With the Graeme Park Experience launching on the 13th December at Ascension, Beatz questions
Graeme Park about all
things Parky.
| Beatz: |
Congrats on the new night. How does it feel to be back
in Manchester with a new club night? |
| Graeme: |
I'm really excited to be asked to host a new weekly
night at a magnificent and exciting new club in my spiritual clubbing home. |
| Beatz: |
Do you see it as an opportunity to reminisce about the
Hacienda days or is this something new and fresh? |
| Graeme: |
I'm looking forward to playing all sorts of new music, especially the
stuff that gets overlooked or that I have to leave out of a Saturday
night 2 or 3 hour set. I might dig out the odd old tune from the Park
archives, but nothing obvious. There are too many people playing the
obvious classics on a weekly basis and as a result, they've totally lost
their sparkle. For example, I vividly remember the first time I played
Alison Limerick's 'Where Love Lives' at the Hacienda. The place erupted
and it was a brand new record. But The Hacienda closed over six years
ago and it'll never be replaced or bettered. I'm so proud that I was
truly a part of it (unlike all the DJs who played there a handful of
times but have "Hacienda" after their name on flyers). I get over 100
records sent to me every week and I love looking for future classics in
amongst all the dull, unoriginal nonsense that get released nowadays. I
hope that people will come along to my new night and discover the
classics of tomorrow. After 18 years of DJing, I'm not ready to play it
safe. There's plenty of wannabes out there who do that on a weekly
basis. |
| Beatz: |
You've been spinning the decks for the last two decades, that's
an impressive record. Are the crowds that attend your gigs the same as back when you started or
have they progressed like House music has? |
| Graeme: |
I'm lucky in that I've only ever played records that I genuinely love
and people who've come to hear me play have genuinely loved the music I
play. It's that simple. If you try to play what you think the crowd
want to hear, rather than what you want to, then ultimately you'll fail
as a DJ. The only difference with audiences today is the amount of
requests I get for awful records that I would never play. If I started
doing that, my heart and soul wouldn't be in it. Mostly, people just
let me get on with it and that's the way it should be. |
| Beatz: |
If you look at the flyers for most clubs today, the
DJs on the guest lists seem to be the same faces that have been doing the rounds, well for
nearly as long as you. How do you account for this continued success? |
| Graeme: |
I can only talk about myself. I've stuck to playing what I believe in
and never faltered from that aim. I think people respect me for that,
unlike some other "names" who've changed their style more often than
I've had hot dinners. |
| Beatz: |
Of all the places in the world, where's the best place
you've DJ'd? |
| Graeme: |
The Hacienda. It was simply the greatest club ever, and nobody in the
UK has ever got close to matching it and I doubt they ever will. |
| Beatz: |
Which gives you the biggest high - DJ'ing in a club, at
a festival or via one of your radio shows? |
| Graeme: |
Give me the club every time |
| Beatz: |
Where do you see the Park and Birch Project alliance
going? Singles, albums, tours? |
| Graeme: |
If our weekly live performances at Ascension go well, I'd like to take
it on tour. However, I'm really keen to release our album of proper
songs next year. |
| Beatz: |
What are your favourite tunes at the moment? |
| Graeme: |
Last Night A DJ Blew My Mind | Fab For feat. Robert Owens | Illustrious
Crazy Talk | Space Cowboy | Southern Fried
unknown | Lone Cat | Lazy Dog
Don’t Let No-one Get U Down | Staxy Kidd & Mike Dixon | Riviera
Taste Of Bitter Love | D-Influence D-vas feat Romina Johnson | Dome |
| Beatz: |
Who's your favourite DJ? |
| Graeme: |
Frankie Knuckles |
| Beatz: |
Goldie said when applying for Celebrity Big Brother
that his worst nightmare would be sharing the house with someone from a boy band. What would be
your worst nightmare, if you were to enter the Big Brother house? |
| Graeme: |
Another DJ! |
