Alan Thompson: England's DJ Maestro goes Hollywood
Author: Benedetta Ferraro (Skrufff.com)
Saturday, February 1, 2003
I'm pretty excited about it, honoured, in fact," Alan told Skrufff's Benedetta Ferraro this week.
"It's a proper movie, not just a TV documentary…"
As well as appearing in celluloid, the man who made his name via London's Trade continues to tour the world (he's off to South-East Asia and Australia again in March) and has also just completed his second compilation mix CD for online specialists Trust The DJ.
"I'm not breaking any new ground or trying to explore another sound with the CD, what I am trying to do is represent me, Alan Thompson, as a DJ, trying to capture the essence of you might hear in a club," said Alan.
"Hopefully when people will hear it they'll say 'that's Alan Thompson'."
Skrufff (Benedetta Ferraro): Starting with Josell Ramos' film "Maestro", what exactly are you doing in it-
Alan Thompson: "The film tells the history of dance music from New York and Chicago starting from back in the days of Larry Levine through to Frankie Knuckles to François K. Throughout the film, there are inserted shots of DJs from around the world and for the UK they chose Paul Oakenfold and myself, so that was quite an honour, considering that I was approached by them. They inserted five minutes footage of me DJing in various cities around the world. The film will be released in mid February and I believe it has already premiered in Melbourne, Australia."
Skrufff: The film talks about dance culture as an underground phenomenon; how much does it remain so-
Alan Thompson: "Of course dance music nowadays is equivalent to pop music, and it's a worldwide phenomenon, but the film also portrays where the scene comes from, back in the days when it was very underground. That's because not many young clubbers today know the history of house music, where it came from, i.e. from gay clubs and from the ghetto, and of course this is going to inspire people and open their eyes, especially in America."
Skrufff: You played at Trade's closing party: how much did it feel like the end of an era-
Alan Thompson: "It did a little, but it closed in October 2002, and I had already left a year earlier and I hadn't played there since leaving. When Laurence asked me if I would play for their closing party I said 'Of course', there was no way in the world that I wouldn't. Trade meant a lot to me, It launched my career as a DJ, it was my first residency ever, I've played there for ten years, which is a very long time for any DJ to have a residency. Laurence believed in me, and the music I was playing, he gave me my first opportunity and I'll never forget that. I'll always hold a great debt to Laurence Malice and the Trade crew for giving me such a break, when a lot of promoters were not ready to do so at that moment in time."
Skrufff: How did you feel then-
Alan Thompson: "It was very emotional for me. I played between 7am and 9 am just classic Trade records to an absolutely packed room, I've never seen the place so rammed. There were lots of people crying and I can't deny that half way through my set I also had a tear in my eye, because I thought of Tony De Vit, I played some of his tracks, and I thought of all the good times I had there and the inspiration that the club gave me as a DJ. For whatever reasons I left, that's in the past, but for the closing party, Trade went out with a bang and it's now a legend. I also think it was a great idea for Laurence to go out whilst on top."
Skrufff: Many of the UK superclubs seem well past their best: what's your take on the whole state of house culture-
Alan Thompson: "Clubs like Gatecrasher and Godskitchen and other similar ones, used to be associated predominantly with trance and progressive house, and the younger generation that used to dance to that music, now< Tags