CRIMES OF THE FUTURE
CRIMES OF THE FUTURE
20-06-17
The Tusk boys are well known for bringing prolific heavyweight house legends to the Superstore laser basement, and the latest instalment is certainly no exception! Timothy J Fairplay and Scott Fraser are the masterminds behind Crimes of the Future Records, the imprint behind banging releases from Mystic Bill, Twins, Perseus Traxx and many more dusty, jacking underground house gems that you'll want to get your hands on! Having come together at the studio of previous headliner Andrew Weatherall, we know these guys are going to bring some serious heat at this Saturday's Tusk! We caught up to chat new releases, the Glasgow scene and plans for the future!
Hi guys! We can’t wait to have you guys join us at TUSK! How has 2017 been for you so far?
T: Has been good so far yeah, the Mystic Bill release was out a few months back on the label, which is one of my favourites so far. I released an album called Where Is The Champion? on Charlois in February. Have had some good times in Holland, Madrid, Berlin to name a few.
S: Looking forwards too! As Tim said about Mystic Bill being his favourite, he's also a bit of a hero to me. Next up we have DMTR DSTNT & LVRIN with the Blasphemy EP then Paradise Box from Australia. It's been a great year so far on the DJ front, just back from the US where I did the Beats in Space show with Richard Fearless which was great fun as we were both randomly in New York at the same time, then The Good Room in Greenpoint and Miami at the Electric Pickle with Joe. Production-wise I'm still waiting on my album dropping and I'm about to release a new record with Richard Sen as Hackney Vandal Patrol.
Where did the name Crimes of the Future come from?
T: It’s the second film by David Cronenberg, in which a makeup company has caused a plague with its cosmetics products.
What are some of your favourite memories from your eponymous Glasgow-based party series?
T: The first one when nobody came at all…?! Though generally a residents’ night, we had a few great guests, Traxx and EDMX being particular highlights.
S: I'm going to add Lord Of The Isles and Plaid live, as I've got a huge amount of respect and admiration for what Neil does and Plaid and The Black Dog were a constant feature on my nineties soundtrack. Lovely guys too!
How did you two first meet and how did you come to be working together?
T: I was already working down at (Andrew Weatherall's) Scrutton Street studios and Scott started renting the studio down the other end of the basement. We got asked to do the night together, and it was only a night for a while before we started the label.
S: When I got to London, Andrew kindly offered me a space at RGC to set up my studio, so I guess it was inevitable we'd end up working together based on how things worked down there. It was very much a bunker of ideas and camaraderie down there.
What is the weirdest / best gig you’ve ever played?
T: There’s been lots of good ones, I kinda always remember that one in France where somebody crowd surfed and we were actually in the weird situation of trying to play stuff to make the audience kinda dance less and calm down. Live at Carcassonne was a great one partly just because of the setting.
S: Agreed on the Live an Carcassonne.
We had one gig where there was a power cut for 40 minutes, literally as we were about to go on which turned out to be a dodgy extension cable and we had to start completely from scratch... A big gig too, ouch!
I'm going to say Drugstore in Belgrade as those guys are probably up there with the best residents I've ever played with, they then went on to release a record with us as Tapan and I can count them as great friends now and have had the pleasure of playing with them over there several times since. Nebojsa has just started grappling with the joys of fatherhood but still finds time to bang out wicked music and DJ over there most weekends.
Having split your time between the Glasgow and London clubbing scenes, what do we have to learn from our Northern neighbours?
T: In Glasgow, it’s kinda different because all the clubs shut at 3am, so really everyone turns up midnight to 1am and you have two or three hours to bang it, totally the opposite of that going-on-for-days Berlin DJ journey thing. There’s a good afters party scene up there now though.
S: The Glasgow dance floor suffers no fools and you need to be able to move it quickly due to the licensing restrictions. Honestly I kinda love that about it and I love warming a club up and one of the reasons for that is because I was schooled by the very best in the late eighties and early nineties as a punter listening to Harri at the Sub Club.
What recent releases have got you excited at the moment?
T: The new Innershades on 9300 Records, some as yet unreleased Antenna stuff, still the megahit that is Solar’s 5 Seconds, Jann's Murder People on Pinkman Broken Dreams, Pentagram Home Video.
S: I've been buying a lot of nice house stuff again recently...
John Swing on Relative, DJ Sports' album on Firecracker, digging that new Cadans 12" on Clone Basement too. New Don't DJ and ever good Brokntoys on the electro tip. Plus, lots of old weapons from the archive and still mining the second-hand shops for £2 bangers.
If you had a time machine and could go dancing anywhere/when, where would you go?
T: Ancient Greece, obviously.
S: Weatherall, Saturday night at Club 69 in Paisley 1996.
Have you got any exciting plans in the pipeline that you could let us in on?
T: I have a new EP called Mindfighter out on Höga Nord at the end of June, and I’m off to play in China for the first time in July.
S: Two nice remixes due soon, HVP with Richard (Sen), my album dropping on Berceuse Heroique, I've also got a proper song coming out very soon under my own name on a label I've released on before with a fantastic Scottish vocalist with a special remix on there too. Getting another label off the ground with Joe soon and I've been writing some US style house stuff under the AOD moniker. Some nice gigs bubbling along too.
And finally, in five words or less, what are you planning to unleash on the lazer basement at TUSK?
T: U KNOW U JACK.
S: The house sound of Chicago.
Catch Scott Fraser and Timothy J. Fairplay at Tusk this Saturday 24 June from 9pm-3am at Dalston Superstore!
CRIMES OF THE FUTURE