Peter Kirk makes up The Outlaws (occasionally other people join in on the act too), one of the star signings on Modular’s DJ team, alongside The Bang Gang Deejays and Van She Tech. Born in Bristol (in the UK) but living in beautiful Australia; this guy knows how to put out a bangin’ display of tunes that will get anyone in the perfect party mood. Outlaws hold a residency Starfuckers in Sydney, as well as Massive Attack’s club Tube in Bristol, UK. I was lucky to grab an interview with the man himself:
WAN: Your mixtape “It’s Not French, But It’s F*cking ‘Aving It” is bloody epic. What was the inspiration in the track selection and how big of a task was it to churn out mix like this?
OUTLAWS: Thank you! The tracks are the kind of things I play when I DJ (well sometimes). I love all kinds of music and like to get away with playing as varied a set as possible (so long as it works and people seem into it!). I never understand DJs who have “a set” that they play every gig – that would get really boring. I hope that the mix is a bit different to other things out there and anyone who listens enjoys it!
“Big Task” wise, it’s always awesome fun doing a mix, so it never seems like hard work! I’ve already started work on a new CD, as well as a Modcast thingy for the Modular website. The worst thing is trying to remember where I’ve put records I want to put in a mix!
WAN: Van She Tech, Bang Gang and now Outlaws under the Modular Deejaying umbrella. How’d this come together with Modular?
OUTLAWS: The cosmic forces aligned and it all seemed like a good idea at the time I suppose. I’d left my UK agency, Marty from Modular was starting the agency – Bang Gang were leaving their agents so it seemed like a good idea to all get it together.
WAN: How did you come about working along-side the Bang Gang posse? Was it through Modular or had you known the lads even before that?
Whats it like to be studio buddies? Do you get much ‘work’ done?
OUTLAWS: I met Jamie Doom when I first toured Australia many years ago. We got on well and raved it up – I played at the Bang Gang night a few times, then we hung out when he came to England and then more when I toured again in Australia. I got to know the rest of the guys as well and I think there’s a kind of shared love of daft raving. So yeah, it’s not a Modular thing, it’s more a mates thing. Studio wise, with the amount of time I’ve been spending in Australia it seemed like a good idea. We get quite a lot of work done. There’s lots of pissing about and talking shit, but it’s certainly not the same level of junkie drop in centre the last Bang Gang studio was. Jamie’s busy with his label stuff and I’m busy with production and Gus is busy being Gus. An awesome graphic designer called Mitch is in there with us too – he has an embarassingly incredible work ethic and puts together all the Bang Gang stuff, and the man like Spruce Lee is in there too. All in all I think we’re a happy gang of worker bees.
WAN: Tell us about your upcoming production work. What can we expect from your camp in the coming year?
OUTLAWS: Well, the ongoing effort to finish some original music that I actually like continues. There are a couple of things on the go at the moment. “Magic E” should actually get finished soon and a new track called “We Won’t Stop Partying For Anyone”. At the moment I’m remixing Walter Meego and a lovely new singer on Universal called Gin Wigmore. I’m also doing The Presets, but I’m very late on actually getting that one done! I’m also doing a thing for Herbert’s label Accidental which is cool and the new Toecutter single on Bang Gang 12”. I think I’m doing the new Pnau single too. I want to try and produce a few songs with The Atrocities and I’d love to do something with The Peacocks too – I saw them in Melbourne and really liked on of their songs. Just so this list gets EVEN MORE stupid and long, I was supposed to be doing something with Mission Control – I like them and they’ve got some great songs – so hopefully that will come together too!
WAN: You recently played at the huge Glastonbury Festival in the UK - not for the first time either! Tell us about your most recent experience there.
OUTLAWS: Well – for a start it was all good fun. As soon as I got there I bumped into Skull Juice and Casper Clark from Bloggers Delight – which is always a pleasure because they’re all lovely guys. I played a few records and the ended up playing a storming set back to back with those guys in one of the dance tents with 360 degree visuals and loads and loads of gurning ravers, which was nice. After that it all went a bit spiral fury psychedelic milkshake, I lost a day, bumped into Cut Copy and The Presets, and generally let myself down. Emily Eavis liked my sunburn though. And I dragged Kim Presets out to Bristol after the festival to show him a good night out – he left, drooling, saying it was his favourite UK city. I call that a result.
WAN: Finally, What would be the ideal party to throw? Which dj’s? Venue? Country? Music?
OUTLAWS: It would definitely have to be an outdoor rave – I miss running a sound system and doing Free Parties. There would definitely have to be at least a 50k rig to rattle the lungs and eyeballs. Location wise - it would be nice to do it on a beach in Cornwall, or maybe one of those pretty, isolated ones in Australia. Definitely a free bar and enough Donkey Dust to subdue a colony of T-Rex.
Music wise I reckon: The KLF, Underworld in their prime, Stone Roses (with a full line up), Erol and Soulwax, and my old pal Clark Kunt. I reckon with a line up like that it would be a party everyone could enjoy, not just music obsessed boys!
The other thing to make it perfect would be making sure that no one there had anything to do for a few days afterwards so they could get massively refreshed.
Here’s a rad mix Pete did exclusively for the blog!
MP3: Outlaws - Mini Maxi Mix for Waves at Night
Tracklisting for “Mini Maxi Mix”:
1. Intro
2. Alan Hawkshaw - Hot Pants
3. Carlos Berrios - Get It On
4. Alex Gopher Gordini Mix (Brakes On Mix By Air)
5. Zeigeist - Tar Heart
6. AA - So Far (Dumb Dan Remix)
7. Pink Skull - Drugs Will Keep Us Together - Trevor Loveys Remix
8. Tambour Battant - Atomik Cirkus
9. Don Rimini - Nervous Breakdown
10. Ascii Disko – MDMA
11. Dream Frequency - Feel So Real
12. Alex Gopher - Belmondo
13. Curved Air - Armin
14. Steve Harley And Cockney Rebel - Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)
MP3: Oasis - Falling Down (Chemical Brothers Mix) (Outlaws Not Today Thanks Noel Re-Edit)
MP3: Tricky - Council Estate (Outlaws VIP Monster Mix)
Also grab the previously mentioned Outlaws’ “It’s Not French, But It’s F*cking ‘Aving It,” mixtape, featuring 54 tracks of a mixture of genres, from electro to old school rave. Rave-tastic!
