Piff are just two years young, but have already made a substantial impact in their hometown of Bristol, developing a reputation for hosting varied, on point lineups, which prioritise the party side of promoting as much as getting the right names on board. So far, some names under their belt include Artifact, Cedric Maison, Fantastic Mr Fox, Hodge, Hot Since 82, Kahn, Maribou State, Phaeleh, Roy Davis Jr and Tom Demac. This weekend all that work culminates in a partnership with Audio Doughnuts to mark the London label’s third birthday. Unsurprisingly, the guests in attendance are a little special: Floating Points, Space Dimension Controller and Tom Trago top the bill, alongside Pusherman, Shox and a wealth of local talent. Tickets are now at £12 with limited availability from Resident Advisor.
The accompanying mix is supplied by Harri Pepper (Original HP), with some words from him near the end of the interview. He’s also just been confirmed to support Andrés for our party with Inner State later this month. Earlybirds have now sold out, so don’t hang about with this one. As usual, free download below with tracklist going up on Soundcloud in the next few days – follow us there for updates.
Download Original HP’s Bristol Spotlight Mix
For anyone not acquainted with Piff, can you give a bit of an introduction?
We’re a Bristol based event that started a little less than 2 years ago. The idea came together in September 2011 when we all started Uni in Bristol, Liam, Ross, Harri Pepper and myself all met in the same halls so formed friendships through that – we had so many mad times in Favell House haha. At the time Liam and Harri were the only two that mixed and I was the one who had a bit of experience promoting, so we all just bounced off each other. I remember when we came up with the name we were just sitting around the living room in Ross’ flat and Piff was the one. We met Facta in the preparation of the first night through one of our mates and Admin by our third event. Since then we’ve kind of just formed a little collective. The mission statement is to remain unique, curate authentic line-ups that you don’t see everyday but, most importantly, for everyone at the nights to have a memory that can last with them for ages.
The amount of people in the Piff family makes it ripe for a ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’ scenario, but you seem to have avoided that well. What’s been the secret to the harmonious relationship
We’re all just really good mates, so i think thats never been an issue for us. We all have the best interests for Piff and getting a mixed opinion has led to all of our previous parties which we are pretty happy about. Collectively we have loads of different promotional and musical backgrounds, so to be able to merge all our ideas into one crazy idea is cool.
When we first heard of you guys it was at the same time Piff Gang were coming through. Were we the only ones to get a bit confused, and have any funny/annoying misunderstandings happened as a result?
Haha to be fair at the time we came up with the name, none of us had any idea who Piff Gang were. There’s actually been no misunderstandings, maybe it’s because we both do completely different things. I think the first person to actually tell me who they were was Jammo from My Nu Leng and I’ve actually listened to quite a few of their tracks. I think it’s jokes how one of them was in Top Boy too haha.
After two years in the game, you’ve got your biggest party to date this week, helping Audio Doughnuts celebrate their third Birthday. How did that partnership come about?
Yeah man, so honoured to be involved in such a project. I’ve known Henry personally from promoting underage nights when I was younger back in London so naturally once Henry saw I was running nights in Bristol we just took it from there. He’s helped us out on a couple things like getting Roy down which was amazing. But to be involved in a line up where Floating Points, Space Dimension Controller and Tom Trago are included is like a dream come true. Hopefully plenty of people can come join us for this one.
Are there any up-and-comers in the city you’re into at the moment (in and out of the Piff family)?
Admin is definitely one to keep your eye on, he’s absolutely smashed it for Piff on numerous accounts and I’ve seen him smash it in Switzerland. He’s consistently bring out amazing tracks that only seem to be getting better and better. I reckon it’ll only be a matter of time before he’s up there! Facta has also just been killing it, his Montpelier EP have been selling out in record shops and has tons of forthcoming music (some for an anonymous home-grown label), so definitely keep your eye’s on him. He’s also recently at Crazylegs so the future is looking bright indeed.
This one’s for Harri Pepper (Original HP), who supplied the mix for us…can you tell us about your selection?
The mix is 100% wax, full of rhythmic numbers with smooth cords, bleeps and clicks! It’s a mixture of new records as well as old; I love them all and wouldn’t go to any party without them! I would have to say that the stand out tracks for me would have to be the intro/outro as they are my old man’s records. Hope you enjoy!
And finally, we hear you’ve been booked for Glastonbury next year. Big news. Any other future movements/plans you can disclose?
YEP!!!! Absolutely loving life about Glastonbury, we havent quite figured out what we’re going to do but the main thing for now is that we’re going to be there so keep an eye out for that. In terms for our plans for 2014, you should just keep an eye out for us because we’re looking into some really cool ideas and artists..
