From coalminer to seminal producer and DJ to live performer, John Graham (aka Quivver) brings depth and passion to everything he does. Vintage Yahtzee investigates.

During Hybrid’s tour of Australia last year to promote their ‘I Choose Noise’ album with a series of DJ and highly anticipated live sets, there was one supporting player who had crowds in a spin, an impressive feat given the widespread appeal of the Welsh supremos. On good authority, it was reported that during both their epic 5 hour new year’s DJ set at Sydney’s The Laundry, and across the nation at Field Day and Summadayze, punters would squint up at the stage, clock the charismatic, scruffy bloke either jumping up for a mix or chiming in with confident, kicky vocals and exclaim, “Isn’t that Quivver?” For fans of quality electronic music, Quivver is a man that needs little introduction. Through his many pseudonyms (Tilt, Space Manoeuvres, Stoneproof, Skanna and, according to his passport, John Graham) he has been at the forefront of defining and reinforcing the elusive quality that makes progressive house fans rejoice and despair: the former when a characteristically rich and deliberate bassline is dropped, the latter that there isn’t more music like his around.

There isn’t a serious DJ around who doesn’t own and cherish at least one Graham track in their box, or recall the first time they heard it dropped. From the first signs of talent in ‘Saxy Lady’, to Tilt standards ‘I Dream’ and ‘Invisible’; from the Anthony Pappa NuBreed featured classic remix of Dune’s ‘Boomerang’ and the Space Monouvres ‘stages’ (“they call this ability… tuning”) to the underrated Four Fatties EP. It’s coincidental to note that the last Hybrid album is the first time many of us knowingly heard Graham’s vocals, given they hail from the mining town of Swansea; something Graham can relate to. “Yeah, [coalmining] was my first job when I was 18,” he says, “and the money was great. I hated the early mornings but it was a cool experience working underground and I met some real funny characters so I’m glad I did it. I was there for a year and saved enough money to buy a basic studio set-up so I could start making music.”

Graham could never be accused of laziness, his bio reads like a who’s who of the producing and performing world and mirrors the trajectory of progressive as a genre. It goes something like this; from early success with writing partner Neil Barry, to becoming part of mega-group Tilt (including a top 20 hit in the late 90s) to a solo career endorsed by Paul Oakenfold’s Perfecto label, to more recent forays into live performing. Graham’s been singing for years, and has even used his own vocals on a number of Quivver tracks, most notably ‘One Last Time’.
Probably the high point of his live performing so far was fronting Italian electronic group Planet Funk’s Live 8 gig in front of a 300,000 people. So would we ever see him sling a mic over the decks? “I would never sing over a DJ set,” he answers firmly, “ever!”

He has, however, been quietly working on plans for his own band. “I’ve been working on an album for a while and it’s almost finished so I’m hoping to start performing that with a live band next year.” Expect to see the favour returned from some of his collaborative efforts too, “Hybrid have actually co-produced a couple of the tracks on the album,” he reveals. With so much going on, one wonders where the precedence is placed at the moment. “I wouldn’t say any of them take precedence but I do enjoy the live performances a lot,” he says, “it’s more fun being on tour with a band than travelling on your own all the time. There’s also that buzz of nerves before you go on stage that you don’t get with DJing – or at least not very often.” Don’t think he’s abandoned the intellectual pursuit of producing for a rockstar lifestyle, “as far as production goes I still spend most of my weekdays in the studio when I’m home.”

How does the master of subtlety and insistent groove approach the art of music making? “I like to go in with an idea,” says Graham, “it makes things so much quicker if you know roughly what you’re gonna do before you start. ‘Dancing in Dark Rooms’ is a good example of that, I had the idea in my head for months and by the time I got in the studio I knew exactly how I wanted it to sound and I had the majority of the track done in a day.” ‘Dancing in Dark Rooms’ is one of two big tunes released by Quivver for the northern summer, a dark disco epic already getting big play on dancefloors and radio mixes across the world. The other is his collaboration with new Sydney resident Rowan Blades, a follow up to 2004’s monster ‘Funky Summa’ entitled ‘Argie Bargie’. “We always kept in touch and we intended to do a follow up to ‘Funky Summa’, then Rowan moved to Argentina so we had to put in on hold for a while,” Graham says. “We did ‘Argie Bargie’ when he came back to England for a few days last year,” further evidencing a startlingly efficient ability to produce top quality music.

Where does the heart of that music lie? Is it, as obvious as it sounds, in recognising that the dancefloor is integral to the track? “Yeah definitely, I think you have to… every now and then I’ll crank it right up and sit for ages with my eyes closed nodding my head like a nutter imagining people going mad to it in a big dark club.”

‘Dancing in Dark Rooms’ and ‘Argie Bargie’ are both available now on digital download through Beatport and djdownload.