:: INTERVIEWS :: ANDY WHITBY BIOGRAPHY

Whitby’d hwit’be’d, adj, c21st slang
1. To have one’s mind transported to an alternative frantic nirvana, via the medium of hard dance music.
2. Tired out, exhausted, as if from strenuous love-making.

It’s a Sunday afternoon in June; it’s about 100 degrees outside, and even hotter inside my living room, which is currently full of sweaty clubbers: friends, acquaintances and hangers-on, sprawled across my sofas and huddled on the floor in groups. A thick layer of cigarette smoke hangs in the air and topics of conversation range from this year’s crop of Big Brother freaks to the World Cup and the fact that cats have spiny penises. But predictably, one topic, and one name crops up time and again: Andy Whitby. Despite the high calibre of all the DJs who had provided our previous night’s entertainment, this man’s performance stood head and shoulders above the rest. We’d been well and truly Whitby’d. Again. And as the burger-pushing clown says, we’re lovin’ it. Big time. Andy Whitby is not just a hard house DJ, he is an experience. He is a state of mind. He is the transporter of minds and souls to an amazing frantic paradise that, while leaving you knackered, strangely also leaves you feeling re-invigorated.

Wind back the clock to 1999. The first ever Big Brother series had captured the nation’s interest, Prince Edward marries Sophie Rhys Jones, and the UK (indeed the world) was running scared from a new parasite known as the Millennium Bug. 16 year old Andy Whitby had his future ahead of him, and he was approaching a crossroad in his life. He dreamed of becoming a world famous basketball player like his idol Michael Jordon, but he was also about to discover a new passion. Whilst at a mate’s house Andy had his first go on a pair of decks. Immediately he was hooked, and £100 later and the decks where his. “I had to have them” he says, “I was hooked”. His parents supported their son’s new-found talent, but impressed on him the importance of studying hard for his A Levels. Being a world class basketball player or high flying DJ is all well and good in the Whitby house-hold it seems, but only if you have an education too. “My parents let me have my crazy dreams, but they also made sure I revised for my exams” Andy remembers.

Basketball and DJing vied for precious time throughout the next couple of years; by the age of 19 his basketball career was earning him much admiration. Selected first for Cheshire County, Andy tried-out for England and had been selected for two All Star training camps. Musically, he was honing in on his trademark style, which he was to develop and nurture. A visit to the awesome Godskitchen, where he heard Fergie and Lisa Lashes only served to fuel his addiction of euphoric hard house. Addiction being the operative word here; his first ever gig was at a club event called Addiction held at the Men’s Social Club in Northwich. Clearly Northwich was not ready for the Whitby debut in July 2001; bringing more energy than ever before seen to this rather unassuming venue he managed to cripple the power to the club by setting off a sound restrictor that cut everything. Despite this inauspicious career launch, the promoter immediately signed up the young Whitby as a resident.

The following year was a turning point. “Something had to give, it just had to. I was playing basketball but all I could think about was mixing records, my mind was not on my game” Andy recalled. On day two of his second basketball training camp season he surrendered. “I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t play with my balls because my mind was on something else” he says with a wink in his eye. For Andy, it was a little like being a contestant on Blind Date. He was at that point of the show where Cilla Black was forcing him to choose between two potential life-time partnerships. He liked the sound of both sexy and exciting contestants, but didn’t know how his selection would look until the sliding wall went back. His gut instinct was to go with contestant #2, who liked it hard and fast, and so reluctantly dumped sporty contestant #1 who liked to slam-dunk!

Like all passionate lovers, Andy dedicated everything to lucky contestant #2. He continued his art and music production studies, earning money by working part time at the caring, sharing Co-op, but spent every spare moment attending to his music with enthusiasm. He set about making sweet music (literally), and created (or perhaps spawned) his first demo CD. Beginning with a cheeky bootleg of Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal cut over the top of Signum’s What Ya Got 4 Me, the CD showcased a musical style which characterised much of his future output. Relentless self-promotion and a small fortune in postage finally paid dividends when those ever so efficient fellas at The Royal Mail delivered a Whitby demo CD (by now his third) to Will Patterson, promoter and owner of the legendary Frantic. Andy’s destiny was about to fulfilled.

Being the head of one of the UK’s most respected hard house promotions, Will receives literally hundreds of CDs each week from hopefuls the world over, yet Whitby’s demo stood out immediately. The audacious mixing, the cheeky cut-ups and innovative bouncy yet accessible style left him gob-smacked He played it to everyone in the Frantic office; the place just stopped, and Will knew he was onto something big. Andy remembers the day well. “I’d just finished re-stocking the tins of tuna thinking that I wasn’t really lovin’ the tuna vibe” he says “when my mobile went off, it was Will Paterson.” That call changed the young Whitby’s life. A visit to London resulted in a contract and so the Co-op was dropped in favour of a full-time position as the UK’s most exciting, newest and hottest DJ talent to hit the hard-house scene.

Today, accompanying Andy to a gig is different experience compared to his first one in Northwich. Entirely different. He is literally mobbed upon his arrival and departure from each gig, with fans eager to speak to their idol, or have their photograph taken with him. Mobile phone-cum-digital cameras are designed for such occasions as his devotees put one arm around him and pose with their hero as the other arm acts as a remote-controlled tri-pod for the self portrait. Fortunately, Andy’s driver doubles up as proficient photographer for those not quite so adept at taking their own photos. Andy is always more than happy to oblige, which on one hand is good for the clubbers, but on the other a logistical nightmare for his driver when trying to get Whitby from club entrance to DJ decks for his set, then back again in a timely manner. And for the time he is performing, the space right in front of the DJ decks is hotly contested floor space.

At 6ft tall and broad-shouldered, with his trademark shaved head, a chunky ostentatious chain around his neck, and immaculate dress sense (if it’s not designer, it doesn’t go anywhere near him) he makes an imposing figure who commands respect. His confident appearance is matched by his masterful control of a good mixing deck. Before each set he always powers down the previous track and leads the packed dance floor in a show of appreciation for the out-going DJ, before kick-starting his performance into a blaze of visuals, an orchestra of special effects which extracts every quality beat of each track as he begins his show. To watch Andy DJ is part of the Whitby experience. Cocky? Perhaps, but certainly not arrogant, Whitby is now in control of the minds and bodies of his audience. A very precise and confident body language gives a visual indication to what he is playing as he acts out each track. Yet, he is not dancing; this is something far more emotional. Imagine watching a porn star having hot, rough, yet passionate but dominating sex to a breathless, wailing lover which, in this case, comes in the shape of a mixing desk. Forceful, dominant, aggressive yet somehow tender and caring. The visual impact allows your body to further immerse itself in the ecstasy he is submitting you to; your ears alone cannot possibly absorb everything that he is throwing at you. As for his sound, imagine every track as a partially completed canvas. Through the use of effects on the mixing desk, Andy adds his own colour, texture and feel as he maximises every beat of every track to create the unique Whitby sound. His precision mixing at incalculable speeds is part of the show; as each track mixes in you can positively feel the dance-floor going up a notch to keep up with the frantic and energetic DJ that has them all by the balls. Andy’s blend of vocal uplifting bouncy house is like him: deliciously hard yet very accessible. And when Andy makes eye contact with you, even if only be for a second, you get to experience the ultimate unique sensation of him seeking your seal of approval. In that moment you have transcended being a mere audience member, into being part of what will almost certainly be the set of the night. The sheer euphoria you feel is exceptional. And then at the end, breathless, skin tingling and with a grin on your face from ear to ear, you feel as though every drop of energy has been sucked right out of you, just like those few moments after one of the best orgasms of your life. Congratulations! You’ve just been Whitby’d.

Andy is young. He is good looking. He is stone cold sober. He is professional. He is addictive. And he is damn good. In my opinion he is the best. You can generally tell if a hard-house event is going to be credible and worth the money if you see Andy Whitby’s name heading the DJ line-up. It’s almost like seeing a quality assurance seal, royal crest or five star rating. He is the standard that so many more strive for. There are a plethora of CD compilations that he has mixed but listening to one of these is like trying to view a fine piece of art in a darkened room. You need to see him live to really appreciate the full and overwhelming experience that is Andy Whitby.