Adam Shaw is one of the brightest young stars to emerge into the Tech House scene in recent years. He was the anonymous artist behind the 2007 smash ‘How Pretentious’ which got massive support from John Digweed, Josh Wink, Dubfire, Deadmau5 Fancuilli and Mark Knight…word quickly spread about Adam and now his name is on the tip of many top DJs tongues. His remix of deadmau5 ‘Alone With You’ received support from Pete Tong, Sasha and Laurent Garnier as testament to his superlative production skills.
He’s now playing all over the UK and around the world and he’s got a long-standing relationship with Arena in Middlesbrough. Other high profile gigs include Matter at the O2 Arena, Toolroom Knights, Ministry of Sound and Air in Birmingham.
In March, Adam was awarded the prestigious accolade of Essential New Tune on Pete Tong’s Friday Night Show for “Engage.” 2009 continues to roll on and Adam is set to be one of the finest new talents on the scene in many a year.
He is now working closely with Spin Out on several projects! In the near future, you’ll be seeing a lot of Adam around the Spin Out camp including four single releases, an exclusive sample pack for Trackitdown, and he’ll also be mixing the Spin Out compilation which will appear on the covermount of the world-famous i-DJ magazine in October. Oh yes, and he’ll be playing at several of our parties…so we are well and truly family now.
We recently caught up with Adam to here’s whats new with him…read on for the full interview.
How would you describe your sound at the moment?
It’s difficult to answer this because I’m all over the place! I like to dip into a bit of everything – house, techno, progressive… I like to keep it varied, to try and keep things fresh and to keep things interesting for myself.
Do you think what studio gear you use is important for creating your own sound?
Not really. I know people who make amazing music on rubbish computers, there are also some producers with shed loads of expensive equipment but no originality. I just think it’s about the way in which you utilize it to support your sound.
Who or what has been your biggest influence?
There’s so many great DJs and producers out there, but I’d say originally the likes of Carl Cox and Laurent Garnier have affected me the most. They’ve both got a massive passion for music which is one of the reasons why I think they’re so highly regarded after all these years.
What are you listening to at the moment?
The album “Orchestra of Bubbles” by Apparat and Ellen Allien.
What are your plans for the summer?
I’ve got gigs coming up in clubs the likes of Matter and Air which I’m really looking forward to. I’m also playing in Ibiza and will then return home to gatecrash loads of Barbecues.
If you were trying to seduce someone, what songs would you have to include on a mix tape?
Van Morrison, Sweet Thing. Or anything by Adam Shaw, I’ve heard he’s awesome.
What are your worst habits?
Burping, making noises to annoy people, farting and wafting it into someone’s face. I’m single by the way.
What would you say is the best and worst thing about the Dance music scene?
The best thing about it is being able to play the music you love and to share that with other people who love it too – I’d say on the bad side, music piracy makes it really difficult to profit from digital downloads; there are a lot of labels who suffer badly and it would be a real shame to see them disappear.
When and where was your best gig?
Piekarnia in Warsaw, Poland. The crowd is great out there, no pretentiousness and there solely for the music. Had an awesome time.
Lastly, what productions and releases have you been working on recently?
I have a rework of The Face – Needin You coming up with Mark Brown in the near future, four Singles on Spin Out records, a CR2 AllStars compilation and some remixes, and lots of other original and collaboration stuff coming up in the near future with Tim Weeks, Dave Robertson and James Talk. I’m pretty Shaw it will all go to plan (…sorry).
