Phil Weeks Interview: I just love playing to an audience

Pacha London's re-invigoration is well under way. The club has strove to re-engage with it's rich heritage and history in recent times and has had a scintillating autumn of activity to back this up. Pure Pacha has assumed the flagship Saturday position, with the likes of Todd Terry and Cedric Gervais lined up in the upcoming months, with Friday swaggering to a more underground aesthetics.

That is underlined on Friday 8th November when legendary French DJ Phil Weeks touches down in the club. Resolutely old school, Weeks has been at the forefront of a raw and authentic take on house music at a time when many have lost the true purpose of it's groove; to jack not just your feet but also your soul.

His revered imprint Robosoul is gloriously self explanatory in it's purpose, extracting the emotion form the machine, whilst his Crate Diggin Compilations (stream a promotional mix of the comp below) have sought to reestablish a litany of long forgotten classics and act as a sonic marker of the records that have influenced his career the most. We caught up with Weeks ahead of the Pacha date to discuss closing in on 15 years for the label, his upcoming productions and the dwindling quality of house music.

Are you looking forward playing at Pacha London shortly? What are your experiences of London like in the past?

You know I'm always excited, I'm like a showman. I just love being in front of the booth and playing to an audience. Last time I played there it was really busy, the crowd were great and the club was awesome too.

What have you had out on Robsoul in the last few months? Have there been any new signings that you’re particularly excited about?

Wow we have had a lot man, but you know we release music every couple of weeks. Next year will also be 15 years of Robsoul so look out for that. For now I'm really concentrating pushing new artists through Robsoul digital and then when they have come through and have made a name for themselves pushing them through vinyl also.

Coming up we have NG9, myself out on 29th also. 5 tracks from Alex T over in Italy, then me again 'Live at Palladium', so lots to look forward too.

How pleased were you with the response to your Crate Diggin series; do you think that thirst for old music remains?

For sure, its been amazing. 50% of my sets are new music and 50% is old. A lot of the time I digitalise my vinyl as I cant always travel with it everywhere. I have so much great music and want to try and throw everything into a set that I possibly can. Ten years ago folk didn't produce on computers, they used to spend their money on hardware, mixing desks and drum machines and that made the music sound better (in my opinion).

That's when the quality of house music was better. Now people just buy plug ins online and roll with it. Anyway I tried to get licenses for around 60 tracks, which I narrowed down to 30, which in turn we got three volumes of ten tracks each. Like I say I love new ideas and when it comes down to it I'm quite spontaneous.

Can we look forward to any new productions from yourself?

Of course, I have been working on 'Live at Palladium' coming out soon. I have also done a track with Lady Bird. She was originally doing music for DJ Hawk and Moneymaker. We had never made any music before and when I got to Ibiza I kind of made the decision that I wanted to make some beats with her.

I actually found her contact on Facebook after so many years on not speaking. Se got straight back in touch straight away and from then we got in the studio. I started on the original and instrumental and then she came down to the studio. After two weeks we had something great!

What does the future hold for Phil Weeks and Robsoul?

Wow were to start. I'll be in Moscow, Berlin, Romania, Tel Aviv, then I have a couple of option for New Year yet where I'm yet to decide. Next year will also be the 15th year anniversary so we will be doing some special releases and gigs.

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