The Nothing Special: Craig Richards Asks Five Questions

Resident DJ and the musical director of our Saturday nights, Craig Richards, has more than a keen ear for ingenuity in sound. It’s something, which inspired the inception of The Nothing Special - a platform on which to present some of his favourite live artists. Over the years he’s hosted the likes of Dopplereffekt, Convextion and Pole using his own talent for atmosphere creation to create the perfect dynamic setting for the artists to present themselves in. It’s not only live acts that have come to be represented under this banner – but DJs too who have a polarity in their sound that makes them stand out. Tomorrow night’s Nothing Special in Room Two is no exception as Martyn and Juju & Jordash will be performing live alongside a DJ set from Peverelist. Craig set about asking five questions of each if them; shedding a different kind of light onto their personas from the usual tones of our webspace. Martyn 1. Who is your favourite visual artist and why? I would have to say Erosie since he's my partner in crime and I've worked together with him on my label, all my album artwork, and various audiovisual projects. In a lot of ways we are completely in-sync but expressing our thoughts in different ways, me in music and he in visual art. We tried it the other way round but it wasn't very successful! 2. What type of music was the first to affect you spiritually? Sounds of my mother's heart beat I would think! The amazing thing about music is that feeling where you can cancel out the mind and have sound connect in physical ways and tap directly into your spiritual being. 3. Was music a part of your upbringing? Oh yes, my dad had a great vinyl collection and we went record shopping together when I was old enough. I grew up on a huge range of sounds. Soul/funk, bit of jazz, folk music, John Martyn, everything by Talking Heads, Little Feat, The Band, Roxy Music's Avalon, Stevie Wonder. 4. What do you see when you look at the stars at night? When I'm away from home I look at the stars and know my wife, my friends, and my family can see the exact same ones at the exact same time, wherever in the world they may be. 5. How do you imagine yourself at sixty? Either as Senator of the state of Virginia or as composer of contemporary music. Juju & Jordash 1. Who is your favourite visual artist and why? Juju: Irving Penn - I got to know him through his photo's of Miles Davis and I really like his portraits Jordash: These days if I had enough money to actually buy art, I would love to own a Norval Morrisseau. 2. What type of music was the first to affect you spiritually? Jordash: It depends what you mean by spiritually. Being an out of place 8 year old American kid stuck in the middle east, hearing British electro pop bands such as Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys and New Order on the Israeli radio was really a big deal for me and transported me back to the Anglo Saxon world I missed. Later as a teen, Coltranes Love Supreme and Ornette Coleman’s first few albums really transformed my spiritual relationship with music for good and helped me realize the true healing power of music and understand the universality and transcending nature of sound. Juju: Jazz 3. Was music a part of your upbringing? Juju: there was always a guitar and an organ in the house but i started playing guitar more seriously when I was 13. Jordash: Both my father and grandfather played the piano, so I always had a piano close by for me to bang on, which I did frequently. I started taking formal piano lessons on several occasions but it never really worked out. 4. What do you see when you look at the stars at night? Jordash: This question just made me realize that I usually just stare blankly and think about some self involved bullshit. I really should get over myself. Damn... Juju: Airplanes on their way to the moon 5. How do you imagine yourself at sixty? Juju: In a big studio filled with all the gear I ever wanted jordash: Sitting in a very well equipped studio with a fat one in my left hand and patch Cables in my right. Peverelist 1. Who is your favourite visual artist and why? I can't pick one, that's like choosing your favourite food. I'll say my dad because I am biased. And he's a dab hand with a brush. 2. What type of music was the first to affect you spiritually? I'm from Essex, we don't do spiritual. 3. Was music a part of your upbringing? Not really. I was coerced in to the year 7 recorder ensemble for the end of year school concert. A cacophony of 300 disinterested 11 year olds attempting to play ‘Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence’. Does that count? 4. What do you see when you look at the stars at night? Google Sky Map. 5. How do you imagine yourself at sixty? Contently grumpy. Large home brewing operation and extensive green house.