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Get funked with the Trophy Twins

Reported by kafalicious / Submitted 11-03-03 05:18

To funk fans the Trophy Twins, Adam Foster and Mark Ramsden, need no introduction. Indeed, they have created quite a stir on the UK House circuit leaving many a rave review in their wake. So, just who are they and what makes them tick? Read on to find out more…



kaf: Where did it all start for you guys, how did you come together? Where did the name Trophy Twins come from?

Trophy Twins: We met through Tidy Trax, Adam being a good friend of Andy Pickles and myself running Tidy Management. Once we actually got to know each other we realized we had something in common, that being a love for House music. I’d been playing local clubs playing early Robbie Rivera material through to a more uptempo Dutch sound like Jas van Houten and the likes and Adam much the same so it seemed like a natural progression to fuse the two together and play back to back. Our first gig came through Goodgreef before in all honesty we had agreed on a name. We’d thrown a few names around with no joy until an incident occurred in Torquay.

We went along on a Tidy Tour to Torquay where we all stayed at the same hotel and on leaving for the club we all noticed a rather large Trophy behind the counter. We left the club early to drop off Paul Glazby and Lee Haslam as they were slightly worse for wear, less a bottle of Vodka. On stumbling out of the car Mr Glazby insisted we had the Trophy on our return.Through some covert tactics we managed to steal the Trophy and present it to Glazby who was in fact in a deep sleep and just told us to be quiet. So it just came from there really…

kaf: I’ll be honest, I didn’t know anything about you guys until I took on this interview. It didn’t take long for me to find that you two have created quite a stir on the house / funk circuit! Indeed, to house / funk fans you guys are no strangers, and are widely sought after with rave reviews received whenever you play. What is the ‘secret’ to your success?

TT: Mmmm. We just try to enjoy ourselves with everything we do, we play music that we love and that people want to hear (we hope).

kaf: Your sound has been described as ‘crossing various genres from down tempo French and US House, through to pumped up Filtered Disco Grooves and Deep and Dark Tribal sounds’. How would you describe your style?

TT: House music in a nutshell. As you’ve mentioned above we do play across various genres dependant on where we play. Mainly main room House but obviously we play a more down tempo sound when needed and a tougher tech/tribal set too.

kaf: I’ve read that you incorporate a live percussionist into your sets at times – I can only imagine what a great experience that would be! What or who inspired you to do this and at what events are we likely to see this?

TT: We weren’t inspired to do it, the credit lies with Goodgreef. We turned up to play for them in Manchester and there was a guy there called Bongo Jeff. We weren’t overly sure at first as sometimes you get a club that wires the bongo’s through the monitors and if he’s out of time then you struggle your arse off to mix. Thankfully Jeff is a top percussionist and since the initial gig we’ve played with him time and time again and we really do work well off each other, which is great as it brings another dimension to your set. You can let him play short solo routines and also cut in and out of tracks with him filling in the gaps…

kaf: Take me through a typical Trophy Twins set.

TT: Tricky one as it depends where we play. If were doing a early/warm up set we’ll play on a more down tempo tip incorporating more of a ‘Honchos’ or ‘Defected’ style vocal sound. If we’re playing a 4hr set which we do more often than not we’ll incorporate a wide variety of sounds from current anthems to dirty punchy tech house with the odd classic dropped in for good measure. We always try and keep our options open as you never know what the crowds going to go for. This is probably why we take 4 or 5 record bags full per set.

kaf: Today sees you guys with a host of residencies and guest spots including Sundissential Norths Funkissential in Leeds, Sundissentials; Funkissential at the Mint club in Leeds. Gatecrasher, Godskitchen and Goodgreefs House Party in Manchester as well as Frantic and Tidy events in London. Any I’ve missed?!

TT: Just a few. We’re playing for Promise in Newcastle on a regular basis, which is excellent, it’s a great night with top notch promoters and clubbers alike. We’re playing for Garlands in Liverpool in the coming weeks, which is a highlight on our calendar, they ram it out each week with just their residents and don’t book guests. But Dave & Huey have invited us down to play, which we are privileged and honored to do. We’ve got a date scheduled in at Layed @ Bed in Sheffield which is one again a prospect we’re very much looking forward to. There are quite a few other nights but I don’t want to drown on, all the gigs are spot on and all the promoters we play for are a credit to themselves. Finally though I have to give a mention to Riot and the Ignition crew, we played with the lads recently which was tops, they’re a good bunch of lads and we’re going to be bringing them up to North very soon for a taste of our Northern scene.

kaf: You’ve played overseas including Finland, South Africa and Ibiza. What countries are you hoping to travel to this year?

TT: Ibiza does sit high on our list of priorities, we’ve recently secured our seasons work out there, which will incorporate pool parties and club gigs so were really excited about that. A good tan won’t go a miss either!!! I’m not sure if we’re at liberty to say who were playing for at the minute so you’ll have to keep an eye out in the press for details… Aside from Ibiza we’re really trying to concentrate on the UK, it’s going really well at the minute and we haven’t got a day off until May, so we’re throwing all our resources at these gigs. We have been asked to do a mini tour of South Africa, which we’ll hopefully get happening in July or August sometime.

kaf: What DJ’s / producers are inspiring you right now?

TT: DJs would have to be Eric Morrillo, he’s always been on top from when we’ve managed to catch up with him, I wouldn’t say he’s inspiring but definitely worthy of his status. We would also have to mention Darren Emerson and Sandy Rivera both churning out some great sets over the past few months with some inspring forthcoming tunes. As far as production goes there are so many excellent producers in the scene it would be unfair to single out one or two. You very rarely get one label that churns out consistent belters, it’s all about various artists having there moments of glory…

kaf: What top 5 tunes are you spinning at the moment?

TT:
1. Thrills. Vol 1 – Unknown – White
2. Saffron Hill – My Love is always there – CDR
3. Medicine8 – Rock Music Pays off - Regal
4. Deranged – Punk City - White
5. Percy Filth – Show me your love – Oxyd

kaf: Career highlights thus far? I’m guessing one of them was being in last month’s Mixmag?!

TT: Highs have to be playing music we love to great crowds at great clubs. Once again too many to single out but all the clubbers going off to the music you play makes every gig a high. Just being able to do what we do is rewarding in itself. Yeah Mixmag was definately the icing on the cake for the hard work put in over the last few years. It makes it all worth while when you start to get recognition by people like Mixmag, it does give you that feeling that it’s starting to come together.

kaf: Any lows?

TT: Motorways and more motorways, although Adam does all the driving so he sees more of them than me, I’ve usually passed out. Constantly being tired and not having a social life are a few of the lows but we wouldn’t want to change it…

kaf: What are you hoping to achieve in 2003?

TT: Just keep on doing what we do and pushing our sound forward. Things are coming together with some great gigs on the table for future, and were hopefully going to get our heads down in the studio sooner rather than later.

kaf: You guys are set to headline the Twisted Beats & Filtered Funk room for Tidy London on Saturday 1st March and the Funkaholic room at the Frantic Hard House Academy on Saturday 15th March at Brixton Academy. You guys looking forward to these – what can we expect?!

TT: Some good quality house music with a party element…

kaf: What do you think makes a DJ ‘great’?

TT: Being inspirational, maybe experimental with their chosen sound. Seemless mixing and personality are a must.

kaf: To MC or not MC – what’s your stance?

TT: Not for us. If it compliments a music then that’s cool, but our music has enough vocals so any more would cause an overkill.

kaf: Any final words for the HarderFaster readers?!

TT: Just a big thanks to all the clubs who’ve supported us and continue to support us to this day. All the clubbers who’ve enjoyed our sets, it’s been a pleasure!!! Thanks Harder Faster for your time.

Thank you for your time, I look forward to seeing one of your sets!


The Trophy Twins play at Frantic Hard House Academy on Saturday 15th March - for full details click here.



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Other Features By kafalicious:
Interview with Ingo
Lab4: always keeping it real
Hardhouse Anthems 4 Launch - Interview with Rob Tissera
Searching for the perfect wave with Martin McHale
Interview with Danny Gilligan
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
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