Ahead of Paisley Dark presents LSD & 2Es (A Celebration of the Leeds Underground) this Saturday – June 3rd – at The Imaginarium, we spoke with Paisley Dark Records head honcho, John Paynter. John has also recorded a mix for us, the sixth instalment of our series…
A formidable talent on the decks, John Paynter has earned a reputation for delivering sets ranging from psychedelic chuggers to banging peak time techno. We spoke to John about the upcoming party, the label, his background, and future plans…
Imaginarium: The (wonderfully-named) LSD & 2Es is a celebration of the Leeds underground. What is it that you think makes the Leeds music scene so special?
John: Leeds has DJs playing in just about every bar in the city so there no shortage of talent around with a lot of diversity. The house scene has always been at the forefront of what goes on in Leeds but now there are little pockets of really interesting, more experimental things popping up. Outlaws have been putting great nights on for years but now Wharf Chambers and The Imaginarium are weighing in with some special events which are geared more towards the underground scene hence Paisley Dark wanting to celebrate that movement.
Imaginarium: Tell us a bit about yourself, and the other DJs playing at this party…
John: I run the Leeds based label, Paisley Dark Records, which releases, for want of a better term, electronic psychedelic dance music. I’ve also heard other descriptions such as Wonky Acid, Chug and Techno not Techno. I have been a resident at Outlaws since it started and regularly play the Golden Lion and Club Solo events. The highlights of my DJing career have definitely been warming up for the late great Andrew Weatherall on numerous occasions, either on his own or in his ALFOS guise. I’m also very excited to be booked to play the legendary Pikes in Ibiza in July.
For this gig, which we are celebrating the Leeds underground, I’ve put together a line up of DJs who have impressed me greatly when I’ve played with them recently. Roya is the DJ I have played with most and the biggest compliment I can pay to her is, I’ve never heard her play a bad track and she knows exactly the right tune to play at the right time. Cosmikuro is someone I’ve had as a guest at Outlaws and he, as part of his duo, Chug Club, have had me as their guest. Vrm_Vrm recently impessed me whilst we both shared the bill for a Shunt Voltage gig at The Imaginarium. It was whilst watching her, destroy the floor at 4am, that I releasied I must put an event on with just a Leeds based line up. Last but not least is Ben Lewis aka UFO Club. I first became aware of Ben when he invited me to play his Crossed Wires night a few years ago and I was blown away by his closing set that night. UFO Club have also had a release out on the label which did very well and hopefully got Ben out to a new audience.
I’d just like to mention that in addition to the actual event, the Imaginarium have very kindly asked us to do an in store pre party. Again, the line up is all Leeds based DJs with the larger than life Ten Bob, who everyone in Leeds knows and loves and Marie Avril, who is a newcomer to the Leeds scene but blew me away when she was my guest at Outlaws a few months ago. Also playing downstairs will be label resident Daisy Parkes, who’ll be putting in a very rare, brief appearance.
Imaginarium: How long have you been running Paisley Dark, and what inspired you to start the label and events?
John: The label has been running for just over two years now. It kinda started out by accident if I’m honest and has since taken on a life of its own. I’m involved with a charity organisation called Shelter Me which runs events to raise funds for the homeless charity Shelter. We started the collective during the first lockdown and initially put on streamed events then moved to actual live gigs. During one of our campaigns we were donated a track by an artist called Steady State. He said: “Do as you please with it but make sure it earns some cash” ha !! We realised just the one track wasn’t going to generate a healthy sum of money so we got 22 di fferent artists, including A Certain Ratio, Richard Sen, Duncan Gray, amongst others, to do a remix of the track we had so kindly been given. That album went on the raise over £3500 and inadvertently was the start of Paisley Dark Records.
Again, I started putting on events quite by accident really. I did a gig with Tronik Youth in London and it transpired that he’d never even been to Leeds let alone played here. So in a drunken conversation the plan was hatched to get him up here. After that I couldn’t go back, ha !!!
Imaginarium: You’re quite prolific as a DJ. Any standout gigs in recent times?
John: As I said prviously, the ALFOS and Weatherall gigs at the Golden Lion were very special as was a recent one with Paranoid London. Not too long ago I got to play the Heavenly Social in London which has an amazing history and is de nitely one of those bucket list gigs to play.
Imaginarium: Any producers and labels you’re particularly liking at the moment?
John: I’m a big fan of the Red Axes and the Mushrooms Project, both of whom I’ll buy releases without hearing. Lesser known producers I really like at the moment are James Rod, who has just put an EP out for the label, Julian Sanza, Local Suicide and Theus Mago. I’m also digging local heroes Adult DVD at the moment and am hoping to put something out for them in the not too distant future. As for labels, I’ve been a huge fan of the Duro label for a long time now so I was delighted for Ben when he had a recent UFO Club release out on the label. I must mention the team of remixers I have on board for Paisley Dark Records, who are, Mindbender, Högt I Tak, Hunterbräu, Rude Audio, Jezebell, Bedford Falls Players, Man2.0.
Imaginarium: Anything upcoming for you and/or Paisley Dark that you’d like to tell us about?
John: Coming up I’m thrilled to be playing Beatherder again and as I mentioned earlier, the White Island gig will, I expect, be totally off the scale. Out at the moment is the James Rod EP, Synthetic Glory. If you like slow dark acid, this is the one for you as will be the night LSD & 2Es.
You can buy tickets for the party from Resident Advisor
There’s also a pre-party in Plant & Deck, which is free. Guests Ten Bob and Marie Avril will be joining Daisy Parkes on the decks…
…and finally, here’s Johns mix. Enjoy!