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Features
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Invasion from the north: an interview with Leeds’ finest, DJ GRH.
Reported by Olly Perris
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Submitted 09-07-05 21:54
DJ GRH, aka Gary Holden, has fast become one of the most established names across the hard dance scene. Although not as prominent in London as he is up north, particularly in his home town of Leeds, Gary has made regular appearances at promotions such as Frantic and Riot! among countless others. In addition, Gary firmly stamped his authority on the production scene in the summer of 2003 when his smash debut track ‘New York, New York’ with Paul Maddox on Tidy Trax sold in excess of 4,000 copies. As well as being one of the nicest and most approachable djs on the scene, aiding the careers of many up and coming producers and djs, Gary has a plethora of new production material fresh from the studio waiting to be unleashed, as well as many high profile dj appearances at some of the UK’s biggest events. With this in mind, I give you the original Northern Monkey, DJ GRH.
Although up north you are an extremely established name, the southern massive may have never been able to catch you play before. For the benefit of those who are nonplussed, briefly describe the style you play.
I would say that my main style would be really driving and uplifting (often vocal) hard trance. Think along the lines of Rob Tissera and Steve Hill who I admire greatly. Obviously, the likes of Frantic, Sundissential and Tidy have booked me over the years for lighter introductions to the night — and I try to keep to party techno, funky techno and the like for those types of situations. Having said all this, I'm actually playing a hard dance to hardcore set next week before Scott Brown, so I guess my morals of keeping myself versatile are working! Haha!
As well as banging hard dance, you have a history of doing extremely sucessful funky house sets. What attracts you to this sound and what is your preferred house style?
I have to say that even though I get asked to do a lot of house sets, that I don’t do them any more — for the simple reason that I don’t have time to fit in many more gigs what with all the hard dance ones! I’ve always been into house music from a very early age and was influenced by the very early New York sounds. In all honesty, I’m more into everything from the earlier disco sounds of Larry Levan, through the Masters At Work kind of vibe and I do also like the stuff which most would term ‘funky house’. I’m not too into the whole kind of electro-tinged stuff that seems to try to be 'cooler' than the rest in all honesty — give me a screaming Jocelyn Brown or India vocal over natural house percussion any day! I don’t get much time off these days — but Leeds (my home city) has a lot to offer when it comes to house music, so I'm very lucky.
Within London you have featured on lineups for the heaviest of heavyweight promotions including the likes of Frantic and Riot! Do you feel there is anything you have not yet accomplished on the London scene?
I love the London scene. I’ve had some bloody stupidly good times down there where I’ve partied with mates and we’ve gone from club to club to club. I’ve been very lucky as the London scene only accepts a few of us ‘Northern Monkeys’ (Will Patterson and Ed Real’s favourite description!) within it. However, there’s still loads of clubs I’d love to play. One of them is Trade. There’s also big guns such as Wildchild, Heat, Antiworld and a hell of a lot more, so I’d say there's plenty that I have yet to achieve. I’ve got work lined up with Squelcher, Frantic and the like over the next few months, so look forward to those!
Despite working with many agencies in the past (including the likes of Element 7 and Pure DJs) you remain self-managed. How do you feel this abets your schedule within the hard dance scene?
Its so strange. I think I must be one of the only djs on the scene to have pushed myself this hard / this far, practically on my own. True, Resistance helped me gain my foot in the door at Sundissential, Element 7 helped with me with Riot! and Pure DJs have been cool with me, but predominantly I have remained self managed. A lot of people always associate me with Tidy Trax and Tidy Management, but I have to keep reiterating that even though I work a lot with them, that I am not a part of their management and they do not control any bookings I have. I’m very proactive with what I do and have a busy next couple of months.
As well as making a name for yourself with djing, you have also featured on a number of productions, most notably ‘New York, New York’ on Tidy Trax with Paul Maddox, on which you performed the vocals. What inspired the words in this track?
Shock, horror... New York! That city changed my life. The track was based on my life before, during and after my visit there. It’s a city out of control and living life on the edge — and I fell in love with that. It changed me as a person, for good.
You also performed this track live at Tidy Weekender 7 as part of Paul Maddox’s Live PA. Is this something you'd like to repeat in the future?
It is actually! I have never been as nervous in my ENTIRE LIFE as what I was when we were waiting to go on stage after Ingo and Colin Barratt! There is no driving test or exam level of butterflies that can match it! We rehearsed hard and added some extra bespoke verses to the end of ‘New York, New York’ and also did new tracks ‘Live For The Danger’ and ‘Detour’ too! It all passed off REALLY well, so we were chuffed to bits! The whole thing was recorded and is selling very well at places like Tidy.com and HMV.
You’ve worked with a host of upcoming talent including Chrysus (on Fevah USA Records), Tik Tok (forthcoming on Blue Cubed) and M.D.A & Spherical. You’re also well known for helping to launch new talent, aiding the careers of the above and also the likes of Alf Bamford and Pierre Pienaar. What is your motivation for doing this?
Well, obviously it’s nice to be able to play a part in assisting the ‘up and comings’ to gain the recognition of what they deserve. It’ s awesome to see Micky, Jamie, Matt, Mark, Alf and Pierre climbing the ladder slowly but surely! Of course, my reasons are partly selfish too — in the sense that these guys make some absolutely superb tracks! Obviously, I'm grateful to all the big labels for keeping me inundated on mailing lists and the like, but you can really differentiate yourself by getting the MP3s off the new guns on MSN, burning their material and heading out to a club with it.
Which of your new productions are you most excited about?
I find it really hard to put preferences on my output as I work with so many different engineers/co-producers. Like, I couldn’t possibly compare ‘Heatwave’ (my track with Tik Tok, forthcoming on Neonate) to say,‘Borderline’ (track with Chrysus, already released onto Fevah USA) becauseone is a techno cut and the other is hard trance. All my new productions have a place in my heart!
As a DJ you’ve played abroad in a number of high profile locations, and you’re set to play in the USA later this year. How do you feel the scene compares in America to the scene over here?
I actually think it’ll be early next year when the USA takes shape. I’ve played four gig in the USA now — one headlining a rave in Santa Monica, the other doing a 2x4 (2 mixers/4 decks) in a park in downtown LA, another one playing soulful/deeper house in the middle of the Mojave Desert (!) and another one at Circus that was in downtown Hollywood. You can't really talk about comparing ‘America’ with the ‘UK’ in my mind — we are so geographically smaller that we can be discussed as a whole, whereas the USA can't.
You also play regularly up north with the likes of Tidy and Sundissential. What gigs in particular are you looking forward to in the near future?
Tidy are being very good to me at the moment, as are Sundissential so they’ll be the ones to look out for. Storm’s a great place to play — as is the likes of Housework, Housewives Choice, Protocol, Glasshouse, Oh My God and countless others.
Finally Gary, where do you see the hard dance scene going over 2005?
Its very hard to say — although, without getting into whether or not the scene is picking back up again (which it blatantly is!), the one thing I like about the hard dance music way of things at the moment is the unpredictability of it all! I mean, who would have ever thought I’d be playing Sundissential North @ Evolution again!? Who would have thought bouncy hard house would come back in and we'd see whole brands devoted to it? Look at how closely the hard dance scenes have come together with house music and techno. I think we all hit a lull at some point, but just recently (a mix of good fortune and slogging my guts out?), things have never been rosier for this Northern monkey!
Thanks to Gary for the photos.
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Other Features By Olly Perris:
Addiction @ Hidden preview: interview with Sean Tyas
Interview with Ian H & Matt B of Momentum
Interview with Pierre Pienaar aka P.H.A.T.T.
From a young gun to an industry lion: Heat/HF Xmas Payback(2back) Party preview with Spencer Freeland
Party techno, party music, party animal! The lowdown on hard dance’s newest prodigy, Jamie Taylor
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
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Comments:
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From: Transent on 10th Jul 2005 02:07.31
Hey mate! Nice to see you getting features and press on the London scene. Also big respect on your support of up and coming artists! 
James (Transent)
From: James Ellis on 10th Jul 2005 12:40.23
Gary is a charming and versatile DJ with unmatchable technical ability! I've never seen anyone do so much perfect mixing on those nasty rack mounted CD players!!
Keep up the good work mate - speak soon :-)
From: -JK- on 10th Jul 2005 12:52.55
Cool interview, GRH is the most approachable n nicest DJ on the circuit IMO, always has the time for a few words with ya. Saw him play last nite at Protocol in manchester n he stormed it as usual. Good luck in firin up the london scene lad :+)
From: DJGRH on 11th Jul 2005 12:16.54
James - no worries at all mate, you guys deserve it Have you produced anything on the same lines as the 'Home' remix mate? 
James Ellis - haha! I'll admit they're a bit of a mission! I did a whole set on the buggers at Protocol on Saturday too! Keep up the good work matey - compliments back at you
JK - thanks for those kind words Yes, I always seem to end up nattering after my set - someone shut me up, eh!? lol!
From: Ben (Wid and Ben) on 11th Jul 2005 14:34.42
What a top bloke! Great interview Gary...cu soon
From: TEK-DJ Management on 11th Jul 2005 23:05.14
go Gary boy!!!!
From: Maria on 12th Jul 2005 15:00.28
Well done babe!!!  
From: DJGRH on 12th Jul 2005 17:30.07
Ben - back at you matey Good to see things excelling for you two mad-heads
Tom @ Tek - hope you're ok after recent personal stuff mate
Maria - many thanks x
From: N-Slay on 12th Jul 2005 19:16.35
Looking forward to meeting you and hearing your set at Squelcher vs Guilt on 5th August!!
From: DJD4RK on 12th Jul 2005 23:46.25
It's been a pleasure dealing with you Gary, and certainly looking forward to meeting you and seeing you rock the Squelchers on 5th August.
The Demo CD's I received were amazing and a combination of your very busy schedule and us booking DJ's far in advance meant it's been a long time getting you on the line-up! But that is all behind us now... just under 4 weeks and counting!! Se ya soon mate.
From: Transent on 14th Jul 2005 00:32.35
Thx mate. I've had a little time back home in the studio, mainly concentrating on mastering and mixing techniques for the 2005 remix of 'Evolution'. I expect it to take about 3 weeks to complete as im back in London for a bit with no studio again! Will get a CDR or mp3 to u right after the export and will keep you posted on progress! Thanks again for your support and your patience! Wicked, and keep up the amazing work Gary! 
From: DJGRH on 14th Jul 2005 08:12.28
N-Slay / D4rk - very much looking forward to 5th August guys! Adam - you're right, have been chatting for a hell of a long time now, but its cool to get something finally established!
James (Transent) - just got your email now mate, will try and get around to replying some time this week
From: ~deleted1390 on 14th Jul 2005 21:54.00
Always enjoyed your sets Gary and it's always great to see you in London. Hope our paths cross again soon. 
From: Technikal on 16th Jul 2005 20:42.04
Good read man - cheers for all the help along the way!! Legend.
From: Camden Nurse on 18th Jul 2005 15:24.23
Good work boi.
From: Jennie B on 19th Jul 2005 12:39.38
Wicked interview Gary is def one of the most approchable DJs i have ever met i remember when he played camden palace a few year back stood and chatted to me and my mate for ages! Top guy!
From: DJGRH on 20th Jul 2005 11:04.13
Latex Zebra - I'm down for places like 'Freeze' (23rd July) then 'Squelcher vs Guilt' (8th August) if you're at any of those? Be good to catch up man Never did get to play for Vinyl Zoo did I? 
Technikal - well, you will go making some f**king shit hot tunes won't ya?! lol! Not too impressed with the fact that you turn up 5 minutes after I've left 'Addiction' the other night though  lol!
Hazel - thanks hun Got the cheque today x
Jennie B - we had a right good natter didn't we? At the side of the booth kinda thing wasn't it? I can gab on a bit, so feel free to tell me to 'shush' when you wish! hehe x
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