How All Day I Dream Grew on Word of Mouth Alone ft. Lee Burridge | episode 157

0:00 I would say I had utter belief in the music, but you don't know ever know how far it's going to go. So it was utter commitment. This is my lane. I found it, I resonate with it. I think I was fully committed and more so than I've ever been with any other project that I've done. Lee Burridge bet everything on a sound almost nobody else was making and turned it into a movement the rest of dance music is still chasing today. What that kind of conviction actually costs. This is elevated frequencies, something I've learned building in this industry. The career you want doesn't come from going viral, it comes from professional relationships, and that's exactly what Track Stack was built for. The industry keeps giving artists tools designed for casual listeners, but Track Stack was built for the professionals who invest in each other.

0:46 Track Stack Pro puts you inside a network of labels, curators and artists who are genuinely invested in each other's career, where every submission becomes a contact and every contact is a relationship that can turn into a collaboration, a booking or a door You didn't don't even know existed. And those relationships are yours to keep. No algorithm deciding who sees your work and no platform holding your contacts hostage. Go to track stack dot app and use code elevated for 50% off pro for three months. That's track stack dot app code elevated. I have a a fun fact that I thought about last night. Your show at Concord, I believe it was in 2021, was my first show out of the pandemic. And it was because I think I watched your Omnia Bali set, that circle set probably like 500 times. And I was like, yeah, it was all. Somebody did that.

1:38 It was all me and so I was like, OK, this is my chance to take it in person. Did you notice any change or anything to? I mean obviously so much changed post COVID, but those first shows back what was different. I think the desire for freedom is always in US, you know, to explore, to do whatever we want, whenever we want. And having it taken away just created this momentum in people to go do everything, anything that they could possibly do. So I think the excitement level was up for all of us, actually, myself included. I remember the closest I could get. I, I managed a year and then I really missed entertaining people.

2:26 And I was living in New York and I opened my windows of they were onto the street and that was kind of a big window, put some speakers on the window sill and just did a DJ set. And a couple of people walked by and then stopped. And then they were dancing in the street. And, and, you know, so missing that human connection was for me the thing I missed. But I think people also missed the freedom to, you know, just go out and dance. And so, I mean, it was crazy for a year. Move without restriction. I remember the energy was so electric because it just felt. It felt like is this OK? Is this legal? Like can we be here right now? And I know that, I mean, it's so central to your, to your brand, the freedom of, of movement and you do a lot of things outside and the connectedness of, of like the community that comes to your events. So it was really special that that was like our our first one back.

3:20 I found a a random fun fact of value online, but I don't know if it's true. So you can you can Fact Check were you a postman? Before that, was that, was the local mailman A postman? Yeah. In what neighborhood? This was in the countryside in England, in a county called Dorset. So if you go West from London, about 2 1/2 hours, you get to a very lush green fields, cows, sheep, simple folk. In the nicest possible way, you know, it's a different pace of life. And I was straight out of school, unsure what I wanted to do in terms of going to further education. So decided to take a year out and just see what it was like to work. And my friend was a postman. So, you know, I thought at the time, oh, this is, this is great.

4:04 You know, I get from 2:00 PM, I'm off forgetting that you have to wake up at 3:00 AM to go do that, you know. So it was kind of, it didn't work out that well in terms of also being a DJ. There was a few times the postman left me sleeping in my car outside of the office you go to in the morning because I'd rolled out of a club or a party and then gone straight to work. But it's very similar because the first thing you do in the morning, it's like dancing. You like have all these letters and you have to put them into slots like this. So it was like almost like being in the club still. We always had good moves. I love that. So were you DJ ING at that same time or were you just a fan at that point?

4:46 No, I was a DJ, but this is 87, so I had been a mobile DJ, somebody who did weddings and kids birthday parties, one funeral school for the deaf, all these kind of things along the path. And in 87, I was looking it up on the way here. My local record shop, like all record shops in the UK, received promos from record companies, just one. And they started getting this music that I'm like, what is this? And it was Chicago Jack Tracks. I remember the very first releases on that label or the album, and it somehow made it to the countryside in England. And I'm the only person, I think, in that town that cared enough about other music that wasn't on the radio to to be, you know, about this music.

5:40 But yeah, I was. That was kind of the cusp for me for dance music discovery and desire to be a DJ in that lane, because it didn't exist. What were you? What were you DJ ING at the kids birthday party? So. So I just did a documentary and my friend who made the documentary cut from the story of me saying, you know, I wanted to play this Chicago music to well, I suppose I should play Tina Turner. So I was just playing. I was playing what was on the radio and what whatever I could get my hands on. My parents record collection is country and western, so and country and western is amazing, but not so good for the dance floor. So early electronic synth music, going back to I guess disco was my range, you know?

6:26 But even then, my disco taste was limited to, I guess, what I heard on a jukebox, what I heard on the radio, you know, So the more commercial end of everything. So then you made a massive move, environmental change. You moved to Was it Thailand in? The Hong Kong. First in the 90s, early 90s. What was the impetus for that? A business card I was in working in a local nightclub, and fate, I think actually is the answer. So in Hong Kong in a bar called Joe Bananas again, kind of commercial bar, the DJ quit the manager his I think his daughter was getting married in the area randomly in the UK, you know, beautiful Manor house wedding.

7:15 And so he was just going around local nightclubs going hey, I have a bar in Hong Kong. Would you like a job to DJs that he liked and I was the one that took the card went into little red English phone box, put loads of money in was like, hi, you know, this is Lee. I was really interested in the job and just went for it. And I was living at my parents at that point. No real sort of impetus to move to London. That was scary. I didn't have a job, I didn't have friends. I'm from a village, but somehow going to the other side of the world, I think because when I landed, there was a job there which gave me some sort of security, I suppose, and ended up with me going with a well, if I don't like it, I can always, you know, come back. It's 12 hours on the plane.

8:07 Yeah, no big deal. Six years later. So what was the biggest culture shock music or non music wise when you landed? First of all, had you been to Hong Kong before that? No, I'd, I'd only, I think I went on a skiing holiday and holidays with my parents in, in Europe. Culture shock wise, not so much. At that point, it was Hong Kong was an English colony and, and there was a real segregation of Chinese people stayed in their community. And we were the Westerners who, and the expats who lived there. And it was really strange because once I started doing events there, all we tried to do was build a bridge between the communities. And because obviously, you know, there are great people all over the world from everywhere, but somehow it just was the way of things in. In Hong Kong, everybody lived in few areas. Everybody worked in a few areas, everybody socialised in a few areas.

9:00 And the same for Chinese community. But I met a really great guy called Joe Lai. Joel's still to this day, you know, a great DJ. He was running a record shop, he was putting on events where you could get a haircut at a dance music event, which was a strange thing. I always remember now. I always remind him of that 'cause you know, when you go to the hairdressers, people obviously, you know, and you get that kind of itchy neck from that little bits of hair. Yeah. I don't want that dance music party like. So true. Hair splinters are painful, yeah. That's fine, says the bald guy. Yeah, but it took quite a few years before because we would do the the posters and the Flyers in English and in Cantonese. But it took a while for it's kind of gel. But once it did, it was amazing.

9:48 But yeah, culture shock wise, I kind of felt like I transplanted from a English village to a really big village far away because I was surrounded by people travelling. And I guess the culture shock really was realizing how many different people there are with similar stories. So you can connect or taste, so you can connect wherever you go in the world. So yeah, it, it didn't really kind of hit me in that way. I think I've always had a nomadic, adventurous spirit even when I wasn't going anywhere. You know, planes flying over. Where's that going? Maybe one day I'll go somewhere. Sure. Yeah, I think that makes sense. When you're when you lit grow up in a more remote place, you know, you have more wonder those things and probably appreciate it a lot more when you do take those travels. I was telling you before this, you know, I was a reporter at my first job.

10:41 I mean, I I lived in this. I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, but partied down here all the time. Started going to spy bar, you know, 18 years old, like sneaking in and my first news job was in Iowa and that was just like a like tire screeching full stop. And I'm like, oh, my God. Like, I didn't even think about it because I was so excited to get a a job out of college. Like, I'm, oh, my God, I'm going to be on TV. I'm going to be on the news. And then I got there. I was like, oh, where am I? You know, what did I do? Yeah. So it was kind of like a in reverse sort of thing. But it did make me appreciate just how things are done differently. I mean, Iowa has its very own, like, it has its own unique culture and values and whatever. And like, I have a soft spot in my heart for it, even though it's not necessarily a place I would choose to live now. But it's nice as a chapter in in your life. Isn't it, you know?

11:35 So the next chapter then, was Thailand for you? It kind of teetered between the two I everything happens from crossing paths with people for me and listening. I think being opened so, you know, if you want to say the signs from the universe or just, you know, this is how life works. And as dance music, I discovered somebody was in my local club in England and said, do you have acid house? It opened a door. The business card to Hong Kong opened the door. And then somebody came back from the beaches of Copan Gan in the South, which is now where it's associated with a four moon party. So they told me about the four moon party, but it was pretty much hippies playing drums in a drum circle and people dancing and it was amazing.

12:22 So I had never sort of experienced anything like this and it just sounded, you know, the guy kind of described it very well. So I went and I was there a couple of days and, you know, my brain at that point was like, this would be a great place to do a party and went back to Hong Kong, grabbed my records and then came back and met a few people that had been experimenting with playing dance music there. So I I talked about it and it's been edited in a way that makes it sound like I was the first person, but I was one of the first people there. So I always want to give credit to it was a guy called Backyard Dave and amazing DJ committed to staying down there, played so many of the events. But you know, we were the kind of pioneers of the Full moon party in the way you find it found it in the past. When when was this so?

13:11 This is 91. So before everybody was born. That's just one year before I was. Born last century. Just one year before. I was born. But yeah, that was, I spent a lot of time between early 91 and 2000 just, you know, exploring what it was like to DJ outside, actually. And these are all the roots for myself. You know what came after. Yeah, which I want to get into. I think the latest season of White Lotus did something with full moon parties, but that was that was my first. I was like, oh, I never heard of this before. And of course, it was very stereotypical, like ecstasy, you know, whatever, Like the way that they they portrayed it.

13:53 I imagine there's some similarities. But of course, yeah. Yeah. I mean, there was actually this guy called Alex Garland, who writes books, which you've probably heard of a bunch of his stuff at. One of his books was called The Beach, OK. And there was a movie, I think it had Leonardo DiCaprio in it. And that had a formal. Party this would no, it was set actually in this area because he was staying there and he wrote the book while he was there. So he's observing, yeah, everything that's happening with everything that we're doing and created this tale of, you know, like traveller, Thailand partying. He was direct, like he was at one of your parties. I believe so, yeah. Wow. Because he was staying in a place called the Sanctuary.

14:35 And Sanctuary, it's basically what the whole story is built around, this community of people who opt out and travel. And I mean, it's a long time ago, Yeah, but it. But it's funny to see it, you know, turned into fiction, right? Because, of course, you know, there's, was it artistic license, you know, to say and do whatever. Yeah. But you can also pick out the bits that, you know, you yourself experienced or resonate with. So it's kind of cool. That's really cool. So all of these help lay the foundation for your own event series for your label. I know it started on a Brooklyn rooftop. That's what your website says. What does that mean? Well, how did you know that was the first? Event.

15:16 I actually had done an event one year prior to that with another promoter and it was kind of the last straw for me of I think I can do this better. So we were on the same rooftop on July the 4th and the promoter's renowned for cutting corners. So there was a white plastic table that you buy in Target and another white plastic table. This had the equipment, this had the bar get out. That's it. And you know, and it's like 100° so there's no shade. Everybody there was kind of a three or 4 foot wall that, you know, stopped falling off the building and everybody was like cowering underneath this wall. Try and get any shade they could. So for me it was like, OK, I think maybe if we put up deco on it and it's actually kind of the reason the party looked the way it did was to come up with in a innovative ways and pretty ways to make shade for people. Oh wow.

16:10 It's quite one of the reasons. Yeah. But it was, it was also, OK, you know, parties nowadays I go to nightclub, black speakers, black T-shirt, not many lights and a strobe and maybe a laser. And that's great if you want that. And I was a little bit like, OK, so there's some energy missing in this, which is, you know, my own feminine energy or energy that is feminine, that can balance out the masculine. And again, it was like, OK, how do I approach this? And, you know, create something that feels softer or feels prettier or feels different to what was going on? And then, you know, I'd seen a few things. I was in Ibiza in a restaurant, and there was, you know, like a green wall on the ceiling.

16:54 OK, maybe we can hang some flowers. Maybe we can put up greenery. And that's how the kind of aesthetic evolved with this desire for, yeah, balancing masculine and feminine energy and partying, because it was also 90% men going to parties. And that felt really off, right? Especially for the 10% of girls that went, you know, it's. Oh yeah. It's. So impressive. You just made me realize something. There is there's so much discourse over like, yeah, oh, it should just be about the music and like, we don't need all this extra stuff. And I think that is a very masculine point of view, whereas I just going to an event like yours or whoever, you know, art installations and all of those immersive experiences, I think it adds so much to a party. And you just made the connection with like feminine energy And I was like, that makes sense.

17:51 And that's probably why some it gets critiqued is because of the mask then of like you just needed, you know, dark, dirty basement with, you know, whatever, like the the minimal thing, which I think it has its purpose for sure there's. A lane for everything. I have great, great time in that environment, but it is so missing. And this is something that I, I have like a lot of opinions on. I love hosting people and hosting is like all the senses, right? It's like, what does the house smell like? Or the wherever you are, you know, what is, is it comfortable for people? You don't just have those crappy fold out chairs, like what are they eating? What are they? So that's what makes like an like your event series so special. Is is it's all the senses.

18:37 Thanks. Yeah. How do you, well, first of all, I mean with with all the installations and everything that you have, how do you source them? Are you the sole decision maker on that creating the environment? What's that like? It's so funny and and a little cheesy the the very early structures that were built, actually the very first ones were, you know, we just got bamboo poles and we were just trying to elevate things. But once I felt the inspiration of what I saw at Burning Man, actually, I started waking up in the middle of the night a lot with these ideas and notebook, most of which, you know, in the morning, I'm turning in the current.

19:18 Kind. Of what the hell I drew. But it came, yeah, it came from me. There was a girl that was working with me in the first year and she, she had some ideas for the lanterns or you know, they became very iconic with, with our event. But I like to find people that are much more talented than me. So I worked with a chap called Matthew Holt. He works in set design in Hollywood and he helped me sort of realise the first structures. And after that I met a couple of other people on the path and they also, you know, gave me their input, gave me their ideas.

19:59 And we and you know, it's a sort of bit of AI don't like to be like a note my ideas only, you know, it's you collaborate and I think you get to a better place. So yeah, we ended up with. The various structures on various coasts. I think I've probably should be in the Guinness Book of Records for having the most storage units in the world. He has so many storage units. Do you have a store or like a warehouse or something? That's crazy. I work with these guys, big art labs in LA and you know, they're a kind of grass roots storage for artists of events or Burning Man or and it's nice people work on site. That's cool. And it's a bit more generic on on the East Coast outside of New York.

20:41 But I feel sorry for my team that had to like schlep in and out all the time with all this stuff. It's. Tumbling. Yeah, it is. I mean, I the, the very early days, of course I want to you know, I'm not like Princess, I turn up and you know, I'm carrying speakers up upstairs and yeah, I wanted to help and I got like pushback. No, no, like we have got this, you know, So I'll sweep up at the end or something, you know, sometimes. Yeah, it keeps you connected, you know, no. It it does, but it's like, it's also connected to the team who work really hard for me, you know, sure, you get paid, but there's a little love in there I think, you know of. Yeah. Love of dance music or the event or the community, right. So, you know, I like to be connected to my friend. They're my friends, you know, rather than my employees. Yeah, I love that.

21:27 Did you know? I mean, I know that you said you realized you could probably do a better job than the promoter that you're partnering with, but did you know that this is what it was going to be? Did you have that vision early on? I would say I had utter belief in the music, but you don't know ever know how far it's going to go. So it was utter commitment. This is my lane. I found it, I resonate with it. The event is, I think, a good idea. There was no anything like that at the time. I mean, even it, it's a it's a kind of little light like glow of pride to see how many other events started kind of emulating or being inspired by the aesthetic, you know, and and making more effort because what you were saying about, you know, a basement club that will always exist and it's great.

22:17 But you know, the and and saying it should only be about the music sure in for you and in that club and with this music. But of course not everybody wants the same as everybody. So yeah, I was I think it's like really lovely. But like we we've kind of had that knock on effect and and a whole industry or or a whole genre kind of opened up and and splinted off and did other things as well. But at the time, I thought that doing 1 and then coming back a year later was not going to have the same impact. So I really wanted people to kind of get used to the idea that this was a new sound. And I did a monthly party four times between June and September.

23:03 And seeing the rise in popularity without doing like any advertising on social media, we just did word of mouth for three years. No kidding was crazy, you know, and and then, you know, I started the label and that's a business calling card to the world of OK, here is a new genre on vinyl or digital and you can explore it each month through a release. So and and again, seeing it's kind of catch on and other DJs adopting it because I think the music existed, but was one track in a set of other music. Usually, you know, a moment of like and then back to techno or house or you know, whatever. But I think I was fully committed and more so than I've ever been with any other project that I've done. Yeah.

23:50 Also, I think there's something to be said about you doing a monthly party from the jump and building that momentum early on is so key. I talked to, so I have a marketing agency and I do some events and I talk to people like, well, we're thinking about doing something quarterly and I'm like, do you want this to be your full time thing? Do you want to make this big? And and if they say I'm like, then that's probably not enough because you have to like, and I've, you know, and I've gotten stuck in that situation before where it's like, well, if you're not going to do an event all the time, how do you stay top of mind? And there's other ways to do it. But I think in the early days, it's really important. Now you don't want to like spread yourself so thin that the events end up being not great.

24:35 But I think that that's something that's like an kind of an underrated strategy is kind of pushing yourself to to stay top of mind a little bit more. Yeah, it's just you're building your business, you know, with regularity and there's so much distraction or other people jumping in, Yeah, onto your momentum or into the same lane these days if you don't. So yeah, it it worked out. How how do you find I'm so interested for for people who have been doing, and this applies to the artist journey as well, but for events, it's evolution aspects. You have your day ones. People have been, you know, coming to your events, they're loyal and you have people just discovering you, you know, even now. How do you approach keeping the core elements of what makes you you and your events?

25:25 Here's your event series, like true to you versus evolving with the times. Like how does that conversation go in your head? I think it goes back further than the beginning of All Day Dreams. So I would say that there have always been threads of something within the music that I've played. And I've played all sorts of genres, some of which still, you know, are going, some of which ended, some of which maybe on hiatus, you know, you never know because it's sort of cyclical. So to maintain a similar kind of vibe and not just think, Oh my God, Afro house is so popular, we should do that now. I mean, we, I'm always searching and I'm always looking for a new sound, which I will play some of or, you know, a track of and, you know, kind of integrate it into what we do.

26:14 But it definitely has a feeling. So I think that it's maintaining that feeling somehow, you know, right now, I would say energetically for the last eight years, the from where it originated, which was stillness and more kind of spaced out and more hypnotic. There was a shift. And there was also a kind of a misconception that we were, oh, it's a floaty party, you know, and, but I always tried to use language to describe that. It wasn't like that, you know, I'd say infectious Grooves, which stopped in 2020 because infectious began. No, but like we were trying to kind of captivate people's imagination as to what the the sound was without somebody just going, it's not this.

27:02 So we don't like it anyway. So the last 8-8 to 10 years, there's been a kind of slight energetic uptick, but without losing the beauty or the moments. Because also it's some DJs play in this way. And it's not a criticism, but I like to take my foot off the gas as well as put it on the gas. And I think about it more as a roller coaster. You know, if you're constantly going up, that's boring, or down that's boring, or along that's boring. So I kind of do this with the way I play music and it's a very conscious thought and it's almost just take it away from people. But what do you take it away with? You know, some, I don't know. I started playing a song by these artists called Chicane. It's from a long time ago.

27:48 It's very beautiful, but it's quite, it's not in your face, but it's a really like every time I see it, people recognise it, they love it. People if they've never heard it before, they love it. There's something about the beauty in it and it's just that moment. So as long as all their dream maintains those moments where you can bliss out, you can go to the bar, you can hug somebody, you can like, you know, connect, talk, make out, whatever you want to do. That's I think part of the experience of coming to the event. And connection's always been super important to me. And it's the one thing that is still the most, I'm the most proud. So I think I was counting the other day like 150 people now and they're like, oh, I've got a story for you. I met my partner at your event and now we're married. That is the power of community and music action, and I love it so much.

28:40 Yeah, you. Know bringing people I, I got a message yesterday and somebody said it's more important than ever right now that you do the events because I don't know they shared some news piece about I think it's one of the dating sites and they're starting to use AI agents. So you're AI agent and mine will talk to each other before we talk to each other. It's crazy. It's detachment. I have a big issue. So actually I met I met my husband on on bumble, a dating site, but it was like the OG where there was you couldn't there was no prompts. Now, even before the AI stuff, this is one of my I think it's crazy. They have these prompts right. So it's like you put in your religion, your politics, your preference, cat or dogs, your favorite food, your this, your that, and then what is left to be discovered on a date? Because there's so much nuance to, you know, I'm a dog person, I'm a cat person.

29:36 Oh, we can't we won't ever like they they just self select out. And I think that's just like a testament to everything that is happening. We just take things at like whether it's a piece of content, a dating profile, whatever, at face value and we miss this chance to connect, which is why the dance floor is like such an important place because I've met people that like, to be fair, like we don't have a ton in common outside of the music that we listen to, but it's an amazing thing that we can be friends because we met on a dance floor. It's so important. I know it's the, it's the place where, I don't know, everything just disappears, doesn't it? And you become this kind of, this is where we connect. I like this music.

30:17 It's it's the filter. Yeah. And you made a comment. You're right. Music is just getting so much faster. Everything's getting faster. And maybe there's just, do you think there's pressure on artists to deliver like that super high energy all the time just because of like what social media has done to to music and to fans? I think it's more so every time, you know, the world gets even closer to going to and the pressure is on. Yeah, the escapism is maybe there's a little more anger and a lot less love. And this to, you know, more aggressive music feels better than la di da to some people.

31:01 And but I think that weird pressure, where's it coming from? You know, is it's just this self perpetuating thing that starts building up steam and everything has to get faster because of what you know, and then people are afraid to play slower or gentler or more beautiful. But it's OK. You know, I think it's it's the natural way things go. Even even I've slightly upped the tempo by by, you know, one or two BPMS sometimes because the music kind of suits it. It's fun. And also, I never want to shut the door for what I should do. I don't want to put parameters around myself because there's also music that's fast, that doesn't feel fast. It's just the way it's constructed.

31:42 You know, if I, if I speed up what we were playing and it's super busy with shakers and you know, then it's too much. But you know, there's some more stripped back music that doesn't feel like that, but it but it bumps along, you know. So I'm going to keep my elements and I'm going to keep my place for people to come and meet at the events because it was always the, you know, one of the main reasons to do it in the first place. You know, create a community around music. Absolutely. I think I said this the other day. The line between genres is so blurred now. What I thought I knew, like I thought I had a grip on what was what, and now it just all seems reversed.

32:23 Like I was listening to an indie dance playlist the other day. I'm like, wait, this is indie dancing? I'm so confused. But I also think simultaneously, like Gen. Z, they don't care about genres as much. They're very focused on the mood and the vibe. And so I think somehow that's kind of gone like in parallel to each other. It's a, it's an annoying thing for me trying to like when I'm like categorizing things business wise and figuring things out. But I think it's a good thing that we're we don't have like such strict boundaries anymore on the genres. Agreed. I mean, this is it, is it good? Is it bad? I mean, I think that's as much as my taste once to, you know, choose. I mean, obviously to find music is I was going to this is this is where the genre part comes in. But I've found that especially owning a label. So Beatport is an online electronic music slash music download site mostly used by DJs, including myself. Where do they put?

33:27 Where do they categorize you? Well, this is the point. So my label initially was a deep house label and it was the number one selling label at that time on Beatport for Deep House. So they kicked us out and we couldn't quite understand, but I think they were trying to create a new genre, you know, because I guess this is successful, but whoever works for people had an idea of what deep house was and we were no longer OK. So we got shoved over to melodic house and techno, which I don't know why they joined those two things together because to me and techno are different genres, but it was under the same umbrella. We didn't really achieve in that genre because we were being overwhelmed by the big melodic techno songs, which I understand, so we got the.

34:15 Tale of like the enema, kind of. Yes, exactly. Yeah, that's crazy that you. Would be in that same category. That's crazy. And then so they decided to create a genre for us and you throw a bunch of names, all of which were terrible, I think. I have to I need. To know desert house. Desert house come. On no exactly and it ended up being organic house, which I didn't really care for either, but we also had and down tempo attached to us. So that was you know, I wouldn't I, I, I say this not to diss down tempo. I'm just it's the same thing again. Two things that shouldn't be together, but it it had two effects. I felt like it dragged us down.

34:55 It was like trying to swim with an anchor, but it also overwhelmed down tempo, who were kind of the same as we were in melodic house and techno. They didn't get any traction because we were the big tracks and they and they weren't. So, you know, these decisions are weird because they affect artists, they affect labels. I'm. Really glad you said that because see, I wouldn't, I wouldn't think, since I'm not an artist. So that's a really interesting conversation. Where do you feel you belong today? Well, we've suddenly the last two releases for no apparent reason been shoved into electronica, which again, I think maybe a little discourse and understanding as to, OK, guys, we're trying to get another genre, you know, in motion. Are you interested?

35:38 No. That does that one doesn't make sense, No at all. It doesn't make sense. I guess organic house kind of. I feel like melodic house makes sense. Melodic house is what I would assume. And and deep but. Melodic more so it's quite a sort of, you know, I can understand deep house being less melody inclined. Not totally, but less. Yeah. And so melodic house, to me just makes total sense. Yeah. And why they've got those two glued together, I still don't know. So strange. Yeah, if I was building a set like I was, I would not be searching for those two things in the same places. Like that's very weird. I think one of the issues was at some point you could, you know, say I am deep house, I am melodic house, you know, and you could choose your genre. But when labels or artists weren't doing well in that genre, they kind of cheated.

36:31 And then they, they said, OK, which which genres aren't doing great? And said, oh, I'm, I'm indie house, you know, And then so Beatport took away the right to sort of self classify. Interesting. I mean, they have their reasons, you know, it's their business. So yeah, but it but it, but it is, you know, I, I feel bad for my artists that they make great music and they expect some results, you know, some visibility in the charts. And then we out of our control, we get shoved over to a completely different place. Does not do well for them. Right, because it's a designation. It's something you get to put on your resume too. For those artists, they get to say, you know, be port, whatever, wherever they're they're charting.

37:16 And then on the flip side of that, like if you're number one in a category, that's like just BS because they just made it up. That's also kind of lame too. So huh. Huh, that's really interesting. I never thought about that. I mean, it's the, you know, it's the details, isn't it, for us as label owners or artists or, you know, just trying to kind of help. I mean, I like helping artists. Give them a little, you know, they're all talented. Just give them that little nudge into the spotlight and then it's on them, guys. What is your A&R strategy and do you have someone on the label helping you with that or is it all you? I have Philip who works for me.

37:59 He does the day-to-day stuff, so the contracting, but A&R and everything is, is basically my taste. And I always work with the artists. And I know some labels just say, OK, you know, give us 4 tracks and we will release them. But I like to curate a little bit and it's not really from the thought of this one will be successful. It's more so, OK, this rounds out the EP very nicely. Or I think these are the strongest of the tracks. So I mean, of course, I'll talk to the artists and I try not to, like, be a controlling label owner, you know, nobody is bound to me and nobody else. But people tend to be more loyal when it is that way.

38:42 You know, the label has established itself. It has, you know, nice lineage. It's got a good back catalog. I think a lot of the artists on the label loved the label before, you know, it was an aspiration. There's a few labels that people really like to have something on, and luckily, you know, I've sort of created a label that does that for people. So yeah, yeah, it's taste, I guess, you know. How many releases are you doing a year about? 12 to 14 not to, just to give some breathing room to the artist. So and they're not like superseded a week later by the next new one, you know, although this summer I'm going to so I actually made some music in earlier in the year and I'm going to try a new strategy of it's one EP, but I'm going to try to do the single track release in between certain other releases, mainly because we were talking about the success of single track releases at the moment.

39:43 I don't want to do that to another artist. So I'm going to try and try it with my own music and just see what the response is. But I've always kind of stuck to one, one a month ish, you know, sometimes three-week gap with vinyl as well and which is, you know, just unnecessary, but kind of goes back to my roots and. Absolutely. Have to hold, you know it's tactile and hold it, sure. Wow, so OK, so you said that you started all day. I dream by word of mouth for the artists listening that have a dream of doing their own event series or, you know, music business, do you think that model could thrive?

40:27 Word of mouth. No social media in 2026, Honestly. Definitely. Yeah. But it has to be, you know, your aspirations have to start very small. I think there's so much sensory overload and so much information all the time that as long as you have a community of people already, I mean, if you just, you know, I moved to Chicago and I haven't got a DJ career and I just decide to do it, maybe not so much. But if you have a community of people connected because, you know, not putting up a flyer online and selling the event to people doesn't mean that you will say, oh, there's a great event and you tell your friend, you know, so you become the ambassador of the experience.

41:10 But I think there's there's this sort of flip side to constantly knowing everything all the time, which is not knowing something is appealing I think to certain people. But it's it's definitely the thin edge at the moment. It is, yeah. I'm guilty of like, we went to a new restaurant last night. Why did I, I, I should have stopped at just Googling the menu, you know, But I had to look at their Instagram and look at their story and everything. And I'm like, why do I do that? You know, we are in this, I think, 'cause we just have so much information at our fingertips. It's just innate to us now to get the full picture and there's like.

41:51 I think it's kind of nice though, you know, it's, it's a path and it's fine. It gives you sort of more of a scope of maybe the back story. I mean, you're, you know, come from reporting backgrounds. That's my problem, yeah. I need to know everything all the time, yeah. But I think that's a beautiful thing too, because you then share that with the people you're having, Yeah, dinner with. So. That that's a good way to spin it. And the dinner ended up being incredible. The burrata salad was $30 which I thought was insane. But then he told me the price of tomatoes for like a bushel. The the owner that was like OK it's crazy. But I digress. This has been such a wonderful conversation for. Me too. Thank you. Thank you for coming by. Yeah. Thanks for the invite.