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Q&A: ADAM F

Drum and Bass legend talks to DJ Mag

Adam F is a drum & bass legend. A b-boy in his youth, he started off releasing on Goldie's Metalheadz label ('Metropolis') and cracked the UK charts in the late nineties with d&b crackers such as 'Circles' and 'Music In My Mind'.

He graced the cover of DJ Mag in 2001, started producing hip-hop, and set up the Breakbeat Kaos label with DJ Fresh which put up the first proper album by Pendulum. He also co-owns enduring drum & bass forum Dogs On Acid.

In intervening years he's been an actor (The Heavy, Cuckoo), film score artist and hip-hop producer, but just lately has returned to his beloved drum & bass again — hitting big with the old skool-sound jungle track 'Believer' with long-term pal and collaborator DJ Fresh.

Adam is currently between the UK and LA producing new music with a variety of vocalists, and has lined up a string of gis in the UK over the autumn months....

First ever clubbing experience?
My first ever DJ experience which got me truly hooked was the DMC World Championships in the late '80s. I bunked off school to see DJ Cheese, Cash Money, Roger Johnson and so on. At the time, electro, scratching, breakdancing and graffiti were all a big part of my life.”

What's the first rave experience you can remember?
Big Love in '93. It was a new experience for me, the 'musical journey DJ', where I got to hear and see Carl Cox, Frankie Knuckles, David Morales, LTJ Bukem and The Prodigy PA a new track. It was thousands of ravers in an open field. I don’t remember there being any tents at this event like there are today, it was a real outdoor event in a field! I’ll never forget traveling up there for half a day in a bus just to get there.”

Most crucial dance record of all time?
What a question — blimey! No pressure then! It’s about artists who are crucial and influential to the whole dance scene and goes as far back as James Brown, who has been sampled so much in hip-hop and dance and is still sampled to this day. Kraftwerk and Faithless are also influential to the history and journey of dance music. For me though, starting my dance music production in the rave era, which went on to spawn jungle and drum & bass, The Prodigy were my biggest influence so lets go with 'No Good (Start The Dance)' by The Prodigy.”

Three tunes that never leave your bag?
To be honest, I always keep my set fresh with new tunes, promoting new
music and artists because that's what I think keeps dance music evolving — but on a classic set night they would be:
Adam F 'Circles
Andy C & Shimon 'Quest'
Origin Unknown 'Valley Of The Shadows'

What's your lights-up, end-of-the-night tune?
This month, that tune is a VIP mash-up I made of Andy C's remix
of DJ S.K.T's 'Take Me Away' — using a rework of the vocal from 'Warrior's
Dance' by The Prodigy — and my current single with DJ Fresh called 'Believer'. So it's 'Take Me Away/Believer (Adam F Mash-Up)'.”

If you could meet anyone alive or dead, who would it be?
Dead — without doubt, the genius Ludwig van Beethoven who blows my mind each time I hear one of his masterful compositions.
Alive — Steven Gerrard (now ex-Liverpool captain) whole stole my heart,
taking Liverpool from a 0-3 score-line at half-time to a European Cup win known as The Miracle Of Istanbul.”

Imagine the world is going to end tomorrow, what you gonna do tonight?
Well, the obvious answer is love, family, do something crazy, have sex, eat good food, freak out, pray (although I'm not religious ), so thinking about it being a reality — because this is a serious question, right? — I would call up Richard Branson and see if he can get me and some of my loved ones and fun friends (and some good food ) on one of those Virgin Intergalactic planes and take me to the international space station, so we would be alright tomorrow...”

Three words to describe clubbing in Y3K...
What Da Fuck!?”