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Q u a r t e r l y - T i p
Eddy Temple-Morris Interview
Spring 2007
[Editor's Note: Eddy Temple-Morris is a DJ on London's Xfm Radio (The Remix) every Friday from 10 to 1 AM. His specialist show combines rock and dance music and presents "genre busting" tracks -- including mashups. He is also an accomplished club DJ, with residencies at Remix Night at Cargo (London), as well as Ibiza's Manumission (Ibiza Rocks) -- held at Privilege, the largest nightclub in the world. He's a remixer under the name "the Losers" and often tours with The Prodigy. His album "DanceRocks" will be released on April 9, 2007.]
Disc Jockey 101: You host the "best genre busting show on the airwaves." Are you open to all genres, or are you limited to a specific range (such as dance-rock)?
Eddy Temple-Morris: I'm not limited to anything, I get 3 hours a week to play whatever I want., and always have done. Yes, I favor styles of music that I love, dance music that rocks is my main love and that's what people get when they see me in clubs or on tour with The Prodigy. The main spine of the radio show is remixes obviously, also covers, mashups (which my show started the craze for), and over the years I've played most genres: Hip Hop, house, Electro, Drum n Bass, reggae, techno, and rock music. In those genres, I've tended to play stuff that rocks in some way, or has a remix spin that's fresh or different.
Disc Jockey 101: How are you busting-out new music?
Eddy Temple-Morris: By listening to stacks of demos, same as any self respecting specialist radio DJ should, and supporting them if I think they're good. I played Kasabian's demo when nobody cared about them. Same goes for the Scissor Sisters, and stacks of others that aren't as famous. Right now my favorite unsigned band is The Officers, from Leeds (UK).
Disc Jockey 101: How does a music producer get songs to you for consideration on your show?
Eddy Temple-Morris: Just send it to me at 30 Leicester Square, London WC2H 7LA, UK.
Disc Jockey 101: Why do you call your remix group "the losers?"
Eddy Temple-Morris: Its a direct reaction against the American ethos of having to be the winner all the time (while I appreciate not all Americans are like that). I hate that whole 'we are the greatest, we only play to win' attitude that testosterone heavy jocks are brainwashed with. I'd rather do things for the love of it, and be a Loser, but be happy losing. It's an old fashioned ethos of being happy just taking part in a game, rather than having your happiness depend on the outcome. It's more personal than that too...I used to work and be friends with a man who turned out to be so horrible I can't even say his name, and the only thing he cares for is money, that's his whole world, money, success, more money, fame, that's how he sees people, judges people and he's the type of person who'd step on anyone to get that. I'm the opposite, so I'm a Loser -- and very happy being a Loser.
Disc Jockey 101: You've launched a night at Manumission in Ibiza called "Ibiza Rocks." How has Ibiza's clubbing scene responded to this night?
Eddy Temple-Morris: I came up with the name and helped launch the night, which has become a hugely successful brand and spin off TV series. Ibiza's reaction has been amazing. Within a year they were selling bootleg Ibiza Rocks T-shirts in the markets in San Antonio. The clubbing scene's reaction was great too, I played the main room at Manumission and lasted for 20 minutes longer than Fatboy Slim. (you start at 6 AM and play till the crowd goes elsewhere, mine left at 8:20 AM). So they're definitely getting it.
Disc Jockey 101: Unlike many radio "personalities," you are also a nightclub DJ. Do you believe that your experience as a club DJ has made you a better remixer and/or radio DJ?
Eddy Temple-Morris: I don't count myself as a radio personality. It's all about the tunes on the Remix not an ego vehicle for me, I never even said my own name for years, until management forced me to, I refuse to have those fake celebrity idents that say 'I always listen to blah blah on blah FM'. they're phoney, cheesy and for people with ego issues. Yes, of course club skills have made me better, from the technical side of mixing records to knowing the balance between education and entertainment, playing songs that people know and love, as well as hot new ones and obscure oldies for the heads.
Disc Jockey 101: What advice do you have for beginning nightclub DJ's?
Eddy Temple-Morris: Watch those that are better than you and be inspired, live and learn, and remember that it's about the tunes not the mix, and the crowd not your mates or yourself. Be respectful too, to the people who book you, the bar staff, the other DJs, people don't like re-booking moody, horrid DJs.
Disc Jockey 101: Your father was a conservative member of the British Parliament (Owen Temple-Morris). How well does he support your DJ career?
Eddy Temple-Morris: Owen Temple-Morris was my grand-father, and he was the MP for Cardiff in the days when being a Conservative was pro-European and open minded, not the bunch of xenophobic Nazi bastards they are now. He died when I was still at school so he has no idea I'm now a DJ, but I'm sure he would have supported me if he knew how happy I am doing what I do.
Disc Jockey 101: What are your future goals?
Eddy Temple-Morris: To make my own Losers album, and expand my network of Losers I work with. Much like an UNKLE album, using a lot of different singers, producers, DJs, bands and collaborating with them to make a beautiful and eclectic masterpiece.
Disc Jockey 101: Anything else?
Eddy Temple-Morris: I'd love to play in America and Australia, they're two territories that I think would really get what I do. They have a culture of loving to rock, and my friends like Adam Freeland do really well there, on a similar vibe -- and I'd like to see the Remix radio show go around the world, it's already been copied by so many people, in so many countries, it would be nice for people to hear where this format originally started.
Related Links
Eddy Temple-Morris MySpace Page
Photo Courtesy of Sarah Bowden (Avalon Group of Companies, UK)
Industry News* Has Winter Music Conference lost its luster? Tricia Romano of the Village Voice addresses the relevance of WMC 22 years after its inception. See Miami of the North
* Rap industry under fire. Erica Jacobson of the Norwich Bulletin discusses rap's sagging sales and growing criticism of negative imagery. See Rap Industry Under Fire. A related article appears in the Los Angeles Loyolan. See What Happened to the Glory Days of Hip Hop?
* Pioneer has joined forces with DJ Times to find America's Best DJ through sponsored DJ events and online voting. See Top40-Charts.com
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