Alright Moller! So the AD family is officially 1 year old - where did the whole idea stem from?
The idea for AD was in the back of my mind for years, I was hosting parties back in 2008 and 2009 and DJing in between. I started noticing the lack of entertainment value in a lot of the shows I was going to or even DJing at. After exploring funky house, offsets of UK garage and dubstep for a few years the main focus was to start a label to put out the music I was being sent. Running a label was untrodden ground for me so I started AD as a club night in 2010 to cement both what the AD sound was, and the purpose of AD which is - crucially - good fun. Since then the label took a backseat until August/September this year when we started putting out some of the music I'd collected. To put it bluntly, I guess I wanted to create parties that me and my friends would want to go to, and create a label which put out music that we'd buy.
What sounds are you pushing now - could you put it in any particular bracket? Or do you think the ethos of AD has changed over the last 12 months, and if so, how?
You could've probably put the sound we were pushing into a bracket at the start of 2010; it was evident we were pushing a much more bass-driven sound. The ethos of AD has most definitely grown rather than changed throughout the year - we like to stay away from typical genre stereotypes and just focus on having music we love at the parties. Whether that's house, hip hop, garage, funky, it doesn't really matter to us. As long as we get a buzz off it, then belongs at our parties or on a release. We tend to book the artists which aren't always necessarily playing Fabric every week, or playing at every festival over the summer. It's essential for us to push forward the new sounds as promoters. Even labels are becoming more & more apprehensive and conservative about pushing new sound, as it's not always going to make the most money. So I guess us taking the risks in booking more edgy acts has become apparent this year. Even with the records we're beginning to put out.
Who have been some of your favourite artists to have down to AD?
Fantastic Mr Fox did an amazing set at our show back in June at Crucifix Lane. He's been a favourite on my producers list for a while and it was good to see him bringing so many different colours and sounds to his set. The crowd's reaction was pretty special, too. Other than that, it was pretty fun when Onoe Caponoe did a live set at Corsica back in August; I think he'd smoked his body mass in mary-jane and it was fun to see someone in their element talking to the crowd, rather than just a standard performance.
Can you give us an insight into the full spectrum of AD? We've heard through the grapevine there's also a record label and potentially tours in the pipeline...
Well I've probably given away the whole record label thing a little bit by now, our first two releases probably gave people an idea that there's a lot more to come in terms of the label. AD in 2012 is really exciting for us, we've got shows in Leeds, Nottingham, Melbourne and most likely Vienna, too, all happening next year, and obviously continuing the 'Presents' series in London. We wrote a wish-list of artists we wanted to play at the AD parties next year and the majority of them have been booked for at least 1 show next year. The label is a very key focus for us next year, we hope to be putting out the 12"s we never got to put out this year, and an album or two, which we're working on at the moment.
This Friday you get to blow out AD's first birthday candle - where do you see AD in ten years time!?
I just hope AD continues to grow throughout the next few years - it's been a special year for us especially to receive such a welcome response from people in the first year of our existence. Being asked where I see AD in ten years time is a difficult one. I can't really imagine where it will be in 10 years time. As long as people are still interested in the music, we will continue with what we do and continue to find new acts and divulging new sounds.
You can still get tickets here for this Friday's show - but be quick!
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