Exclusive Interview With DJ & Producer Tanner
Diving into the industry under a new alias, Tanner otherwise known as Connor England, is a 23 year old DJ & producer from Daventry, who specialises in House and Disco. Currently based in South London he is completing his degree in Music Industry Management at The Royal Docks Business School. I caught up with him to get an insight into his life and whatās been keeping him busy recently in the big smoke.
Hi Connor, thanks for taking the time to chat, must be quite the challenge trying to keep on top of university work and maintaining a DJ career, how do you time manage? And what are your plans for after university?
Easy, thanks for having me! So yeah, Iām in 2nd year at Uni at the moment, and although the course is rather academic (being Music Business) the workload hasnāt been too much to handle yet alongside my job and music work! I work as a bike messenger almost full time alongside Uni in the week and that covers me for money, leaving me from around 5pm onwards each night to focus on my music/Uni work. Iām testing new tracks, mixing and building sets for possible gigs near enough every day, be it before work or Uni, or when I get back, and the same goes for when I sit down to write my own music or play around with some edits.Ā
Music itself is a big part of my day to day routine, and my daily life (besides work) almost completely revolves around either studying about music, or making/re-producing it in some way. Weekends are best, as I can use both free days to really get into a new project in the studio, or simply use the time to search for new music etc. In terms of what Iāll be doing when I finally graduate Uni, youāll probably see me doing the same things, but with more time and money on my hands to do them! Also, Iām working on a few up-coming projects right now that if all go well, should keep me more than busy after graduation.
The inevitable question, what made you decide to become a DJ?Ā
Haha, this is a hard question actually, because thereās so many different reasons and memories I have of starting, plus I got my first set of decks 8 years ago now! But to be completely honest, the first time I ever experienced dance music in a way that influenced my future choices was at the age of 15, when I lived in my hometown of Daventry. An older friend who I looked up to a lot and who always had his ears to the ground for new music, invited me to a house party in the neighbouring city Coventry. Being a small-town boy and still in school, opportunities to leave the town and go out at my age were minimal, so I was eager to not miss out. We eventually arrived at the house quite late and settled in, not long after which I was offered my first pill by another friend.Ā
As you can imagine, and like most stories before mine that include a reference to ecstasy, the rest is history. The person who was DJāing was playing all sorts of stuff that Iād never heard before (I was in to some pretty crap music myself at the time) and it just completely blew me away. For the rest of the night I danced in genuine awe of the DJ as he played tracks by Pearson Sound, Mala, Boddika, Leofah, and Pangaea to name but a few. (Ramadanman ā āGlutā was one of the tunes I heard that night for example). I think the combination of those heavy rolling 135/140bpm tracks and my first pill experience gave me an insight into a world I didnāt know existed till that point. After I finally recovered the next day or so, it was obvious to me that I had the bug, and I decided Iād never look back from that experience or the scene I was introduced to. I began practicing on my brothers Technic 1210ās and bought my first set of decks soon after. Nearly 8 years later here we are! Romantic eh.
So, youāve been uploading some of your own edits via SoundCloud recently. When did you start to produce and where do you see it taking you alongside your DJing?
Well, Iāve always wanted to make my own music alongside being a DJ, as most of us do at some point it seems. I mean, itās a natural progression to move from playing other peopleās music to making your own I guess. Up until now Iāve been rather self-critical with my productions, and thus havenāt uploaded anything till now. However, in the past 6 months Iāve spent extra time in the studio working on tracks, and decided it was about time I released some under a new alias, so I created Tanner to group together my current DJ and production work. In the long term, I plan to keep building on my individual sound as a producer to coincide with the type of music I play in my DJ sets, and to release on some labels Iāve always wanted to feature on. I like the idea of starting my own label at some point as well, to release some of my more obscure or random productions, possibly alongside other friends and colleagues, but we will see. I wouldnāt start a label for the sake of it.
So, youāve played at and helped with nights in your hometown of Northamptonshire in the past. Would you say itās easier to organise an event back home or here in London? And reasons why?
Well, back home the scene for house music was small, and the nightlife economy there revolves around typical small town mentality. Most āclubsā catered for RnB and Pop music, and all the ābarsā were either so bleak or depressing that it made going out for me and my friends a no brainer. We often stayed in on weekends preferring to watch early days boiler room through some tinny laptop speakers instead! So, when there were House/Techno nights planned, everyone in the town with vested interests was involved in some way. Be it performing, promoting, flyering, helping to spread the night through word of mouth at college, you name it. The whole scene - or most of it - would try and pull together to start new nights, to offer some sort of alternative to the norm, which was great. In terms of London, Iām currently building a proposal for a bi monthly event to be held in South London (set to run from July 2017), and all in all that has been a lot of work to plan, but relatively easy to get permission for etc. I wouldnāt be able to say if itās easier to be honest, as I think the challenges that people I know faced in Northampton are very different to the challenges promoters will face in London now, such as gentrification or property development for example. But overall Iād say that regardless of how hard it is for people to start a night, there will always be those that find a way around it. Like Acid House showed us, the skies the limit. If it became impossible to legally run events, then promoters will simply go back underground, operating via illegal events instead.Ā
Who are your biggest influences?
My biggest influence is my mother that goes without saying haha. But musically, ah thereās so many! Chicago House and Detroit Techno were really important for me when I first began to delve into the more underground side of dance music, so Iād say for sure artists like; Frankie Knuckles, Larry Heard, Ron Hardy and Steve Silk Hurley, plus Carl Craig, Jeff Mills, Theo Parrish and the like from Detroit. Then thereās the more recent artists such as Joy Orbison, Ben UFO, The Black Madonna, Midland etc. Also, my old boss Aidy West who owns Vinyl Underground (a 20+ year old record store in Northampton) is a don in the underground scene, and he was a big influence on my taste in music when I worked for him.Ā
What are your top 3 songs at the moment?
Ah thatās easy, Iāve been rinsing these recently!Ā
1. Guy Costly ā Somebody Here
This is an absolute banger straight from 1992. It just climbs and climbs! Slamming gospel house track that works on the dancefloor every time. Available on Discogs for under a Ā£1 too so go get a copy!
2. Cloud One ā Disco JuiceĀ
It goes without saying, but this is a timeless classic that will always be a feature in my sets. Almost entirely produced by the legend Patrick Adams for Cloud One, its got tonnes of feel good vibes right from the start. A surprisingly versatile record that works in so many ways ā great to end an energetic set on!
3. Karizma ā Work It OutĀ
This heavy hitter from Karizma is such a favourite of mine at the moment that Iāve stopped playing it in the hope it becomes a bit of a nostalgic go to record for my future self! Ā More gospel madness, enjoy dropping it as you inevitably will!
Any tips for aspiring DJ/producers?
Focus on doing things for the right reasons that matter to you, and try to keep in sight why and how you started your love for being a DJ or Producer. It doesnāt matter how long it takes to get to āthe end resultā, and realising that can be humbling. Iāve got far to go in terms of achieving the goals and aspirations that Iāve set out, but taking the time to achieve them properly and organically is what I hope will keep me involved and in love with music for years to come. Thanks :)Ā
Follow Tanner on Soundcloud, Facebook, Twitter and check out his website.Ā
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