{"id":7581,"date":"2015-05-07T09:08:51","date_gmt":"2015-05-07T07:08:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deephouselondon.com\/?p=7581"},"modified":"2015-05-14T13:52:34","modified_gmt":"2015-05-14T11:52:34","slug":"promoter-interview-james-benenson-found-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/promoter-interview-james-benenson-found-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Promoter Interview: James Benenson (Found Series)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s the latest in our series of interviews with some of London’s best promoters. This time around we spoke to James Benenson, one of the men behind Found Series, and Urban Nerds, two outfits that have really injected some life into the capital’s party scene by working with a variety of genres, all with a strong focus on grassroots and a London\/UK-centric kind of vibe. Found connects the dots between house, techno and a variety of London-born sounds like jungle, grime and dubstep. This year they’re organising five separate one-day events in London, which is a mammoth task. We had a great chat with James recently, where we not only discussed the Found Series but also delved into his hobbies… <\/strong><\/p>\n

So, first of all, tell us how you came to be one of the people in charge of Found Series?<\/strong>
\nI started out when I was 17, as a writer to begin with, freelancing and writing about grime, dubstep \u2013 the emerging sounds in London back then. I had a real interest in the music and ended up writing about it for magazines like RWD and other small online publications. Initially, it was about having a way of getting guestlist into the clubs I wanted to go to! Eventually that interest led to a desire to put on my own parties, which kind of ate away at me for a while until I finally set up Urban Nerds with a crew of mates at 93 Feet East on Brick Lane. It became the first \u2018UK Bass\u2019 party in London to take on the warehouse scene, I got into the warehouse thing and came across house and techno for the first time as I was going to venue viewings and looking for new spaces. That was when I met my current business partner, Will. We worked together on a few things and, four years ago, we realised there was a gap between the electronic stuff he was doing and the more grassroots, London stuff I was pushing and that culminated in the first Found Series, which took place at Hidden in Vauxhall. We have an interest in underground British club culture and that\u2019s really what Found is all about, connecting the dots between underground house and techno with grime, dubstep and all the other stuff.<\/p>\n

I was listening to some old pirate radio tapes the other day and, when you listen to the adverts, so many of the parties had jungle in room 1, house in room 2 and RnB in room 3. It\u2019s rare to see that these days, which is why Found is so refreshing\u2026<\/strong>
\nThat was the thinking behind Urban Nerds initially. \u2018Urban\u2019 music was a dirty term at the time, it was \u201cladies free before 9\u201d, shirts and shoes for the men, overpriced tickets and a lot of questionable hip-hop and RnB. For me and my mates, growing up in London, it was about pulling together grime and dubstep with hip-hop, RnB, jungle, garage and all of that stuff. From Will\u2019s perspective, he\u2019s been promoting for over 20 years and seen a lot of the parties you\u2019re talking about, it was a natural synergy when we came together and we\u2019ve got utmost respect for people that focus on one thing and go in-depth into one sound \u2013 but we\u2019re interested in the party and what brings people together.<\/p>\n

\"Found<\/a><\/p>\n

Tell us about the events you\u2019re putting on this year because you\u2019re really going all out aren\u2019t you?<\/strong>
\nFor sure, we\u2019ve come full circle in that we started out as a series of club events and now we\u2019re running a series of festivals. We have five one-day London festivals happening in the city this year and, I believe, over 400 artists, 30 stages and four London parks involved. The series embodies everything I\u2019ve just said; we have Born & Bred at Haggerston Park in June, which will be an exploration of the music that was born in London; jungle, dubstep, grime. Then we have Found at Brockwell Park, which is very much about the cutting edge of house and techno, it\u2019s very international. Then we have 51st State at Trent Park in north London, on 8th August which looks back to the heritage of house, back to Chicago, New York and artists like Masters At Work and Tony Humphries. It\u2019s not just about house but the music that surrounded it then and now; disco, garage, soul and even elements of dub culture. It\u2019s a transatlantic festival because it works off that triangle from the Caribbean, to the States and the UK. At the end of the summer we have Ceremony on the 12th September \u2013 it\u2019s a 360-degree celebration of dance music, where there will be different tents for different electronic music genres. The day after Ceremony we have United, which is all about Britain and places jungle and garage next to hardcore and acid, showing how the music has progressed from the late eighties up to now.<\/p>\n

How do you guys manage to stay on top of all of this and maintain a social life?<\/strong>
\nWe\u2019re lucky to have built a small but solid team. We\u2019ve come a long way and, over the years, we\u2019ve handpicked a team that\u2019s very much become like a family. We work differently to other companies in that things like talent booking are very much a group effort, there\u2019s no one set booker \u2013 it\u2019s an amalgamation of personalities in the office pitching in when they need to and having a community discussion about our branding, our ethos and our direction. Rather than just another excuse for a festival, which is not what we aspire to be at all and I hope people don\u2019t view us in that way. If you like at the series you\u2019ll hopefully get a grasp of the range of exciting music that\u2019s on offer, a lot of which you won\u2019t normally hear all in one place. We\u2019re also not ashamed to say that we\u2019re grassroots; we\u2019re about a city location, stage, a tent and really good music.<\/p>\n

So, away from that, we hear you have quite an interesting hobby?…<\/strong>
\nHaha, yes. My not-so-secret scuba diving hobby is out of the bag! It\u2019s something that I picked up randomly when I was 13 \u2013 I used to go to Cyprus every summer to stay with my grandmother during the holidays. After going through my toddler years and seeing everything there was to see of this tiny little Cypriot village, I decided I needed something else to occupy my six week holiday and scuba diving did exactly that. I\u2019ve done my best to maintain that as a hobby all my life, obviously it\u2019s not the easiest thing to do as you can\u2019t just step out of your house and do it, but I find it\u2019s a really calming, thought-provoking hobby that really allows your mind to rest. It\u2019s so different to anything above the surface and offers some silence away from a world that is very noise-led.<\/p>\n

What level are you at now then?<\/strong>
\nI\u2019m a paddy diver, which is the biggest diving organisation. The first course is open water diver, the second is advanced open water diver. Once you\u2019re beyond that, you\u2019re getting onto a level where you\u2019re diving every two months or wanting to do it as a career. I\u2019m also a nitrox certified diver, which means I can breathe enriched air, which has more nitrogen in it than the air we breathe on the surface. It means you can dive deeper for longer, I\u2019m really proud of that one and I\u2019ve logged around 90 or more dives now, too, which I keep trying to build on.<\/p>\n

\"Found<\/a><\/p>\n

Where did you go diving last?<\/strong>
\nI went diving in Sharm-El-Sheikh in Egypt, which was incredible. I also did the Barrier Reef not long ago.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s been the most breathtaking experience you\u2019ve had while diving?<\/strong>
\nJust in general, Sharm-El-Sheikh \u2013 the dive area there is a nature reserve, so it\u2019s pristine. It\u2019s not just about what you see, you get interesting currents, which are a challenge to navigate \u2013 it was the first time I hadn\u2019t been to some tropical paradise, where you jump in and jump out again. You really had to plan to dive and work with experienced divers to make sure you came out safely at the other end. As I said, it was pristine, which, sadly, is becoming a rarity these days but with the challenging currents, it was even more rewarding.<\/p>\n

Is there anywhere that\u2019s next on your hitlist?<\/strong>
\nI definitely want to dive in Mexico, not least because I haven\u2019t been to BPM yet! I\u2019ve got plans to get over there in January, like the rest of London seems to do, and hit BPM \u2013 then go and recuperate under the Mexican sea. The Andaman Islands off Thailand would be great and the Galapagos Islands, too \u2013 which, obviously, are hugely important in respect of nature and evolution. I think it would be really special to dive there, especially as it\u2019s so protected, thankfully, with only a limited number of people allowed to dive there each year.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s chat about EastEnders, as we hear that\u2019s another interest of yours? Are you managing to keep up to date with it?<\/strong>
\nAlways. It\u2019s literally, four times a week, then phone goes off or isn\u2019t answered, the bedroom door is shut and it\u2019s complete silence, undisturbed while EastEnders is on. It\u2019s all rubbish really, but it\u2019s rubbish that, like the diving, helps you switch off. It\u2019s also a family tradition, I\u2019ve been watching EastEnders since I was four years old, so 23 years now! I couldn\u2019t live without it.<\/p>\n

Which storyline has got you gripped at the moment?<\/strong>
\nI was hooked when we were waiting for the big \u2018Who killed Lucy?\u2019 reveal, but that was a bit of an anti-climax \u2013 I almost put a bet on but I\u2019m glad I didn\u2019t. Last night there were two funerals on the same day, as only you can in Albert Square, and they managed to mix up the coffins\u2026 I think someone got cremated who shouldn\u2019t have been and someone was mistakenly buried. This is the kind of stupidity that\u2019s a nice break from the world of electronic music, four times a week. I\u2019m not ashamed to say I\u2019m a solid EastEnders fan.<\/p>\n

Back to the festivals, we guess you\u2019ll be running around a fair bit, but is there anyone you\u2019re looking forward to seeing?<\/strong>
\nPersonally, I\u2019m really excited about Motor City Drum Ensemble at Found. Obviously I\u2019ve known about him for quite a while and I\u2019m a big fan of his mixes, especially the Boiler Room stuff that\u2019s out there. On an open-air stage, he should be amazing. Collectively we\u2019re excited about Marquis Hawkes and so many others. Born & Bred is going to be really special, seeing people like Digital Mystikz, Goldie and Wiley on one main stage is going to be great and probably should have been done a long while ago. We\u2019ve got someone really really big doing a classics set at Ceremony, 51st State, there\u2019s so many acts \u2013 the dark horse has been the soul tent with Omar singing live.<\/p>\n

Finally, finish the sentence, \u2018Without house music I would\u2026\u2019<\/strong>
\n\u2026probably be a Scuba Diving instructor!<\/p>\n

For information on all the Found Series events, click on the buttons below.<\/p>\n

Born & Bred<\/a><\/span>Found<\/a><\/span>51st State<\/a><\/span>United Festival<\/a><\/span>Ceremony Festival<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s the latest in our series of interviews with some of London’s best promoters. This time around we spoke to James Benenson, one of the men behind Found Series, and Urban Nerds, two outfits that have really injected some life into the capital’s party scene by working with a variety of genres, all with a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":7584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"audio","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3971],"tags":[4524,4525,4521],"class_list":["post-7581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-audio","has-post-thumbnail","category-interviews-london","tag-found-series","tag-james-benenson","tag-promoter","post_format-post-format-audio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7581","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=7581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}