Q&A With ROSS ALLEN

Our lovely friend Ross Allen got carried away and not only did us one mix but two!!! (Part One available now – Part Two to follow).

We thought it’d be fun to do a little Q&A with Ross so here goes:

HOW DID IT ALL START? 

“I’ve been doing this music thing a while now. People know me for differing facets of that life. 

I started DJing all over the world since I was 15 (not when I was 15, I was strictly SE London back then!!), the radio – NTS (weekly on Thursdays 11am-1pm (previously on BBC LONDON, RADIO ONE, 6MUSIC, Mi-SOUL, Ministry of Sound), then I have had labels  (Foundation now and previously Island Blue, Casual, Meltdown, Filter) and been an A&R person for a very long time (20 years at Island Records, then Domino, Ninja and Dorado). Making lots and lots of great albums, winning awards and having hit singles for those labels and myself.

I now manage bands, producers and singers Lady Blackbird, London Grammar, Kris di Angelis, Zach Witness, Cooper T and beyond…

It’s all music. I love it

I hope it never stops x”

BEST SCENE EVER

“My favourite scene from a movie is actually where the intro to the first mix is taken from ‘Babylon’. It is a film, almost a documentary (it isn’t), about Black life in South London in the early 80’s. It focuses around ‘Sound System’ culture and the ‘Roots Reggae’ scene and Jah Shaka’s dance’s. 

In my favourite scene, they are in a dance in a railway arch, the mood is tense, the bass is all consuming, everyone is locked into its throbbing pulse, Jah Shaka is freaking the sound system with delays and effects, the room is a darkened, hazy, smoke filled, a dimly lit cavern. It’s its own world, another world. A world I wanted to get into but never could and this was my piece of it. The music is incredible.

Set against this is the fact that one of the main protagonists of the film has just committed a murder and is running from the crime scene to do his thing, on the mike, in the dance.

It is, as they say, ‘WELL DREAD !!’”

ONE OF YOUR MOST LOVED SOUNDTRACKS

“It’s either ‘Mississippi Burning’, ‘Platoon’ or ‘Paris, Texas’ — just the emotion in the music. ‘Paris, Texas’ and Ry Cooder’s slide guitar, Platoon’s use of Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” always blew me and my, late, Dad away, and ‘Mississippi Burning’ is so emotive, dark, sinister,  the music being so reflective of the mood of the film…”

LAST SUPPER

“Tricky, I am a great believer in feeding your senses. It’s my idea of being rich !!

And food is up there with the best of them. I love it, most of it, nearly all of it !! 

I love classic head to tail British food, I love what the French do, I love all the asian repertoires — Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese and beyond. I even love the shitty American foods that are so bad for you but so tasty.

If I was about to die I think I might go for a massive, proper Chinese feast — all the best bits: Dim Sum, duck, the Szechuan bits. I’d completely gorge myself on it, be sick and then die !! (HAPPY).”

GUILTY PLEASURE

“I don’t really do guilt. Definitely not with food or music. If it’s good, I’ll have it !!”

WHAT DO YOU LOVE TO COOK

“I love cooking, tunes on in the background, and just getting stuck into anything that will excite my taste buds. Nothing too complex but just good hearty food, bold flavours that give you that tasty end result. 

I do love those hearty winter stews, beef bourguignon, etc. or a pork based dish. I love a pig. One day I will eat a whole pig (not in one go) but utilise all the bits or as much as I can.

So I guess my answer is PIGS !!”

So that concludes our Q&A with Ross – now let’s get to the music.

As part of our monthly guest DJ sets on #Mixcloud #Soundcloud and next in the line-up to continue our monthly sessions is Ross Allen, who will be kicking us off with not one but two mixes…

“STOMP – OLD KING STREET ROAD SOUNDS PART 1 – THE WARM UP – SEP 22 – BY ROSS ALLEN”

“STOMP – OLD KING STREET ROAD SOUNDS PART 2 – THE MELTDOWN – SEP 22 – BY ROSS ALLEN”

“These mixes are a mixture of the old and new (a fair few unreleased) but they hark back to the mid 80’s when everything was new and exciting to me. Record shops were a buzz, with new imports and white labels, pirate radio stations were permanently on in my house, clubs, pubs and wine bars were where I wanted to be and the world of Black Music was opening up to me.

I was buzzing. 

I still am. 

I know a bit more now, but I still love those sounds, those feelings and the life those days opened up to me

Its 80’s soul, early Garage, roots reggae, Lovers Rock, House, Electro and late Disco.

I hope you like it as much as I did and do xx.”

Have a listen, like and follow and please share these beautiful vibes. Remember to come back next week for Part Two.