James Fierce is one of the UK’s raw talents, said to whip dance floors into a frenzy with his ‘dark disco’ sound. DJ Magazine have quoted him alongside the world’s best DJs for his ability to play unrecognised tracks in such a way that they become accessible to the crowd. He plays to the glamorous crowds in the weirdest places around the globe, from fetish parties in Singapore to raves in the desert. He is now working on his first album and has co-created Organised Kaos with well-known promoter Charlie Chester where Pete Tong, X-Press 2 and Deep Dish are already set to play alongside Fierce and Jo Mills as residents in banging parties all over the world. From his home outside Birmingham in the English countryside James took a moment to chat with ITM.
You were called UK’s most talented new DJ in 1999 and your first release is coming out soon, which you worked on with Steve Butler and Jo Mills. What can we expect with the first release and what was it like working with Steve and Jo?
I’m just laying down a few tracks at the moment, seeing how the ground lies. I want to do an album first, before the single, I know most people do it the other way round but I really want to do the album first. You can learn a lot from people who have been in the industry for a while, I just sort of take all the elements and try to work with them.
I hear you like it weird and wonderful. Some of the stranger parties you’ve played include Vampire parties in Transylvania, porn festivals in Scandinavia and raves in the Sinai desert. Sounds interesting… how are the crowd and the people at these parties?
You find at the end of the day with dance music that people are similar everywhere you go. When you work abroad people are more clued about music, which is kind of different to the UK where people go out and just party into the ground. Faces are different but the music is the same, people are into music, they are just looking for different places to party and the more unusual the better.
James has recently teamed up with promoter Charlie Chester to form Organised Kaos, with plans for rocking parties in Eastern Europe, South America and Ibiza in conjunction with other big UK promoters and club nights like “We Love”, who are the guys that promote Homelands and Space.
Tell us about Organised Kaos…
Me and Charlie have teamed up to make Organised Kaos, which is about artist management as well as organising parties. We have a business partner in Mexico, who owns some clubs in Mexico and Colombia and actually runs a Colombian modelling agency too. Charlie and Jo are in Ko Samui at the moment doing some parties with DJ Magazine and then they’re heading onto Singapore. We do a monthly party in Moscow, we just had one with Pete Tong and the next one is at the end of the month with X-Press 2. The parties have a very underground vibe about them, which we are moving, all around the world. We have bookings with Silicone Soul and Clive Henry from Peace Division and plans for more underground parties in Ibiza at some of the newer, smaller clubs, Pin-Up and The Underground.
You currently hold a residency with Tom Stephan at Crash in London, where else do you enjoy to play?
Yeah I play at Crash in Vauxhall, London, it’s in the Viaduct and it has such an underground feel, I have also recently been playing at Ministry of Sound in London. I’m noticing a turn around in the market, people are preferring the more family feel of smaller clubs, and I prefer playing to small clubs like up to a thousand people. You get a better feeling off the crowd and people enjoy it more. The scene is definitely changing in the UK and Ibiza; people are liking it small and unusual.
I do like Moscow though, probably because I like Russian women. But we play at this club that is built on being glamorous but the music is so underground, it’s unbelievable, so dirty! It’s a strange combination but it works so well, everybody is just going for it! I actually saw Marilyn Manson and Harrison Ford there when I was there last. Marilyn Manson had been playing a concert in Moscow and he walked in and just stood out totally covered in tattoos and then there was this guy at the bar in a white suit and my mate told me it was Harrison Ford. He was filming some movie, and he got on the dance floor and was just going for it, I wouldn’t say he had the moves but he was going for it!
(And for the ladies, James says Harrison looks pretty old from a distance but up close he’s sharp and actually a really nice guy!)
After a set at the Dome Club in Tel Aviv DJ Magazine described your sound as ‘Sneak-style house, dirty Derrick Carter grooves and wigged-out Winkish Techno’. What can we expect to hear in your Aussie sets?
I am very into Derrick Carter, I hate genres but at the moment they’re calling it “punk house”, it’s really chunky, still funky and groovy but definitely not cheesy. I don’t play cheesy stuff, I like the underground sound, people are intelligent enough to understand good music, it’s rubbish to say that people can’t tell good underground music and only want to hear the cheesy stuff!
Obviously track selection is a major factor in a great set but with dance music increasing in popularity, DJs are earning a name with clubbers by playing popular songs. What do you think makes a good DJ?
It’s definitely about working the crowd; it’s not about sticking your head down. I suppose when you reach a level of “super-stardom” you are expected to play really good underground records all the time. People look to you to play underground and new tracks. You can play underground and still keep people dancing. At the front you have to play new records, there is no point in playing it safe, playing ritzy!
Australia has a much smaller population than the UK, so it’s hard for a specific genre of music to flourish, but with huge names like Groove Armada and Paul Van Dyk coming back year after year do you think Australia is finally getting on the map as a country that loves to party?
Definitely. It’s a different place to party. The scene is worldwide now, Australia is up there as a clubbing destination like England or Ibiza. My mates are always coming out here for holidays and just spend the whole time clubbing!
With the album under way and Organised Kaos a smashing success all over the world, what’s next on the agenda?
Well I spend about 80% of my time out of the UK; I am travelling every weekend. I was in Moscow last weekend and two weeks before that playing over in Mexico and after Christmas I was in the States. I’m heading to Estonia in May and then doing a tour of Russia and then after June is the silly season in Ibiza, I mean wherever there is a place we’ll have a party. I’m playing with Silicone Soul on a submarine base and I’ve played in an army base in Yugoslavia, and all the machinery was still in there, which was weird.
James assured me he is very excited to be heading back over to Oz; it’s been two years since his last visit, which is too long! He is playing with France’s DJ Falcon at the ArtHouse on Saturday April 19 over the Easter long weekend for the launch of the monthly party ‘kink’, ‘time to experience something new…’
James Fierce will be playing the launch of ‘kink’ at the Arthouse in Sydney, Saturday April 19, along with France’s DJ Falcon and the Vinyl Slingers. To buy tickets, click HERE.
