Gideön
Gideön
26-11-15
Gideön is a man of many talents and inclinations - and a serious force to be reckoned with when it comes to throwing a party you'll never forget! One of the creative masterminds behind arguably the best place to party at Glastonbury - Block9, he is also the owner of a record collection many of us can only dream of, and manages to find the time to manage the super-successful Downlow Radio. Between all this madness, we caught up to pick his brain ahead of this month's Tusk!
Hi Gideon! We can’t wait to have you here for Tusk. What have you been up to over the past few months?
Musically I’ve been playing out a lot... Spunking all my money on records and generally being irresponsible. I’ve be in Berlin quite a lot too. I am doing a club night out there with Yoni who runs Horse Meat Disco over there. We’ve been going out a lot, searching for venues and looking into a few sites that might work for the club.
I've been pouring a lot of time and energy into my weekly radio show on London’s Soho radio too. The SohoJams show has been going from strength to strength and my list of up and coming guests is pretty epic - Prosumer, Robert Owens, Bicep, Mr G, Luke Solomon etc.
My Thursday evening slot between 8-10pm is a little oasis in my crazy schedule at Block9 (The set design arts partnership I co-direct with my business partner.) The show is a time when I can do what I want, play what I want and say what I want. I cherish it, it’s sacred to me.
As the one of the masterminds behind the NYC Downlow, how have you watched it transform over the years?
Myself and Steve (my partner in Block9) created the NYC Downlow together. We have watched it grow over the past nine years into a fine thing. The set itself has evolved and become loads more elaborate. At next year’s Glastonbury we will be celebrating it’s 10th birthday and we have some MAJOR surprises up our sleeve. I take care of the music at the Downlow and it’s been amazing to watch it kinda take off. We have so many amazing DJs dying to play records with us now... It’s kind of a nightmare. We have our regular residents who are amazing DJs and then there are the super famous legends of house asking for slots too... Whats a man supposed to do?????
It seems to have been onwards and upwards for Downlow Radio ever since its inception. What’s in the pipeline for 2016?
The Downlow Radio (DLR) is about to get a complete makeover. We have been working on a super flashy new site that will play on phones, tablets and computers and will still function perfectly. The new DLR will continue to feature killer mixes - both live recordings from our venues at Glastonbury and DJ mixes from the friends and family of the NYC Downlow... Watch this space!
Can you tell us a bit about your Northern Soul night, Soulhole in Berlin?
Soulhole in Berlin is a bi-monthly night run by my partner in crime Joshua aka DJ Husband. It's a killer little party that features homocentric soul, funk, disco and vintage gospel - kinda grown up music connoisseur tunes for the bearier boys of Berlin. It's a really nice night. I’m just a resident there - it’s Josh’s night though!
What, to you, are some of the most exciting things happening in the London clubbing scene at the moment?
Good question... London clubbing is kinda desperate. So many venues are closing and so many of the ones that remain underachieve. I’m not really sure how to answer this question. It’s really hard to find the right tunes, the right venue and the right people all at the same time!
We have heard a lot about your incredible vinyl collection – what is the most precious record of them all?
Precious in terms of monetary value it’s gotta be Barry Whites’s first ever tune. Barry White & The Atlantics – Tracy from 1964 on Faro records.
In terms of the record that is most precious to me....there are a few. I think probably it’s gotta be one of the ultra rare gospels 7”s like I Am A Soldier by Shirley James on Gospel Express from 1978.
A favourite curveball to throw to keep people on their toes?
ZKY – Bassline tool. Great to chuck into a deep house set to noise people up a little bit!
Can you tell us in three words what you have in store for Tusk?
Deep Hard Homo
Catch Gideön alongside Terry Childs and Sean Johnston at Tusk at Dalston Superstore on Saturday 28 November from 9pm-4am.
Gideön