Lee Mortimer Interview

Lee Mortimer

Lee Mortimer has more Jack than Nicholson and Bauer put together. Leading the new-school house sound with his label Wearhouse Music, forthcoming releases on Jesse Rose’s Made to Play and Switch’s Dubsided labels show he’s up there with fidget’s big boys. So much so, he’s also recently remixed Armand Van Helden and Pete Tong. Oh, and Ministry of Sound have made him their monthly resident. Fortunately Fat! has lured him to join our NY line-up with promises of cash stuffed envelopes and saucer-eyed ravers…

Hi Lee. How has the Ministry residency been going down? Your sound is pretty much ready to explode into the mainstream. Pete Tong’s been playing you on the Essential Selection hasn’t he?

The residency is great. I’m really enjoying it. I’m getting a chance to play amongst some great DJs plus I’m also getting to spin tunes I don’t always get a chance to because it’s probably the only gig a month when I’m not always playing at peak time. I might come on when the club opens or even at 4am. It’s nice being able to warm-up, it’s like going back to my roots. every DJ should warm up occasionally I think. We all know peak-time is the best though! And the crowds have really been into it. It’s great to get the recognition from dance music’s biggest taste-maker, Pete Tong, too. He’s played my last two releases so I’m well happy. I don’t see why certain tunes in the style I make couldn’t make it into the top 40. In fact I believe Crookers’ remix of Kid Cudi’s ‘Day N Nite’ has been signed by Data for a full release so you never know.

I saw your forthcoming release on Made to Play described as like a combination of Jimi Hendrix and Chris Akabusi peaking on acid. Is that what you had in mind when recording it? How did the release come about?

That’s not exactly what I had in mind but it will be in the future! The tunes Jesse’s releasing are two tracks from my Wearhouse Music label. He played them so much in his sets that he decided to sign them and primarily put them out on vinyl. It’s great that they’re now on wax because I feel there is still a hardcore of people that strictly go record shopping. Not everyone is au fait with internet and blogs and stuff.

Remixing Pete Tong and Armand Van Helden is massive. Did you get to meet either of them? And who else have you got knocking on the door for a piece of your remix magic?

I met Pete briefly at Ministry of Sound. We were playing on the same night and he popped his head into the booth when I was playing. I didn’t notice him at first but he tapped me on the shoulder and said “thanks for the remix.” I was right in the middle of the mix so I couldn’t really say much back. Can’t believe he disturbed me whilst I was in the mix! Only kidding Tongy. I’ve just remixed Sizzla, the reggae and dancehall legend, which was cool. He’s done a track with Dre Skull which I was let loose on. I’ve got other exciting bits in the pipeline too but they’re not 100% confirmed yet so I shouldn’t really say!

One of your newest tunes on CR2, That Thing, features the talented MC Flipside. Is hip-house back? And are there any other vocalists you’d like to work with?

Hip house is back in a big way! Well, everything in moderation I say. It’s always great to have some kind of vocals or MC in a set and there’s a definite hip-hop influences in fidget. I’m actually working with a vocalist called RQM. I’ve laid down an instrumental and he’s putting his magic on it right now so I’m excited. I’d like to work with Wiley, or someone that is a demon with a talk box vocoder. If only Roger Troutman was still alive. It’d be cool to work with a rapper from the old-skool like Doug E Fresh too.

What’s coming up for Wearhouse? We’ve heard talk of a mix album coming out in 2009.

I’m putting together a mix CD at the moment. Hopefully that will lead into a series and I’ll get other DJs on board. The first one will delve into the Wearhouse Music back catalogue and also into future releases. They’ll also be new and exclusive remix of earlier tunes. Right now I’ve got HiJack working on a new remix of ‘No Ordinary Girl’ by Sawtooth Sucka. It’s sounding sick. The latest EP on Wearhouse Music by Bass Weazal has just dropped. After that is Jaimie Fanatic. I’ve signed a track of his called ‘Programmed’ which is gonna be BIG! Then I’m putting out 3 tunes from Aniki, a new guy to me from Norway. I was blown away by his tunes when they landed in my inbox. Then there’s a new EP from me early next year. I’ve also picked up tunes from Trevor Loveys & Shab Ruffcut, Calvertron, Jon Kennedy (Movement Music, Bomb Squad), Dreadstemz (who wants to remain anonymous… intriguing!) and Dem Slackers (a new Dutch Duo doing the damage).

You’ve been getting massive props from the likes of Switch, who called you part of the Dubsided family, Sinden and Diplo. Who were your influences when you first got into making music?

I’ve been into dance music as long as I can remember. I had a tape called Maximum Rave that I would play all the time. When I got my first set of decks I was actually kind of into trance. My cousin had decks too and he was into Judge Jules so it kind of rubbed off on me as I was still looking for my sound. I got into house but was still quite eclectic within those boundaries. Then a friend of mine gave me a CD by some guy called Derrick L Carter. So I put it on and I was hooked. The boompty-boomp beats were so fresh and for about 2 years I was obsessed with it. I actually handed Derrick a CD when he played at the End years ago and then heard him playing loads of the tracks on there via online mixes. A great memory of mine was being in the DJ booth with him playing and he took out two copies of my record and started juggling between them in the mix. It was nuts. The track was a bootleg that was quite hard to get hold of, especially in America, he told me that he bought every copy from Juno for his friends! Anyway, further down the line Switch, Trevor Loveys and Jesse Rose came along, took the sound and twisted it further. The rest is history I suppose.

Finally, what would be your NYE tune to play at the stroke of midnight?

Solid Groove “This Is Sick” with some Big Ben mash-up going on.