i:Vibes gets the views on whats to come from Olmec Heads, the music industry, visiting motorway toilets and a general view on whats to come.

i:Vibes has a great chat with Olmec Heads Westy about the Olmec Heads latest production, his various other guises, a view on mp3s, the music industry and various other aspects of his life.

With "The Return" recently out on Olmecca, i:Vibes gave away a couple of copies to lucky winners who managed to get the answer correct, but judging some of the answers which we got, you had better read the interview!

i:Vibes So Westy, thanks for taking the time to do this interview with us. How would you describe where you stand now in terms of music, and how you arrived at this point?

Westy: You're welcome and thank you for taking the time to talk to me. At the moment I am in a really exciting place, with the last two years being a nightmare of legal crap and shouting down the phone at people when Andy and I first got together. We just wanted to make music, but then it all went out of control because we were doing something that people would like you have to loose a bit of yourself to get the product out to the public, but now I have total control over the way I always wanted the Olmec Heads to go I never wanted to sit in any one pigeon hole, but now I am working with a label boss who understands what I want and is not bothered to much about shifting units which gives me the freedom to try to push the filter a bit more.

i:Vibes Speaking of the Olmec Heads guise which yourself and Andy put together a few years ago; How was that created and how would you describe the music which the guise reflects? Subsequently, some have wondered why the split with production partner Andy. What’s the story behind that and will there be possibilities for future collaborations between the 2 of you?

Westy: We met in a music shop where I worked in the hitec dept, we just hit it and sort of fell into working together. Andy had already done some bits for a production team, and I had done a lot of tracks, but now with a real direction. When we got together we seemed to be able to work well together, with the sound coming from the fact that Andy and I are two totally different people; I am very up front in your face and Andy is very much more the laid back type, and the music was born out of those two different passions coming together. The split if you want to call it that never really happened; we were on the verge of releasing our third tune on NEO, and Andy had always wanted a solo track and he put out “Cloudwalking”. When that picked up for him I had lost faith in the management that we had at the time and everything became diluted and it just slipped away, but me and Andy remain good friends; we are like a old married couple. we talk every week or so as we are both very busy

As far as doing more stuff together, I don’t know, we are so very busy and with Andy with his new DJ god status and me with the film and TV stuff, not saying it won’t happen..but watch this space.

i:Vibes Digressing back to your past, you were involved in playing the guitar for rock bands during the late 80s and early 90s, where some of your music influences came from. How did you come to go from rock to trance/progressive, and what else do listen to other than what you produce, and if you had to choose a single track which defines your music loves, what would it be?

Westy: The early years was a diet of bands like King Crimson, Frank Zappa, Pink Floyd, most of the progressive rock bands of the 70’s. By the time I was 16, I was in a working touring band, with nothing to write home, and I must have seen the inside of every motorway toilet in the kingdom.

I still listen to lots of different stuff the two shows which I never miss is uncle Graham Gold and Steve Smart, both on Kiss 100 which you can get on the net. They are both great DJs / radio jocks, but I love Grahams approach to music, he tells it how it is, they guy should be on 7 nights a week. The change came from rock to dance because I got fed up of touring and playing out live, so I worked in a commercial studio for a while, then fell into the hitec side of things and it, and started knock out house and R&B tunes, just for fun and nearly ended up doing a song for Europe, but I don’t want to talk about that....

As far as a track that defines the music I love, that’s a hard one.. There are so many, I don’t think that I have heard anything in the past year that has rocked my world. I can’t say and that’s the truth.

i:Vibes Haha, sounds like quite an interesting journey for you. But is there still an interest which lies within rock for you? or is it all into dance these days?

Westy: Funny you should say that because I have been playing a lot lately, driving my wife round the bend, and I have a little project, which involves, some hardcore guitar..

i:Vibes and on the topic of genres, where do you think dance music in general is heading towards within 2003?

Westy: I think that the record and clubbing public have had enough of the compilations and the same old duffers knocking out the billy big tunes, I know some very talented DJs real pros who know how to construct that journey, if you have paid 25 notes to get in to a club and hear some arse knocking out the tracks in the same order as the latest IBIZA 105 comp, you are going to vote with your feet and walk. You only have to look at what’s gone in the last few months, I say lets get some of the bedroom heros out, we should have popstars type thing going, never mind who’s had what tune out and who’s remixed who, back to grass root.. thats when we will start seeing a rebirth of the music because new DJs will bring a fresh slant to the scene i.e. playing new styles and experimenting more, which is what I would like to happen but at the end of the day its all about making a few quid.. I hope we move forward and not keep looking to the past..

i:Vibes Fresh music is what its about. Which brings us at your fresh single under the Olmec guise "The Return".. it has caused eyebrows to upturn as it bears little resemblance to previous Olmec productions such as "Spiritualised", "Magic Man" and "Lift Off". Is this progressive nature the sound of Olmec Heads for 2003? and What more is to come under the Olmec Heads guise for the forthcoming future?

Westy: Yes it had to be different, it would have been so easy to churn out another, "trance" track but it took me so long to sort the crap out and get control, that my sound had changed, i have moved forward. it may not be to everybody’s taste, but its mine and that’s what I wanted. It has caused a few upsets, but the right people are on it and can see the idea.

It’s (Olmec Heads) a constantly changing project now, and as I don’t have to please a accountant, a record label, or some management type, its a much nicer place to be.

There is another Olmec track on the desk at the moment and the remix work is coming in so that’s good but the next year or so should see the sound develop and hopefully come to, and if not, I am having fun..

i:Vibes and looking at your other guises which you've recently put forward, including Deck Slaves, Intarsa and MK Ultra.. were those intended for a different listener?

Westy: The Deckslaves and the ML Ultra guises are with a very good friend of mine Adam H. He is a DJ who is very talented and is worth checking out if you get the chance, and he has is own Friday & Saturday night show on Surf, in the Brighton area in the UK and even stood in for Graham Gold at peach a few weeks ago. I went along and it rocked!

The Intarsa stuff I really like doing as its very much more progressive; its the two sides to the coin, there are a lot of trance producers doing this style as well at the moment and its different in as much as you can be much more open and you can experiment with the sound. You don’t have so much of a formula to work to as you do in the trance sound, sometimes trance tracks sound as if its trance by numbers.. Not so with the more progressive sound.

i:Vibes And if we look further into your music, how about on the DJ front? You have seemingly put the production as a higher priority to your DJing other than your occasional sets. Are there plans for you to bring your DJing back to life?

Westy: I love the DJing side but I don’t want to sign to an agent to get the work; I know that’s the case if you want to get out very weekend and not all the gigs are at Godskitchen or Gatecrasher, and I have seen the inside of enough motorway service stations to last me a life time, also my sets are very strange, lots of different styles, and there is only one man that can do it and that’s Mr. Oakenfold. I have a few offers but nothing in stone, I have a wedding on Saturday to do, but they want mostly 80s...

only joking.. no great world tour planned, and I think I will leave that to the heros, there is enough of them out there.


i:Vibes Well I guess you've seen a fair bit of the industry already. With many budding producers out there, what can you recommend to them? in terms of what equipment is good for starters, and what’s a good method to take up?

Westy: Things are so easy for you now. When we started, the computers were not up to the job really but now there is so much you can do with a small amount of gear. My advice to any budding producers, is to research. PCs are so quick now and most music programs are cheap, but check out a few shops before you buy, see who wants to help rather than just getting your cash. The internet is the best place to start; get on a forum or two, sites like this, well informed sites with good links, most of all listen to loads of stuff , and have fun if its not fun its not worth doing.. life’s too short

i:Vibes And the definitive view on mp3s and the ongoing debate of online media?

Westy: its progress, I think it’s good overall. Yes its hurting the music industry but only the mass profit on CDs; the vinyl buying won’t be affected that much, but saying that, if the dance music industry doesn’t sort it out soon that will go to the wall as well. We all know how hard it is to be in the marketplace at the moment. We have been here before and some of us that are old enough to remember the tapes and the scams; the music business cried then but its still going on strong. Its the same in this case; they will just find other ways of scamming the artist and the public, long live the revolution, its change and I am all for it..

i:Vibes How about a few last words of wisdom to the readers?

Westy: Keep your head and keep your powder dry.


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