Tom Coveney is one half of Psychemagik, the UK DJ duo known for their psychedelic disco edits, unique remixes and original productions. Both he and his music partner, Danny McLewin, have been completely immersed in music ever since Tom received a collection of folk nursery rhymes as a one year old in the early eighties. Their record collection, largely a product of Danny’s many trips around America on the Greyhound, is legendary.
Tom and Danny met about seven years ago at a music festival in Kent. It was an edit of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Everywhere’ that first garnered them attention from the likes of Greg Wilson and Tom Middleton and since then, Psychemagik have released an eclectic mix of highly acclaimed edits, remixes and original material including their Valley of Paradise and Lunar Eclipse EPs as well as recent compilations Magik Cyrkles and Magik Sunrise. Recent remix projects have included Bryan Ferry, Haim, Boy George, Mirror People, Azari & III, Metronomy, Kauf and Mirror People.
Having spent many months of 2013 touring and playing festivals, Tom last week headlined the launch of Proud Camden’s new Thursday night live band showcase and clubnight, RUDE – a collaboration with online lifestyle magazine, ‘It’s Rude to Stare’. Before he took to the stage, we caught up with Tom on the Proud Camden terrace to discuss record collections, Fleetwood Mac and Psychemagik’s future projects, which include the release of tracks recently signed to Damian Lazarus’ label, Crosstown Rebels.
I’VE HEARD THAT YOU AND DANNY ARE THE GO TO GUYS FOR RARE RECORDS AND RARE SAMPLES. YOU ARE KNOWN FOR YOUR INCREDIBLY VAST RECORD COLLECTION…
This is mostly Dan’s – he’s been collecting for years and years and years. It’s a passion/addiction for him really. I love it as well but I just don’t delve in so much. It’s immense. It’s an archive. The record collection has come down now, it used to be tens of thousands. He has had to sell a lot but he’s archived everything. There’s 300,000 or something different albums. Maybe a bit less, I’m not sure. We’re hitting those kind of numbers. It’s crazy. He’s been doing it since he was a kid. He used to go on trips to America on the Greyhound buses – all around America – just buying and selling records to loads of different people – Q-Tip… loads of people! It’s amazing.
WHAT WAS THE FIRST RECORD YOU EVER BOUGHT? CAN YOU REMEMBER?
Well the first record that I ever had bought for me was when I was a one year old. It was by Tim Hart and Friends and it was a folk nursery rhymes thing. 1981. Apparently my mum used to chuck me in a room, play that and I would be happy as Larry.
DO YOU STILL HAVE IT?
I do! I’ve still got it.
IS THAT ONE YOU LISTEN TO REGULARLY?
Haha not often, no… if I’m honest! There’s a crazy kind of Giorgio Moroder-inspired ‘What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor’ though. Arpeggiated bass and all this going on, it’s pretty intense! Haha.
SO HOW DID YOU AND DAN MEET?
We met via a mutual friend about seven years ago. This guy was saying, “Oh you should meet each other” for about a year – never got us together. There’s a little festival called ‘Lounge on the Farm’ in Canterbury in Kent. I was DJing down there, saw my friend with Dan, and said, ‘I’m about to go and play, come check it out’. I did my set, played a couple of my tracks and Dan said, ‘What are they?’ I was like, ‘my shit’ and he was like, ‘let’s have a chat’. About two weeks later we started in the studio just messing around. That was about seven years ago now I think.
WERE YOU REMIXING TO START WITH OR WERE YOU DOING YOUR OWN PRODUCTIONS?
No this was some of my own material, separately to Dan, not doing too many remixes at that point.
YOU’VE OBVIOUSLY DONE LOADS OF REMIXES AND EDITS BUT YOU ALSO HAVE ALL OF YOUR OWN PRODUCTIONS. WHAT DO YOU PREFER DOING AND HOW DOES THE APPROACH DIFFER?
Edits are a little bit more, sort of, for want for a better word, they’re a bit more throwaway. They’re quicker to work on and you just slap them together a little bit. We still put in effort and try and make something original from them. Remixes – they’re a time for experimentation really and I really enjoy that in that respect. You can just sort of sit there and not think ‘Oh this is going to be your opus, your magnum opus track’. It’s someone else’s work and you’ve got this audio palette to play with already. It’s a lot of fun. But the more satisfaction and joy comes from getting your own original material out there, which is what we are focusing on as of now. We just signed a track to Crosstown Rebels, Damian Lazarus’ label. We’re getting some big name remixes with that. That should be out this year, finger’s crossed. That’s quite exciting. We’re really hyped about that.
SOME OF YOUR TRACKS HAVE BEEN REMIXED BY OTHER PEOPLE – WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE REMIX OF ‘VALLEY OF PARADISE’? IS IT WEIRD TO HEAR YOUR OWN STUFF REMIXED?
Yeah it is. Weird getting them back. It’s strange, but good to hear other people’s take on it. I think probably Greg’s (Wilson) is my favourite. Sorry Toby! Sorry Richard!
WHAT’S THE IDEAL SETTING IN WHICH TO LISTEN TO ‘MAGIK SUNRISE’?
Definitely a beach setting, some idyllic kind of paradise… Something like that… With a cocktail in your hand… Maybe being fanned by a harem of beautiful women…
YOUR FLEETWOOD MAC EDITS ARE REALLY POPULAR… ARE THEY A GROUP THAT INSPIRE YOU MUSICALLY OR ARE THEY JUST A GROUP YOU LOVE?
We just both love the Mac and have done since before the girls had even gotten involved… it was Peter Green back in the day, the original set up. Still love all that material! That band have just evolved so perfectly I’ve found. They are not a direct influence in our style. Those two tracks did go crazy. They’re loved by everyone, Dreams and Everywhere […] Hopefully (we’ve) not destroyed (them). I think some edits people can do and they get ripped apart. With a classic song like that, it’s so vocally strong, you need to keep the essence and keep the vibe intact.
WOULD YOU DO ANOTHER FLEETWOOD EDIT?
We get asked all the time, ‘The Chain’ or whatever, loads of them. I don’t think so…maybe in years to come. Not in the foreseeable future.
THIS YEAR YOU HAVE BEEN TOURING, TELL US ABOUT WHERE YOU HAVE BEEN AND THE HIGHLIGHTS?
We’ve been over in the States three times this year now. We spent about four months of the year over there. We did this festival called Sunset Campout in San Francisco. About three hours drive north of San Fran, in the woods, a kind of forest, by a river. There’s a beach stage, set down on the beach of the river, a mini beach. It’s only about a thousand capacity, but it’s just like a small family. The vibe is so gorgeous. The sunshine was beating down but you could hide under these gorgeous trees. We were DJing from about two till four on the Saturday. Everyone brings their floaties, they’re sat in the river just losing their shit. This river has rapids in it and people are jumping in it and sliding down. It’s like a playground. It’s been an incredible year for that. We’ve been flying all over the place, meeting so many great people. Such different experiences in all these different places. Hitting some heavy nightclubs as well and then (we’re) in the woods DJing – a cosmic forest.
DO YOU PREFER TO PLAY CLUB NIGHTS OR FESTIVALS?
I don’t have a preference, it’s nice to have the mix. It’s gorgeous to play in the daytime and have that mellow vibe. But I love to be in a dark dingy club as well and be able to bang it out. If you were constantly just doing one of those it would get a bit dull. The fact that we have been flipping from one to the other, it’s been really nice.
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS NIGHT, RUDE, AT PROUD CAMDEN?
I’ve never been here! It’s quite incredible. The stables are quite amazing. I didn’t expect to see that, I walked in like ‘Shit! Are they the stables?’ This is pretty dope, the terrace out here. I’m looking forward to the night. I’ve got a lot of friends coming down. They’ve put a lot of effort into promoting it. They want to do a real big push for it. I love venues that have different nooks and crannies. You can step away from the main arena, have a nice chill out here, hot tub if you want! Although it’s not that hot! It’s great. It’s really cool. I’ll come back!
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE COLLABORATION BETWEEN PROUD CAMDEN AND IT’S RUDE TO STARE?
I really like It’s Rude to Stare, those guys, it’s a great site. […] It’s quite a cool experience to watch them (live stream performances) as a viewer. You really want to be there as opposed to just listening to it. It draws you in a bit more. You notice you’re missing out.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Like I said that record with Crosstown Rebels. We’ve got a couple of follow up tracks – they are not set for a label yet. We’re really going to be focusing on our original material now. We’ve done loads of remixing all this year, which has been great, but now we’re going to get some of our own gear out.
For more information about Psychemagik, visit their website.
For more information on RUDE at Proud Camden, read our review.
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