Electro Swing Revolution's Justin Fidele at Prohibition Manchester!

Prohibition's Lucy May caught up with Justin Fidele ahead of his Manchester debut on 24th September!

Disclaimer: The article below has been contributed by the event promoter or somebody representing the event promoter. As such we take no responsibility for accuracy of the content and any views expressed are not necessarily those of Skiddle or our staff.

Date published: 13th Sep 2016

Justin Fidèle has played around 1000 gigs during his 20+ years on the international DJ circuit. Making feet tap and hips shake as a purveyor of the finest Electro Swing, he has played acclaimed festivals including Glastonbury and Burning Man, and illustrious venues such as Moulin Rouge, Paris, Village Underground, London, Steam Club Helsinki and Weekend Club, Berlin. Taking his Electro Swing live show around Europe and beyond. He has also shared a stage with renowned international acts such as Bart & Baker, Scott Bradlee & Postmodern Jukebox, Kitten & The Hip and many more.

Now he will be headlining Prohibition, Manchester?s premier Electro Swing night at their last 1920?s inspired party at The Zombie Shack onSeptember 24th before moving to their new home, The Zoo in November.

Justin is also co-founder and resident DJ of the Electro Swing Revolution party series which he started with Louie Prima in May 2012. Ever since the parties take place once a month at the famous Astra Kulturhaus in Berlin. In November 2012 the second monthly Electro Swing Revolution party series started at Frannz Club Berlin. Never failing to impress with esteemed line ups, the nights also provide fashion shows, swing dance lessons, hula hoop lessons and more.

Justin and Louie Prima also founded Electro Swing Revolution Radio, which is enjoyed by over 4,500 listeners daily around the globe. The station broadcasts the finest Electro Swing around the clock and features many different DJs including, of course, Justin himself.

You will be headlining Prohibition?s last party at The Zombie Shack in Manchester before they move to their new home, how are you looking forward to playing in Manchester?

In fact I never played in Manchester before, and I feel especially honoured to be invited to the final chapter of Prohibition at The Zombie Shack, so I?m very much looking forward to meeting the Manchester folks and tear down the venue with them!

How do you enjoy the UK?s Electro Swing scene as a whole?

The UK always played a key role in Electro Swing. If you, for example, think of Chris Tofu and Nick Hollywood, these ingenious guys kinda gave birth to the whole genre and helped a lot to develop it further over the years with their ecosystem of the Electro Swing Club network, White Mink, Freshly Squeezed, Continental Drifts and other brands. Countless talented producers and DJs come from the UK and spread their vibes across the globe and have a big influence on the whole Electro Swing movement, so it?s impossible to think of Electro Swing without the UK scene.

I always love to play in Great Britain. There is always a great mood on the dance floor, and the people are really nice. It?s also interesting to experience the differences between Electro Swing in the UK and Germany. While you can hear a lot of glitchy, wobbly, drum-and-bassy swing tunes in the UK, we are more into organic and swing house stuff.

You started DJing in 1995, who inspired you in the beginning?

I don?t even know the name of the first DJ to inspire me: He was lying under the table in the DJ booth, totally drunk, providing me with the chance to take over his job spontaneously for my very first gig at a birthday party. I instantly got infected with the possibility to make people dance by selecting songs, turning knobs and moving faders, and so I continued. Until then there have been a lot of DJs and musicians from different genres who had some influence on me but I?m afraid I cannot name certain people as a special source of inspiration.

Who are your current favourite Swing bands and DJs?

My favourite live band is Caravan Palace for sure, I never experienced such a powerful combination of awesome musicians, elaborate sound production and just maximum fun on stage anywhere else. Naming favourite DJs is more difficult as there are so many, but Bart & Baker from Paris who are living legends in the Electro Swing scene as well as The Rumpsteppers from London and The Gentlemen Callers of L.A. are definitely in my Top 5 as their performances are just pure entertainment, and after 10 minutes everybody is screaming, jumping and sweating.

Your favourite classic Swing piece?

A true classic, Nina Simone?s ?My Baby Just Cares For Me.?

What do you think the artists of the 1920s -1930s would think of Electro Swing?

A really good question. I think when you produce Electro Swing tracks it?s very important to show respect for the original swing music and give it enough room to demonstrate its musical substance in a song ? if that?s done well I?m sure the original artists would love it. At the end it?s all about dancing and having fun, in the 1920s and now!

You and Louie Prima founded the Electro Swing Revolution party at the Astra Kulturhaus in Berlin in 2012, what events led to that, did Berlin already have a thriving Swing scene at the time?

Berlin already had some kind of Swing scene but it wasn?t very well developed yet. Louie got in touch with Chris Tofu and Chris encouraged him to start an Electro Swing night in Berlin. Shortly after that Louie and me got to know each other and in the blink of an eye we decided to do this together. He was already compiling the Electro Swing Revolution compilation series at that time, Vol. 7 to be released soon, so it was an easy decision to give the same name to the parties as well as the radio station we also launched in 2012. Since then we?re hosting two parties per month in Berlin at Astra and Frannz Club, and occasionally in some other cities.

I read that you?ve played around 1000 gigs! Including sets at Glastonbury, Festival Antigel and Burning Man, it sounds like your life is a non-stop party! What do you do in your down time?

Actually there is not a lot of down time! Organising the ESR parties and staying up to date with music takes a lot of time, and since last spring I?m also promoting another monthly party series outside of the Electro Swing circus, so on weekdays I?m usually quite busy preparing for the party action taking place during the weekend, and on Monday it starts over again!

Thank God most of the things I do for my living feel more like a hobby than work and at the end I?m very happy being able to pay my rent with a bunch of things that all more or less are related to music.

Where has been your favourite club or festival experience to date?

I think the most overwhelming experience was to play some gigs at Burning Man in the Nevada desert. From the DJ booth you usually have a great view over the playa with all these funky art cars and installations. Within seconds you?re standing amidst a sand storm and cannot see your hand in front of your face. When the white-out is gone you realise that everybody is still dancing. Priceless.

You manage Electro Swing Revolution Radio which you founded with Louie Prima, do you think thats helped to raise awareness of the scene?

From the beginning it was our primary goal for the radio to spread the word about Electro Swing as wide as possible and make it available to everybody 24/7. At present the station is listened to by 4000-5000 people per day, and I?m quite sure that we at least played some role in raising awareness of this great musical genre. We often get feedback from listeners in countries I would have never dreamt of having an audience like Kazakhstan, Egypt or Cambodia that the people love Electro Swing and even whole companies play our music to motivate their employees for work. So if anybody wants some motivation, tune in at www.electroswing-radio.com or download our iOS and Android apps.

Where else can we see one of your sets this year?

I?m looking forward to playing Zurich in November and Vienna in December. There are of course some parties in Berlin and other German cities like Hamburg, too? but first let?s head for Manchester!

Thank you so much to Justin for taking the time to speak with us today. To keep up to date with gigs, The Electro Swing Revolution parties and radio: www.justinfidele.com

Follow Justin Fidèle on Facebook: www.facebook.com/djjustinfidele

Listen on Soundcloud: www.soundcloud.com/justin-fidele

And of course tickets for Prohibition @ The Zombie Shack on September 24th are available here

Tickets are no longer available for this event

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