Broadcast on 15/11/98 : 02:00 - 04:00

David Holmes talks to the Radio 1 Website

Tell us what you have been up to since Let's Get Killed?

I've been working on a soundtrack. I've just finished the soundtrack to the new George Clooney movie Out of Sight. That was a completely mental experience.

Did you hang out with George?

Yeah, Clooney's a dude actually. He came along to a couple of the screenings and we hung out. Then I met him in New York a few weeks later in a bar at three o'clock in the morning by an odd chance of fate. I just walked in and he was there so I went up and gave him a load of abuse. He was a really nice guy just like Danny De Vito, just very down to earth.

Did you spend anytime with De Vito?

I had a very odd experience with Danny De Vito when I first went over there for the meeting about the movie. I flew from Santa Cruz to L.A. with him and his wife who is Carla from cheers. We flew together in a private jet with all his kids. He had just come back from his holidays. It was very bizarre having this waitress serving me brandy and coke on this private jet whilst I'm talking to Danny De Vito.

Do you approach soundtracks in the same way you would approach your own album?

Putting a soundtrack together is just a totally different experience. Instead of coming up with thing from scratch or an idea that you arrange in your own head, you come up with music that is dictated from a visual in front of you. It's a completely different vibe altogether but it's always completely enjoyable.

Did you find it difficult to slip into the L.A. lifestyle?

I'd never been out there before so the whole thing was just very bizarre. Everything that people say about L.A. is completely true. What annoys me more than anything is that it is not the people that are involved in working in the industry that are so horrible, it's the people you meet in bars and the people who work in the bars. We used to hang out in this bar that was above the studios, we'd go there for a few drinks after work and it was just full of plastic people who wanted to be stars. If you weren't anyone they wouldn't want to talk to you. We used to get on the odd wind up with them, stir a bit of shit and end up in the odd scuffle with pop stars... But that's another story…

Is fame something you have adapted to with ease or do you not see yourself as being a star?

I've no desire whatsoever to be in that league of stardom. I realise that when I do my work I have to talk to the press and I have to do interviews when I'd rather be in the studio making music or DJing somewhere. But it just comes with the job. I don't have any desire though to be known by every single person. I don't want to walk down the street in London and have people saying, "Look, there's David Holmes".

What is it like back home, are you a local hero or are people a little bit resentful of your success?

Belfast is the like the biggest village in the world. Everybody knows everyone so in Belfast I am very well known. At home I do walk down the street and have people point at me and talk about me but I find that completely bizarre. I am just someone who plays records and makes music and I've just been very fortunate to do well out of it. It doesn't really bother me. It bothers me more when you come out of a pub and someone wants to give you a dig because of who you are. I have learnt now that it just comes with the job and you have to ignore it. Generally people are really receptive and respect me.

Do you think coming from Belfast has shaped your music at all?

It is good coming from Belfast because it means I'm out of London, out of Manchester, out of Europe, and I'm here, surrounded by the right people. I'm around my close friends who are a valuable inspiration. What they are into and what I am into usually parallel each other and inspire each other. We all work together whether it is doing graphic design, running clubs or whatever. It has shaped me because if had come from London I would have just been another London DJ, or London producer and I would have been surrounded by those people all the time. All though I respect those people and dig what they are about it is good to come back to Belfast and come back down to earth. You can have your own time and space and be inspired in a different way. You are not looking over your shoulder to see who is doing what.

Have you thought about your next album yet?

Yes, I'm working on it now actually.

Is there a theme to it?

Yes, there's a script coming with it. The script will come in the form of a short story and the album will be on a continuous theme.

Does that mean it is an album that has a screenplay to go with it, or a screenplay with an album to go with it?

It's both. We are hoping to get it made into a feature film. It's a bit ambitious I know but if you ain't in you can't win. The whole idea is very tight and very rigid so I don't see why we can't make an album, then make a movie and get it shown. We are all very sussed people, we know where we are coming from and we know what time it is so we are not going to deliver a pile of cak.

Where did this love of soundtracks stem from?

It was just something very natural inside of me, I was always inspired by soundtracks but I just didn't realise it. It was the press that said my music was filmic and soundtracky. It wasn't until I had done a few tracks that I realised it had come out naturally. One thing led to another then I had this burning ambition to do a movie. I did this Linda La Plante pilot and from that I did the Belfast movie, Resurrection Man and from that I moved on and did the George Clooney one, Out Of Sight. It was a bit of a bizarre experience going from TV to a two million pound independent then onto a fifty-five million dollar Hollywood movie. I've been offered loads of work but I just haven't got the time. I have an album to do and I'm happy to sit around in the studio and disappear up my own arse.

Did you find that you got as many breaks when you started DJing or was that more of a natural progression?

When I started DJing I was doing my own clubs in Belfast and bringing people like Weatherall over from England. Then they asked me to play at their club, when I did someone would be there who would then want me to play at their club. Before I knew it I was booked up for six months.

So what sort of music was your first love?

When I first started DJing it was very much about what my last essential Mix was about. I was playing really rare soul, jazz and stuff. When I was younger I was very much involved in the Mod scene and the lifestyle. I loved the clubs and the seaside trips.

Where did you pick up on that?

I think it was Quadraphenia.

Did you have a Parka and Vespa?

I never had a parka but I had Vespa. When I first got it I was driving up the road and my back wheel fell off. I turned around and there was this double decker bus right behind almost on top of me. My mum made me bring it back to the shop. I have a Vespa now. I use it a lot but keep it wrapped up for the winter.

What was it about Quadraphenia that struck a chord in you?

It came out in 1979 when the Mod revival happened. I was totally inspired by the whole lifestyle. It just sort of grew and grew and became an obsession. I also read this amazing book by this guy called Pete Meaden called Mods. He was just the man in the sixties who used to hang out with Marc Bolan and Bowie. He used to hang out down Wardour Street and go down to the Flamingo and check out Georgie Fame and all these sort of people. When you are young you just want to be part of something. It was just like acid house when that came along. It was like "wow, what's going on here". It was so exciting. So doing the last essential mix was like going back to my roots. It was tunes that sound as fresh now as they did then.

What can we expect this time?

It's more right across the board with people like Jurassic 5 in there, Ester Williams, Beastie Boys, loads of mad French soundtracks.

Is that representative of what you are playing as a DJ these days?

Yes and it's what is representing me from what I am inspired by these days.

You seemed to have shaken that techno DJ tag that hung around your neck in the mid-nineties. Is that something that you purposely tried to get away from?

No, not at all. I just followed my heart really. I still love techno but there's not enough of it about that really inspires me and want to make me wanna go out and DJ for two hours every Friday and Saturday night. I love DJing and it's not like it is a job for me so the last thing I want to do is go out and play for two hours just for the money.

Who do you really respect in the music industry?

I have got real respect for the likes of Giles Peterson, Andrew Weatherall. People like Geoff Mills. There are also some younger Belfast DJ's like Chris Call who is an incredible talent. I'm going to be running a club over in London and I'm going to be taking him over with me. There are other DJ's from Belfast that I'm going to take over and try to get more work for. I can't think of anything else better to do than help local talent. I've never had a club in London before so it will be a great opportunity for me to give them a little bit of a platform.