The Tidy Boys are Andy Pickles and Amadeus Mozart who are also the founders of the Tidy Empire. These include all the Tidy labels; Tidy Trax, Tidy Two, Untidy and the forthcoming addition, Synapse. Along with the Tidy Events Team they are responsible for the Tidy Weekenders, Magna events and one off events at various clubs in the UK and around the world. They are now bringing the first full-blown Tidy Branded tour to Australian shores. Lee Haslam & Andy Pickles take time out of their busy schedule to stop for a quick chat before they pack their bags and head down under.
Andy gets the ball rolling “Lee is the label manager run everything to do with the label musically from 12 inch singles to albums to the tidy radio show to the licensing side of business”, Lee is quick to give us the second half of the duo’s job description “Tidy has many parts, its a lot bigger than just the music. We are part of a group, with a chairman of to oversee tidy activities. Russel runs the day-to-day operations with a holistic view. Basically Andy is the other half of the Tidy Boys and of course, my partner in crime.” Lee laughs.
Neither are spring chickens nor are they newcomers to the scene. Andy is 35 and Lee is 29 and their plans are to start slowly backing out of the scene over the next 3 to 4 years. The Tidy Brand has some 70 staff members working Monday to Friday. They are flat out then face 3 or 4 gigs on the weekend. There are no plans to wind down the label or operations of Tidy, but more for the boys to take a back seat. Andy explains, “Having a family and being a DJ is all about getting the balance right. This involves being a bit more selective with what you do. Its time for us both to invest some time in family and build business focus on the company”.
This involves big plans to spread tidy internationally, including of course Australia. Lee jumps in first this time “The Big focus setting tidy up in Australia will include Lee Haslam and the main DJ’s for tidy boys touring but next year tidy touring Australia with many different DJ’s. We have invested a lot of time into putting events on in the UK and have remained quiet internationally while concentrating on setting up in the UK. It’s going to involve having the right promoters establishing the tidy brand coming out 3 or 4 times a year different tours.”
Andy quickly turns the conversation onto the most important topic, music “The tidy boys point of view people like to pigeon hole us, yes we are hard edged DJ’s, yes we play music for a harder generation which embraces many different genres and styles. You will hear a bit of everything it will be hard edged there’ll be no house but tough house melodies hard edged as we move across the board, its not just flat out hard house!”
“What makes us different to the rest?” asks Lee, “We like to try to offer quality to the best of our ability and have fun while doing it!” He laughs “Look its about having a bit a of laugh.” Andy jumps in “oh and we take the piss out of ourselves, that’s important! The minute you loose sight of that the minute you loose track”.
Andy continues “another reason for our success is some other brands remain faceless, yet our organising, The Tidy Boys, we are always on the front talking to people, we are not faceless people, you know who tidy are. Our staff are visual and always on our message boards. Punters can reach out and say great or bad we listen we keep in touch.” Lee adds “We like to think that we approachable”.
What can fans expect from their shows across Australia? “Well that depends who we are playing to, the crowds, but we are well known for playing a bit of a intro. Set the scene, lift it first and foremost, depends where it has been left by the warn up DJ. The build the set, move the crowd, some uplifting trance towards the end up there, depends who is playing afterwards as we always like to pass on the same courtesy the next DJ.” Andy answers, Lee remains quieter in the background until the conversation turns to production.
“5 years ago you go into records store and in the hard house section there might be 50 records and as a DJ you might buy 30 of them. These days it’s predictable. It’s too easy to make records, get a pc or a Mac sample a few kick drums a Hoover or whatever and predict how it may go. If you go back in time, the sound will evolve it has reached its point slow down in speed get back to producing records/songs.” He tries to explain, “It wasn’t about a pc it was about making a record…. Its going to come back round not as many opportunities as distributors are going to continue going bust, it will evolve back to where the few that did get through, were dam good!”.
Both of the Tidy Boys are natural born comedians and entertainers. You only have to spend a few minutes chatting to them to agree. Andy laughs, “Aye If you are going to do it, do it well, but have a bit of a laugh while doing!” Lee gives his advice “As a DJ its not about you, its about the floor, a lot of DJ’s have their head down, its entertainment! Music is the one thing that connects us all at the end. People work hard all week they want a good time, at the end of the time you are getting paid a lot of money to pay other peoples records, so give them something special!”.
The Tidy Boys and Lee Haslam tour Australia this November, playing Melbourne on Cup Eve, Monday November 1st (BUY TICKETS) and Sydney at Sublime on Friday November 5th. Check local guides for dates in your city.
