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Quivver- Marketing Really Matters (interview) “I’ve never paid much attention to branding and marketing but I wish I had. My girlfriend works for an advertising and marketing company so I’m starting to realise how important it all is.” 15 years into a DJing/ production career that’s seen him enjoy success as Quivver, Tilt, Planet Funk and a whole host of parallel personas, Los Angeles based English producer John Graham admits he’s revised his views on image, despite wearing an incredibly scruffy, rumpled, washed out gray T shirt for his new press shots. “In the past I just thought if I made good music it would be enough but it’s not,” he concedes, “You could make the best album in the world and it’ll still get lost amongst everything else out there if it’s not marketed and promoted well. And as it’s also been proved time and time again, people will buy any old shite if it’s marketed well enough,” he points out. The rumpled T shirt shot accompanies his new album Dirty Nails And Vapour Trails, the first he’s put out as Quivver, the prog-house monicker he remains best known for throughout his career. “I really should have made this album years ago, I know,” he laughs, “My excuse is that I’ve been working on so many different projects over the years with Tilt, Space Manoeuvres, then Planet Funk and Hybrid (plus DJ’ing in between). I never even considered taking the time out to do a Quivver album. And now that I’ve actually finished it I wanna do another one.”
Skrufff: How much is an album a bigger deal/ more of a statement than releasing singles and remixes?
Quivver: “It’s a big deal because it’s so time consuming but for me the best thing about doing an album was it gave me the opportunity to make tracks that weren’t just aimed at the dancefloor and it was great to be able to step outside the progressive genre for which Quivver is mainly known and do different stuff. The last thing I wanted to do was just throw a load of 4 to the floor prog tunes together and call it an album. In my opinion, the best tracks on the album are the ones outside the usual Quivver sound because I wasn’t concerned so much with making people dance as with making people think.
I hope people will listen to the album as a whole because it’s a good journey and I think it flows and moves really well between different moods and genres.” Skrufff: You’re most frequently associated with the term ‘progressive house’: how much is it a problem handling people’s expectations when you’re Djing? Quivver: “Yeah it can be frustrating when people expect me to play hours of prog and nothing else. I’ve always produced and played a mixture of styles and I still do. Occasionally I’ve come a cropper though, like a couple of years ago when I tried playing breaks at a club in Athens. The place was packed and I was getting a great response with the more progressive stuff for the first hour or so, then I dropped this breaks track that at the time had been going off every time I played it elsewhere. The dancefloor literally cleared in about ten seconds. Although I actually find it quite funny when I remember that night, it was sad that the people weren’t open minded enough to even consider dancing to a breaks track. Oh well, whatever, their loss.” Skrufff: Why did you decide to leave the UK for LA instead of say Berlin, Barcelona or Ibiza? Quivver: “I’ve been coming to LA to DJ for years so I’ve made some good friends over here and also my girlfriend moved here at the beginning of last year. Plus I want to get into doing music for films and TV and video games and there’s no better place for all that. So far it’s been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, I’m getting so much more work done out here now I’ve escaped the distractions of the pub and the general madness of English weekends. And anyway, I can’t speak German or Spanish.” Skrufff: I saw Oakenfold’s 10 million dollar mansion on Hollywood Hills (via the web): how much are DJs treated more like pop stars in LA? Quivver: “Ha Ha, yeah Oakey’s place is rather nice. I’m only five minutes down the road from him actually but I’m still saving up for my 10 million dollar mansion. I’ve got about 10 dollars so far so I’m getting there. I don’t think DJs are treated any differently in LA from elsewhere. There are rock stars and movie stars all over the place out here so being a DJ isn’t that big a deal.” Skrufff: ‘Dirty Nails and Vapour Trails’ seems an odd title: why did you pick it? Quivver: “I’ve always tried to mix darkness and light in my music and I wanted the title to relate to that somehow. And it rhymed.” Skrufff: How familiar are you with the conspiracy theories that vapour trails are chemicals put there by the authorities? Quivver: “Yeah there are a lot of theories as to whether the trails form naturally from burning fuel or whether the bigger ones are from burning toxic chemicals or some kind of experiment to combat global warming or whatever. Sounds like a load of old bollocks to me. Coincidentally, Beck’s new single is called ‘chemtrails’ actually, I heard it on the radio in the car yesterday; it’s a really cool track.” Skrufff: Do you believe in aliens; or 2012; or David Icke? Quivver: “I’m not a big believer in flying saucers and all that but I reckon there’s got to be other life on other planets somewhere in the universe but way too far away for them to be able to travel to earth. And if aliens have visited earth why come all the way here and then hide from us or just leave again without trying to communicate…..rubbish. I didn’t even know about 2012, I’ve just googled it and watched a few bits on youtube. Wow! You know what, it wouldn’t surprise me if it did all end in 2012. I watched this new documentary called ‘the 11th hour’ the other week all about how much damage we’re doing to the planet. I read a book by David icke called “I am me I am free” a few years ago and although it was a bit crazy in places some of it made a lot of sense. He was talking about how people behave like they’ve been programmed and just follow the rules like sheep while a few people in big banks, corporations and a few politicians decide what we’re allowed to do. He does seem a bit paranoid though. Actually I think he’s nuttier than squirrel shit but it’s an interesting book nonetheless.” Skrufff: . . . Dirty Finger Nails: on your press pic you’re wearing an artfully distressed crumpled black t shirt with designer stubble on your chin: how much attention do you pay to image and clothes? Do you buy all your own clothes? Quivver: “I do like buying clothes and I’ve always spent silly money on designer stuff but only if I really like it. I don’t care about what designers or magazines say is trendy this season and all that crap though. I’ve come to know what I like and what suits me. And yes it’s been a while since I got my hands dirty that’s for sure, although the only ‘proper job’ I ever had was at a coal mine for a year when I was 18 and i got dirty enough in that year to last me a lifetime.” Skrufff: I see you’ve got 2 gigs in Colombia: have you been there before, does it involve any more danger than elsewhere? Quivver: “Yeah I’ve played there a couple of times before, actually last time I was there a big fight kicked off next to the DJ booth but that was the only bit of trouble I saw (and that might have been down to me playing that dodgy breaks tune again or something). I think generally the people who run the clubs out there are clued up enough to know how to deal with whatever’s going on in their own city.” Skrufff: Have you ever found yourself in dangerous situations when you’ve been travelling? Quivver: “Not really dangerous situations as much, more eye opening situations like having big meathead mafia bodyguards shadowing me and the promoter everywhere we went in Hungary because of arguments between rival clubs. That was actually pretty cool though. Probably the scariest moment wasn’t in a club but on a plane to South America last year when a message came over the tannoy saying ‘ladies and gentlemen this is an emergency’ and all the oxygen masks fell down from the ceiling. I just sat there thinking’ oh shit this is it, this is how I’m gonna go . . bugger!’ Kids started crying and some people were starting to panic and putting their masks on and stuff and then a few seconds later the pilot got on the mic and said ‘sorry ladies and gentlemen that was a malfunction in the aircraft warning system, everything’s fine’ …. Then the toilets suddenly got really busy.” Skrufff: How easy has it been to stay focused/ avoid getting bad habits over the years? Quivver: “It’s definitely easy to develop bad habits in this business and I’d probably have made this album years ago if I’d spent more time in the studio and less time going out and getting arseholed (wasted). That’s one of the problems about not having a regular job, you can let your weekends get as messy as you want and then if you don’t feel like doing anything until Wednesday you don’t have to. But since I moved to LA I’ve been much more focused on work, I don’t go out half as much as I did back in England and I feel much better for it. I’ll still have the odd blowout now and again but then you’ve got to occasionally haven’t you?” Dirty Nails And Vapour Trails is out now on Boz Boz Recordings http://www.myspace.com/quivver Article by Jonty Skrufff (Skrufff.com) Subscribe to Skrufff newsletter at www.Skrufff.com
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