Concluding a successful year for the London-based DJ and producer with appearances in Ibiza, Glasgow, Edinburgh and a multitude of Scottish festivals, Charlie Preston joins me for a chat about all things ‘Popstar’ and how chuffed his gran was at the announcement of his eventful Ibiza performance.
We get off to an extremely good start for the interview as I find Charlie located in the snug downstairs area of Glasgow’s Waxy O’Connors bar, armed with 2 of the blackest pints of Guinness I’ve ever seen in my life. We share a pint and catch up like a tag-team of Hobbits in The Prancing Pony, primarily over the topic of post-University life as a couple of aspirational marketers/ music-makers within a competitive Scottish market.
To kick things off, Charlie reminisces on his experience playing with the immense Confidence Man at Sub Club.
“Yeah that was good, that’s just the product of sticking it out with the local promoters and stuff. That all came through RARE, who I’ve worked with in the past and now, they got Confidence Man to come and play for them after they supported New Order in the Hydro where we all went to see them and they played Subby after. I really wish I’d warmed up for them that night, but they came back since they loved Subby evidently, and I was lucky enough to get on the bill for that.
“My first time getting in to them was when me and my two pals went to see and we were kinda a bit skeptical at first, but then Janet Planet comes out with her cone-tits and we were all like WHAT is going on… By the end of it we were going mental for it. So yeah, to support them was amazing. We ended up partying with them afterwards at some gaff in the South side, there’s not much I can say about that (laughs).”
Charlie took to a packed stage at Aberdeen’s Cultivate Festival back in September with Knees Up, sharing a bill with giants of the scene in Chase & Status, KETTAMA and PartiBoi69.
“We’ve (Charlie and Kirsty of Knees Up) played there the last three years, it’s always great, Rory and the team absolutely outdo themselves every year with the lineup, and making sure there’s plenty of locals on there. It was nice that it was in an open air setting this time, usually it’s in this soft play area on Aberdeen promenade, so this time there was a big slam tent with Chase & Status who killed it. Josh Dorey, a local Aberdonian filled in for Ben Hemsley who pulled out, and he was the best set of the weekend it was fantastic – he got the set he deserved, the slam tent was rammed.”
Inevitably, with great excitement our conversation ventured down the warm, memorable and boozey path of Charlie’s Ibiza expedition. Being arguably the most notorious place for the world’s biggest DJ’s to grace, a Mediterranean island soaked in a rich heritage of associations with good times and ecstasy-inducing sets, I couldn’t wait to hear every single detail.
“My gran was absolutely buzzing that I was making it out of Edinburgh and Glasgow, realising then that maybe this is more than a little fun thing I’m doing (laughs). It was Ibiza! It’s where you want to play and the set we got, I was playing with two of my best pals as well, and all my mates came through for it, and we were all buzzing for it man. I think we were in Sub Club when it came about, I can’t remember who was playing, but the Club Serotone guys were all in Subby that night – I don’t know if they’d had too much to drink or whatever, but I ended up getting approached and asked if I wanted to go along with them and play. I messaged them the week after, just to see if they were, you know, gonna stick to their word in Subby. They said of course, but I still thought it was a bit of a bam up to be honest, but aye we ended up going.
“Got some cheap flights, stayed for a week, stayed in a hotel that was maybe 20 euros a night, in a room with 2 pals – the proper Ibiza experience. Then we played the club at 5 in the morning, came off absolutely buzzing and went straight to the beach to watch the sun come up – it was proper EUPHORIA (laughs), yeah as you’d expect your Ibiza debut to go, there was no glamour about it, it was so good.
One of Charlie’s most favoured gigs to date remains a Glasgow support slot for Jungle at Junction 1 We chatted about his reaction to getting the call-up, and how it felt to share the stage with such a well respected artist like Jungle.
“I got a phone call from Ami, the absolute legend who gave me my first ever residency at Broadcast, asking if I wanted to support Jungle on the weekend, and I was thinking, ‘ah right, he wants me to come down to Midnight Bass and play jungle music’, and he was like, ‘nah, there’s going to be 3,000 people there..do you want to come and play this new venue called Junction 1?’. It was mental, I shouted on my mum, she’s a big jungle fan, but I only really knew them through Fifa (laughs), but yeah, it was them and Sam Gellaitry – couldn’t believe my luck. Turned up and it was a massive stage, got my first dressing room and stuff, 4 cans of Heverlee, a pot of hummus, some tangerines and come crisps for my two pals and myself.”
‘Pass Me By’ is the latest single from Charlie Preston released through Bristol label Duckland, featuring vocals from Beth Houston. the drum-and-bass track has already received airplay from the BBC Introducing show on BBC Radio 1 Dance, check it out below.
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