing and amusing. However, yesterday an article appeared on Thump, Vice’s music section, written by one Angus Harrison. The piece was called “Electro-swing is the worst genre of music in the world, ever”. As you might imagine, I didn’t see eye to eye with the premise of the post.
Angus’s article is flawed in many ways – the research was cursory at best. Here’s a tip, Gus: if you are going to ridicule an act for not having an imaginative name, it is probably best not to have invented the act in the first place. There is no act called ‘Electro Swing’ that I or anyone else in the scene has heard of. However, knowing what I do of Vice, I’m prepared to accept that this may well have been written with tongue firmly in cheek. In fact, the whole piece lacks the sort of coherent argument that I would expect of an op:ed, which makes me think the whole thing may just be an exercise in pisstaking. However, I don’t think we can let the piece stand unchallenged, joke or not. Perhaps I’ll come across as taking it all a bit too seriously… but then, that’s my job, really. In many ways I’d like to thank Angus: he has forced me to think about why I and so many others love electro-swing, despite its unremitting silliness.
As you may have gathered, Angus doesn’t like electro-swing. That’s fine. He doesn’t have to. We are all free to listen to Coldplay, we are all free to like Coldplay. We are even (though the circumstances under which this could happen escape me) free to think that Coldplay are the “greatest dance act of alltime”. I may be reading it wrong (and after all, I like the worst genre in the world, so don’t trust me), but by my reading of the article can be summed up with the sentence – “I don’t like electro-swing because it’s all a bit vintagey and hipstery and I don’t like those things; and the fans all seem to actually enjoy themselves at gigs, whereas I like being moody and cool, and worse, my friends actually enjoy it too and now I feel left out, why can’t I join in?”
Well, buddy – I’ve got good news: you can. Just leave the attitude at home.
It takes Angus a little while to get going with his article. I suspect that he secretly knew he was thin on material and needed to pad things out a bit. Having expended 700 words explaining what electro-swing is, that he hates it, and that he didn’t like the night he went to while at University, he arrives at the main point of his article: “Why,” he asks, and you can almost hear the plaintive bleat in his voice, “Why in 2015 are these bands and DJs still getting booked? Why are offshoot nights like Itchy Feet still so popular? Why, despite it clearly being the worst genre of music in the world ever—and it is, this isn't an opinion piece alright?—does it sustain a following at all?”
Interestingly, many of the questions he rhetorically asks of his electro-swing loving friends (“"Why?" you asked them, tears welling in your eyes, "Why are you doing this? You don't wear brogues! You don't throw Alice in Wonderland themed tea parties! You don't own lace gloves! These aren't your people!") offer hints to answer the larger question as to how electro-swing continues to capture the imagination all these years on.
Here’s why Gus is wrong, and electro-swing is the best genre of music in the world ever:
It’s a ridiculously friendly, non-judgemental scene
You see, one misapprehension that Angus appears to be labouring under is that you can only like electro-swing if you like vintage clothes, vintage fairs and “vintage cockrings.” Nothing could be further from the truth
Speak to anyone involved electro-swing, and ask them what they like about it, and one of the first things you’ll hear is that it is an amazingly open and friendly scene. There’s no word of a lie when I say that electro-swing brings people together in a way that no other dance music does. It seems to transcend barriers of class, age and race, and brings people together in a positive atmosphere. There’s never any aggression at an electro-swing event, and more importantly, there’s no judgement. You don’t have to have a vintage trilby or lace gloves to go to an electro-swing event, and no one is going to look you up and down and sneer at your choice of outfit. No door-keeper is going to turn you away because he doesn’t like your trainers. Nor is anyone going to sneer at you for liking the wrong DJ, or get all beard-strokey about it. On the other hand, you may well pick up a compliment or two if you’ve made a bit of an effort, and the DJ may come and have a chat with you after her set.
Classic tunes are… classics
Angus seems to have a problem with the sort of people who like electro-swing, which is, as I have suggested above, a bit of a problematic position to take. To say that you don’t like the kind of people who like electro-swing is rather like declaring your distaste for everyone. The scene is not only universally accepting, but has universal appeal. The very definition of the sound – blending classic swing (and other) sounds with contemporary electronic music - means that it appeals to fans of those two broad styles. The source material, by artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Ray Charles and Peggy Lee, is, nearly a century after it was first recorded, still instantly recognisable and evocative. Familiarity is a powerful thing in music, and to hear something that one knows well reworked and reimagined is always interesting.
A place in the history of popular music
This, of course, says nothing about how important to the history of western popular music that original swing sound was. Without swing there would be no rock n roll, no hip hop, no dubstep, no Coldplay (sorry Angus). It is also worth noting the social significance of the swing sound. Swing was the first true dance music in popular culture. You might think that boshing a few lines of marching powder on a Saturday night is a hyper-modern thing to do, but those jazz musicians were hoovering it up like Dysons nearly a hundred years ago. The fact that we are doing the same thing all this time later, to the same tunes, is very pleasing to me – there’s a lovely completeness to it.
The social factor
Electro-swing has been described as “the music of the first great depression mixed with the technology of the second”, and it is hard to overestimate the truth in this statement. It is no coincidence that the two movements – swing and electro-swing – took place against a background of financial upheaval and hardship. Just as in times of recession the hemlines of ladies’ clothes tends to creep upwards, in tough times people seek escapist experiences to deaden the pain of existence. The glamour of electro-swing stands in stark contrast to everything else on offer in dance music. There’s no denying that deep house, with its moody minimalism, or dubstep’s industrial, urban grittiness offer much solace to those seeking respite from the grinding reality of everyday life.
The variety within the scene
So, with such great source material, the danger of utterly destroying it by dicking about with it is ever present. There is no denying that there is some truly shitty electro-swing out there, as with any genre. The success of acts like Parov Stellar and Caravan Palace has resulted in lots of formulaic, copycat producers appearing like a rash: token vintage sample with a 4x4 house track laid underneath – electro-swing by numbers. But this is the bad end of the spectrum. Forget Gramophondzie and “We no speak Americano”. Having interviewed a wide variety of electro-swing producers and artists in the last few years, one thing I know is that they are all extraordinarily talented, with a real appreciation for the skill of the original musicians. The best of them take the rhythms and melodies of the original swing style and weave them together with a variety of different styles to create something that reinvents while respecting the original.
Swing’s position at the root of all popular music means that it is remarkably versatile in terms of what it can be blended with. The formula house+vintage sample no longer holds true, and has spawned a variety of awkwardly named sub-genres: swingnbass; dubswing, swing-hop – there’s even some reggae-swing sets out there. Before I came across electro-swing I was into both swing and dance music, but I found that attending either sort of night could get dull, listening to the same types of rhythms all night. Drum n bass is all very well, but 6 hours of it is too much for me. An electro-swing night, on the other hand, can see the bpm moving right through the gears, taking is a massive variety of styles.Artists are also experimenting with other source materials – blues is a fertile hunting-ground, as is funk, which has given birth to its own parallel genre “Ghetto Funk”. The musicality of swing comes though into the reworkings, so you get dancable music with meaningful (well, sometimes) lyrics and melody.
For me the contrasts, the juxtapositions, are what make electro-swing so much fun. Until you’ve heard a dubstep remix of the Pink Panther theme, you just haven’t lived.
It is sexy
It really, really is. All those stockings. And the wiggly bottoms.
It is unremittingly silly
Angus is cynical about the ‘fun’ aspect of electro-swing, and rails against the idea that it can be seen as “an antidote to “boring” or “pretentious” club music.” To an extent, he is right – there is a sense in which electro-swing stands apart from ‘trendy’ music. He rightly worries about anything that sets itself up as ‘fun’. I personally hate this time of year for all the enforced festive jollity – sod off with your egg nog and hot wine, bugger off with your Christmas music and your Christmas markets – so I completely understand. I also understand his concern about electro-swing existing in opposition to mainstream club music.
However, we have all been in club nights with some big-name DJ geeking about with deep house, only to be met with a sea of frowning, nodding heads, no one dancing, just instagramming each other photos of the DJ and making hand-hearts. You’re not going to see this at an electro-swing night. And that is because electro-swing is, with out question, one of the more ridiculous genres to have emerged in recent years. Electro-swing is silly. Really, really silly. There’s no sense in denying it. And I think that this is where Angus has missed the point, really. He thinks its all about posing, about being ‘different’ and proving oneself cool. But the reality is the opposite. It is basically impossible to be cool and be at an electro-swing event. The two are just mutually exclusive, like Britain First and the ability to spell, or Donald Trump and reasoned debate. If you want to go and enjoy yourself at an electro-swing gig you’re going to have to leave any hopes of looking cool at the door. The music, the clothes, the way it makes you dance: it’s not going to end well.
And it is this that I think is stopping Angus from having fun with his friends. Stop worrying about whether its cool or not, old chap. It doesn’t matter. Just let those muted trumpets wash over you. Don’t fight it. It’s ok. It’s ok. Yeah. That’s it. Daddy’s got you. Just let it go. Just. Let. It. Go. There you go. So much better now.
You’ll be so much happier, and you’ll get your friends back.
But seriously, Gus, if you want to come to an electro-swing night and leave the judgement at the door, I’d be happy to take you.
