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Not many in this industry carry as much nous as Will Saul. Esteemed DJ and respected producer but probably most heralded for his A&R...

Fauzia

Fauzia Habib is one of the many talents unearthed by NTS who is now going on to make a mark on her own terms...

There are plenty of artists who proclaim the influence of hardcore, but there are very few whose birth was possibly induced by it. “She used...

Joe Claussell is on the brink of an exciting project, along with Brian Bacchus — they’re all set towork on remixing the Miles Davis catalogue. It’s a task that the Body & Soul star is approaching in a typically philosophical way. “Whatever the universe puts out we will accept it,” he muses. He’ll be heading to the UK this summer to the Southport Weekender along with Francois K and Danny Krivit for a Body & Soul special. “I really love what they do, what they put together, making sure they put on the best music festival around.” Coming from a household where each room had a different soundsystem playing a different genre, Joe Claussell is well equipped to sum up his Lucky 7...

After his colossal ‘Hanns Trippy’ smashed Ibiza’s Do Not Sleep parties all summer, why shouldn’t the song’s architect and party’s...

Larry Levan's NY mecca might be gone (not forgotten), but The Garage is already the place on Leeds' lips less than 10 months in...

Last weekend, one of the UK’s best-loved festivals, Houghton, was cancelled due to a typically British extreme weather warning in peak summertime. Among the acts...

The Woodentops were an '80s avant-funk indie band who ended up becoming more experimental and electronic and recording the definitive Balearic anthem, 'Why Why Why'. The track was picked up by legendary Ibizan DJ Alfredo, it became an anthem at Amnesia on the White Isle

DJ Harvey is one of the UK originators of the dance music scene. From his beginnings in Cambridge punk band Ersatz, he discovered hip-hop and DJing on a fateful trip to New York City, and later alighted upon an eclectic mishmash DJ style inspired by the B-Boy everything-in-the-pot approach of the NYC scene's first DJs. 
Later becoming a leading light for house music in the UK, his night Moist at London's Gardening Club cemented his reputation as a true original, where his mammoth sets became the stuff of legend, and where he also invited the legendary likes of Larry Levan as guests.

The brainchild of DJ Cosmo (Colleen Murphy) the Boston-born, New York raised, London dwelling disco / house music legend, and infamous leftfield guitarist Gary Lucas, who's played with Captain Beefheart, Lou Reed and Jeff Buckley, they make the kind of funky psychedelic rhythms that can only emanate from maverick minds. First single 'Musical Blaze Up' traverses the dub country route, while new cut 'Purple Somersault' is a bizarre and brilliant collision between cranked Kraut-rock drums, wigged surf guitar and scratchy funk. DJmag beckoned Murphy away from her surf board for a minute to talk names, grooves, and grand plans…

So why the name Wild Rumpus?!

"It's from a children's book called 'Where the Wild Things Are' by Maurice Sendak which I loved as a kid and which I read to my daughter. There is a great part of the story where the little boy and his monster friends are about to have a manic dance party underneath a full moon and it says, 'And now let the wild rumpus start'. It just had to be used."

It seems to be quite an unusual hook up, between you Cosmo, and Gary Lucas. How did you come to be working together?

"Gary and I have been friends for nearly 20 years and have talked about working together for ages. I used to do a few different radio shows on WNYU in NYC and had him up when he was relaunching his solo career in the late '80s. As most people in the UK know me for being a 'dance' DJ, many may think it is quite an unusual collaboration. However, most people don't know that I was first and foremost a rock chick and founded the first psychedelic / progressive rock show on my radio station and I was a huge Captain Beefheart fan before house music even existed!"

You seem to have a diverse taste - one minute dubbed out beats and rhymes, the next Krautrock surf music... Is there a grand Wild Rumpus plan?

"Wild Rumpus is about fusing different styles but in a way that works. It's also about having fun and being irreverent. And finally it's about being different. I spend a few hours at the record store and find that 99% of the music to which I am subjected to is derivative. It's so boring. Gary and I both have musically diverse backgrounds and we are able to use our musical heritage in a unique way. This is all music we love!"

What's a 'Purple Somersault'?

"It's a 'term' my daughter came up with. Her favourite colour is purple and 'purple' has also become an adjective that means something that is 'the best'. She likes being flipped upside down and would ask us to help her do an orange somersault, a black somersault (very sinister), a yellow somersault (happy!), etc. But the best was always the 'Purple Somersault'. Also, as this is a surf tune, the somersault refers to the somersaults one does underwater after a wipe-out."

Is there an album in the works? What can we expect?

"There is an album in the works. We have a lot of Gary's guitar tracks that we have recorded and now it's up to me to put it all together so I have quite a job in front of me. Gary is the most original guitarist and can do anything. When we're in the studio it's just so easy but the problem comes with the editing and arranging as sometimes there is almost too much! All I can say about the album is that it will be diverse but always psychedelic and soulful."

What's next for Wild Rumpus?

"Right now we're getting our live show, The Wild Rumpus Experience, together for the summer. We have performed in some wild places including India and are hoping to for some of the UK festivals. We work with visual artist Rob Rainbow who works with The Light Surgeons and Nitin Sawhney amongst others and have also worked with percussionists and a poi fire dancer! We have a show that reaches people on many dimensions so the visual element is really important. We just want to do something that is a bit different."