From being one of our recommended artists to watch this year to absolutely slaying floors, festivals and our speakers consistently throughout the year, as a DJ and producer, Holy Goof has been unavoidable in bass house circles this year.
Whether it’s sell-out tours to closing one of Boomtown’s most iconic stages to launching his own merch via collaborations with the one and only DJ Zinc, Goof’s unique blend of low-end lashing house and UKG has heavily soundtracked our year. And that’s only scratching the surface. We get the impression he’s got even bigger plans for 2018, too…
“I can’t reveal anything too much” he tells us. “But I can say I’m working on the biggest projects I’ve ever done with some amazing artists involved. I think there’s going to be a bit of a barrage to be honest.”
But before that barrage consumes us, let’s rewind with Holy Goof and look back over the year that cemented his influence, presence and dominance in the 130 bass game…
For the last three years every year seems to dwarf the previous one, but this year has just been mental. From closing Bang Hai Towers, which was just the pinnacle of any festival show I’ve ever done so far, to selling out my first runs of merchandise, making music with some really inspiring artists, doing great gigs like the one I did with yourselves at Work Bar with my mates.
This was also the first year I did my own tour which was another highlight. All eight dates were a sell out and the atmosphere was like nothing I’d experienced before. I have to shout everyone who helped the tour happen, everyone who travelling up and down the country with me, the video guys Bailey and Elliot for filming it all. Everything was so smooth and it was an amazing feeling.
Besides the tour, I’ve played so many great shows and got to see more of the world. Ibiza was a great buzz and I got to play there a few times at Sankeys and Ibiza Rocks Bar. I’ve also played in the Netherlands a number of times, Switzerland, Austria and Belgium where I got to host a Holy Goof show with Skepsis and Notion last month.
Release-wise, I’m really happy with how things have gone. Eyes On You was a great way to start the year then I made a bootleg of Skepta’s It Ain’t Safe which I initially made for my sets but put I it online and it just exploded. Then I had Push It with DJ Zinc. It’s a great experience working with him and he’s a complete legend. Big up the shed riddims! I learnt a lot from him and I’m proud we’ve made a banger that’s gone on Bingo Beats. That was a real highlight and I hope we can do it again.
Then I recently finished the year off with Be Mine and Harder with one of my best mates Notion. We actually made Harder between Boxing Day and NYE last year. Just for sets to play ourselves. It went off so much we needed to release it but we’d sampled the vocal so needed to get that cleared. We spoke to Face and he loved the track so much he decided to do a full vocal for it, which was amazing. We’ve been looking forward to releasing that for a while. It’s always great getting in the studio with Notion. We could write a tune every time we hook up but we’d have too much music.
Notion’s not the only one who’s inspired me this year. Lots of other artists have had a great year musically and made sure this has been a great year for bass music all-round; My Nu Leng, TQD, Jauz, Zomby, Skepsis. On a more up and coming, newer artist tip I’d say Darkzy’s had an amazing year, Distinkt, Skue-K. The list could go on for days. These are people who I’ve been playing in all my sets and really enjoying their work. For me, it doesn’t matter what genre or style you want to call it, the main thing is you can always tell when music is coming from a true place or if people are doing paint by numbers stuff and with all those guys I can feel the music is coming from the right place – it’s done because the people who make it want to dance, you know?
For me, everything I put out has to make me jump around in the studio to. If that’s not happening, the tune’s not being released. I’m also a big believer in testing tunes from different corners of the room, getting a different perspective and not looking at the monitor. Or sitting in a different room, just hearing it playing in different surroundings. The car is especially good for that. I have to know that I’m totally feeling the music before I’m even ready to play it out, let alone release it.
What do I want to see more of in 2018? Sun!
What do I want to see less of in 2018? Rain!”
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Photo credit: Elliot Young
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