Friendly has been a familiar name in Australian dance music for longer than most have been into the scene. A massive name on the local touring circuit in the mid to late 90s with hits like Sneaker Sex and I Love You But…, earlier in the decade he moved to London where he became a well-known fixture in that city’s thriving breaks scene, working for a while at Fat Records and playing at their regular Chew the Fat night at nightclub institution The End. But according to the man himself, he was persistently dogged by one insistent thing… Confusion over his name.

“‘Friendly’ always had the possibility of confusion,” he told ITM. “Sometimes people write on records ‘DJ Friendly remix’, and peeps thought it was me. And if someone wanted to, they could call a club night ‘Friendly’ or ‘Friendly DJ All Night’… I’ve seen it on flyers!” With confusion reigning throughout his career, it was time for a change and a happy accident when he was DJing in Japan gave him the inspiration.

“When I went to Japan, they accidentally billed as Andrew Friendly, and it kind of stuck. I did an online poll on it on my website, and Andrew Friendly came through, one vote ahead of Friendly. I feel it’s more mature too, with more personality. Everyone knew me as Andrew Friendly anyway, so it was easy. I think some people really think it’s my surname.”

So finally, the confusion has been put to an end. And now, we introduce to you Andrew Friendly. ITM chews the fat with the man himself.

Now the fastest search words to use for you on the internet are ‘Andrew + Friendly’. Maybe you were drowned out by all of the Friendly soccer matches -what other things were found under your name too when you’d google ‘Friendly’?

I used to work with Fat Records, so I’d type in ‘Fat Friendly’ and that came up with a wealth of goodies, from doctors who wouldn’t go tell you to lose weight, to fat fetish sites. Now ‘Andrew Friendly’ comes up with some tech guy in America, who seems to be doing quite well for himself ha ha.

I see via your MySpace page that one thing you might find if you had searched hard enough on YouTube was a stripper dancing to your song Let’s Fuck. Though there must have been other highlights to other people playing your songs eg. Fatboy Slim, Sasha and Krafty Kuts playing your record. What have been some highlights?

Yeah I love that stripper! I gave my track to a guy in Greece, in return for some T-shirts he’d designed, and he sent me that link. So good! He always plays these big sex parties in Athens. I wanna go! I know Fatboy Slim and co have all played my tunes. There’s some myspace footage of Stanton Warriors playing It’s The Weekend in Canada, and the crowd going crazy. It’s always a buzz to hear your tracks played out, and by big name DJs. But I get an equal buzz when I’m in some little bar and it comes on, I feel like asking them how the hell they got hold of it!

Tell us about the club nights that you host in London? Does the word ‘Klap’ mean a STD in London? Is it a gay club? What is the joke with that title?

We were called Klapp Trapp, but now it’s The FFuss. I changed the name coz the guy I was doing with originally wanted to stop, so it was best to move on with a new name. Klap, yup it’s an STI. But ‘clap trap’ also means a load of rubbish. It’s not really a gay night or a straight night. It’s just very Shoreditch, where I live. Here, no one really cares about that, it’s just young and old, gay and straight, black and white, all partying together. Argh, it sounds like a Madonna song. But really, it’s a great vibe, and the whole neighborhood is like that, it’s just all mixed up without any worries. I wanted to do a club where all my friends felt welcome, and they’d come to listen to the music. People in Shoreditch care more about who made your T-shirt than who you fuck, which is quite nice in a weird way.

What time do you play at Klapp Trapp? What is your sound?

It varies, because quite often I put on my band or my One Hour Rave, so it switches about. I don’t play too banging there, because it’s not a full on club night, it’s somewhere between a bar and club. Peeps can dance, or they can drink and chill. It’s a great vibe, and we get a hot crowd. Next one (this Sunday!) is with the RGBs who are managed by Groove Armada, they’re going to be huge. I’ve also had Black Peter, who I produce, he’s always off the hook, and Joe & Will Ask, David E Sugar, got the Clik Clik coming up. All names to watch!

What songs do you play in One Hour Rave? When, where and how often is this held?

We hold that about every two months. It’s like it says on the tin: an old-school rave, for one hour. It’s mental! I dig out all my fave old records like KLF, early Prodigy, SL2, Nomad and give them a spin. We hand out whistles, we’ve got MC Handy on the mic with old school rhymes. It’s hilarious (Check out the clip below).

At the turn of the century the feel good hits of the summer festival season were things like Some Kind of Love Song and I Love You But…, so this would have been a good time for you. How do you remember the period 1999-2000? Did you do things differently then?

Yeah it was great! I really loved that time, and it was pretty heady, loads of gigs, playing big festivals and having a great time. I guess I did do things differently then, in that I have developed my skills a lot since then. I remember an UK guy coming and seeing us play, and he told me we wouldn’t cope in London with that show. I was kind of upset at the time, but he was right. We couldn’t sing, the whole thing was upside down, with Sia’s vocals coming off backing, and us playing the live instruments. It was funny, and fun, but it couldn’t go anywhere. That’s why I relocated to London, to take on the challenge and learn to produce music at an international level. Sometimes I wonder if I’d stayed in Australia, if I’d have been happier. There’s plenty of my contemporaries who can’t get their music out internationally, but have quite a nice life in Australia, and are doing well there. But I’m always pushing myself, so I wouldn’t have coped with being second best to myself, I’d rather throw myself in the deep end and drown than live knowing I hadn’t done my best. That’s just me though.

Who do you work with now? Do you work with any vocalists?

Yeah, loads! I’ve got my band Milke with Ra Khahn, who’s also originally from Australia but we met over here. We’ve just released our new single, which is getting loads of love, plays on KISS FM, X-FM, Ed Banger DJs are loving it, it’s really working well. I also produce and write for Black Peter, who’s this lofi gay rapper dude from New York. He’s amazing, kind of like a gay Peaches. And then I had Roxy Wilde in the studio this week, I’ve written and produced a track for her. She’s officially got the best name in showbiz, plus she’s Kim Wilde’s little singer, and back up vocalist for Kylie’s next tour. And then the Sexual Hot Bitches were in there this week too, they’re a kind of attitudey girl band, like ESG meets Gang of Four, very cool. They did a cover version of my song Let’s Fuck which you can download HERE…

So, being in England – does that mean you are now mates with people like Lily Allen? Who are your friends with that are musical? Can you drop any names?

Um yeah, loads of people. I see Kelle from Bloc Party around all the time, coz he lives in the hood. One of my studio peeps is Bryan Adam’s producer, and my neighbour is Darren Hayes’ producer, so I see him around a bit. No Lilly Allen’s to be honest, she’s West London, which is like a different world. I’m sure there’s loads more, but I never recognise faces. I remember Kelly Osbourne was out at a club I was in the other week, and I didn’t even recognise her. Oooooh, the dumpy one!

How did you move your records overseas? Did you move ALL of your records?

I shipped them, it was a nightmare. No I didn’t ship them all, but quite a few. And all my studio equipment. Now I play off CD only, so a lot of the records haven’t had a look in for ages. Until One Hour Rave came along! ha ha.

Where are your family or descendents from? Where does the name Kornwiebel come from? What does that place know of Andrew Friendly?

Kornweibel is a German Jewish name, it started in the 1600’s in Baveria. It means a Jewish grain dealer who short changes you, kind of like a dodgy drug dealer for the 1600s. I don’t have any Kornweibel blood in me though, it’s an adopted name by my grandfather. Weirdly though, my brother married a Baverian, so yes, some people in Munich know Andrew Friendly.

Will you ever come home to live in Australia? Do you normally come home to Australia for Christmas? Where do you go?

I don’t come back for Christmas, no… You should see how much the flights are! Crazy. Easter is better. I’m not sure I’ll come back to live in Australia to be honest. Maybe when I’m really old. For me, I love Europe, and its connection to the rest of the world, it’s exciting and diverse and creative and cultural. I love the lifestyle in Australia, and it’s quite easy to have a great life there though.

See what’s in Andrew Friendly’s record box at the following dates…

Thu 20 Mar – Sydney, Break Inn at Chinese Laundry
Sat 22 Mar – Brisbane, Breaks & Enter at GPO Hotel
Sun 23 Mar – Canberra, Secret Location
Thu 27 Mar – Melbourne, The Lounge
Sat 29 Mar – Hobart, Halo
Sun 30 Mar – Perth, Uber Bar
Fri 4 Apr – Coolangatta, Baja
Sat 5 Apr – Cairns, Breaks & Enter at Velvet Underground (Cairns Launch Party)

And what’s this ‘One Hour Rave’ business? Check it out here…