Episode 49

Andy Smith: Mixes Make The World Go Round

  • New release: https://bbemusic.com/product/dj-andy-smith-presents-reach-up-disco-wonderland-vol-3
  • https://www.instagram.com/djandysmith/
  • https://www.mixcloud.com/DJAndySmith/
  • https://www.facebook.com/djandysmithofficial

Andy Smith, a prominent DJ and producer, shares his journey through the world of music, starting from his early fascination with mixing records in the late 70s to becoming a key figure in the Bristol music scene. He discusses how his passion for diverse genres influenced his eclectic DJ style, emphasizing that mixing records was not just a technical skill but an art form that creates unique experiences for audiences. The conversation touches on the challenges of adapting to the digital age, where music consumption has become more disposable and less intimate, leading to a shift in how mixes are perceived. Smith reflects on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on his career, noting how it forced him to reevaluate his approach and find new ways to connect with audiences, including live streaming. As he looks to the future, Andy is excited about upcoming projects, including a mix that showcases his love for soundtracks and lesser-known hip hop tracks, reaffirming his commitment to keeping the essence of DJing alive.

Takeaways:

  • Andy Smith discusses how he got into DJing in the late 70s by following the emerging disco culture and mixing records in Bristol.
  • The importance of being open to various music genres is highlighted, as Andy explains how his diverse taste influences his DJing style.
  • Smith recalls the challenges of learning to mix without much guidance, relying on a library book to understand DJ techniques.
  • The podcast delves into how the rise of technology and streaming has changed the perception and practice of DJing among younger audiences.
  • Andy shares anecdotes about his experiences DJing across different cities and the unique record digging opportunities that arose during tours.
  • The conversation touches on the impact of COVID-19 on the music industry, particularly how it affected DJing opportunities and personal finances.

Mentioned in this episode:

Reissued classics from Be With Records

Get 10% off at bewithrecords.com using the code ONCEADJ

Transcript
Host:

I hate when it's me that's not turned my phone off.

Host:

I'm not so bothered when it's someone else.

Andy Smith:

Has happened too many times.

Andy Smith:

Oh, no, code now.

Andy Smith:

Okay, that's off.

Host:

Brilliant.

Host:

I'll sometimes put in like an introduction afterwards, but with yourself.

Host:

I've kind of done a little bit of research and again, sometimes I do and sometimes I don't because it can just make me try and have too much of an idea of what I'm trying to get out of it.

Host:

I don't think the amount of information I found online probably reflects the amount that you've done.

Host:

It's maybe kind of inversely proportional or something.

Host:

So, first of all, Andy Smith, welcome to the Once A DJ podcast.

Andy Smith:

Thank you.

Andy Smith:

Great to be on here.

Host:

So, just to get started, what I tend to do is just kind of look at where DJing's taking people, how they got into it, what it's done for them when it's been difficult, all that kind of stuff where it intersperses with the rest of life, you know.

Host:

And the thing that struck me about what I read about you was that you got into DJing probably a decade earlier than most of my other guests.

Host:

Did you get into it early 70s, is that right?

Andy Smith:

Well, I mean, I got into music in 78 and then 79.

Andy Smith:

I was into the idea of having two decks together and because disco was big and mixing records was a thing that was happening in New York and I was excited by it.

Host:

How were you learning about what was happening in New York at that time?

Host:

Were you based in Bristol?

Andy Smith:

Right, yeah, well, I lived in Port Said, actually, which is a place just outside of Bristol.

Andy Smith:

And me and my friend Nick, who I still DJ with now, Nick Hawks, who started Excel and everything.

Andy Smith:

Yeah, we were the only two kids in school that were aware of this kind of club culture that was going on in New York and I guess parts of the uk, but not too much.

Andy Smith:

Everybody else at school was like into heavy metal or, you know, two tone mod revival stuff, you know, it wasn't.

Andy Smith:

It wasn't really that cool to be into Hamilton Bohannon and stuff like that and the Whispers, you know, but.

Andy Smith:

But we, I mean, you know, how do we find out about it?

Andy Smith:

Probably like bits of radio.

Andy Smith:

I mean, late 70s, the local radio wasn't as good as it was early 80s.

Andy Smith:

It really picked up early 80s for us.

Andy Smith:

But I suppose listening to John Peel playing a mixed bag of stuff, and then every now and again you just catch some interesting things on the radio and I guess Reading magazines like Black Echoes, Blues and Soul.

Andy Smith:

I'm just reading about these scenes that were going on, like I say, in New York and then in the jazz funk scene in Essex and stuff like that.

Andy Smith:

And people like DJ like Froggy, who was, you know, one of the first people who went to New York and went to the Paradise Garage and saw Larry Levan and thought, oh, I could do that in the uk.

Andy Smith:

So we, you know, we were on, on what was kind of going on in this world of kind of DJing and mixing records was.

Andy Smith:

Mixing records was a new thing.

Andy Smith:

You know, you buy like, like a mixed lp.

Andy Smith:

I remember going on a.

Andy Smith:

On a school trip, a school trip.

Andy Smith:

We went swimming to Yate, which is the other side of Bristol.

Andy Smith:

And all of us pulled into.

Andy Smith:

And when we were waiting for the coach, I went in John Menzies, which was a department store.

Andy Smith:

And like every department store had a record store, a record department in those days.

Andy Smith:

And I bought this mix album called Winners with no sleeve, 75p still got a sticker on it.

Andy Smith:

And one side was all ballads, you know, slow tunes, and the other side was segued together, all mixed together, no caps in it.

Andy Smith:

It's the first time I'd ever heard a record that was all mixed together and pretty well for the time as well.

Andy Smith:

You know, started off with the CH Jacksons into the Whispers, into, you know, Rufus and Shakan and Isaac Hayes and.

Andy Smith:

And it was just amazing.

Andy Smith:

Like, how did they.

Andy Smith:

Because you couldn't see DJing in those days.

Andy Smith:

It wasn't on the telly, there's no YouTube.

Andy Smith:

as, you know, the Technics SL:

Andy Smith:

So, yeah, it was just, it was just an exciting thing that was going on along a long way away that me and Nick and I guess because.

Andy Smith:

Because there was the two of us, we bounced off each other.

Andy Smith:

Although we haven't said that.

Andy Smith:

We used to play football before we got into music.

Andy Smith:

But then, then we started getting into music and we both into this kind of DJing, kind of aspect of it, rather than just collecting records like other people were, you know.

Host:

Yeah, so that's interesting.

Host:

You were on it early and with John Peele, I mean, a big thing about him is just the huge range of music that he would play.

Host:

Right?

Andy Smith:

Yeah, I didn't like it all.

Host:

Yeah, well, I mean, he gets pretty out there, doesn't he?

Host:

Or did.

Host:

But do you think, because that's another thing about you that I'm sure we'll go into more detail about is the wide range of music that you.

Host:

That you like, that you DJ that you've done compilations of.

Host:

Do you think that came from having that broad spectrum?

Andy Smith:

I think it probably did.

Andy Smith:

It like, wasn't.

Andy Smith:

It wasn't unusual when I started going out to clubs.

Andy Smith:

I mean, that would have been like early 80s, but it wasn't unusual to hear lots of different music on the same night.

Andy Smith:

Obviously, if you went to a pop disco type thing and, you know, a mobile disco, we used to have them in our school, actually.

Andy Smith:

The local mobile DJs would come in, bring their decks, and that's the first time I'd ever seen a set of decks.

Andy Smith:

And they would, yeah, play pop music and a bit of rock and a bit of, you know, disco and everything.

Andy Smith:

Yeah, so.

Andy Smith:

And even when I used to go clubbing in the early 80s, it was before these kind of scenes had really kind of started.

Andy Smith:

So you would.

Andy Smith:

You would hear soul and hip hop and even early house.

Andy Smith:

When it came along on the same night, it wasn't unusual to hear lots of stuff together.

Andy Smith:

And I've always, you know, I've always been into lots of different stuff.

Andy Smith:

Like even, like, even, like I say, my friends at school were into heavy metal or into two tone.

Andy Smith:

You know, it.

Andy Smith:

It was the thing in those days to kind of, you know, buy a blank TDK cassette and you give it to your friend.

Andy Smith:

And I'd say, can you record that Motorhead album onto a cassette for me?

Andy Smith:

And then I'd given tape to another guy.

Andy Smith:

Can you record the first Specials album onto a cassette?

Andy Smith:

I'd be assimilating all this music on tape.

Andy Smith:

And I had a friend who was into.

Andy Smith:

Quite into jazz and I give him a cassette.

Andy Smith:

You know, can you record some, I don't know, Lee Rittner or some crazy jazz stuff, you know, And I was just, yeah, always kind of into lots of different stuff.

Andy Smith:

I was never like one of the people who would be part of a tribe, you know, I'm only into this kind of thing.

Andy Smith:

I mean, I was aware of those scenes and admired the people that were into those scenes and, you know, had all the fashion and were the part.

Andy Smith:

But I just thought, well, if you're just into that thing, then you're missing out the good.

Andy Smith:

The good stuff in that scene, you know.

Andy Smith:

I still like listening to Motorhead, you know.

Host:

Yeah, it's good to kind of see, keep your mind open, isn't it?

Host:

To appreciate in all sorts of stuff.

Host:

It's.

Host:

Yeah, I think because I got caught up, I think in that kind of tribe thing and yeah, you kind of, I think particularly sort of like mid teens to mid 20s, you really kind of trying to find who you are and you can just align yourself so strongly with one group, one type of music if you're not careful.

Host:

When you first got Dex, did you find it easy to start learning to mix and stuff?

Host:

Because I guess there wasn't a lot of guidance or anything sort of visual to look at to see where, how people were doing it.

Andy Smith:

und a book, how to DJ in like:

Andy Smith:

And yeah, that was like, you know, how to be a kind of like mobile DJ really.

Andy Smith:

But that's the only visual reference we had.

Andy Smith:

I mean, yeah, because me and Nick started off doing like kids discos.

Andy Smith:

We did start off doing mobile disco back in the day.

Andy Smith:

I bought a set of like, you know, citronic double double decks, whatever, you know, all in one kind of setup.

Andy Smith:

So which, which are really basic BSR turntables, no vary speed.

Andy Smith:

So I kind of learned to mix on those really with disco records.

Andy Smith:

Really I'm like, you know, spinning it around with your finger to get it in time.

Andy Smith:

Yeah, so that would have been about.

Andy Smith:

When did I get my disco decks?

Andy Smith:

Probably like:

Andy Smith:

So 81, 86, I got my technique.

Andy Smith:

So 81 to 86, I was just using these disco decks.

Host:

So as you went on, were you getting many bookings?

Host:

Because I can't imagine what it would have been like in Bristol, for example, because most of the people I've spoken to about DJing in the 80s, it's been more around London.

Host:

So what was Bristol like with the sort of musical scenes and things?

Andy Smith:

Well, it was great.

Andy Smith:

I mean as soon as I could get to Bristol because like Paul said is like 13 miles out of Bristol.

Andy Smith:

So it was hard, it was hard to go out on a night out.

Andy Smith:

If you missed the last bus, you weren't getting home without a big taxi fare.

Andy Smith:

Well, I can tell you the first time actually again Nick Hawks, we decided we were going to go to a club in Bristol.

Andy Smith:

This must have been 84ish, something like that.

Andy Smith:

And his dad drove us in and picked us up, God bless him.

Andy Smith:

And we just, we went on a Tuesday night and we just thought clubs were busy Every night.

Andy Smith:

So we just thought, oh, just let's go on the Tuesday that works for us.

Andy Smith:

And we went to this club on park street called Cinderella's, I think it was called, and expecting it to be ram full of people on Tuesday night.

Andy Smith:

And I think the guy who's DJing was a guy called Dennis, Dennis Richards, I believe it was.

Andy Smith:

And we were surprised that we went in there and There was about 10 people in there.

Andy Smith:

It's like, where is everybody?

Andy Smith:

It's like nighttime.

Andy Smith:

But we had a great time.

Andy Smith:

We just watched, watched the dj, Remember in North Wind and Fire and, and that was my first club.

Andy Smith:

Well, me and our first clubbing experience was on a Tuesday night.

Andy Smith:

So we didn't pick the right night, but it was a good experience to go to.

Andy Smith:

But then when I found out the better places to go, like the Tropic Club and the Moon Club, they were great.

Andy Smith:

I mean, the Tropic, for example, was when I used to go to a lot where there was like two floors, one floor would be playing all reggae and then downstairs you'd be hearing like street soul and, you know, hip hop.

Andy Smith:

The early 80s were brand new at the time.

Andy Smith:

Hip hop.

Andy Smith:

And that was pretty mind blowing really.

Andy Smith:

And then, then I started finding out about the crews who were doing things.

Andy Smith:

Like, it was like, too bad we're a good crew.

Andy Smith:

Obviously.

Andy Smith:

Wal Bunch used to do a few house parties.

Andy Smith:

I do remember going to a World Bunch house party in Clifton once where they just took the decks into a.

Andy Smith:

Into somebody's house and just started playing.

Andy Smith:

And.

Andy Smith:

And then seeing them at Carnival, St.

Andy Smith:

Paul's Carnival was, was amazing because they had such a mad big sound system.

Andy Smith:

And those are the days, days where they just played all night.

Andy Smith:

They just like.

Andy Smith:

There was no cut off and, and just, you know, World Bunch were just the cool, the coolest dudes ever.

Andy Smith:

You know, like just four decks, then just all the threads and just, you know, all the cool tunes of labels on the tune.

Andy Smith:

So you couldn't see what the tune was.

Andy Smith:

You know, I remember him cutting up.

Andy Smith:

It's probably mushroom.

Andy Smith:

I don't know, it might be Milo, you know, cutting up.

Andy Smith:

Rocket in the Pocket was the Rome.

Andy Smith:

But I had a label stuck on it, so I just didn't know what it was.

Andy Smith:

What's this tune?

Andy Smith:

What it was found out later, but in those days, and it was a bit secretive about not, not sharing the tunes with anybody, but.

Andy Smith:

Yeah, but there was some great, great crews in Bristol doing some amazing, you know, like, it was like a mixture of like street soul and Hip hop and the reggae.

Andy Smith:

I mean, I listen to, like the reggae sessions as well, but that's what the.

Andy Smith:

You know, when hip hop came along, it kind of.

Andy Smith:

It kind of blew my mind, really.

Andy Smith:

Yeah.

Andy Smith:

What street soul, like what eventually became soul to soul, if you like.

Andy Smith:

There were tracks before that were kind of.

Andy Smith:

Because a lot of them came out of reggae, so they were kind of reggae influence, kind of slow soul tunes, really.

Andy Smith:

A lot.

Andy Smith:

Mainly UK ones, really.

Host:

So when hip hop sort of came on the scene, what was that like for Bristol?

Host:

Because it's quite a big deal there and sort of tradition historically, isn't it?

Andy Smith:

Yeah, I mean, it was.

Andy Smith:

It was great.

Andy Smith:

It just.

Andy Smith:

It blew everything away, really, I think, from what happened before.

Andy Smith:

Because before it was just the disco soul kind of crowd.

Andy Smith:

I mean, there were some great nights and great DJs playing that kind of stuff.

Andy Smith:

But then when the hip hop came in, it just.

Andy Smith:

It was just so much more edgy.

Andy Smith:

And, you know, they were great DJs, great clubs and, you know, a shop started selling imports, I remember.

Andy Smith:

And that was a big thing in Bristol because you'd have to go to London to get your imports in the early days.

Andy Smith:

And then all of a sudden there were shops like Tony's Records and Replay Records that would start buying imports, bringing an import so you could actually buy American records.

Andy Smith:

And that was quite mind blowing, you know, how buy things like, you know, that might not even come out in the uk.

Andy Smith:

That was pretty crazy.

Host:

Yeah.

Host:

So with that sort of burgeoning hip hop scene, did that kind of drag your focus in terms of mixing towards hip hop?

Host:

Or did you still kind of stay across the board all of that time?

Andy Smith:

I think I stayed across the board because in the 80s, of course, hip hop sampled lots of old funk and soul records and it was the thing to find out what those records that were sampled were.

Andy Smith:

So I was still.

Andy Smith:

I mean, I guess I did gravitate towards hip hop more, but I was also trying to play the original funk and disco records that were.

Andy Smith:

That were sampled.

Andy Smith:

So I always kind of kept it open with other music as well.

Host:

Yeah, yeah.

Host:

Did you train in anything else or did you have an eye on anything else as a career or like, what was there a.

Host:

This could be a career for me?

Andy Smith:

No, I mean, I did have an inclination to be like a sound technician, the BBC or something like that.

Andy Smith:

And I did.

Andy Smith:

I was looking towards going in that area and went on a course which would have taken me in that area, but like 17.

Andy Smith:

But then I got glandular fever to leave the course I was, I was ill for like about four or five months and oh wow.

Andy Smith:

I can never really catch up with it.

Andy Smith:

So I ended up just, I left that college and worked in a hi fi shop actually for a while because I was into, you know, hi fi and stuff and you know, equipment as well.

Andy Smith:

But then, yeah, then didn't really pursue the DJing as a job and then went from the hi fi shop to working in an office.

Andy Smith:

Worked in office for like seven, six or seven years probably.

Andy Smith:

I mean still DJ'd at the weekend whenever I could.

Andy Smith:

With a friend of mine, Paul Morris, I used to do a night, it was a quite respected DJ in Bristol and he just used to let me kind of come on and spin a few tunes in this bar, get paid for it.

Andy Smith:

And yeah, I didn't really ever think I would, I would be DJing as a career at that point.

Host:

What was the office job?

Host:

Just sort of admin.

Andy Smith:

Yeah we used to process nurse application forms for training for nurse training courses like ucas but for nursing basically.

Host:

Did you stay in that same job for all that seven years?

Andy Smith:

Yeah, yeah.

Host:

Wow.

Andy Smith:

And pretty much every lunchtime I used to go to the record shop.

Andy Smith:

They used to think I was mad at work so I was still buying records.

Andy Smith:

I couldn't stop buying records, you know, often, often getting back 10 minutes late with me replay bag trying to scoot without everybody realizing that I've been bit too long at work.

Andy Smith:

But me and another guy always used to meet up and go record shopping at lunch time.

Andy Smith:

So that was handy.

Host:

Yeah, I think it's good if you can get that kind of balance of okay.

Host:

It's not the ideal perfect thing but it's near the record shop, I can afford my records and go out and DJ at the weekend.

Host:

Boom, you know, you've got it all decks.

Host:

When I had quite a few sort of admin jobs I just, I'd just try and leave from being about three months in.

Host:

I just think, right, it's going to be the same every day now after this.

Host:

So I just try and leave.

Host:

Whereas some of them, you think if I'd have stuck at that I could have had quite a stress free existence.

Host:

Yeah, on quite a good wage for.

Andy Smith:

A while, you know, very different life it would have been.

Host:

Yeah, that's it.

Host:

So when did you start taking DJ more seriously then?

Andy Smith:

A friend of mine, another friend at school used to do security at this club in Bristol and they needed a DJ and he said to me they need a dj.

Andy Smith:

Can you play at this club?

Andy Smith:

And it was like every Friday and every Saturday and I used to get 26 quid for the both nights.

Andy Smith:

So 26 quid a weekend and I did that.

Andy Smith:

And it was mainly playing kind of more pop music really.

Andy Smith:

I guess it's a bit of a rock club, actually, just play a bit Motorhead.

Andy Smith:

But I didn't mind.

Andy Smith:

I just used to like DJ.

Andy Smith:

And as long as I was DJing, making people have a good time, it was cool with me.

Andy Smith:

And I saved up my money.

Andy Smith:

So this was like 85 into 86.

Andy Smith:

I worked there for about 10 months, maybe saved up my money because I was working in the admin job as well.

Andy Smith:

So I had a bit of cash coming in.

Andy Smith:

I was getting cheap records as well because when we work in the club, the record shop used to let you have cheap records, which was pretty good.

Andy Smith:

hich was opposite the club in:

Andy Smith:

And I said to the guy, because there wasn't, there wasn't really.

Andy Smith:

There was one DJ shop, but it was out of town, so to get like a Technics you had to go to a hi Fi shop, really in those days.

Host:

Yeah.

Andy Smith:

And.

Andy Smith:

aid, yeah, I want to buy an SL:

Andy Smith:

And he said to me, oh, do you want that one or do you want these new black ones?

Andy Smith:

And I went, new black ones?

Andy Smith:

en a black one before and the:

Andy Smith:

Don't know.

Andy Smith:

I had it in my mind I was going to get a silver one because I'd only ever seen silver ones.

Andy Smith:

And I was like, oh, no, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.

Andy Smith:

And I ended up buying the:

Andy Smith:

So I bought my first:

Andy Smith:

And yeah, then I kind of got a bit fed up with like playing all the kind of pop.

Andy Smith:

Pop music because I was really kind of into deeper stuff.

Andy Smith:

So I decided to start doing.

Andy Smith:

y in like youth clubs with my:

Andy Smith:

And then I did a night in Port Said, which is where I met Jeff Barrow from Port Said, the band, because he came along to it and although there was a few people there, he was the only one who really knew the Stuff I was playing, especially the hip hop stuff.

Andy Smith:

And I think I'm coming up and saying, oh, that's Marley Mole Scratch.

Andy Smith:

And I was like, wow.

Andy Smith:

Yeah, you know that's Molly Moscratch.

Andy Smith:

Yeah, yeah, we were talking about that and then, and then just kind of got to know Jeff really well and he was working on beats and stuff and didn't really have any records to sample because Jeff is not really a, a digger of records too much.

Andy Smith:

And I said, oh, you know, I got, I got loads of stuff.

Andy Smith:

You want me to bring up some stuff?

Andy Smith:

You know, and I like playing, you know, like James Brown.

Andy Smith:

It was kind of more obvious stuff than Meters and stuff.

Andy Smith:

He never had the Meters before and, and you know, we just put him onto bits.

Andy Smith:

Have you heard that?

Andy Smith:

If you heard that, that's got a drum break in it.

Andy Smith:

You know, you had to just find those records by listening to them and kind of gambling in those days really, because it was before I even had a portable turntable in those days.

Andy Smith:

I used to take my:

Andy Smith:

Plug in, they let me plug in with my headphones and I used to listen to stuff.

Host:

That's dedication.

Andy Smith:

Yeah, yeah.

Andy Smith:

Carrying a:

Andy Smith:

But yeah, that's, that's how I found a lot of stuff.

Andy Smith:

And I would just like say to Jeff, I mean Jeff was the person who took those breaks and made the amazing compositions into the Port Said stuff.

Andy Smith:

I was just kind of helping him, you know, just putting.

Andy Smith:

Pointing them in directions of, of what you might want to sample.

Andy Smith:

Really.

Host:

Yeah, yeah.

Host:

Because as I understand it and do correct me if I'm wrong on this, you try and avoid too much being referred to as being kind of part of party's head.

Host:

Is that correct?

Andy Smith:

Well, I wasn't part of the band, you know, and I didn't do the cut.

Andy Smith:

So there are a lot of people that think I do.

Andy Smith:

Did do the cuts.

Andy Smith:

Yeah, I mean even, like I always say this is a funny thing.

Andy Smith:

Like, even when I was taken crates of records up to his, he was still living in Port Said at his mum's house with a, he had a, you know, a sampler and a computer and that.

Andy Smith:

And I used to take crates up there and he used to say, oh well, I'm going to start this band and, and then when, when we're big, you can open up when we tour and you can be the warm up dj.

Andy Smith:

And I was like, yeah, okay, thanks.

Andy Smith:

Yeah, that'd be great.

Andy Smith:

Thanks Jeff.

Andy Smith:

And then, and Then maybe.

Andy Smith:

Well, it was.

Andy Smith:

It was like a good six years, maybe later, seven years later, you know, it did get big.

Andy Smith:

And he was like, yeah, okay, you can now warm up for the band.

Andy Smith:

Okay.

Andy Smith:

And then, you know, these radio things keep coming in.

Andy Smith:

You know, the radio won't.

Andy Smith:

Essential mix.

Andy Smith:

Oh, well, Andy.

Andy Smith:

Andy will do that because Jeff don't want to do that.

Andy Smith:

So I ended up doing the essential mix.

Andy Smith:

I do these, like, you know, XFM takeovers and all this stuff because Jeff didn't want to do it.

Andy Smith:

But, you know, everybody wanted part of the whole Port Said thing.

Andy Smith:

So I'd be kind of by default became the person who did all this extra stuff and the club dj, because all these clubs wanted, you know, a Port is a dj.

Andy Smith:

There's a Port Said DJ that can play in our club.

Andy Smith:

And that kind of fell to me rather than Jeff, because Jeff wouldn't really want to play in a club.

Andy Smith:

He just, you know, do some good cuts, but he wouldn't know what to play next.

Andy Smith:

So I kind of took on that role of being the Port Said club dj, really.

Andy Smith:

But there was obviously confusion because Jeff was doing the cuts in the band and.

Andy Smith:

And I was doing the club stuff.

Host:

Yeah, yeah.

Host:

That must be tricky.

Andy Smith:

Yeah.

Andy Smith:

So, yeah, so I always, like, you know, felt a bit bad when people, you know, talk about me as being part of Port Said because I was.

Andy Smith:

I was on the peripheral edge of Port Said, you know.

Host:

Yeah, yeah.

Andy Smith:

But.

Andy Smith:

But can't take any credit in what happened later on with the tracks and Beth and Aid and, you know, that.

Andy Smith:

That was the real magic, really.

Andy Smith:

I just kind of gave Jeff some ideas and he made the amazing stuff they did.

Host:

Yeah.

Host:

ing back to when you got your:

Host:

Have you heard this guy, Andy smith, he's got 12 tens now.

Andy Smith:

He's serious.

Andy Smith:

Well, I think.

Andy Smith:

only two people with a set of:

Andy Smith:

There was another guy, we had:

Andy Smith:

So it did get around.

Andy Smith:

Porter said.

Andy Smith:

Yeah.

Andy Smith:

Because I used to sell mixtape tapes at bus stops.

Host:

At bus stops?

Andy Smith:

Well, I used to.

Andy Smith:

I used to do mixtapes at home.

Andy Smith:

Hip hop mixtapes.

Andy Smith:

And then me and my friend Alan, we used to kind of drive around all the bus stops and try and sell them to all the kids who were getting into hip hop.

Andy Smith:

The younger kids, like, you want to buy mixtapes out the window.

Andy Smith:

That's kind of funny.

Andy Smith:

Yeah, how did that go?

Host:

Did you make a bit of money out of it?

Andy Smith:

I don't think we made that much, but it was just more of a like you say, kudos thing really to be the person, right.

Andy Smith:

What we said that was doing this and had all the, you know, the hot tunes.

Host:

So did the DJing sort of like gradually increase over that time before the kind of party's head success or was it like it just kind of like chugged along and then that was like a big step?

Andy Smith:

Yeah, it chugged along.

Andy Smith:

I was doing nights with my friend Paul and we did used to do like some back rooms of pretty big clubs.

Andy Smith:

Like Lakota was a big club in Bristol where all the kind of techno trance DJ used to play in the main room.

Andy Smith:

But me and Paul used to do the back room sometimes, didn't I?

Andy Smith:

Called Fish Dude, I seem to remember, well where we'd be playing hip hop and soul stuff as a back room.

Andy Smith:

But so did that a bit.

Andy Smith:

But it wasn't really until, well, I got made redundant from, from the admin job that I did and then ended up working in HMV for, right, for about maybe three or four months.

Andy Smith:

And that was just at the time when the Port Said came out and I was basically answering the phone and it was people trying to book me to dj.

Andy Smith:

So I was taking DJ bookings on the HMV phone.

Andy Smith:

And then Jeff as I said, said to me, well, we're going to do the first tour.

Andy Smith:

This would have been 95, I guess, early 95.

Andy Smith:

That was a European tour first of all.

Andy Smith:

So it was probably about like two months.

Andy Smith:

And I said to my manager at hmv, I said, oh, I need two months off to, you know, go on tour with Port Said.

Andy Smith:

Obviously he knew who Porter said was because we were selling crazy amount of copies at the shop.

Andy Smith:

And I said, you know, is there any chance I can have two months off and come back?

Andy Smith:

And he was like, no.

Andy Smith:

I was like, okay.

Andy Smith:

By then and that's it.

Andy Smith:

I left hmv, went on tour with Porter's Head and then, and then I was just getting so many DJ bookings it, it just snowballed and went crazy.

Andy Smith:

And then I went on the subsequent, the world tour with porter's head in 98.

Andy Smith:

And yeah, and then, and then, and then I did the document CD because I played on a radio station in Boston after a Porter Said gig and they liked it so much.

Andy Smith:

The guy who ran FFR Records in New York, who put out the Port Said records in America, said, you want, do you want to do this as a, like a proper mix CD type thing because the, the reaction to that radio show you did was amazing.

Andy Smith:

And I was like, oh, okay.

Andy Smith:

So that was amazing that I, I got to put out something which was me rather than, you know, hanging off the tails of Port washed still, you know.

Andy Smith:

So that was like the best thing when the document came out and it was like, oh, this is, this is my thing.

Andy Smith:

It's like it starts with a, you know, it starts with a.

Andy Smith:

A Jeff Barrow kind of Port Said type track, but then, you know, so it kind of.

Andy Smith:

It moves from there working with Porter's head into me and the crazy stuff that I did.

Andy Smith:

So I was, you know, that was the best thing when that happened, when that came out and it did really well, sold really well, and it kind of.

Andy Smith:

Well, it started to go upwards from there.

Andy Smith:

It's kind of gone down a bit now maybe.

Andy Smith:

But, you know, that was a good point for me.

Host:

Yeah, we can get onto that for sure because there's some interesting points around it in some of what you just said.

Host:

So what was it like?

Host:

Tour in Europe?

Host:

How old would you have been?

Andy Smith:

Oh, was this like 20, 22 maybe?

Andy Smith:

Yeah, yeah.

Host:

Going around Europe getting paid.

Host:

Were you able to.

Host:

Was it easy to get to record shops?

Andy Smith:

I used to go to record shops every day.

Andy Smith:

I mean, the great thing, you know, I.

Andy Smith:

All I had to do was a line check because, you know, I do the warm up bit and then I do a scratch bit to a video before the band came on.

Andy Smith:

And then I would.

Andy Smith:

I would help Jeff every now and again recreate some of the cuts when it was hard to do.

Andy Smith:

And I need to just do a little transform bit in the middle of the set.

Andy Smith:

So I did the odd bit with this in the middle of the set, but not much.

Andy Smith:

So all I had to do was make sure my decks were working.

Andy Smith:

So basically my go to the gig, put a tune on.

Andy Smith:

You got both channels?

Andy Smith:

Yeah.

Andy Smith:

Thanks.

Andy Smith:

Right, I'll go to record shop.

Andy Smith:

And every day in every city I just go to record shop.

Andy Smith:

It was a yellow PA Pages in those days, wasn't any.

Andy Smith:

Well, the Internet was just kind of starting, so I used to go to the yellow pages and in the hotel room and.

Andy Smith:

And just go record shopping wherever I went.

Andy Smith:

And I used to get all the records sent back with all the Port Said kit, so I didn't have to ship them home because I could just put.

Andy Smith:

I had my own box with my, my equipment and decks and everything in a flight case.

Andy Smith:

So I just used to put Records in there and you wait a month and they just come back to the studio and Bristol.

Andy Smith:

It was great.

Host:

What was touring like in terms of schedule?

Host:

Was it kind of like six on, one off or something like that, or.

Andy Smith:

It was.

Andy Smith:

It was pretty intense, actually.

Andy Smith:

Yeah, it was probably something like that.

Andy Smith:

I mean, well, and in parts of America as well, you jump on a bus, so that would be quite good.

Andy Smith:

You do the gig and then jump on the bus, play video games until you want to go to sleep while you were then on the way to the next city.

Andy Smith:

Then, you know, you sleep on the bus, wake up next morning, you'd be in the next city, outside the hotel, going to the hotel, go record shopping, do line check, go back to the record shop, it's still open, and then do the gig and then back on the bus again.

Andy Smith:

Yeah, it was a crazy existence.

Host:

It's the stuff of dreams.

Host:

Are there any particular cities or kind of digging memories that are special to you from those sort of trips?

Andy Smith:

Well, I do remember New Orleans in America was.

Andy Smith:

So there was record shop.

Andy Smith:

It was this one block away from the gig as well, which is pretty handy.

Andy Smith:

And then I had a portable now, so I was checking stuff out on my portable deck.

Andy Smith:

Carried out everywhere with me people.

Andy Smith:

The guys in the band used to laugh at me because I was always walking around with portable.

Andy Smith:

Still doing today, actually.

Andy Smith:

And there was one store where.

Andy Smith:

Because I was in.

Andy Smith:

I mean.

Andy Smith:

I mean, I always have been to 45s, but I mean, I was buying albums and twelves and 45s in those days.

Andy Smith:

But there was a shop and every 45 was 20 cents.

Andy Smith:

And they had like, you know, all the big funk records that everybody pays crazy money for now.

Andy Smith:

And they were all 20 cents.

Andy Smith:

And I started listening to them and there were so many.

Andy Smith:

I just thought, actually, I got to go and do me line check in a minute and then see if they're still open for maybe half an hour.

Andy Smith:

And then they shut and then we're going tomorrow.

Andy Smith:

It was like, there's actually no point in listening to them because I'm wasting time listening to any good.

Andy Smith:

So if it looked good, I just put it in a pile and I went backstage.

Andy Smith:

The House of Blues in New Orleans.

Andy Smith:

I went backstage this massive pile of records.

Andy Smith:

And that was probably one of the few times where I didn't watch Ed because I'd seen it so many times.

Andy Smith:

It's always great, but I was just in the back room just listening to these tunes when I wasn't on.

Andy Smith:

And then if they were good.

Andy Smith:

Yeah, that's great.

Andy Smith:

That's great.

Andy Smith:

And if it was robots, I just left it, left it backstage.

Andy Smith:

There was, there's a pile of records in the backstage of House of Blues that somebody must have picked up which was all like, you know, country and western stuff that I got wrong.

Host:

Yeah.

Host:

Sometimes it's hard to tell, isn't it?

Host:

Because some of that.

Host:

Yeah, that kind of loot New Orleans and places like that because you've got the kind of country esque stuff that Alan Toussaint produced.

Host:

It's actually quite funky as well.

Andy Smith:

Oh yeah, there's some crossover.

Andy Smith:

But it's weird because I was in Pittsburgh a few weeks ago and I sent to somebody.

Andy Smith:

The weird thing is it's like in, in the uk they only really imported like good records.

Andy Smith:

Well, in general, you know, so if you see an American record, it's usually a disco, funk, jazz record.

Andy Smith:

It's.

Andy Smith:

It's usually all right because otherwise it wouldn't have imported it.

Andy Smith:

But when you go to America, all these records that look like their records that we see over here and half of them are just terrible purple country west.

Andy Smith:

But their label look quite nice.

Andy Smith:

If you don't know the art is.

Andy Smith:

Sometimes you can get a bit confused and a bit blown away thinking, oh, there's so many great records.

Andy Smith:

But actually a lot of them aren't that great, but they just look interesting, you know.

Host:

Yeah.

Host:

What was your kind of hit rate percentage like on that Louisiana trip?

Andy Smith:

Oh, oh, amazing.

Andy Smith:

I mean I, I cleaned up on that place.

Andy Smith:

I mean, I just got crazy.

Andy Smith:

I must have, I don't know how many 45s I bought that day.

Andy Smith:

Like 200 or more.

Andy Smith:

Probably all for 20 cents.

Andy Smith:

And I went back there, the next time I was in New Orleans, I went directly back to that shop and it was an art gallery.

Andy Smith:

And I said, didn't this used to be a record shop?

Andy Smith:

And somebody said, yeah, somebody came and bought the whole shop.

Andy Smith:

Probably like Japanese.

Andy Smith:

I think the Japanese guys, even in those days I remember, used to go to America and buy the whole shop and send it back to Japan.

Andy Smith:

So probably.

Host:

Wow.

Host:

Yeah, the Japanese don't mess around, do they, when it comes to collecting?

Andy Smith:

No, they don't.

Andy Smith:

Although the great thing about Japan I find a few times I've been there is that the Japanese, yeah, they are super into what they're doing, but they like everything in mint condition.

Andy Smith:

So when you go to record shop in Japan, I went to this amazing reggae shop and all the stuff on the wall stuff in the main racks was all mint VG Plus.

Andy Smith:

But underneath was all the VGs and G pluses.

Andy Smith:

But I reggae, I don't mind if it sounds a bit rough.

Andy Smith:

And I was just buying all the stuff underneath, which were just so cheap because they didn't really want it if it had a few marks on it, they didn't care about it.

Andy Smith:

But I don't really mind that if it sounds all right.

Andy Smith:

Reggae sounds nice when it's a bit rough, I think.

Host:

Yeah, it's the same with Sol and Funk, isn't it?

Host:

If it's got the right typ of crackle on it.

Host:

Yeah, it can add something, particularly on a snare drum.

Host:

Yeah, really kind of effective.

Host:

When I was in Berlin, I noticed there that all the second hand stuff was really, really clean.

Host:

It makes you wonder sometimes why a lot of the stuff over here is just as beat up as it is.

Host:

Yeah, it's like, you know when you find something you've wanted for ages and you're like, oh, you're about to go and buy it and then you think, I should check the condition because I've done it before.

Host:

I've bought things that have had like cracks in them and all sorts and nothing expensive.

Host:

I've not been like really burnt.

Host:

But you just get it home, you're like, oh yeah, it's like I've had a seven where it's got like a hairline crack and if you move it you can just see it and oh.

Andy Smith:

Yeah, I pulled that tune last night.

Andy Smith:

I was DJing last night, it was a Barbara Mason 45 and I queued it up and I thought that's a bit of a click on that and realized that actually it's actually snapped.

Andy Smith:

I mean, I didn't remember it being snapped.

Andy Smith:

When I put it in the box it was.

Andy Smith:

It's not a rare one, so I'll get another one.

Andy Smith:

I work in a record shop now, so probably one will come in soon.

Host:

Oh, nice.

Host:

Have you.

Host:

Have you got any kind of stories then where it's like the one that got away?

Host:

Because I've had a couple so say for a bit of context, our local car boot sale.

Host:

I went down there.

Host:

There was a guy who used to be a joiner fitting Out Studios in London and he had a load of test press ins and signed bits and bobs.

Host:

So I bought a few signed, I think Oasis CDs and like a bit of pot signed Paul Weller stuff.

Host:

And then I got a Sex Pistols test pressing and a jam test pressing off the top of my head.

Host:

And the Oasis and stuff I got.

Host:

I don't know, about 20 quid a piece for.

Host:

But the test press ins, I got sort of over 100 quid each.

Host:

Basically, they afford.

Host:

They were how I was able to buy Serato when I first got Serato, which was quite nice.

Host:

But, like, after that, there's just this bit of you that's like, I should have got all these test press ins.

Host:

They were probably about four quid each or something like that.

Host:

Have you got anything sort of in that way?

Andy Smith:

Nothing springs to mind, really.

Andy Smith:

I usually, yeah, get whatever I can and spend too much money rather than leave things behind, I think so.

Andy Smith:

I don't know.

Andy Smith:

I don't think.

Andy Smith:

I don't think there's anything like that.

Host:

So I heard somewhere, and this might have been like schoolyard urban myth or something, that when the party said stuff was being done, that they were.

Host:

That there was something that was being sampled and it didn't sound messed up enough, so they just took it, took the record out and just like rubbed it on the street or something like that to make it sound more distressed.

Andy Smith:

Yeah.

Host:

Is that sort of thing.

Host:

Is that true?

Andy Smith:

That's Jeff.

Andy Smith:

Yeah.

Andy Smith:

Yeah.

Andy Smith:

He would.

Andy Smith:

He would.

Andy Smith:

When he sampled records, I think he would sometimes put them on the floor and kick him about a bit.

Andy Smith:

So it sounded rougher when he sampled it.

Andy Smith:

Yeah, he used to bounce stuff down cassette as well.

Andy Smith:

He'd do a beat and record it onto a tape cassette and then bounce it back into the desk to make it sound rough.

Host:

Right.

Andy Smith:

And all the engineers would say, you can't do that, you can't do that.

Host:

Well, how's that for you?

Host:

When, as a dj, when he's just like rubbing a record on the floor, floor and play football with it.

Host:

Did he do it to anything good?

Andy Smith:

Oh, yeah, I didn't see him do it.

Andy Smith:

I probably had to walk out the room.

Andy Smith:

Well, no, I think a lot of the times he used to.

Andy Smith:

Used to do his own, like, dub plates.

Andy Smith:

Like for the tours, for example, there would be.

Andy Smith:

I got a few of them in the corner records that were created with all the cuts on, which has actually got the GB beats, on the other side with a couple of other beats which were never used.

Andy Smith:

So we probably would have rubbed those on the floor just so that he sound good when he's cutting them up.

Andy Smith:

Life.

Host:

Right, Right.

Host:

Got you with the.

Host:

So just going back on your timeline then, with, say, like, sort of mid late 90s, Bristol's influence was massive.

Host:

Sort of, I guess you'd maybe say mainstream.

Host:

Was it a really strong, good feeling in the community?

Host:

There at the time and did some of the different.

Host:

Because there was, you guys, there was Massive Attack, there was Tricky, there's left field, there's all these acts at the same time that really kind of popped.

Host:

Were you guys kind of going out, touring together at times or, like, crossing paths a lot?

Andy Smith:

No, not really.

Andy Smith:

I mean, there was a link between Jeff and the Massive Attack guys because Jeff worked in the studio where they recorded their first album.

Andy Smith:

And it was basically Massive Attack that gave Jeff that sampler and computer that he had in his bedroom because they.

Andy Smith:

I mean, he was the tea boy who's making the tea, getting the sandwiches, really.

Andy Smith:

But they somehow found out that he had a bit of, you know, a thing for making music.

Andy Smith:

So they gave him this kit and I don't know for what reason whether they wanted him to work on some beats for them.

Andy Smith:

I'm not sure really what happened about that.

Andy Smith:

I mean, he did do a track with Tricky, but I don't think it ever came out.

Andy Smith:

So there were.

Andy Smith:

There was definitely a camaraderie between Port Said, a Massive Attack, but I guess everybody was aware.

Andy Smith:

Everybody.

Andy Smith:

Because you used to see each other in clubs and stuff and.

Andy Smith:

Yeah, and there was definitely something kind of building in Bristol and it was definitely kind of a proud, proud kind of thing that, yeah, something was.

Andy Smith:

Was happening.

Andy Smith:

Although, you know, it was weird because all the A and R people would come down to Bristol to try and find the next thing.

Andy Smith:

And I remember, you know, people are thinking, well, there's probably good stuff in other cities as well.

Andy Smith:

Really?

Andy Smith:

Just I'm not looking for it, you know, because we were aware of other things that were buzzing around in other places.

Andy Smith:

Like.

Andy Smith:

Like, you know, there's other good, good cities doing good stuff.

Host:

Yeah.

Host:

So how was DJing after those tours?

Host:

Did that give you a lot more kind of.

Host:

Kind of brand awareness for yourself?

Host:

Like, did you kind of kick on?

Andy Smith:

Yeah, because of the document doing so well.

Andy Smith:

And luckily, I mean, the document went through the same channels as the Port Z record.

Andy Smith:

So it got released in every country of the world, so didn't have to be imported to Australia or wherever it came out there.

Andy Smith:

So.

Andy Smith:

So it sold really, really well and was great for me.

Andy Smith:

And I used to tour like myself.

Andy Smith:

I then went on, like a tour, took various tours of America on my own, went to Australia, throughout Europe.

Andy Smith:

So I was kind of promoting it.

Andy Smith:

And I guess a lot of people had seen me warming up for Porter Said before, probably wondering, who's that guy?

Andy Smith:

Whether they liked it or not.

Andy Smith:

But, you know, so.

Andy Smith:

So.

Andy Smith:

And I often.

Andy Smith:

I was actually like on the.

Andy Smith:

On the flyer, you know, it would say Port Wash Head with DJ Andy Smith at the bottom.

Andy Smith:

It's like, wow.

Andy Smith:

So, yeah, yeah.

Andy Smith:

So a lot of.

Andy Smith:

A lot of people would have seen me either before Port Said or in clubs because I was playing every weekend then.

Andy Smith:

It was barely a weekend going where I didn't get offers of gigs somewhere in the world.

Andy Smith:

I mean, I remember.

Andy Smith:

I remember they used to be crazy weekends.

Andy Smith:

One of the funniest was Friday night in Swindon, Saturday night in Moscow.

Andy Smith:

I sound crazy.

Andy Smith:

Crazy weekend.

Andy Smith:

Not that that would happen now.

Andy Smith:

Crazy weekends like that where you just be doing really disparate gigs in different places.

Andy Smith:

But, you know, that's the way if, if I could do it, if I could get a flight to the next place, then I'd do it.

Host:

So that sounds exhausting to me.

Andy Smith:

Yeah, it was, but good.

Host:

I mean, with the Document, it's the certain mixes aren't there that are kind of legendary.

Host:

And I would say the documents in there with things like Dirt Chamber sessions and stuff like that.

Host:

Does it bring a level of expectation about what sort of set at that time?

Host:

When you've got this mix that's doing so well, is it like.

Host:

Do you feel like you've got to do a certain style?

Host:

Because when you've got.

Host:

Got all these different styles that you play, does it kind of restrict you?

Andy Smith:

Well, I think at the time, it's quite interesting because at the time when that came out, I actually used to pre plan my set for a while and I actually went to the club and I did a set which was similar to the Document, not exactly the same because there'd be other bits in there as well and obviously be two hours long.

Andy Smith:

But I used to actually prefer program a set and I would just.

Andy Smith:

So it didn't matter what the last tune was.

Andy Smith:

I would start with where I want to start and do the whole thing, which was good because it got everything I wanted to get in.

Andy Smith:

But I quickly got fed up with doing it because I just realized, well, this isn't actually that much fun because I like doing things on the fly and not really know where I'm going.

Andy Smith:

So I did that for a bit, but then I quickly just thought, no, I'm just going to wing it now and then.

Andy Smith:

And then I'll be in the club.

Andy Smith:

Even now I'm in a club and people will say, what's the first record you're going to play?

Andy Smith:

And I got no idea.

Andy Smith:

It depends what the last record the guy before plays.

Andy Smith:

And Just go from there.

Andy Smith:

And I might, I might carry on from where he is at or I might just, you know, stop and start where I want to start.

Andy Smith:

It depends really.

Host:

Yeah, it's like I, I used to do cuts for a band for a couple of years and I found I'd.

Host:

It's weird going, getting on turntables and doing the same thing every time where you just think like I just.

Host:

When you go out and dj, you just want to play what you feel.

Host:

You're there, you gauge in the atmosphere of places and stuff.

Host:

And it like I sometimes think with bands like going off and doing the same set.

Andy Smith:

Yeah.

Host:

Every gig or the same songs?

Host:

Every gig.

Andy Smith:

Well, it's like, it's like the band who doesn't want to play their big hit, isn't it?

Andy Smith:

Because they're so fed up with playing it.

Andy Smith:

Yeah, yeah.

Andy Smith:

I mean I, I, the thing is when I DJ in most places I play, I still play big records that I don't particularly want to hear anymore.

Andy Smith:

I'm sick of them really.

Andy Smith:

But I know that people will want to hear them and, and I know that they'll go down well and so I play them and I do equate that to a band who have to play their biggest record because people want to hear it, people expect to hear it.

Host:

Yeah, I never thought about it like that.

Andy Smith:

I mean I'm a big fan of Gary Newman.

Andy Smith:

I love Gary Newman.

Andy Smith:

I want to hear Cars, I want to hear our friends Electric.

Andy Smith:

He's probably sick, the death of it.

Andy Smith:

But I want to hear those tunes because that's what is my memories of first, you know, being into Gary Newman.

Andy Smith:

We're hearing those tracks and it wouldn't be right.

Andy Smith:

Didn't hear him.

Andy Smith:

So.

Host:

Yeah, yeah.

Host:

So from the document then, you're now kind of far in from there.

Host:

You started doing more kind of compilations.

Host:

How did they come about?

Andy Smith:

Well, I started working with a guy called Scott Hendy on a project called Dynamo Productions for Illicit Records, which was just like kind of cut and paste kind of hip hop type stuff because we were DJing together a lot in those days and we wanted tracks to play out ourselves.

Andy Smith:

So we just made like an album of stuff that we could play out which bizarrely did really well in Australia.

Andy Smith:

We were really popular in Australia, which is quite nice.

Andy Smith:

e just do sell out gigs, like:

Andy Smith:

It was crazy.

Andy Smith:

But because that was on Illicit, Illicit, which was a label co run by Deadly Avenger back in the day and they, they said, have you ever thought of doing part 2?

Andy Smith:

Of the document, because it had been.

Andy Smith:

Well, this would have been like four, five, six years, I think, since Document one come out.

Andy Smith:

And to one, nobody's approached me about doing Part two.

Andy Smith:

So they were like, do you want to do second one?

Andy Smith:

So I'm like, yeah, why not?

Andy Smith:

So they licensed all the tracks.

Andy Smith:

I put Kate Bush at the beginning, which they couldn't understand why I wanted to do that, but I just thought I wanted to do something different.

Andy Smith:

And then so that one came out and then I was working with Sanctuary on the Trojan Document CD album.

Andy Smith:

And then so they said, you want to do Volume three?

Andy Smith:

So I'm like, okay, I can use anything on that.

Andy Smith:

Sanctuary owned at the time.

Andy Smith:

So I did a Volume three on Sanctuary, and then Volume four was going to come out on Universal, but they kind of dipped out the last minute, didn't want to put it out, which is why I kind of put it out myself.

Andy Smith:

But, yeah, but also I, you know.

Andy Smith:

Yeah, like I said, did the Trojan one.

Andy Smith:

I didn't.

Andy Smith:

I've done a reggae one for Green sleeves.

Andy Smith:

I've done like Northern Soul compilations because I like my Northern soul.

Andy Smith:

I've done 50s R B compilations.

Andy Smith:

I've done disco compilations.

Andy Smith:

You know, I just like lots of music.

Andy Smith:

If somebody is up for me putting a comp out of stuff, then I'll gladly do it.

Host:

Have you got any particular ones that are your favorite?

Host:

Because you've got this BGP one as well, haven't you?

Andy Smith:

Oh, yeah, the bgp.

Host:

That must be fun just being like, right, here's our library.

Host:

Go for it.

Andy Smith:

Yeah, yeah, it's great.

Andy Smith:

And they send you in those days, they just send you like boxes of CDs because things were online, but not in the same way.

Andy Smith:

So you used to get like boxes and boxes.

Andy Smith:

It's like you can use anything on these CDs.

Andy Smith:

I was like, wow, so just go through these season.

Andy Smith:

I'd try and source them on vinyl, but some of them weren't even on vinyl.

Andy Smith:

They were just digital only.

Andy Smith:

But they were like little bits I used to use off of digital on there.

Andy Smith:

But I think my favorite compilation, which never even came out on vinyl bizarrely, is the Greensleeves compilation.

Andy Smith:

Because I grew up with the Green Sleeves reggae label and really loved it.

Andy Smith:

And I think all the tracks on there are just so great.

Andy Smith:

And although more my compilations have got great tracks on, but no filler.

Andy Smith:

But I did that as a collaboration with a guy called Brother Culture.

Andy Smith:

So he does some toasting on some of the instrumentals and bigs me up and stuff.

Andy Smith:

And I even got dub plates cut of those so I can play them out separately.

Andy Smith:

And I just.

Andy Smith:

If I'm going to listen to any of my comps, which I don't tend to really do at all, it would probably be that one because I just think it still sounds really great from start to finish.

Host:

Yeah, I suppose it's a weird one now because you can go on Spotify or any.

Host:

Sorry, let me rephrase that.

Host:

You can go on any audio streaming platform because we're not biased towards any of them.

Host:

And curate that list yourself.

Host:

It's just you've got the luxury where yours get released to the public.

Andy Smith:

Well, yeah, it was different times, I guess.

Andy Smith:

All those streaming platforms didn't exist and yeah, the only way you could have like a continuous mix thing was by buying a cd.

Andy Smith:

And it's funny because the albums that come out now, like the Reach up one which just came out on bbe, I'm kind of somewhat surprised that they actually put out on CDs still because you think how many people buy CDs.

Andy Smith:

But I was glad to get Scratch Bastard to do the mixed version of the last Reach up compilation.

Andy Smith:

Do you know Scratch Bastard?

Host:

I don't know him personally, but he's an incredible dj.

Andy Smith:

He is.

Andy Smith:

He's amazing dj.

Andy Smith:

And he actually, the first time I went on saw him on Twitch and I went in the chat and he realized it was me, he actually sent me a message, direct message, asking for my phone number.

Andy Smith:

And after he finished doing a stream he called me and to tell me that the reason that he DJs the way he does playing all kinds of different music is because he heard the document, which blew me away.

Andy Smith:

Amazing.

Host:

Yeah, yeah.

Andy Smith:

So he's just taking it to another level because he's so good.

Andy Smith:

It's unbelievable.

Host:

Yeah, I guess because I think he did like the Red Bull 3 style stuff.

Andy Smith:

Yeah.

Host:

Which I think kind of works well with kind of open format rather than being more rigidly hip hop with a bit of drum and bass.

Host:

But yeah.

Host:

Wow, that's amazing.

Andy Smith:

Yeah.

Andy Smith:

You see, I believe that he's taken the culture of DJing to the next level and is one of the best DJs in the world I've ever seen.

Andy Smith:

And he doesn't seem to really get enough props for it.

Andy Smith:

I mean he's massive on Twitch.

Andy Smith:

Everybody knows him on Twitch, but if you speak to somebody who doesn't watch Twitch, have you ever heard of him?

Andy Smith:

They don't know who he is.

Andy Smith:

And I saw him in London and I mean it was.

Andy Smith:

It was a Sunday night gig but it wasn't rammed full.

Andy Smith:

He should have been, you know, he's just so good, so.

Andy Smith:

Which is why I said, you know, do you want to do the mix of the reach up thing?

Andy Smith:

Because I just thought he needs to get his name out there a bit more.

Andy Smith:

People need to be more aware of him.

Andy Smith:

So he was really happy to do that and I was happy to have him to do it because it's better than I would have done.

Host:

Yeah, I suppose he's like.

Host:

He's definitely like a DJs DJ, isn't he?

Andy Smith:

Like, yeah.

Host:

Any sort of DJs that are aware of him just think he's the absolute bollocks.

Andy Smith:

Yeah.

Andy Smith:

Yeah.

Andy Smith:

I mean, everything skills are just incredible selections.

Andy Smith:

Incredible.

Andy Smith:

And he's such a nice guy as well and just total, you know, about bringing positive vibes to other people.

Andy Smith:

It's just everything he says is just so uplifting and it's what you need in the world today, you know, it's just so, so positive.

Andy Smith:

It's so brilliant.

Host:

Yeah.

Host:

Have you had the opportunity to go to any of his barbecues?

Andy Smith:

No, I've not actually.

Host:

I mean, they.

Host:

They look amazing.

Host:

But.

Host:

Yeah, just.

Host:

Just on his kind of open formatness, like, I saw him cutting up a Kenny Rogers tune the other day and I was just like, what is this?

Host:

So like funky.

Andy Smith:

It was.

Host:

It was kind of like yacht Rocky, I guess.

Host:

Yeah, it was really good.

Host:

But yeah, with the.

Host:

Because Greek going back to the Greensleeves then.

Host:

Greensleeves is.

Host:

They were primarily Lovers Rock, right?

Andy Smith:

No, they did early dancehall as well.

Andy Smith:

Mainly early dancer, really.

Host:

Not that much because I know, like your Lovers Rock mix, your volume one, that's probably one of the things I've listened to the most on MixCloud.

Andy Smith:

Is it?

Andy Smith:

Oh.

Host:

Oh, mate, I absolutely love it.

Andy Smith:

Oh, thank you.

Andy Smith:

I mean, that kind of came out with little fanfare, really.

Andy Smith:

He just kind of slipped out.

Andy Smith:

It was only digital again.

Andy Smith:

They didn't want to do vinyl.

Andy Smith:

So I don't think a lot of people even know about that, but.

Host:

Oh, it's absolutely fantastic.

Host:

I think on a sunny day as well.

Host:

Perfect.

Andy Smith:

Yeah.

Host:

Because, yeah, I think like with Lovers Rock, it's not like a quote unquote cool genre, is it?

Andy Smith:

I think it's going to become cool again, actually.

Andy Smith:

In recent times because of working in the record shop, a lot of people are now kind of gravitating towards Lovers Rock and want to buy it.

Andy Smith:

It's kind of an underground thing and I think it is cool.

Andy Smith:

Again, actually.

Host:

Oh, nice.

Host:

So are you still odd?

Host:

Let's say just up to Covid.

Host:

Have you been able to keep a regular sort of Travel schedule with DJing or has there kind of been ups and downs with it?

Andy Smith:

I'd say up until Covid it was, it was still good.

Andy Smith:

I mean it wasn't as good as the, you know, the glory days before, but yeah, yeah, I, I, I, I could easily, yeah, keep paying my bills out of it and support my family out of it.

Andy Smith:

Yeah.

Andy Smith:

And then, and then obviously Covid hit and, and ah, it all went, it all went wrong.

Andy Smith:

Yeah, that was bad.

Host:

Yeah.

Host:

It's not something I've spoken to on air with anyone for a while.

Host:

Was it kind of like mentally tough?

Host:

Because I know, like, I find at certain times when I've got lean times with work, I let it.

Host:

It definitely affects me more than it should, more than I would like it to.

Andy Smith:

No, I don't think it affected me mentally.

Andy Smith:

I was quite glad for a break, if anything.

Andy Smith:

And, and it just meant I, I, yeah, I had a, I guess I was trying to see the positives of it, you know, it meant I had a break from re packing records every week for gigs, which I used to do all the time and meant I can just go into some tunes and, you know, reevaluate them and, you know, and try and practice my skills.

Andy Smith:

I did the twitch thing or the Facebook Live thing first of all, and the twitch thing, I used to do that with my wife who likes DJing a bit as well.

Andy Smith:

So that was our like Friday night out, get bottle of wine, come up here into the loft and go switch.

Andy Smith:

That was kind of nice.

Andy Smith:

I mean, you know, we got kids and I think it probably affected them quite a bit, which isn't good.

Andy Smith:

But, and it was, it was a problem financially obviously, because I was waiting for payouts from the government, which were just ages and ages to arrive.

Andy Smith:

So it was getting pretty tight on that and I just thought that, I just thought all the clubs would shut and I didn't think I'd have a job anymore because, you know, there was all this talk about clubs not being able to keep going because they weren't getting the payments either.

Andy Smith:

And, and I just thought, oh, there's going to be no place to play.

Andy Smith:

And it did dip when, you know, when we came out, it took ages for it to build up again and yeah, financially it was, it was pretty bad for me, which is why I'd start working in a record shop, which I still do.

Andy Smith:

But yeah, so it was Definitely tough.

Andy Smith:

It seems to be just.

Andy Smith:

Just kind of hopefully back where we were before now the last few months I've been super busy again.

Host:

So it's good with the, with the record shop.

Host:

Do people kind of spot you and ask you very specific stuff or anything?

Andy Smith:

Every now and again somebody recognizes me or say you Andy Smith, which is kind of funny.

Andy Smith:

But that's all right, I don't mind.

Andy Smith:

And yeah, well, I'm happy for them to pick my knowledge.

Andy Smith:

I'm happy to share what knowledge I've got.

Andy Smith:

So.

Andy Smith:

Yeah, it's good, it's nice.

Host:

What's coming up next for you?

Andy Smith:

What's coming up next?

Andy Smith:

Well, more DJing, really.

Andy Smith:

DJing tonight in London.

Andy Smith:

I've got London.

Andy Smith:

London again next week.

Andy Smith:

Croatia is coming up.

Andy Smith:

Dublin, it's just.

Andy Smith:

Yeah, just DJing really.

Andy Smith:

Oh, in terms of releases.

Andy Smith:

So I'll just put the.

Andy Smith:

The Reach Up Disco Wonderland compound.

Andy Smith:

Bbe.

Andy Smith:

I think the next thing that's going to come out is a mix CD and cassette for a label called Weaponized.

Andy Smith:

And if you're aware of a thing called Weaponized, they put out about what, maybe five or six mix CDs.

Andy Smith:

Format was the first one.

Host:

Was that his Beatles one?

Andy Smith:

It was the Beatles one, yeah.

Andy Smith:

Yeah.

Andy Smith:

Which is great, isn't it?

Andy Smith:

I played that in the shop.

Andy Smith:

Some people were like, what's this?

Andy Smith:

What's this?

Andy Smith:

But yeah, so I'm doing a mix for them and that.

Andy Smith:

Well, this kind of relates to the next two things I got coming out because I decided I was going to do a soundtrack mix because before Portis Ed, when I did the opening set, it was all soundtracks and like original samples of hip hop records mainly.

Andy Smith:

And I used to love doing that because it's like you play these amazing soundtracks.

Andy Smith:

Leila Schiffer and Mancini and all that on this massive sound system used to sound beautiful.

Andy Smith:

And I just thought there's something I've never kind of gone back to.

Andy Smith:

And I do love those soundtracks.

Andy Smith:

Just sonically, they're amazing.

Andy Smith:

And I thought it would be great to have a CD of all that stuff I used to play.

Andy Smith:

I don't think there's any like soundtrack mixed cd.

Andy Smith:

I mean, not that it's mixed mixed, it's just, you know, one will flow into the next.

Andy Smith:

But I don't think there's a definitive CD of the best soundtrack stuff.

Andy Smith:

So I was going to do that for Weaponize and I gave him.

Andy Smith:

I gave him the mix and the guy who was mastering it said, there's a funny noise on this recording.

Andy Smith:

I Thought it was one track, but it's throughout.

Andy Smith:

It's a funny noise.

Host:

And I couldn't hear it was any ground.

Andy Smith:

Well, basically it took me.

Andy Smith:

It took me about a month to find what it was.

Andy Smith:

And you know, I kept.

Andy Smith:

I couldn't really hear it.

Andy Smith:

Am I hearing.

Andy Smith:

You know, I got a bit tennis.

Andy Smith:

I couldn't really hear it.

Andy Smith:

But I had to turn basically the system up to the max.

Andy Smith:

And I could just hear on one channel a bit of a funny noise.

Andy Smith:

So I.

Andy Smith:

I basically had to keep unplugging things, everything.

Andy Smith:

And then I thought it was something to do with maybe the mains and something downstairs or the washing machine or something.

Andy Smith:

And then it.

Andy Smith:

And I kept sending recordings to the guy who was mastering.

Andy Smith:

I said, is it gone now?

Andy Smith:

Is it gone now?

Andy Smith:

No, it's still there.

Andy Smith:

It's still there.

Andy Smith:

And it was.

Andy Smith:

Basically the very last thing that I pulled out was my main desk that I listened to everything through, which is why I haven't pulled it out because I'm listening to everything through the main desk.

Andy Smith:

And I pulled it out and recorded something without it plugged in.

Andy Smith:

And I sent it to him and said, is it gone now?

Andy Smith:

He said, yeah, it's gone.

Andy Smith:

So basically it's the power supply.

Andy Smith:

My main desk.

Andy Smith:

Desk is a bit dodgy.

Andy Smith:

So basically.

Andy Smith:

So.

Andy Smith:

So that didn't come out.

Andy Smith:

And then by that time Weaponizer had released a few others of their CDs because I think they'd only done the format one at that point.

Andy Smith:

And then I realized that the other CDs were pretty much on the hip hop tip.

Andy Smith:

So I was thinking maybe my soundtrack CD might be a bit jarring in the series.

Andy Smith:

So what I basically have done for them is I've done a mix of hip hop album tracks that were never singles that I think are really good because that's one of the.

Andy Smith:

One of the streams I used to do.

Andy Smith:

Not very often, but every now and again I think of different kind of streams to do on Twitch.

Andy Smith:

And every now and again I just play hip hop LP cuts because there's a lot of great LP cuts in the late late 80s into early 90s.

Andy Smith:

I've never seen those, but I think they just stand up really well as good tracks.

Andy Smith:

So I just did it.

Andy Smith:

So I've done a mix of that and the weaponized guys really like it.

Andy Smith:

So that's going to come out probably early next year.

Andy Smith:

And then I still want to do the soundtrack mix and I've even got the artwork done for it because it got done by Mark who did the artwork for all the Document series and the Port Said albums.

Andy Smith:

So I've got the artwork, but I now need to redo the soundtrack mix because it's got buzz in it and I'll probably just self release that like I did with Document four and just put out myself.

Andy Smith:

So it's like it's my own thing.

Andy Smith:

So if it doesn't sell, it's on me.

Andy Smith:

You know, it's not part of the weaponized thing.

Andy Smith:

So.

Andy Smith:

But I think it'll be nice to soundtrack mix and we'll see.

Host:

So we touched upon this earlier in the show and I think it's kind of probably fair to say that you're one of kind of a small group of people that can still put out mixes and get the love for them.

Host:

Because kind of like the widespread appreciation for mixes just isn't quite what it used to be in the late 90s and the early Noughties.

Andy Smith:

No, I guess it's like.

Andy Smith:

Like it's old hat now and it's like anybody can do it and you don't even need to be able to do it with the sync button, I guess, and all that stuff.

Andy Smith:

Not that there's anything wrong with using technology that's new, but, you know, so it just was the big deal.

Andy Smith:

If anybody can do it.

Andy Smith:

I know it's about selection as well, but nobody seems to care about.

Andy Smith:

I remember meeting one girl once when I was playing in a bar, who was a dj, young, young girl, and she, you know, just chatting to her, find out what the vibe was.

Andy Smith:

And she once said to me, yeah, but, you know, mixing is irrelevant now.

Andy Smith:

Nobody cares about mixing anymore and they would rather it not be mixed and it just fade out and the next one fade in.

Andy Smith:

In one of these, you know, hi Fi listening bars on an amazing sound system that's more important than the fact that it's mixed.

Andy Smith:

And the fact that you can mix it in some ways kind of just shows you're just the old generation.

Andy Smith:

I was like, really?

Andy Smith:

You know, surely I was trying to argue my point.

Andy Smith:

Surely it's better, you know, you're dancing and it goes into the next tune.

Andy Smith:

But I guess this just been done for so many years.

Andy Smith:

I think to a lot of younger people, it doesn't matter.

Host:

So I wonder if there's like, people maybe don't.

Host:

Because music's so kind of disposable now, people just maybe don't get the time to learn songs as intimately.

Host:

So what's great with mixing is when songs are recontextualized I think you hear a song after, after that you've been kind of, you know, but you're impartial about.

Host:

And then you hear it in the right context and you're like, oh, my God, this is incredible.

Host:

But I've not realized how good this tune is before.

Host:

And with the art of the mix, it's like when people know a song well and it's teased in and stuff, and it's kind of that composition.

Host:

Maybe if they don't know the songs very well, because you're listening to a new Spotify playlist every week, a new random MP3 streaming service playlist every week, then, you know, you don't get that it doesn't land in the same way.

Host:

Maybe.

Andy Smith:

Yeah, I mean, I guess times change and the.

Andy Smith:

The way it's perceived has changed.

Andy Smith:

And, you know, everybody's a DJ now, so, you know, it's not.

Andy Smith:

It's not as special, I guess, as it was.

Andy Smith:

I mean, when I used to start degen, you know, people would be hanging on what I was playing, like, literally.

Andy Smith:

Well, let me say this.

Andy Smith:

When I used to start DJing, people would trust me to play them great music.

Andy Smith:

And nowadays people think that they know better.

Andy Smith:

Yeah, some people would trust me, but a lot of people are like, you know, trying to tell me what I should do.

Andy Smith:

What you didn't, you know, because.

Andy Smith:

Because they curate their own streaming platform playlists.

Andy Smith:

So, you know, why can't they do that at a club?

Andy Smith:

There was once.

Andy Smith:

Oh, this is a great story.

Andy Smith:

I got to tell you.

Andy Smith:

Me and Nate were DJing in this bar in South London doing our disco night, I think it was.

Andy Smith:

Oh, no, it wasn't actually.

Andy Smith:

There's across the board set.

Andy Smith:

Anyway, this girl came up.

Andy Smith:

I was playing tunes and this girl came up to knit.

Andy Smith:

The crowd was vibing, growing really well.

Andy Smith:

And this girl came up to Nick by the side of the decks and she said, skip.

Andy Smith:

And he's.

Andy Smith:

What?

Andy Smith:

Sorry, Skip.

Andy Smith:

Sorry, what do you mean, skip?

Andy Smith:

Don't like this one Skip.

Andy Smith:

She demanded that the tune skip to the next as she does on a playlist or ipod whenever it was.

Andy Smith:

I can't remember, it was a while ago.

Andy Smith:

And yeah, she demanded.

Andy Smith:

And then Nick had to kind of explain to her, what do you think is correct, that we skip with all these people who are enjoying it.

Andy Smith:

But she was, you know, thought that she had the control of the whole night in the whole place and demanded it be skipped.

Host:

How old man?

Host:

Self awareness is lacking in some people, unfortunately.

Host:

Yeah, I know, Andy, it's been lovely to chat to you.

Host:

I'll let you get back to your day off.

Andy Smith:

Thank you.

Host:

Where can people find you online?

Andy Smith:

Right, Well, I am on, you know, Instagram, Facebook, Mixcloud, and luckily I managed to get DJ Andy Smith.

Andy Smith:

So everything, everything is the site DJ Andy Smith.

Andy Smith:

So Instagram, DJ Andy Smith, blah, blah, blah.

Andy Smith:

DJandysmith.com is my website, which is still running to find out where I'm playing.

Andy Smith:

I try and update that as much as I can.

Andy Smith:

Yeah.

Andy Smith:

If you.

Andy Smith:

Instagram, I guess, is the best to hook up with me, send me a message, whatever.

Host:

Yeah, great stuff.

Host:

Well, thanks a lot for your time today.

Andy Smith:

Thank you.

Host:

And look forward to keeping an eye on the new projects.

Andy Smith:

Cheers.

Andy Smith:

Thanks.

Host:

Cheers, mate.

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Once A DJ
A journey from the genesis to the afterlife of a working DJ

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