We catch up Mr. Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe to chat about making beats, HOUSEKEEPING, music and the success of Tape London.
What’s your earliest music memory?
DJ Hype & drum and bass – that’s like an early music party memory and Paul Simon was one of the greatest music memories from my childhood.
Tell me about plans for Tape London this year – can you reveal any big name acts you’ve had play?
We had Disciples play, they’re really doing so well and blowing up at the moment we had Jess Glynn’s album launch at the venue when we first opened and hip hop acts like Wiz Khalifa and Rea Sremurrd have performed. I’ve also been recording with Nico Stojan recently he’s very niche really compared to some of the mainstream acts that come through the doors – he’s an amazing producer, my time in the studio with him at Tape has been amazing.
Who are some of the emerging artists that you have had playing at Tape Live recently and who are you excited about?
Kate Stewart, Calvin Jones, Zak Abel and Kwaye all performed at the first Tape Live event we did last month in partnership with You Tube – it was a great night and all very exciting artists to watch out for.
You’re also part of the DJ collective HOUSEKEEPING what tracks are you enjoying playing at the moment?
I mix it up I generally love playing tracks that I’ve made – it’s a different kind of satisfaction when you have made the track. We sold out KOKO to 2000 people last month and we are back there on 14th May we tone down our music taste for that gig to make it a little more accessible to the crowd and play more Deep house rather than techno or playa tech.
Where did the name HOUSEKEEPING come from?
I’ve been asked this so many times and I actually don’t even know to be honest. HOUSEKEEPING started because we were all really into our djing and producing tech and deep house, at the time I owned a club, Le Baron in the west end and no one was really playing that kind of music, Ibiza WAS really the only place to hear that music and also in the big clubs like Fabric and The End. Going back to the name it didn’t come from any story involving maids – the logo came after when we were working on designs and that outline of the maid seemed perfect to promote the collective. As you see with my design of the Tape logo and HOUSEKEEPING, I’m a strong believer that a powerful image goes a long way.
Do you party a lot seeing as though you’re a DJ and nightclub owner? When you’re not at Tape where do you like to party?
Well I don’t really go to any other night clubs I like to go to friend’s houses or bars – if I’m in a club I generally feel like I want to be the one up there doing.
Biggest risk that you’ve ever taken in your life?
I’ve taken quite a lot of risks on a business level, some have paid off others haven’t. I’m a bit of an adrenaline junkie, when it comes to extreme sport, skydiving, kite surfing, ski touring etc … I do quite enjoy taking risks. The stupidest thing I ever did was a sky dive in Mexico, the plane was in such bad condition that they nailed corrugated iron to the sides to keep it together. I still got in the plane – I ended up getting quite badly injured by slicing my leg open on the iron as I jumped and felt like I was going to pass out.
What was the last thing that really made you stop and stare?
I recently spent 7 days in the Pyrenees mountains doing a silent meditation retreat which really teaches you awareness and to open your eyes to the world. I believe it is far too easy to run through life with you blinkers on, not noticing everything thing going on around you and the true beauty out there. I like to stop and stare many times a day, the world we live in is an amazing place and beauty can be found in the smallest things.
