Many DJs lay claim to being versatile, in reality though how many actually lay down a set that includes RnB, Soul, Hip-Hop and Dancehall, House, Garage and Old Skool classics?  Not just include them, but turn it into a journey and make them sound like they all belong together? Which is exactly the level of versatility and creative playing you can expect to hear from UK DJ’s Kinky D and Philly, the girl duo from London, who continue to take most prestigious clubs in London by storm with their eclectic and original sets.

Urban groove sets with an old skool twist at their weekly residency at Fabric through to 5 hour back2back sets at China White’s where you’ll hear everything from house to party tunes.   As we sit back and chat there is no mistaking that Kinky D and Philly are on fire and are finishing off a huge year, one that included programming a tent at London Pride, Carnivale D’Estrange for faceparty.com and an international tour of Asia, Australia and Europe.  First up, I want to know more about London Pride, what did programming involve? As they answer, its easy to hear the passion their voices, Philly jumps in first “everything, from deciding & booking the acts; content and music policy; stage design and lighting – the whole atmosphere of tent basically – and it worked” Kinky D “its was the visual aspect as well as the audio, our tent was the place to be” Philly “because we didn’t duplicate any line up, we just concentrated on a journey which ended up with us playing B2B for the last 2 hours” Philly “aside from musically it working it also made the tent visually different”  Was that the first time you’ve programmed an event? “The music was a concept we’ve had for a long time, but the visual and programming was new”

So what are Kinky D and Philly planning next? “This is the next stage, international. We have a good momentum in the UK – so while that kicks on we want to pick up the international gigs” Which brings us nicely to the tour “first stop Bangkok and QBar, then it was onto Melbourne for a holiday before hitting Sydney for BondiFM, A Rare groove gig at the Peppermint Lounge this Friday; a funky, vocal house set at World Bar on Saturday night and then a quick trip to Kikkon on Sunday morning” Good job you took that holiday in Melbourne, where next? “A 2 week residency at the W Hotel in Seoul” hey, I’m impressed, Philly “ha, it’s minus 6 right now” Oh glamorous. Philly “At W we’ll be playing soulful house, one minute and cutting edge RnB the next, that’s the firmed up flavor really, its a journey of everything” Kinky D “its all about the party vibe, good grooves man”

The last few months in Sydney has seen the emergence of more urban music, or MOBO if you prefer, I don’t, but that’s just me – I don’t think it really describes the sound of the new sound of the street, or artists like Sean Paul, R Kelly and Jay-Z “and their the tip of the iceberg” but whatever you want to call it, it is hitting Sydney, only this month the Terrace controversially moved downstairs freeing up the rooftop of HOME to become MOBO (no comment) and the premier Urban nite in Sydney “we’ve been involved since the start in London, so to be able to play at the start in Sydney is our goal” clarify the urban sound, is it RnB? “a large part of it is, but under the urban banner you have many sounds, new soul, hiphop, dancehall and funk” Philly “It would be great to see the same level of Australian talent in the urban scene as we have over the last few years for house and breaks and the studio”.  So the next trip may see you playing more urban gigs. “ideally there will be many more trips, many more gigs – our aim to have many homes for Firmed-Up not just in the UK” tell me more about Firmed-Up, we haven’t talked about that yet: Kinky D, “Firmed-Up is a club night that I started because I wasn’t able to play what I wanted to play, not in one set – so I used to play 5 hours on my own – it wasn’t about the genre but about the tune. So you could expect to hear RnB, funk, soul, disco and hiphop, house and garage – expect to hear something like Luther Vandross next to Neptunes.  That was about 7 years ago, before teaming up with Philly 4 years ago which grew into back2back sessions, events, tours, the website and now the international tour”

Which brings us back round the full circle and to Sydney “Australia, seems really serious about their music, which is always a good thing and added to that their party attitude it makes for a great audience” so you went down to Melbourne first? “it was really friendly, Melbourne had a real underground scene – which can only be a good thing” and Sydney? “still discovering it really, what I’ve seen so far Sydney has put things together with more style (that doesn’t make it better just different). We went to Home last weekend and what really struck me was the crowd really knew their music.  In England you would rarely see a house crowd react so positively to a progressive DJ and the sound was outstanding not too loud, not ear blistering” Kinky D “when it’s hurting your customers ears, it’s not a good look baby”. 

Kinky D and Philly are only in Sydney this weekend, they’ll be joining Mike McGrath, Tom Da Silva, Bob Frisky & Tazman for a night of funky, rare groove with a twist of disco care at Peppermint Lounge, Friday February 4th.  Saturday will see the girls ripping up the Terrace at World Bar alongside Brad Stevens, The Double D Show and Mazlan, before Chris Coco. For more information on Kinky D and Philly check out http://www.firmed-up.com.