Nightmares On Wax interview

4 months ago 19th Aug 13:00

Where is the name, Nightmares On Wax from?

It started back in 1985 when I used to dj mix-tapes with a friend of mine; there used to be a band back in the late 1970’scalled Nightmares In Wax and we saw that and which back in the day wax was another name for Vinyl. The mixes what we made enabled us to turn out our wildest dreams so we decided to call them Nightmares On Wax!

How did you get into the music industry?

If I look back now the first time I released a record was in 1989 which was done by me borrowing some money and pressing the record myself; so I think in hindsight it was just belief and determination.

You’ve obviously been around for quite a while and must have seen interesting things; have you got any stories you could share with us?

Wow, lots! You want a funny one?

Yes please!

When we were writing out second single in a studio in Sheffield the engineer was smoking some marijuana and the studio was in a part-derelict warehouse and the police were doing a check on the area at the time and they walked straight into our session and obviously smelt the marijuana and decided to arrest us all.

In the meantime the boss had gone to go and get some fish and chips and when he came back we were all going downstairs with handcuffs on, we all got taken to the police station and we interrogated for about three hours in a completely ridiculous scenario!

When we were in the back of the police van there was a good cop and bad cop and the bad cop was punching his hands and saying; “Wait till we get you back to the cells, you’re gonna get it!” we were only 19 and absolutely pooing ourselves; I just thought “this can’t be happening.” it’s got to be one of the most bizarre things to happen to me.

The second single ended up being Aftermath as we realised that we’d jinxed ourselves from naming ourselves Nightmares, because despite being arrested whilst making it we also lost all the software and all the programming for the track, then when we got it pressed the actually pressing plate got damaged on its way to the pressing plant! There were just so many things that went wrong so we though Aftermath was a good name for the single!

What has been the highlight of your career so far?

I would say probably playing the Montreux Jazz Festival which was a pretty amazing time for us because playing in a place like that with so many Jazz legends was phenomenal.

There are so many great times though, playing my hometown of Leeds Town Hall with an orchestra was great, I’d always dreamt of performing with an orchestra so that was an amazing experience.

What else would you like to achieve?

I’d like to take working with an orchestra to another level to be honest, perhaps taking it into a studio recording is one of the boxes in my life that I need to tick.

You have your own record label, Wax On, why did you decide to set that up?

When we first stated out we couldn’t get a deal ourselves so I set up the aptly named Poverty Records and after that I started to say I wasn’t interested in the business anymore and I didn’t want to do it but after working on Nightmares over the past five years where I’ve got to travel all over the world and have people hear my music and see loads and loads of musicians doing music I realised that I have an amazing fan base and an amazing platform so it seemed ridiculous not to share it so that’s where the idea of doing the label came about.

We started off small but now we’re thinking about getting much bigger and better because it’s just growing and getting more and more incredible! Here’s me thinking I’m just trying to do my bit to let the new producers get a foot on the ladder but then being fed all this great music has inspired me and made me hungry and reminded me what it’s like to start out again and it’s bred new life into me.

If you could work with any other artists, who would it be and why?

I would like to spend time with in the studio in some shape of form would be Quincy Jones because if I had a mentor as a producer it would be him simply because of his life story and the era’s he went through to make it as a producer. He went from being a Jazz musician to making songs for people like Michael Jackson - he made Michael Jackson’s best music - so just for what he’s seen and done I would just like to spend a bit of time with him to just so his experiences could rub off on me.

Who do you like in the music industry at the moment?

The Dap Kings - they are Mark Ronson’s co-writers and they’ve worked with Amy Winehouse and I think they’re an amazing band. I’m loving a lot of what’s coming out of England at the moment because it’s all very varied and I think that England has always been a great melting pot for music despite being such a small island!

Is there anyone you don’t like?

To be honest with you I used to go through this think of liking/not liking then liking/not liking again but at the end of the day you end up listening to music that you’re attracted to anyway and there’s always going to be rubbish and there will always be amazing things. I’d rather listen to something I’m into.

If you weren’t a musician, what do you think you’d be doing?

I think that’s a really good question! I see myself as an adventurer so I think travelling would be a big part of my life but what I’d be doing on those travels I couldn’t really say! I’d probably focus more on well-being, self-help and spirituality.

Have you seen a lot of awesome places then, being a keen traveller?

Yeah, I’ve performed in the desert in Palm Springs, have been to Australia, performed at the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan. I went to Japan about six months after moving here [Ibiza] and I was like; “Wow, I could live here!”

The people are amazing, the food is amazing; Tokyo has a population of about 16 million but to be in a city which has everything and not to feel and stress was bizarre. It didn’t have the traits that London, New York or any of the big cities have because it just seemed to have a very synchronised way of doing things; like everyone crosses the road at the same time, no-one pushes each other out of the way to get past…and I’m a fan of sushi so that helps!

Where would you like to be 10 years from now?

Hopefully inspiring and bringing the next set of amazing musicians through! I love being involved in music and being around people who inspire me and who I inspire too, I love what you can get out of creating things and I think it’s an amazing experience and a joy to deliver things from it.

More so, just putting out music which makes people feel good: that’s my main duty.

What’s in the near future for you?

Next week we have the album launch party out here in Ibiza then we’re going to do some live dates in December in Leeds, London and then in the New Year we will start a UK tour and I can see that leading up to the festival season.

Apart from that I’m doing the label stuff with Wax On and I have a compilation album coming out at the end of January with the Ministry Of Sound so there’s lots going on!

I’m also producing albums for the likes of Ella May and Ricky Rankin, so I have my fingers in a few pies.

Do you think the new album will do well then?

The feedback has been fantastic so I feel very positive about it, I am happy with it and the whole adventure of the album is something that I know will stick with me for a long long time so I feel good about it and to me success within music is being happy with what you’ve made.