Jarda, Merlijn, Ben & Century of Sound

Merlijn, Jarda and Ben are the organisers of the “Century of Sound“ Festival, which took place from September to December in Prague. Century of Sound is a series of events to celebrate 100 years since the end of the First World War. The event incorporates the passion and drive that comes from their shared love of the subject matter and of course, the music. We were lucky enough to sit down with Tom Findlay of Groove Armada who opened the festival and also Booka Shade who played on the last night of it.

Find the exclusive interview on www.okomagazine.cz

Interview of Tom Findley, Groove Armada

Hi Tom, what have you been up to over the last decade?

We’ve been pretty busy. We stopped playing live in 2011 and that was the end of a phase when we left our record label. We decided to go back to where we started. Back to clubs. We always had a place in Ibiza, we played a lot at the Space Terrace. Our lives got complicated but we’ve been re-establishing our place in the club world. The last decade has been a mixture of creating records, playing gigs and dj sets. In November/December we’ve set four dates in the UK (Glasgow, Bristol, Manchester and London), and all going well we’ll be looking to release more material next year and tour again. How does streaming affect your music’s impact?

It’s great to see that there’s a record of our stuff, not just on Spotify, but also YouTube. It makes a difference in getting paid, but I am very pro-streaming, since it opens doors to people finding our stuff.

What are your fondest memories of performing?

Playing the John Peel stage at Glastonbury, that was amazing.

Today you’re alone on the DJ set, how do you prepare?

On a DJ set I try to imagine what the space is like and every week I get sent two or three hundred records. Lots of downloading. I don’t really plan a set, but the nice thing is that I keep all the material on me. I’ll go in with a loose idea, but that’s all it is. Can we expect a change in style from Groove Armada in the future?

Yeah we’re writing new stuff at the moment. It’s a similar style to our old album Black Light (2010) it’s more song based and less heavy. At the moment I don’t want to call it an album.

Do you see any markable difference between fans in different countries?

There are very distinct scenes between countries. It used to be the UK and America that was predominant, but now it’s a more international scene. Now there’s a Paris scene and a Berlin scene, so it’s always a different experience and you try to find common ground between them.

What are your favourite ways of playing a set?

It’s really lovely to have a large amount of time. It’s nice sometimes to play for four hours, it allows a lot of freedom. There’s an event in Ibiza at Amnesia called ‘All Night Long’ and you play from midnight to when the place closes at around 7am, which is always great, I love that chance to really develop a set.

First record you ever bought?

I’m not just saying this to sound cool, but the first record I bought was ‘Thriller’ by Michael Jackson.

And finally, how does it feel to be a part of Century of Sound?

It’s a great event celebrating a key moment in world history. I’m honoured to take part.

By Claire Dognini, Oliver Horsfall & Petar Mrdjen

Are there any songs you have on repeat at home at the moment?

Stuff moves so quickly at the moment, but I’m really enjoying a band called Khruangbin who are a three piece jazz outfit from Houston, Texas. They have a track called ‘White Gloves’ and it’s brilliant.