Photography credit James Clothier

Bobby Champs // Fat! Club Mix 045

“It’s time to register where your nearest fire extinguisher is, because this shit is blazing.” – Boiler Room

“Expertly produced and darkly powerful” – XLR8R

“Prepare to be charmed and overwhelmed in equal measure.” – Resident Advisor

“Dancefloor bombs which are certain to see Bobby Champs fly up from the UK underground in the coming months” – Mixmag

Signed to the eclectic Pictures Music, Brighton based Bobby Champs has really caught the eye this year. His debut release, the Moonlight EP gave us our first taste of Bobby’s brand of peak time techno, and was followed up by the much acclaimed Drag Queen EP, a collection of upfront bombs that have found their way into the sets of  some of the biggest DJs in the scene. Bobby recently put this no nonsense mix together for us, and we caught up with him for a chat about his influences, Brighton, and Berlin…

Hi Bobby, how has 2012 been for you?
A special one, my very first release at the beginning of the year and a lot of great experiences along the way

Can you tell us a bit about your Fat! Club mix?
I decided to go for a full on techno mix for this mix. I recorded it all live so there’s no planning involved, just vibes

How did you first get into electronic music?
I’m going to have to be very cliché and say I’ve been into electronic music as far back as i can remember

And who have been the biggest influences on your sound?
Although I’ve always been into electronic music I’ve also dipped in and out of it throughout my life, I draw a lot of influence from the music I was into in my teens from the synth pop of Clor to the southern metal of Every Time I Die all the way to the avant-garde noise rock of bands like Health and Lightning Bolt.

Your latest release on Picture Music, ‘Drag Queen’ has picked up some big support and excellent reviews. Can you tell us a bit about each of the tracks on the EP?
Each of the tracks are from a certain time where I was making music. I tend to group songs together in my head after making them and i found these songs work well together as a release. The most far reaching one is probably the digital only Mint 400 that I wanted to include as a bit of a bridge between my old stuff and some of my future tracks

Your music sounds very Berlin influenced. Is that a fair thing to say? Have you spent much time over there?
Believe it or not but I’ve never been to Germany

What do you do outside of music?
I spent too long thinking about this question, i need some new hobbies

What do the next 12 months have in store for you?
I have a new release coming out on Hypercolour in the next month and after that a collab release with A1 Bassline on his new label sourceunknwn. Some other things are being talked about but its early days

What are the most memorable DJ sets you’ve ever seen/heard?
Tough question, I’ve seen a lot of sets that have been pretty memorable but i suppose the most recent would probably be Martyn’s set at Peckham Palais following the Bloc fiasco. Everyone was in such high spirits and Martyn’s song selections were so on point, it was definitely special

Are you still based in Brighton? What’s the scene like there at the moment?
I’m actually moving to London in November which should bring a lot of new inspiration

Where is your favourite place you have played? And are there any clubs or cities you’ve never played in that you’d really like to?
I always have a lot of fun at LIFE in Brighton, maybe its the home-ground. Id love to play Sheffield again, that was a lot of fun and places like Leeds, Manchester and Nottingham. Playing Berlin would be a rite of passage for me

Apart from Pictures, what record labels are you most into at the moment?
I’m loving a lot of the stuff coming out on Aus and Simple, Sheworks is releasing some really power music and there’s a few really decent releases coming out on West Norwood Cassette Library

What 3 tracks sum you up best?

Health – Die Slow

D.S.R – Exhume

Head High – Its a Love Thing

And finally if you could put on your dream party, where would it be, who would play and would there be a theme?
I don’t think I’m cut out for promoting, a lot of my friends are promoters and I don’t think I’m cut out for it, you have to give your mind, body and soul to put on a good party but I suppose if I did put one on it would probably have a collection of old and new acts in house and techno. On the moon.

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