Drenched Recordings

This post is all about Drenched Recordings. Ran by a long-time friend James Ellis/Feline 9, it's an independent House label based in Manchester that he established at the turn of this last Millennia.
It's recently been going through a few changes, so I caught up with him to find out just what the devil's been going on...

1) You started Drenched in 2000, at the time it was the height of 'Superclub Culture'. Claims were being publicised that turntables were out-selling guitars, CDJs were only in the bigger clubs – how did you go about publicising your label and releases back then?
I was at Uni in Manchester when I started Drenched so everything was done with minimum of expense. The possibility of using promo companies or even buying proper 12" mailer envelopes were totally out of the window, so used to hand wrap the 50 or so promos I had for each release with brown paper and tape from the post office and put a photocopied A4 reaction sheet in there. There was no real promotional masterplan, I'd just phone around other record labels and get the addresses of artists and DJs I thought would like the release. It's amazing how helpful people are when you're asking them if you can send them a record for free! French DJ and producer David Duriez used to run a private forum for "professionals" in a time before blogs and myspace and all that stuff that really helped me get in touch with all sorts of similar minded people all over the world. I was pretty young at the time so found it a bit strange chatting to all these people I considered to be my peers, but everyone was cool and really friendly.


2) I remember that, initially, CDJs were snobbily looked down on because “the sound quality is nowhere near as good as vinyl, so you won't catch me using one of them.” There have been huge changes in technology since Drenched has been running, it's become acceptable to play MP3s now that many people are using Serato and Ableton now - even Frank Broughton and Bill Brewster say in 'How To DJ Properly' that you “shouldn't play anything less than 192kbps”, which is a tiny amount of information compared to vinyl. What are your thoughts on the 'digital revolution'?
I think it's great - it's given DJs the freedom to be a lot more creative within their sets using loops and edits - there's only so much you can do with 2 turntables. As a producer I can finish a track or remix, burn it to a CD and play it out that night to see how it sounds on a big system before going with the final decision on the release.

3) But how has file sharing affected your label?
I remember speaking to someone in a club years ago and they said to me that they'd just downloaded the whole back catalogue and really liked the stuff that I was putting out. This guy would have never gone out and bought any releases on vinyl and probably would have never heard anything otherwise.
Nowadays it's a bit different though... there will always be people who will want to buy stuff because they don't know how / can't be arsed to find it other ways. I don't really care to be honest with you.

4) There are also a whole lot of online specialist MP3 shops like Beatport, Juno, Bleep, Delsin and a whole lot of others too. Which ones do you favour and why?
Beatport's the best, they're the only one to really bother with for house and techno, I think most label owners would agree.

5) How are you releasing tunes now – are you completely digital or do you still release on vinyl?
Digital only now - I do miss the excitement of getting the first batch of test pressings through the door and hearing the the speaker crackle as you drop the needle on, but I can't afford to press vinyl or be bothered with all the distribution hassles. I'd rather spend my time making some music than chasing some guy for money.

6) There have been quite a few big trend changes in house production from the Filtered French House sound of the late 90's, through to the Minimal Berlin-esque sound that was prominent last year. As a producer and label-owner do you see and use change as a good thing?
Change is essential. The Drenched music policy has always been fairly loose, so I've never really fallen into the trap of being pigeon-holed into what's the "cool" trend this week. Looking over the back catalogue we have gone through all sorts of genre shifts over the years - from deep to vocal to techno to minimal and back again. There's been DJs as diverse as Sneak, Atomic Hooligan and just recently Joris Voorn all license tracks for compilations. I'm really into the new wave of house stuff that's around at the moment, a big mix of all sorts of genres and sub-genres past and present. The guys at 20:20, Freerange and Rekids are all putting out consistent quality at the moment.

7) You've now gone back to the original goal of Drenched by concentrating on producing and releasing your own productions. What was behind that decision?
When I first started making tracks I'd always try to mimic the sound of the label that I was going to send it to and I never really got anywhere. I'd sent a few demos to a distributor and they suggested that they would be able to sell the track and put me in touch with a mastering house and pressing plant. I did the first 4 releases and then started to receive some really good demos so just started to put out the ones that I thought fitted in with the kind of stuff I was doing. I've had a couple of years of not really being inspired to do much with the label so am just taking a step back, revamping the current Drenched sound to move on to the next phase.

8) Are you still going to release outside productions too?
Yes of course - i do listen to all the demos I get, some of them are terrible but they're usually just the pop trance. Still get a lot of electro which I think has had its day now. No more electro please!!

9) What equipment do you currently use when Djing?
A cross between CDJs, Final Scratch and Ableton. They all have their pros and cons... I probably favour CDJs as they're the most reliable and versatile in a club situation. You can get some great mixes out of Ableton but I think it does take a lot of the 'fun' factor out of it - is pretty boring staring a screen especially as that's what you've been doing in the office all day.

10) You've done a fantastic mix ahead of your gig at Look-See-Hear this Saturday (19th July 2009. East Village, 89 Great Eastern Street EC2A 3HX)– Is this representative of what sound are you currently into?
I'm into all sorts out music from all sorts of eras, so when I play out depending on the type of party will either be upfront house and techno, or a mish-mash of styles and genres. I played a 6 and a half hour set for the guys behind Look.See.Here last year and unless you're in an after-party situation I just get bored playing the same type of music for that period of time.


Here's said mix for your own ears, so if you're around in London this Saturday I urge you to come down and have a dance with us!


Feline 9 - Look.See.Hear

Talking Heads - Slippery People
The Cure - A Forest
Giorgio Moroder - Chase (Original Dance Mix)
Ladyhawke - Paris is Burning (Cut Copy Remix)
Friendly Fires - Skeleton Boy (Grum Remix)
Foals - Olympic Airways (Ewan Pearson Remix)
Brett Johnson & DJ Heather - Everythings Electric (Mike Shannon Rewire Mix)
Radio Slave - Grindhouse (Dubfire Terror Planet Remix)
Simian Mobile Disco - 10000 Horses Can't Be Wrong (Original Mix)
Michel Cleis - La Mezcla (Original Mix)
Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons - Beggin' (Pilooski Re-Edit)
Lyn Collins feat. The JB's - Think (About It)
Mr Oizo - Two Takes It feat Carmen Castro (Original Mix)
Deadmau5 + Mc Flipside - Hi Friend! (Vocal Mix)
Elektrons - Get Up Feat. Pete Simpson & Soup (Herve Gets Down Remix)
Sinden And Count Of Monte Cristal - Everybody Rocking
Altern8 - Brutal-8-E
SL2 - Djs Take Control
The Fog - Been A Long Time
Hardrive - Deep Inside
Barrington Levy - Gimmie the Grass
Max Romeo and the Upsetters - Chase the Devil
The Whitest Boy Alive - Burning
Bent - Magic Love (Album Version)
Jamie Lidell - Multiply (In a Minor Key - Piano by Gonzales)