Ashley Wild has been one to watch as of late, having played parties as far and wide as Burning Man and Glastonbury with his highly successful You Are We night, one of the biggest underground parties in London. He's recently made a fantastic, deep and groovy edit of The Temper Trap's "Soldier On," and is giving it away free. So we caught up with Wild to talk about the inspiration behind the rework, some of his experiences at Burning Man (which he is a huge fan of), his You Are We night, and the forthcoming label under the same moniker. Listen and download, then read on for all the details, and be sure to catch Wild tomorrw at the We Are You Christmas Special.
Talk to us a little bit about the download you’ve given us - what was the inspiration behind it? I really like it when producers work on edits for their sets or to share, as it gives a flavour of their interests. Often a different take on someone's work can open up a piece to a new audience, albeit done with respect to the original work of course. I've done a few edits, and really enjoy producing them and using them in my sets. With this rework, I must admit to coming across the track 'Soldier On' before I had had checked out The Temper Trap, whom I now really like. I immediately loved the vocal and guitar work, and in fact I love the straight rock drop that happens part way through the original, but I used the early part of the track mainly for the edit. It works slowed down and edited and I wanted create a kind of never ending feel behind it. Anyway, enough of the dissection - I hope that people like it and with some prompting from a few peeps I decided to share it. Hey, if per chance the band come across it I hope they like it and would rather buy me a beer than throw one at me!
You come from a really musical family with a background in folk music - something rather different from house and techno! Tell us a little bit more about your childhood. How did your parents take it when you got into such a different style of music? I grew up very much around music. My Dad is a very talented singer and acoustic guitarist in folk and Celtic music, and over the years our house was full of fellow musicians. I spent some of my youth in many a muddy field as my parents were often at festivals, and have run a festival themselves on the south coast for the last 30 years. I must admit that whilst in my teens it wasn't all to my adolescent taste, though I grew to enjoy it, and indeed learnt a lot from the simple song structure and storytelling of folk music. I'm actually in the process of coaching my Dad through Ableton over the phone, which is pretty fun! In terms of the music I make, it really isn't my parents cup of tea, but they can be swayed with few red wines to sit through a couple of demos.
You also co-run You Are We, one of the biggest underground parties in London. Being at the top of the underground scene there is pretty huge. What’s the secret to the event’s success? What can we expect from you guys in 2014? Yes, I am part of a team of close friends who run You Are We, and have been putting on parties for the last 4-and-a-half years. We've always managed to strike a balance to our crowd across a close family feel, upfront music with interesting artists and a willingness to get the small details right. We started off running our free daytime parties in the summer on bank holidays, and it was very much built on a friends of friends vibe. Over time we have hosted additional Saturday night events, and of course have been involved in a few of our favourite festivals, including Glastonbury and Burning Man. We recently took over room 3 at Fabric and not only was it one of our best parties, we felt that the timing was perfect as we got to showcase a lot of our new music to a great crowd and of course on a great system. We can't wait to return in the New Year! This Saturday we have Remi Mazet headlining with a live set. He is an incredible talent and someone we are going to be working with closely with some new projects coming up. He's definitely one to watch. In fact, come and watch and listen this weekend!
Rumour has it you’re opening a Y.A.W. label in the New Year. Well yes, the rumour is right. Myself, Tom Roberts and Sandeman & Dickie from the Wildkats, who are the residents at You Are We, are going to be launching Y.A.W. Music in the new year as a platform to release much of our own work and also interesting artists and close collaborators. Look out for a VA of the artists behind the label for starters, and then moving forward we have some interesting artists who are releasing and remixing with us - so yeah, some exciting things to come. At this stage we can't say too much more, safe to say that some of the work we will be releasing will surprise many but also we can't wait to get it out there. We will be looking to showcase the label later in the year on the road so we are looking forward to spreading the Y.A.W love.
Being at Burning Man over the summer must have been amazing. Any great stories to tell us? Yes Burning Man is a place I would definitely call home now. I've been fortunate enough to have gone these past 4 years, and there are many things you take away with you. It’s hard to talk in summary about the experience. I would say you should visit at least once in your life if you can. For me, each year it's good for the soul and does restore faith a little in humanity. As an aspiring producer there is huge inspiration to be taken from there and as a DJ I have had some incredible experiences out there, but that is just part of the story. The trading you talk of is in fact more towards a gifting based society where you give but do not necessarily expect to receive, however of course there is often a trade. This year we made some gifts from You Are We for people we met and played or partied with along the way, they are very 'useful' thick engraved steel cards which will offer entrance to our parties, access to certain events and giveaways. It was nice to give them out and great to hear they are popping up all over the world.
You’ve just signed to Blue Print Artists? Tell us about how it all came about. I have recently joined the agency and am looking forward to working with Joe and the team there. We have some plans to work closely with the Y.A.W Music label in 2014, so being alongside the WiLDKATS there made sense. In fact, there are quite a few friends on the agency, so that always helps.
Finally, what can we expect from Ashley Wild in the coming months? Right now the label launch is taking up some of my time. Some of my production will be made for the label but I am looking forward to sharing the music I've been working on recently. I'm also keen to improve my overall knowledge across production as having recently taken time out from work to go full time I have a little more time to spare. I've invested in some more hardware recently, namely a Voyager and DSI Tetra which is evolving the way I am experimenting and producing, and this is what is exciting me at the moment. I have some great collabs coming up with Tboy, and both Sandeman and Dickie and also with a good friend Tim Gilgallon from Monikor London - who's dubby techno and house I'm really feeling at the moment. The next release I have coming up is a remix for my friend Pete Zorba on Kaluki and am hoping to pop up on a couple of labels who I have long looked up to. Let's cross things and see what happens. Otherwise, dealing with Insomnia and forging a structure to my week is a priority, a resolution for the new year perhaps!
Catch Ashley Wild next at the You Are We Christmas Special this Saturday, December 7th. Head to the Facebook event page for details.
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