Designer, promoter, DJ, producer; there’s little – especially in terms of the music industry – that Pipes hasn’t had a crack at. A self-proclaimed ‘jack of all trades, master of none’, there are more than a few people who would disagree with the latter part of this label, especially in his native Sheffield where he’s hailed as one of the finest DJs around.

Out this week on Defected, his Crooked Love EP is crunchy, lo-fi house fare that flies in the face of current house trends, standing out as a result as something entirely unique. Here, we caught up with the local legend to chat about the Sheffield scene and the balancing act of his varied career…

Tell us about your musical background… how did you first get into producing/DJing?

I went to Art College in Sheffield in 1986/87 and hooked up with a bunch of kids that pretty much introduced me to the underground warehouse and rave scene. Much like many teenagers of that generation I quickly got into DJing, clubbing and music in a big way – my interest in design and broader culture fed into what is well documented as one of the defining times in British youth culture.

How long have you been making music? Would we know you under any other names?

I first remixed something back in the late 90s along with Parrot and Ross Orton who I work with sporadically under our Agitated moniker. I’ve done various remixes, bootlegs and stuff with a variety of producer/DJ collaborations over the years. I’ve also run club nights/parties as well as a few record labels – all very DIY. I’m pretty autonomous when it comes to music I’ve always had a career/business as a successful designer so that allows me to be pretty picky and in some instances fairly uncompromising which I’m sure has fucked plenty of people off – soz! I’m jack of all trades and certainly master of none. The only person that I can relate to who has a similar career is Trevor Jackson.

You’ve been described as a ‘local legend’ by DJ Mag… tell us about the music scene in Sheffield when you were growing up… what was your first experience of electronic music?

My older sister was always the one with the cool music and seemed to have loads of mixtapes that ranged from early synth post punk stuff, funk & soul through to the Electro and Streetsounds compilations - that stuff pretty much framed the 80’s for me. I was always interested in B-Boys and Hip Hop even though I was a bit crap at all of it – my nickname Pipes comes from the Run DMC track Peter Piper. I started going out to clubs and all nighters - travelling round the north to Leeds and Nottingham hero-worshipping Parrot, Winston Hazel and Graeme Park who would drop everything from soul and hip hop though to house and techno. So many amazing records around that time it obviously made no sense to those guys to stick to just playing the latest tracks coming out of the emerging house scene. That inclusive music vibe along with the racial segregation of clubbing melting away and just the general feeling of what could be made we want to be a DJ, cueing up in FON records and later Warp with enough money to buy a few of that weeks latest imports was the beginning of an obsession.


Toddla T named you as a major influence on him, as you used to play pretty much any genre going? Do you think that’s an art that’s being lost, given the trend for compartmentalising music in ever-narrowing sub-genres?

That’s nice of Tom – I was just doing my thing and paying some lip service to the DJs that I used to love dancing too. I think Tom liked the fact that I played really stripped back heavy music that obviously all the blokes like but I could make the girls dance and wiggle also. The music mix at that time mid to late 90s was fantastic because it became really experimental between downtempo - hip hop, soul, beats and double time - drum & bass, jungle, garage/2 step which I loved! House was always there and always will be but the 90s was ripe for searching out new styles. I’ve never been afraid of switching styles and trying different things – sometimes its good to ‘sweep the floor’.

What’s the Sheffield scene like today? It’s not something you hear about with the same frequency as Leeds, Manchester etc…

I’ve been a resident at an underground party called Kabal for the last 12 years – we put parties on sporadically always searching for new, unusual and unused venues which have included; a Chapel, a morgue, factories and a railway arch. It’s become a legendary night in Sheffield built on the quality of its residents which include Toddla and Winston Hazel, so three generations of selectors. I guess Kabal more than anywhere has been the place that I get to do what I really want and I‘d like to think that its inspired a few new generations of DJs, producers and promoters to keep that particular Sheffield vibe alive.

It’s been said before but Sheffield is really not good at shouting about itself; in fact it’s shocking but that’s kind of what’s good about it – it’s a place where the people are generally really really sound. There’s loads of creative stuff going on and always has - folk just get on with it! It is a village mentality there’s no escaping that. People like Toddla and Jarvis are always quick to maintain links with there city mainly because they still love it and also because they understand it has something that few places have – which none of us can describe hence the original question!

Tell us about the Crooked Love release, to me it’s pretty rugged and crunchy and a far cry from a lot of the super-polished house stuff around at the moment…

Yeah that’s fair! I think it just turned out that way; there wasn’t a specific plot just something that you could groove along to at 4am. I just set the scene and off we went.

Do you think that some house music is becoming increasingly homogenised? Is there a danger of its personality being lost?

I dunno… isn’t there new found popularity? Mainstream and comfortable is way off my radar I may play or produce something that is placed in that world but it’s certainly not where it’s coming from or going too.  

What else are you working on at the moment?

I’m working on a few tracks with Parrot also a follow on or answer record to Crooked Love possibly about the morning after some crap shagging. I’m also doing a few remixes with [Arctic Monkeys’ producer] Ross Orton. I’m slowly digitising my vinyl and trying to find the time and energy to do some DJ mixes, but most of my time is spent running my design business – I’m always working with or on 5-6 client/projects at any one time.

Crooked Love is out now on Defected Records – buy from Beatport