Everyone asks Josh Wink, owner of forward-thinking club label Ovum Recordings, about the future. It is inevitable bearing in mind the particular sharpness of his empire’s cutting edge, but almost impossible to answer.
“I’m kind of living in the future now” he reflects. “I thought about this the other day; I mean I was getting asked about what the future would hold for me back in the 1990s. I didn’t really know what to say but, look, I’m still here now...I’m in that future I was getting asked about. I’m blessed to still be here, and I’m still really passionate about life and music.”
Ovum is 20 this year, so the requests for Wink –born Joshua Winkelman – to soothsay will only increase. He’s aware of it all already, his label’s impressive achievements prompting questions about what the next two decade might or might not hold. “I reflect upon the future a lot but that doesn’t mean I have much to say” he urges. “Ultimately I stay on point with my job. There are no Pavlovian mechanics or kneejerk reactions, I simply try to be a good world citizen and embrace creativity. I hope to keep doing creative things for years and years to come. I love what I do and love being able to exploit different facets of the music that interests me. There’s no master plan, only a desire to be creative at all times.”
It’s an off-the-cuff mantra that has served Ovum incredibly well. Wink launched the Philadelphia-based label alongside fellow DJ-producer King Britt in 1994. Both loved deep house and techno, as well as the edgier noises on the periphery of those movements. Britt, in fact, had already made waves as DJ for Grammy-winning hip-hop fusionists Digable Planets, an experience that would fuel his interest in a wider palette of sounds including jazz, afrobeat and electro-breaks. Early Ovum releases such as Wink’s minimal yet euphoric Liquid Summer would lead into weighty, brilliantly wide-ranging club cuts by Britt (with Sylk 130), Scuba, Jamie Myerson, Pete Moss and David Alvarado. Wink’s epic follow-ups, including Are You There and How’s Your Evening So Far? (with Lil’ Louis), packed similarly crunching artistic punch.
“Where has our success come from?” Wink ponders. “Put it this way, I have to live with myself and the choices I make. I’ve always viewed life in this way. Thinking about Ovum, I’m comfortable with the decisions I’ve made. I have always run the label with integrity. It’s a fickle market and I’ve had friends make it at the same time as me, and then lose everything. But even now the Ovum team looks at music in terms of how it makes us feel; not think. If we feel good about a record now and can imagine people listening to it in seven years’ time then that’s great; that’s right for us.”
It is by avoiding the shackles of major label contracts, and ignoring routine artist pressure to follow the fashionable crowd and earn money while the sun shines, that Wink has found himself motoring on. Having the confidence to remain truly independent has allowed Ovum to generate its own favourable tailwind. “I’ve had freedom throughout my career” he states. “I’ve always had the choice. That’s been important for what we’ve achieved, what I’ve achieved. I still feel strongly about our product too.”
‘Product’ is an apt choice of word. Over time, Wink’s fiercely independent label has evolved some fairly sizeable brand momentum and, conversely, a certain level of business-speak around that. To assign words like ‘product’ and ‘brand’ to Ovum feels odd. “Our diverse set-up and A&R process is something of a blessing and a curse” he says. “We have this really big audience now, a vast myriad of people following what we do, play and release. That consumerism has led to people expecting a certain type of thing from Ovum...the brand. They’ve gotten used to what we stand for and they’re happy with that. There’s a certain expectation for us to stay as we are; and it’d be easy to bow to that type of pressure.”
But not Wink. “As I’ve said already I maintain my beliefs with integrity. I do what feels right for me and the team” he adds. “Holding on to that has gotten us this far and made Ovum a revered label. The word ‘brand’ does actually mean ‘marker’ too, which I don’t think is so bad - it’s human nature for people to want an identifier...something to latch on to...and people can identify with Ovum and that’s great. Over the past 20 years I think we’ve been able to mature without needing to go too far down the brand route but change is always been productive. Who knows what might happen in the future? As long as we don’t compromise our aims then I think we can have an element of brand culture and still truly engage our audience. I also think that many of our fans expect us to keep changing things up and that’s where the brand thing has grown, and can continue to.”
What is Wink doing to celebrate Ovum’s 20th anniversary? He’s reissuing a series of classic Ovum releases with brand new remixes, for one. Well, kind of.... The first single, Are You There, has been revisited by Ben Klock, Harry Romero and ROD but wasn’t actually Wink’s idea. “It was Ben Klock who came to us with his own remix of Are You There, which he wanted to use for a Fabric mix [Fabric 66]. He’s a friend and we were fine about it, but simply asked to keep the rights of the track for any relevant occasion in the future. It got me thinking about doing more stuff like this - not just for the anniversary, but that did tie in nicely.”
There are no firm plans for follow-up EPs but DJ Dozia’s 1998 Ovum lick Pop Culture – popping grooves welded artfully to samples of Peech Boys’ Life Is Something Special - is a snappy contender, with Joris Voorn already circling for remix duties. Beyond that Wink is considering one of his old productions from 2002, Superfreak (Freak), and maybe a release by Steve Bug. Time will tell: “Matt [Brookman, label manager] and I are pretty instinctive and spontaneous with this sort of thing, it’ll work itself out.”
What about celebratory tours? Again, Wink, is supremely relaxed. “There are Ovum ‘20’ dates coming up and they will be amazing, I’m sure, but I can’t personally do all of them. Nor do I need to” Wink explains. “If I’m not around then other members of the Ovum family will be. And where local promoters want to tie in messaging around the anniversary, and it fits, then cool...it suits everyone. I think the key question you need to ask yourself is whether or not you’re touring on purpose, or for the sake of it? Bands often tour when they have a product to promote but I think that’s less the case with DJs. We’re perpetually touring so we don’t really have any other motives. If there is something else to talk about then great, but it doesn’t matter. Where Ovum tours this year it will be for the music, and less so to promote the anniversary.
In Wink’s own case, the ‘road’ will also need to weave its way around his commitments as a relatively new father. “I’ve been a father for two-and-a-half years now” he glows. “And I absolutely love it. I do everything I can as a parent and sometimes that means losing gigs. I don’t like to do it but at the same time I don’t like to be away from my family for too long; I feel funny about it. My lady and I actually have an agreement that I won’t be away for more than five days at a time. Family is important to us. Promoters ask you to commit to dates months in advance and I can’t always do that now; in turn, the dates get filled up. There are dates I’ve had to leave recently, and I won’t be at Sonar this year because I’m baby-sitting, but the balance is right and I’m comfortable with that. I trust my people to represent Ovum well, and my own calendar is still pretty hectic this year, your typical mix of personal appearances, label nights and label events at festivals. It’s all good.”
Wink’s refreshing level-headedness continues to amaze his friends and close peers. “I’m still amazed that I’m able to do this and work with so many cool people” he confides. “People wonder if I’m being modest or arrogant when I say things like that but it’s just how I feel. I played with Luciano not so long ago and he said that he’d like to do a track for me for Ovum and I honestly didn’t expect it. It baffled me. One of my friends came up and asked why I was acting so surprised because of who I was and because of my own standing. But I just didn’t see it that way! Luciano is a huge artist and it was an honour for me that he wanted to offer a track.”
If Wink has no specific goals in mind for the future then he certainly wants to spend more time in the studio. Easier said than done.... “I’ve said it before – I love my job but hate my work” he stresses. “The job is the making and playing music. I’m as happy about that as a pig in dirt. It’s my therapy. The work, however, is getting to the job, and the leaving, the immigration forms, the mis-flights, the late flights, the taxis, the smoky clubs, the lack of sleep, the 8am pick-ups.... I could go on. I’d really love to stay put more and have the time to be more creative in the studio. The problem is that there’s not as much money in making music unless you’re a mega pop star. And even then, those stars rely more on gigs for earning than their releases. That’s life.”
Wink, then, will carry on the same successful vein he always has. “Ovum is my child and I can’t believe she’s 20 now!” he concludes. “There’s still much to come, which I’m really excited about - college education, gentleman callers, a family of her own.... We’re both learning things as we go along, benefiting from the lessons of the past and applying that learning as we travel onward. One big, happy family....”
Wink’s Are You There, as remixed by Ben Klock, Harry Romero and ROD, is out on Ovum now.
Words by Ben Lovett
