“I don’t know much about be a psychoanalyst to be intrigued
Manchester,” he admits. “I mean, I’ve by his use of the word ‘innocence’,
seen ‘The Royle Family’ and ‘Letter To which suggests that we’re born with a
Brezhnev.’” ‘pure’ state of listening that becomes
At which DJmag feels compelled somehow corrupted as the years go by.
to point out that the latter fi lm So can you ever recapture that mindset
was actually set in Liverpool — and again or is it like losing your virginity
confusing these two cities is not a in so much as when it’s gone it’s gone?
mistake you’d want to make in front of “I can’t say whether it’s a pure emotion
the locals. or a pure state of mind,” he ponders.
“Ah, but I’d still get away with wearing “I think the urge to categorise things
a Manchester United top in a Liverpool goes very deep into the human mind
chip shop, right?” he jokes. sociologically — it’s a tribal thing that
The thing is, the disarmingly friendly makes you only want to hang around
Josh probably could talk his way out with other like-minded people.
of such a sticky situation — because “But even though I think people take
if there’s one thing he clearly music too seriously as they get older
enjoys almost as much as DJing and what’s interesting about any art is
producing it’s a good chinwag. Wink how subjective it is. It all depends on
is a rather rambling raconteur whose who we are at certain points when we
conversation constantly dawdles off experience things. You can hear a song
on tangents before doubling back; and suddenly it’s like you’re back in
so a quick aside about the different 1986 and it reminds you of some girl
types of tea he buys to take home to you were trying to kiss.
his girlfriend on tour later leads to a “You experience this dichotomy of
discussion about how you can explain emotions which is almost nauseous
parts of Stephen Hawkings’ ‘A Brief — from how happy you were at the
History Of Time’ using a kettle. time to a longing for the past. It’s like
a tattoo that gets imprinted on your
And the passing of time is something mind and someone who’s getting into
that’s been concerning Josh recently, electronic music for the fi rst time now
UP
as the title of his fourth album, ‘When will probably get the same feeling from
A Banana Was Just A Banana’, reveals. it that I did back then. It defi nes a
It seems like a silly and almost surreal certain part of your life.
statement at fi rst, until Josh explains “But, on the other hand, you can’t
his thinking behind it. stop time and I’m fortunate that I’ve
“When I was young I listened to all still got my passion for music. I mean,
YOURS!
kinds of music and that was just I made my fi rst record in 1989 and it’s
what was expected at the time,” still something I love.”
he elaborates. “I got a job raking
grass on people’s lawns just to get
enough money to buy records and I’d
Intertwined
listen to hip-hop next to soul next to Indeed, you could say that Josh Wink
new-wave next to rock without even and dance music came of age at about
With his new album, DJ and
thinking about it. But as we get older the same time. His fi rst EP ‘Tribal
we get much more critical of what we Confusion’ was released when he
producer Josh Wink reclaims the
and other people are listening to. was just 19, around two years after
innocence of dance music’s early
Suddenly there are names and genres the fi rst house records escaped from
for everything and people go, ‘I only the Chicago underground to explode
days and fl icks two fi ngers to
listen to deep house’ or ‘I don’t like across the world. But Josh’s history
electroclash’. There’s a cynicism that and that of house music had already
genre-obsessed junkies…
creeps in and a certain innocence that been intertwined for most of his life.
gets lost. For, as a resident of Philadelphia, he
“‘When A Banana Was Just A Banana’ also claims to share a birthplace with
osh Wink looks different might be cool for some people but is a reference to that because when I house’s disco ancestor.
J
these days. So much so that wasn’t really for me. Now I’m just this was a kid a banana was my favourite “Philadelphia always gets a bad rap
when he appears in the regular guy with a short haircut and fruit. I knew that monkeys liked them when it comes to its place in the
reception of his Manchester it’s nice that people don’t necessarily and that was it. But when you’re an hierarchy of musical development
hotel, DJmag isn’t sure it’s know who I am.” adult and you see a banana it has all because people always tend to look
him at fi rst until he extends his hand He’s a wiry and unassuming fi gure you these different connotations because towards Chicago, New York and Detroit
with a smile. The huge dreadlocks wouldn’t automatically peg as a man it looks like, er, something else!” instead,” he argues.
that he formerly sported have been responsible for some of dance music’s “But I feel that the city is really the
completely cropped, his close-shaven biggest records or a globe-trotting stem of house and techno because
hair now hidden under a fl at cap. DJ, with the fact that he doesn’t
Subjective
disco came from Philadelphia with
“I had dreadlocks for about 13 years seem entirely aware of which city That makes it all sound slightly ‘The Sound Of Philadelphia’ and
and they started to give me neck he’s actually in the only immediately Freudian, even if Josh claims that “the Gamble and Huff. So that 4/4 beat,
pain,” he reveals. “Plus, I’d get asked obvious side-effect of his hectic name’s just a play on words as much which is the base of modern dance
for my autograph all the time, which touring schedule. as anything”. But you don’t have to music, originates from there and I was
www.djmag.com
025
DJ470.josh wink.indd 25 16/1/09 16:56:11
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