X-Press 2 - Bestival 2005

For a collective that's been together sporadically for the last 10 years, the three members of X-Press 2 could not be more dissimilar. First and last impressions rest with Ashley Beedle, the lively joker of the pack and X-Press 2's loudest mouthpiece. More laid back is the huggable Rocky; down to earth, articulate and polite, and then there's Diesel, the more serious of the three and immensely passionate about the music they produce. Together they form one of the most important dance acts of the last decade. Having been DJing since the beginnings of house music, their sound has never veered too far away from those original parameters, despite being ranked as key innovators in its evolution. In 2003 they won an Ivor Novello award in the category of 'dance' for their song 'Lazy' featuring David Byrne. Now they're back, returning with a new single and album, and treating Bestival to two consecutive headlining sets in the Bollywood Bar and the Wierd West Big Top.

VF: First impressions of Bestival?
Ashley: Mental but great. There's a nice atmosphere and it feels like a festival of our kind of people, the type we hang out with. All the other's have a slightly alien crowd.  It's the last festival of the summer and when we were doing the Bollywood Bar last night it was a bit like Colonel Custer's last stand last of summer before winter kicks in. Plus it's small and intimate and you can walk from one end to the other in 15 minutes and bump into people you know.
Diesel: It's got a sense of humour as well, which is the key to it really. It's just fun.
Ashley: The bigger they get the more impersonal they get. That's where Glastonbury becomes nothing more than an endurance test. It's that attitude of 'I'm gonna stay here, I'm gonna deal with it and go the distance', rather than enjoying the fun element of it. There's a huge fun aspect to Bestival. We've seen mates of ours dressed up and having a laugh and that's all part of it.

VF: We heard you were doing a six-hour set, what happened?
Ashley: Yeah, we split it into two, three hours last night, three hours tonight. That's answered that question, ha ha!

VF: Fair enough. It's a Balearic set you're about to do tonight. Whose idea was that?
Rocky: It was Bestival's idea actually. It's to do with the fact that the new album we've done is veering towards that sound. It's not a straight up dance music. Robbie's heard the 'Give It' track and has some kind of idea where it's all going so he thought it'd be a good idea to play some of the stuff that's influenced us over the years into making the record we've made now, to give them a look at our past as well as an idea of where we're going. And the thing tonight is kind of us bang up to date, playing new music that's not out yet and records you can only get out in Europe. It's kind of like the two sides to X-Press 2 if you like, the history of X-Press 2 over the two nights.

VF: Is there a current revival of all things 'Balearic'?
Ashley: It's difficult to tell but if there's a call for it, it always works. Like last night, it was a real occasion, like your brother's wedding or something. But if you force it then it doesn't work. It has to be the right atmosphere and circumstances.
Diesel: Last night all those people in that bar just totally felt into it. It was a specific request from the festival.

VF: There's an argument that dance music has gone a bit serious and up its arse in the last couple of years. Is it on the up now?
Ashley: You're right, there was point for me about two years ago when I was really jaded by house music, I think we were all thinking 'there must be some new sound'. But at this moment in time now, as a trio and individually, there's some amazing house records being done again where people are saying 'fuck the rules, let's get on and do something interesting right now'. We've been rejuvenated and there's a real healthy underground scene again. There's this whole electronic German tech house thing that's going on and lots of wicked little after hours clubs in London that you never hear about in the press. They just happen and it's all word of mouth. So if you're interested and want to know and you want to be a part of it, its there. It's a whole scene and it's nice because it's off the radar, developing on its own. As far as the mainstream are concerned they're not getting it and hopefully they won't find out about it for a while. It's come full cycle.

VF: How's it kept secret?
Rocky: The people running the nights would hate to be in a magazine. Mates of ours do it and it's just a case of putting on parties for their mates and mates of mates. They don't want to make money out of it, which is what it should always be about. But unfortunately along the line a lot of big business gets involved and as we've seen with some of the big clubs, which have now shrunk. It's starting to go back underground which is fantastic. It's brilliant.  It's almost like a revolution. For all these years we've had big clubs and big DJs and we'll all put our hands up because we've been getting paid a lot of money, but it's got to a point where a lot of people have said 'no we're not doing that any more' and they've voted with their feet. So those people who've got bored with clubs have done it smaller and better and won't let business get involved.

VF: What sort of parties are you talking about?
Diesel: Some mates of ours do these completely illegal parties in a small woodland in west London but they just do three or four a year, just two or three hundred absolutely insane people, and it never gets raided. They did one about two weeks ago and it was just off the hook. There're other little events at cool little venues around Brick Lane and places, again just playing wicked cutting edge music.

VF: And that suits what you're doing now?
Ashley: Yeah, we're always thinking the new. We got a bit jaded and got all complacent, but we needed that to get here. Now we're always looking for that next buzz.

VF: You've got a new album out January. Do the three of you deliberately set out tracks?
Diesel: No, it's much more organic than that. We've been writing things with other vocalists and musicians and that's just how it's happened. We've done instrumental tracks that we've always done anyway and this ones moved away from all that without really meaning to. It's just been a case of 'this sounds good let's go with it'.

VF: Are you happier with the new album than the last one 'Muzikizum'?
Rocky: No, I think 'Muzikizum' suited its time and this record fits what's going on now. I think maybe we've stretched ourselves a bit more but I wouldn't say I'm happier with one or the other.
Diesel: I think the other thing is that we wanted to prove to ourselves that we could continue pursuing down the avenue that 'Lazy' sent us.

VF: So what can we expect tonight?
Ashley: Deutchland Uberalles, innit Rock!
Rocky: German electronic house all the way. 
Diesel: And our new single
Ashley: And a few curve balls, we always throw in a few of those.

VF: What's been your biggest curveball?
Ashley: Rocky's is T-Rex '20th Century Boy' and David Bowie's 'Heroes' is mine. There's been a few I can tell you. We've seen the crowd go as well ... home!
Rocky: But the riskiest ones are often the best. When I played T-Rex at DC10s half the crowd went absolutely nuts, and the trendy Italian half, well, they just didn't get it.
Ashley: I think it was risk after risk last night! We definitely couldn't have gone down the bookies last night and made a bet!
Diesel: It was like being back in '88 or something last night. It gave me the shivers!

X-Press 2 release the single 'Give It' on 26 September. An as-yet-untitled album is due out in January 2006.