20-ish questions with DJ Harvey

Harvey Bassett is one of the few DJs in the world that you could reasonably call a “rockstar” — Rolling Stone once described him as the “Keith Richards of the DJ world.” It might be his charming grin, garish clothes, or confident tone of voice, but Harvey seems like a man who’s seen it all.

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DJ Harvey is best known for his all-night marathon sets, hedonistic Disco parties, and general no-shits-given attitude. The man opened his Boiler Room set in Milan with Willy Wonka’s “Pure Imagination” and ended another at Merideth Music Festival by smashing every piece of equipment in eyesight. Read a bit more about him, and you might be less surprised to hear that original copies of his Sarcastic Study Masters (2001) go for hundreds of dollars on Discogs. Note that this is a mix with a 10-second silence he named “Paws” and a Howard Wales tune re-titled “Deep Penetration.”

Growing up around Cambridge in the 70s, Harvey started as the token young drummer for several local Punk Rock bands. His first claim to fame, at only 14 years old, was airtime on John Peel’s legendary BBC Radio 1 show. By the 80s, Harvey had gotten tired of the growing stash of unsold records in his bandmate’s bathroom, so he joined a friend (from artist collective Tone Deaf Krew) on an impromptu trip to New York.

In New York he mixed with the likes of the Fat Boys and the Rocksteady Crew in iconic clubs like the Roxie and Studio 54. Going back and forth across the Atlantic, Harvey formed an eclectic taste that fused Hip-Hop, House, Rare Groove and much more. He found the time, in between crashing on friends’ couches, to get involved with TONKA Hi-Fi — a crew that emulated the collective approach associated with Jamaican sound systems. In an era where punks and b-boys were outcasts, he’d found his place right in the middle — throwing parties across the UK festival and club circuit.

Jump a few years forward to 1991, the (DJ) Harvey whom we now know started to throw a weekly night “Moist” at the Gardening Club in London. It was there that Harvey became a chief exponent of the more American House/Disco/Garage sound. Visiting guests from the States included icons like Larry Levan, Robert Owens, Larry Heard and many more (even Mike Banks). Harvey reckons this music would probably nowadays loosely fall into the category of “Cosmic Disco,” but back then it may have been called “something like Balearic Garage.” Amidst the growing corporate nature of the UK clubbing industry that surrounded Acid House in the 90s, Moist offered an alternative.

Skip another few years and Harvey, along with friend Gerry Rooney, co-founded Black Cock Records (yes that’s right). The two of them brought back the art of the disco edit, which was popularized years before by selectors: François K, Danny Krivit, and other East Coast stars. Around the same time, Harvey championed his famous residency at the Ministry of Sound — back in the club’s heyday. By the 90s, it’s safe to say that Harvey was a fully fledged DJ superstar.

After the turn of the millennium, Harvey took up the offer of cheap post-9/11 plane tickets to the US — they’d be his last for a while after he stayed beyond his visa deadline. Regardless, the family-man carried on throwing parties in the States — including his “Sarcastic Disco” night in LA (which is rumored to have once rejected Beyoncé). The twists and turns of Harvey Bassett’s life go on. However, to miss a whole lot; after about ten years of being officially trapped in the US, he returned to the rest of world. Since then, Harvey’s been revisiting familiar spots as well as doing up newer international gigs.

The B-Side was lucky enough to cover DJ Harvey’s night for FACE’s party, where unlikely counterparts Virgil Abloh and Heron Preston also performed.

The following interview was conducted over email because, as you might expect, Harvey Bassett is a busy man.

What’ve you been up to recently, Harv?

This first part of the year I took a little downtime — surfing, eating good food, digitizing all the new music I’ve been buying. I’ve been keeping the gigs local to keep my hand in.

How’d you end up doing a night in SF with Virgil Abloh?

I’ve been doing parties with Face and Eug for many years now. The night seemed like a wild card, then I talked it over. It’s a great cross of crowds and, you know, the music will actually be different in each room. My pet peeve is three rooms of similar music in a club. Virgil is a mover and shaker in his world, and I’m one in mine. We have a healthy mutual admiration and it turned out nice. It felt very future to do that line up.

What makes a good party?

The crowd— always the people. Then, you can get into all the other elements like the venue, sound, lights, music, bathrooms and whatnot. Without people coming to see you it doesn’t mean a thing.

What’s the best party you’ve ever done or been to?

Whatever the next one is!

Thoughts of phones on the dancefloor?

I’d rather you not. I mean get your picture, or your little video snap or whatever, then put it away and get into it.

Worst/Best experience with a member of the audience:

I can be an asshole to fellow assholes, let’s just put it that way. The nice comments and gestures though, I always appreciate them — not wasted on me whatsoever.

How did you go about doing your re-edits?

I still make edits of tracks — but only for myself. There was a time and a place for them, but come on people it’s 2018 — make some fucking music. If I were to release any edits it would be with the permission or at the request of the artist.

What’s up with all these phony copies of your releases?

Fuck ‘em. If your only creative outlet is to bootleg something I did years ago, I have no interest in calling you out. We recently had a lot of my stuff trademarked so, if I wanted to, I could really have some fun.

Favorite thing you’ve ever released yourself:

I’ve got a bunch that haven’t seen the light of day, and a bunch more in my head. I like to look forwards, not backwards, so whatever comes next will be my favorite.

What actually happened to Black Cock?

It went flaccid.

Who were your musical inspirations?

I have so many. Even the people I don’t like inspired me on some level.

What about the people in the scene now?

I like labels that release original music. Don’t get me wrong, I get the reissue thing, but it’s a bit “Time Life of House and Disco”. It’s lazy. Have some balls, release some new music. I have a lot of respect for labels and artists that do that. Those who make music and release regardless of trends, or what might sell, but just for the art of it.

Where do you get all your insane records? How many do you even have?

I never reveal my sources, but yeh, I buy a shit-ton of music daily. I have packages of vinyl arriving from all over the world. I’ve taken to buying CD releases even for those limited edition versions.

Mixing vs Selection. What are your thoughts?

Selection trumps the mix most of the time.

Your life has been described as “One Giant Queer Disco”, what are your thoughts on that?

Pretty accurate.

Any regrets?

Not a one.

You’re sober now? How’s that going?

I’ll have the occasional tipple, but I’m what you’d call a cheap date.

Ever see yourself retiring?

Nope, I’m gonna go out like Tommy Cooper.

Favorite hobby

Surfing, motorbikes, and collecting. I collect all sorts of business; knives, memorabilia, vintage Vivienne Westwood, gear and speakers. I own some great bits of kit; synths, drums — “mantique” collecting I guess you could call it.

What are you up to after SF?

San Diego, then a little bit of a rest and some studio, before jumping on the merry-go-round that is my year.

Catch DJ Harvey next in LA for his Rumors party and then his Discotheque in Printworks, London.