Herve (Joshua Harvey) is the London producer, dj and all round creative don behind some of the best and biggest bass heavy bangers on club land.
Tracks that bless the Londoner’s CV think-Machines Can Do The Work (2010) where he worked with Fat Boy Slim, the equally storming Power Of Bass with the renowned Armand Van Halden and of course the Zebra Katz track.
Jackin With Your Mum co-produced by Trevor Loveys is his latest single. It features all the signature nuances from Herve-it’s a clench your teeth and grimace track. In the meantime go and check out my conversation with the man himself.
So what was the catalyst to a career in music?
My love started simply as a kid buying pop records and stuff and then I got into making music with my friends when I got an Atari St and I started using an old version of Cue Bass. I started playing a little bit of guitar and then I just got into dance music then indie music and it just went on from there.
Briefly chart your musical journey up until now.
I was in a band called Klint and we had loads of labels interested in us, we actually did the theme tune to Snatch. I left the band and went to university and during that time I was doing more electronica which I was then pressing up to three hundred vinyls and then selling it. It was all proper grafting and grass roots stuff. That was when I met Switch.
I signed to Switch’s Dubsided label in 2006 and I started putting out records under Herve. At the same time I was doing Speaker Junk and everything just exploded from there really. I had like three jobs dj’ng, remixing and speaker junk from 2007 onwards and it was a bit mad.
Do you think you came out from nowhere when you dropped your first hit and indeed does anyone really just come out from nowhere?
It’s funny, in interviews at the time journalist were asking me ‘how does it feel to blow up so fast?’ I never really knew what they meant because I had no frame of reference. Talking to a friend the other day we came to the conclusion that people do not really just ‘blow up’. If you just scratch below the surface there is a lot more to know. 99 percent of the time there is so much that came before that moment from trying things, failing and eventually succeeding.
Basically success is all about the groundwork you put in.
Well yes. It is very simple it is not like this hidden knowledge. It is all about the work you put in and that kind of sorts the weak from the strong it makes sure to an extent that those who make it are worthy to be there. Of course when you make it things are still not finished because then you get new blood coming in so you never really make it as such but to open the door you have to be persistent and hard-working it is as simple as that.
Before getting onto your newest single, I have to ask about the institution that is Armand Van Helden because I know you have worked with him.
He has been a huge influence in many ways and it was great to be acknowledged by someone like him. He is also just such a nice guy and I really like him as a person. I had a lot of respect for him before but of course when you meet these people there is no assurance that they are going to be nice but thankfully he is really nice as a person-I would love to work with him again actually.
So Jackin With Your Mum-is it as lascivious as my cest pit of a mind concludes?
Ah it’s just a bit of a laugh really. It is kind of playing off that fact that dance music has been around so long that the ravers of now are mothers who loved and love the genre.
And of course on co-production on the track is Trevor Loveys who you worked with almost at the beginning of your career.
It was kind of a full circle with Trevor. He went away for a while but then it was one of those things where he came around and we impulsively decided to work on some tracks and the result of that is the track Jackin With Your Mum.
And follow up musical gems to look forward to?
I have a Beatport Mix but just working on my album, working with an indie dance band called Closer and I am working on a pop so that will also be great.
JACKIN WITH YOUR MUM released on the 15 03 15