We’re big fans of PBR Streetgang here at Deep House London, the Leeds duo (Bonar Bradberry and Tom Thorpe) have been pushing out top quality tunes for quite some time now and they’re always worth checking when they’re DJing, too. Being fans of the duo we were excited to see that their first ever mix compilation had been released in conjunction with Boutique Hostal Salinas in Ibiza and, with that in mind, we thought it was high time we grabbed them for a little chat about the project and what else they’ve been up to…
Summer is coming to an end, can you tell us a little bit about what you’ve been up to over the last couple of months?
Tom: It’s been another great summer thanks. I would say festivals, Ibiza, and Croatia would be a good summary. Oh that and moving the studio! Well it was actually building a new one, in the basement of Bonar’s new place. It took a while but was very rewarding once complete. We literally did everything, even making our own sound proof panels!
Personal gig highlights for me were the Garden Festival in Croatia, it just seems to get better every year, which is saying a lot when it’s our eighth consecutive year playing! Secret Garden was a lot of fun – we played the Labyrinth for the first time, which was nuts! Festival No.6 in Wales, Port Marion is such an amazing venue for a festival. And finally We Love at Space was spot on again. We closed the terrace a couple of weeks ago, which was a fantastic feeling.
Have you been anywhere new that’s really blown you away or left a good impression on you?
T: Yeah, we recently played a festival in Amersfoort called ‘Into The Woods’ which took us by surprise. It was the third festival in as many days so as you can imagine we were partied out. But once we got to the festival we were totally blown away by it all; the stage, the staff, the sound, and the crowd were simply amazing! It was a real pleasure to play, so enjoyable we stayed and played the after party and the after after party (I think)!
Tell us about your involvement with the Boutique Hostal Salinas compilation? How long did it take to put together etc…?
T: Dave Philips, who is one of the owners of ‘BHS’ and also a resident at We Love, has been a good friend of ours for many years. He mentioned the project and invited us to get involved last year. We jumped at the chance as it ticked a lot of boxes for us; for a friend, Ibiza-related, plus weirdly it would be our first official mix comp. We spent a lot of time compiling the right tracks and delivering the best possible mix. I hope everyone enjoys it.
You have a fair few releases on the way once summer is up, can you fill us in on those – particularly the X-Press 2 collab… how did that come about?
Bonar: Well, it’s been an ongoing thing for over a year now, like many of these collab projects are – Rocky from Xpress 2 got in touch and me met up in a pub and had a chat about it what we were going to do. About nine months passed and we’d finally finished a couple of tracks we were happy with but looks like it wont see daylight until next year. Hopefully for everyone it’ll be worth the wait.
You also have an official Lana Del Rey remix on the way, how did that come together?
B: I guess that came from the remix work we did for our friend Charlotte OC which you can check out below, who shares the same management as Lana, I guess they were really happy with what we did with her so asked us to remix again.
It must be a great feeling to be doing what you love and also having bigger, more commercial labels bringing you in to do stuff like that?
B: It’s always nice to have a bit more recognition from the outside world, especially as that isn’t our main aim, it’s just to make good music that were happy with and it’s just cool to see it spread its wings a little if you know what I mean.
You guys are also now putting on your own events, can you enlighten us about those and what the ethos is, where you’ll be holding and who we can expect to catch playing at them?
T: Yes, ‘Lost Property’ launches on October 11th at Canal Mills in Leeds. We’ve been promoting for nearly as many years as DJing, so you could say it’s in our blood! Our aim is to do a handful of events starting in Leeds and London with a view to expanding and attaching the brand to festivals and other cities if it all goes to plan. The main reason for doing the parties is so we can have total control of all aspects of an event; venue, sound, set up, production, etc. Plus we want to push fresh underground music, mainly people we know, no big names, the emphasis is on the party! Outboxx and Craig Bratley will be joining us at our first event.
The Leeds scene has been so fertile for so long, what do you think it is that makes the city so productive in terms of music and artists/parties etc…
T: Leeds has always had a great scene, which in turn has produced its fair share of talented promoters, DJs, and producers. The city has been weaned on great underground music, the likes of ‘Back To Basics’ has been running for over twenty two years, this definitely has an impact and influences people. It’s also a relatively small city so people get to know one another, this in turn means they support each others parties and music. It’s a fun place to be!
For someone who’s never been to Leeds before, which touristy sights should they check out?
T: My tips would be… stay at the Malmaison hotel as it’s central. Then check out the corn exchange for some boutique shops. Unfortunately there isn’t a good record store (as Waxwerks has gone) but Piccadilly in Manchester isn’t too far away. Definitely have some pub food at Whitelocks the oldest pub in the city. Night time vibes, check out Distrikt and Outlaws for drinks before heading to either Canal Mills or Mint club, both regularly have great line ups.
How does Leeds compare with London? What are the pros and cons of each city?
B: I don’t think you can compare the two really – they are so vastly different in terms of size and what they offer. From a clubbing parallel at least Leeds certainly punches above its weight and there are some great parties on every weekend, it’s just in London I think there is something great on every night of the week!
Finally, give us your definition of ‘deep house’…
Errrmmm … maybe this …
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‘Boutique Hostal Salinas’ mixed by David Phillips and PBR Streetgang is out now on Seamless Recordings, click here to pick it up.
