The Bad Passion Project is made up of Andy Bainbridge and Chris Stoker, the men behind the East London club night, Bad Passion. Emerging from beneath various rocks around the North East of England they have spent the past few years gaining a loyal following for what has now grown up to be one of London’s more discerning parties, with guests including Theo Parrish, Soft Rocks, Mark Seven, Justin Vandervolgen and Felix Dickinson. They’re not resting on their laurels though, with a new label and party on the way.
Read more about their future plans in our Q&A below, while you stick on the mix they’ve done for us, full of the balearic, afro, disco and house numbers that typifies the Bad Passion sound. Tracklist at the bottom.
Catch Bad Passion at Farr Festival next month, playing the Ransom Note & Society stage on Saturday.
For anyone not familiar, could you briefly introduce The Bad Passion Project? Who’s involved, what’s Bad Passion all about and what would you say is the the mission statement for the whole operation?
Chris: Bad Passion Project are Chris Stoker and his accident-prone pet monkey Cylde, more commonly known as Andy Bainbridge.
Andy: When we first started it was me, Chris and also Dan Mitchel but Dan got so sick of us two that he moved to Indonesia just to get away from us. We started Bad Passion because there weren’t any parties that would let Chris in with his ridiculous trousers!
For anyone who hasn’t been to a Bad Passion party, what can people expect when they join your dancefloor?
Chris: Some moderate bickering behind the decks. Some equipment to fail at some point during the course of the night. But smiles on faces and good music none the less……………..Expect a good after party and a rough start to the following week.
Andy: Expect the unexpected & the odd ZZ Top track
What have been some standout moments from previous Bad Passion parties?
Andy: All the early parties at the Shacklewell Arms were really special but the Eric Duncan one was amazing. It was the first time we had a lot of money riding on the party and at 12am the place was empty and we were in a bit of a panic, fast forward 15 mins there was a queue round the block and the place was going off. Eric initially said he was only gonna play for 2 hours but we couldn’t get him off the decks. He totally smashed it!!.
Chris: That could be taken to mean memorable sets over the years or poignant moments on the dancefloor that will stay with you forever….. Or you could also recall the time Andy got thrown out of his own party for being sick on a pool table.
You both make music separately as Ess o Ess and Machete Savane. Anything in the works from those projects we should keep an eye out for?
Chris: Both of our respective production partners have moved away in much the same way our founding partner Dan did which speaks volumes. Jamie Blanco who is the other half of Ess O Ess has moved to Oz but we’re still working together sending stuff back and forward which isn’t too bad actually. We’ve just had a remix of Jose Manuel out on Above Machine a couple of weeks ago. Next up will be a remix of Man Power on mine and Andy’s new label then a couple more of our own releases on the same label too. Jamie’s back for a couple of months over the summer so we can get our heads down and finish off a load of new material.
Andy: Saul who I do Machete Savane with has been busy making babies and moving to the country so we’ve had a quiet year but we’re now getting back on track and we’ve just finished a new track which should be out later in the year.
We hear you’re starting a label soon. How will that be an extension of your parties, and will it give you the opportunity to try something new?
Chris: I think it’s the natural evolution of the party and since we’ve both started releasing stuff and being more creative with our time it seems the right thing to do to bring everything together. We’ve decided to give the label a different name and with that put Bad Passion to bed as a party to make way for the new party which will run in conjunction with the label. It will essentially be the same approach music-wise but with the added content of the label to launch releases and bring in all of our collaborators to play. We’ve decided on the name Not An Animal.
Are you able to reveal anything about forthcoming releases?
Andy: We’ve been threatening to do it for 6 years but we actually have our 1st release due out in September by Man Power which includes a remix from Ess O Ess and also another from The Backwoods who we were thrilled to have on board for the 1st release both being big fans. After that we have original material from Ess O Ess, Machete Savane, Lizards, Koncret Cuts, Last Waltz, Jamie Blanco & Elizabeth Collective with remixes from Chida, Dude Energy, Max Essa, Jonny Nash, Kuniyuki, Tiago & DJ Buck. A good mixture of some of our close friends and people were both influenced by.
Looking at London now, it’s an adopted home for you both, right? What prompted you to make the move south?
Chris: Somewhere I could wear the trousers I wanted to without getting filled in.
Andy: I moved here basically because I worked at the living hell they call Nissan and fucking hated it.
Is there anyone you’d like to shout out who’s doing particular good things for London music at the moment?
Andy: Big Wave, Nibiru, Coma Disco, Tribes
Are there any talented young DJs and producers you think we should keep a close eye on?
Andy: Not to sound biased as they’re friends & releasing on our label but Konkret Cutz are two young lads living in Berlin & making some amazing music. Elizabeth Collective and Lizards are two new projects from up north who you’ll also be hearing a lot more from.
Tell us a bit about the mix you’ve put together for us.
Chris: Much the same as most of our mixes it was recorded in my flat in a bit of a hurry with a Mangal take away and lots of red wine then re-recorded a week or so later without all the red wine and all of the subsequent fucks ups and switched a few records around.
Coming up on the horizon, you’re joining Ran$om Note & Society at Farr Festival this year. As it’s your first time playing in the woods, what are you expecting from things you’ve heard?
Chris: I’d expect Andy to fall over at some point.
Andy: I really looking forward to it and I’m expecting to fall over at some point.
Is there anyone you’re particularly looking forward to?
Chris: Looking forward to seeing Gerd Janson & Young Marco as I missed him at our own party as I was away. Always like listening to the Thunder boys too. Good to see Joe back at work.
Beyond Farr, is there anything else is happening at BP HQ this summer that we should know about.
Chris: As I mentioned earlier we have the new party (NOT AN ANIMAL) scheduled to start around the same time as the 1st release to launch the new project which will most likely be September or October so that’s something to look out for and as the 1st release is Man Power we’ll have him playing and hopefully get The Backwoods over from Japan if we can make it happen as he’s done one of the remixes. In addition myself & Andy are working on a live piece of performance art that we will deliver on the stroke of midnight at the party. Get your cameras at the ready for that one. In it we will try and re enact the story of where the Not An Animal name came from through the medium of dance.
Andy: Lots of weddings
Tracklist
