60 Seconds with Andrew Sant

Hi Andrew, for those who don’t know you, please tell us a little about yourself, where you’re from and how you got into making music.

Hello. I am from Manchester now residing in Adelaide Australia. I first started making music in a really bad heavy metal band way back in 1993. We thought we were brilliant at the time and did get a management deal for a brief period, but looking back we were really bad. Good times though. Then I went to Ibiza and saw Danny Rampling and Carl Cox at Manumission and everything changed. I came back to Manchester from that holiday, brought a set of 1210’s and learnt how to DJ. Shortly after that I started house sharing with a mate who had a copy of Cubase and a Juno 106. I started to dabble under his mentorship and was hooked, and have been ever since.

Describe your sound in 5 words

That’s hard because it’s always evolving, but the key elements that serve as the back bone for my tracks are; deep, percussive and warm. That’s only 3 sorry.

Who or what inspires your productions? 

I listen to lots of different genres and get inspired by just listening to other great pieces of music. I’m also a bit of a music documentary nerd and tend to get inspired by watching docu’s about how classic albums were made.

Your brilliant new remix of Bon Voyage’s ‘High Power 2023’ has just dropped on F*CLR, how does it sound? 

Thank you, glad you like the remix. It’s funny because some of the reviews of the remix have described it as slightly proggy but I don’t hear it that way. I hear it more as a house record with an electronic disco feel. But it’s great it can be interpreted in different ways.

What was the inspiration behind the remix and was reworking a Hip House track something new to you? 

I was listening to a Colleen Cosmo Murphy mix on YouTube and she played the dub mix of ‘Makin Music’ by Gary’s Gang. The track really captured my attention and I wanted to try and make something in a similar vein – kind of futuristic electronic disco. So, I developed an instrumental, led by a driving arpeggio. The instrumental was great but I felt it needed a hook so I tried the ‘High Power’ vocal over the top which sounded awesome. 

You also go by the name of The Sweet Fantastic, what’s that project about? 

The Sweet Fantastic was a collaboration with a DJ in Adelaide. We put out a track that I’d written called Hypnotisin’ on F*CLR.

You’ve released on labels such as 3 AM Recordings, Tri-Circle, Tarantic, Kolour Open Bar, Playmore and F*CLR, what’s your own personal favourite production and why?

My favourite completed track to date would be ‘High Power’. I am pleased with how it turned out. I also have a track soon to be released with the New York punk poet Kameelah Waheed, which is pretty good. That’s been described as Chicago Jack for the modern age. I move on quite quickly and so the track I’m currently working on is my new favourite. It’s a tough and moody with a gospel vocal – the vocalist I’m working with is sensational. It’s shaping up to be a great track and i can’t wait to finish it.

As a DJ, where is your favourite place to play? 

Nowhere in particular. However, I have been lucky enough to play a number of open-air rooftop venues. Those gigs are pretty sweet on warm balmy nights.

And what can we expect to hear in a typical set from you? 

Depends on what time of night and where I’m playing. If I play a bar and do an early set I’ll play an eclectic mix of Neo Soul, Balearic, Broken Beat, Jazz, Downtempo and build to some Disco. During a typical club set I’ll play across the board from deep house, afro, house, disco and then toughen things up with some tribal and tech.

You’re originally from Manchester, now living in Australia, how do the 2 dance scene’s compare? 

Where I live in Adelaide, it is not a party city, whereas Manchester is renowned for it, so they’re not really comparable. I moved to Adelaide for different reasons other than music. It’s a very liveable city, with a great climate and lifestyle. There is a bit more going on in the East Coast of Australia – Melbourne and Brisbane have good healthy scene’s and I’d like to get back there to play those cities.

What’s your favourite piece of studio kit and why? 

Always the Roland 909 for beats and KV331 Synth master for bass sounds.

Who are your current top 5 producers? 

Honey Dijon, Floorplan, David Morales, Dennis Ferrer and Danny Tenaglia.

What else are you working on at the moment that you can tell us about?

I have about 8 tracks on the go at the moment, all in various stages of completion. Some are instrumental and some are collabs with vocalists. They’re all a development and evolution of my music to date.