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If you’re spending any time in Ibiza this summer, chances are you'll hear Patrick Topping’s ‘Forget’ blasting from the speakers – we’ve heard it everywhere from Amnesia Terrace, to the Space Discoteca to the Sankeys Basement – it’s truly become one of 2014’s Ibiza anthems.
On the day of Patrick Topping’s return to DC-10 for Paradise, we caught up with the Hot Creations man on the roof terrace of his hotel and took a few moments to discuss how he moved on from ‘frigid house’, Newcastle’s underground scene and his relationship with techno.
What was it that really got you into underground music? Yeah, I’d say it was going to the first Cocoon In The Park in Leeds. That was five summers ago now, that was the turning point. I had been getting into things a little bit, listening to bits and pieces, but at that time I was still into the kind of frigid house sound that Switch and Jesse Rose used to play – all that type of stuff.
Then I started to get into the underground a little bit, and going to Cocoon In The Park was a bit of an epiphany. Ever since then it’s been all about that kind of music.
Who was playing then? It was a wicked line-up actually, it was Steve Bug, Luciano, Sven and Adam Shelton opened I think – it was one of the best line-ups actually!
How did you end up there? Yeah, well I went with a couple of my mates, but none of them were really into that type of music either. I dragged them along and they didn’t really know what it was going to be like and I didn’t either! We put on a little minibus from Newcastle and went down.
After that I said I was going to go to Cocoon In The Park every year from now on, forever, but I missed my first one last summer. That was because I was playing out here though, [in Ibiza] so I didn’t mind!
What was the scene like in Newcastle back then? It’s always been pretty good in Newcastle. I don’t know if you’ve heard of Shindig before, a club night from up there, it’s one of the longest running nights after Back To Basics.
Having them in the city has been a really big influence and there are loads of other nights going on and the scene’s really big at the minute.
They used to do weekly as well, before I even went to Cocoon In The Park, so when I was first getting into it they had people like David Guetta and Laidback Luke and people like that on every week. Obviously they had the underground names as well.
When did it come to starting your own party in Newcastle? After that first Cocoon In The Park the next summer we went to Ibiza, came back and wanted to DJ, so I got some decks and I didn’t play out in public – I had them for about two years and never really bothered with them.
Then my mate asked me to DJ for his 21st so I taught myself to play, played at his 21st and that was the first time I’d played in public. So I felt I had the confidence to do my own night from there and I started it up.
You mentioned Ibiza – did you start coming on holidays? Yeah, I came with my girlfriend first, and told all my mates about it and they came the next year. I’ve been coming every year since.
How does it feel to be back at DC-10 for Paradise? I know mate, I’ve been looking forward to it since I came off the decks last year. I didn’t find out I had any dates here or that I had the residency here until about four months ago. So since last year I’ve been hoping that I’d be back. I can’t wait to play!
How many times are you playing again this summer? I’m playing three times in total. It’s the fourth party this season so I’ve been watching it every week getting more and more buzzing about it.
Obviously your track ‘Forget’ has been really big this summer – did you know you were onto a winner with that one? Well, when I made it I knew it was one of my better ones and I sent it off to Jamie straight away. Actually, I sent him that and ‘Boxed Off’ at the same time and he replied straight away saying, "This is your best track," and I didn’t know which one he was talking about!
I emailed and asked him, and he didn’t reply, so for a month after that I was wondering which one he was talking about. I eventually spoke to him and he was talking about ‘Forget’ so on the lead up to that coming out, the release before that, ‘Get Beasty’, had done really well and got to number one on the Beatport tech house chart.
After that got to number one, which I didn’t expect, and then Jamie saying ‘Forget’ was better I was kind of secretly hoping that it would get to number one as well and it did! It’s still there now which is crazy!
It’s literally everywhere. I’m getting texts and tweets off my mates saying they’ve heard it here and they’ve heard it there.
Did becoming a part of the Hot Creations crew really start to accelerate things for you? Yeah, totally – I had been DJing for about three years before the Hot Creations thing come about. That was just locally around Newcastle, it wasn’t until that first release with them that people outside of Newcastle started to take notice and it’s been mad since then.
I’ve heard a lot about how prolific you are in terms of production – how do you decide what you want to release? Well, I suppose Jamie’s been doing some shrewd A&R because I’ve been sending him loads and I’ve got about 90 unsigned tracks.
Every time I hear it’s even more. Yeah. I’m just trying to keep making them – I just made one the other day which I’m looking forward to trying out. I’ve sent them all really, there’s about five that I haven’t sent because I didn’t think he’d like them. Out of the one’s that have come out it’s really been his and Lee’s decision at the label of what’s good and what’s not really.
I know Cocoon here in Ibiza was a big influence on you – how did you end up with the sound you’ve got with your productions because they’re quite house-y and Cocoon’s obviously predominantly techno. Yeah, that is a good question because in my sets I do play quite a bit of techno. Not the kind of Berghain techno, but some of the dramatic stuff that Sven plays – that’s what I’m into.
So I do play quite a lot of that stuff. The thing is, as I was saying I’ve got quite a lot of unsigned tracks, it’s those ones that haven’t been signed. I do make the kind of techno stuff as well, but people haven’t really heard it unless it’s my mates who know what it is and hear me playing it in my sets.
I wouldn’t say full on techno, but more so than some of the stuff that’s come out. I do have that and I do want to release some of that stuff in time. My next one that’s coming out on Hot Creations – I wouldn’t say it’s techno, but it’s a lot darker and more banging than ‘Forget’. I’m glad it’s the next one after that.
What can you tell us about your next releases then. Well, at the moment there’s only that one track that’s due to come out in September on Hot Creations. It’s part of a summer compilation they’re doing so it’s 14 tracks, I think by 14 different artists. Apart from that I’ve had a Yousef remix that has just come and I’ve got one more remix that I can’t say anything about yet. I really want it to come out basically – it’d be my most high profile remix yet. So fingers crossed that one comes out.
Listen to Patrick Topping on Pulse Radio.
