Legendary Children

07-01-12

On Friday the 13th of January the Back to Back crew welcome the rather brilliant LEGENDARY CHILDREN to take over the bar... Bloggers, DJs, party starters and producers; the children are creating a stir with their open minded approach to DJing which is winning them fans from London's house music old-guard.

Who are the Legendary Children?

Elles: Legendary Children is me, Pac and Neil. We were all DJing separately but wanted to do something different that was a more back-to-basics approach to putting on parties and kind of challenged the party/music apathy prevalent amongst some of our peers at that time. It seemed like clubs were awash with bad DJs playing low-grade MP3s to people that only cared about seeing well-known names on a flyer, everything seemed to be more like a popularity contest with no real passion for the music being played (with some obvious exceptions), so we started Legendary Children two years ago doing monthly parties and writing about things that inspired us on the blog.

Describe you sound for us.

Elles: Ultimately the sound is H. O. U. S. E, but in the broadest sense. Not as in bang out identikit 4 to the floor. House is as much Disco and Balearic and weird stuff as anything else. For want of a better cliche it’s about a feeling than it is the records you play. In our sets and in our production the influences are drawn from Bitch trax to Italo to New Beat and Acid.

Neil: Exactly. Although old records do feature heavily in our sets it’s much more about interpreting those records into today’s context rather than trying to emulate the past. The ill-thought out ‘House revival’ that seems to be cropping up of late seems to be completely oblivious to the fact that House music never actually went anywhere.

Pac: I think it’s the diversity in our interpretation of House. House isn’t just 4/4. We all approach it in the same way Hip Hop is approached and it’s the context of the track when it’s played by a DJ that makes it House, not just Beatport’s MP3 tag.

If you could get in a disco time machine which club would you go to?

Neil: Hackneyed answer I know, but it would have to be Muzic Box, simply because I think that period epitomised what House is all about in the purest sense... It’s hard to imagine anything in this day and age even coming close to the rawness and debauchery and the lack of restriction when it comes to music policy. Apart from maybe World Unknown on a good day.

Elles: I would’ve loved to have been at Sound Factory in the early 90s. By all accounts it was amazing. As far as clubs I have actually been to, there was an awesome club in my hometown Cambridge when I was growing up called Good Times, the music was always amazing, the crowd were really mixed and it kind of felt like a family for everyone who went. I played one of my first ever DJ sets in the second room there too. A lot of people associated with that club have gone on to do great things- the Secret Sundaze boys are old Good Times stock as well.

Pac: I reckon the early Boys Own parties, from what I’ve heard from our older mates that went, they were pretty crackers!

Who is your ultimate fantasy DJ lineup?

Neil: Bruce Forest and Tee Scott.

Elles: I don’t think we can get through this interview without mentioning Larry Levan. I’d choose him on a night pre-smack, supported by David DePino of course.

Pac: A Wild Bunch era DJ Milo/Nature followed by a Lil Louis and maybe a little Tony Humphries.

What are your plans for 2012?

Neil: Lots of DJing and to continue to build our studio set up- we have a couple of releases coming out around spring time so keep your eyes peeled for them. We played a Boy’s Own party in Ibiza last year so we aim to be out there again over the summer too. Not to mention we’ve got some great parties of our own coming up at Vogue Fabrics (next one is 28th Jan), including a killer line up for our second birthday in March.

Name 5 bangers in your box for Friday 13th.