{"id":5882,"date":"2014-08-18T10:30:49","date_gmt":"2014-08-18T08:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deephouselondon.com\/?p=5882"},"modified":"2015-05-14T14:09:20","modified_gmt":"2015-05-14T12:09:20","slug":"exclusive-interview-ben-pearce-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/exclusive-interview-ben-pearce-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive Interview: Ben Pearce"},"content":{"rendered":"

You should all be well aware of Ben Pearce, the Manchester-based artist who exploded on to the scene with one of the biggest tracks in recent times, ‘What I Might Do’, which was so big that Tesco snapped it up for one of their television advertisements. Of course, he is not a one-hit wonder nor is he one of those producer-turned-DJ types who can’t really handle a set of decks. Ben has been DJing for a long while, for five years before he made it big in fact, and he runs his own label, Purp & Soul, as well as having releases and remixes on his own label, MTA Records and Ninja Tune to name but a few. With a hectic touring schedule, he’s a difficult man to pin down but we recently grabbed a quick phone call with him… <\/strong><\/p>\n

How\u2019s 2014 been for you so far?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s been really good, I haven\u2019t released as much as I would have liked to because I\u2019ve been so busy touring. The backlash of having that first year has carried over and I\u2019ve been really busy. It\u2019s only over the last two weeks when I\u2019ve had a bit more free time to get back in the studio, which has been amazing because the first part of the year was like, \u201cAhhhhh\u201d, so busy. But\u2019s it a lot different to working in a call centre or a bank or whatever. It was difficult to adjust at first but now I feel like I\u2019m limbered up and stretched ready for the marathon weekends, so I\u2019m not getting as tired nowadays.<\/p>\n

How long did it take you to get used to it?<\/strong>
\nAges, I guess I\u2019m still adjusting now. It\u2019s difficult to gauge, especially when you\u2019re touring on your own – being sat at an airport going, \u2018Urrrgggh!\u2019 and wondering if everyone feels the same when they\u2019re in that position. I feel a lot better this year, a bit more excited and positive about the weekends instead of being overwhelmed by it all.<\/p>\n

Did you have any down moments where it really felt too much?<\/strong>
\nNot really any bad moments, just the pressure of trying to perform well and not have a bad gig or a bad review. I have really bad self-esteem anyway so those kind of things really got to me for a while, but I\u2019m building up a thicker skin now \u2013 the pressure it still there, like it is with any job really.<\/p>\n

[youtube id=”hDUwz52cbLg” width=”620″ height=”360″]<\/p>\n

I saw the video of you playing the Main Room at Space in Ibiza, that must be quite an experience!<\/strong>
\nYeahhh, that was weird. It was almost like an out-of-body experience, looking down on myself dancing in the booth. I don\u2019t usually dance, I\u2019m usually deadpan! That was amazing, really really amazing. When I\u2019ve been to Space in the past, as a punter, I\u2019d never really been in that room \u2013 I always spent time in the Terrace \u2013 actually DJing in that room is insane, the crowd is ridiculous.<\/p>\n

It is indeed. How has being on the road so much fed back into your DJing and production?<\/strong>
\nWith production, it\u2019s juggling my time between being on the road and working on music in the studio. It\u2019s having the discipline to sit down and not want to go off and do something else, because being on the road is so hectic and energetic, while producing is largely sitting there for eight hours or more. It\u2019s hard to get back into it on a Monday or Tuesday when you\u2019re back from touring. DJing has changed too, not so much in terms of confidence, I was a DJ for five years before that track came out so I don\u2019t have a problem with confidence \u2013 it\u2019s changed the way I prepare for sets now. In the first year I didn\u2019t know what people in Holland liked, or people in Italy, but now I can sit down and get a playlist together for where I\u2019m going. It\u2019s less hectic when you can gauge roughly what the crowd wants.<\/p>\n

What about the effect that all the touring has had on your personal life?<\/strong>
\nI never really think about it, I just get back home and get on with it. Up north it\u2019s a lot more difficult to lose yourself, if you get an ego people will shoot down\u2026 quickly! I just keep them separate, I played golf this morning which was like meditation for me, now I\u2019m at mine cooking for my mates. If you\u2019re always full-on with music, thinking about it and working all the time you burn yourself out. You need to give yourself time and space away from it, too and do other things\u2026 like stressing yourself out cooking for friends!<\/p>\n

What are you actually working on at the moment?<\/strong>
\nNo releases pending, but I\u2019m working with a few vocalists on a few different tracks. I\u2019ve worked with a couple of other producers recently as well. I\u2019m just in the dry patch where there\u2019s nothing pending but I\u2019m getting stuff together ready to put out there later down the line.<\/p>\n

[youtube id=”vb7EjbMdkp4″ width=”620″ height=”360″]<\/p>\n

What\u2019s happening with the label as well?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s going really well, we just had our 11th release with Cy Humphreys. That\u2019s gone down really well and the next one\u2019s from Harry Wolfman, then Jouhl. I\u2019m enjoying plodding along with that, it\u2019s not something I want to use to get tracks in the charts or anything like that it\u2019s just nice to have this family of artists who are all doing well.<\/p>\n

Yeah, that\u2019s what I was going to say, it seems as though from the beginning it\u2019s been a family-orientated type of label\u2026<\/strong>
\nIt happened naturally, it was never planned. It gives it a real strong sense of camaraderie. Lately we\u2019ve been quite busy, all of us, and we’ve not been able to put as much into it as we want to. But we give it time when we can \u2013 we all got together at Secret Garden Party as we had a stage there and that was incredible.<\/p>\n

Speaking of Secret Garden Party. That\u2019s an event that DJs always look forward to, but are there any other festivals or locations you really get excited about going to?<\/strong>
\nI always enjoy playing in Holland, I\u2019ve never had a bad gig there. Clubs like fabric and Sub Club are always ones that, when the booking comes through, you\u2019re like, \u2018Yes! This is going to be awesome!\u2019. I\u2019m playing fabric again in October actually, and it\u2019s my birthday too so I\u2019m really looking forward to that one. That\u2019s going to be fun. Festival-wise, Secret Garden Party is always amazing\u2026 it\u2019s a clich\u00e9d answer but, so far, all the festivals I\u2019ve played at have been really good. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve played at enough of them to have a favourite.<\/p>\n

Are you still listening to other music besides house?<\/strong>
\nOh yeah, of course. I got really excited when I was booked to play Reading and Leeds because Blink182 are headlining, I definitely want to go and see them. I\u2019ve wanted to see them for ages. I know it sounds bad but I don\u2019t usually listen to house music, if I\u2019m going about my business with my headphones in or whatever, I won\u2019t have it on.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not bad at all, it\u2019s a good way to be. It gives you a fresher perspective on things\u2026 Is there anything in particular you\u2019re really enjoying outside of house at the moment?<\/strong>
\nYeah, Wild Beasts and Future Islands. I\u2019ve been listening to lots of City and Colour lately, I won\u2019t listen to them for ages and then I\u2019ll just binge on them for about a month.<\/p>\n

Lastly, in your opinion, what defines \u2018deep house\u2019?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s really hard isn\u2019t it? I guess it\u2019s minor chords, atmospherics… nothing too banging. My pinnicle of it would be Larry Heard. I don\u2019t think much of the stuff that\u2019s called deep house these days is actually deep house. Genres are best kept for record stores and Beatport, just make music that\u2019s good and if you like it, then that\u2019s all that counts. That\u2019s always been my take on it. These days people are too tied up on defining music, but you can get too caught up in that and not enjoy it.<\/p>\n

Ben Pearce will be at The Social Festival on the 13th September more info below…<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Line-up: \u00c2me | Art Department | Ben Pearce | Carl Cox | Craig Richards | Dixon | Gorgon City | Guy Gerber | Mark Fanciulli | Nic Fanciulli | Nina Kraviz | Oliver $ | Rob Cockerton | Route 94 | Secondcity | Seth Troxler | Simon Dunmore | Shadow Child | Subb-an | tINI | Tristan Ingram and more…<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Social<\/a><\/span>Ben Pearce Soundcloud<\/a><\/span>Tickets<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You should all be well aware of Ben Pearce, the Manchester-based artist who exploded on to the scene with one of the biggest tracks in recent times, ‘What I Might Do’, which was so big that Tesco snapped it up for one of their television advertisements. Of course, he is not a one-hit wonder nor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":17407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"audio","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3971],"tags":[4695,4137,4212,4213],"class_list":["post-5882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-audio","has-post-thumbnail","category-interviews-london","tag-ben-pearce-london-2","tag-mta-records","tag-purp-soul","tag-the-social","post_format-post-format-audio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}