Latmun Interview

Honing his craft behind the decks as a resident at Nottingham's famous Stealth club, Latmun, aka Joe Bradley, has since channelled his knowledge of what moves a dance floor into a series of productions that have led to him being snatched up by labels like VIVa and Lost, as well as being asked to remix Green Velvet's seminal 'Flash'. 

Playing back to back with kindred spirit Detlef at Egg Presents this Friday 7/7, with Mihalis Safris also bringing his tech-house expertise, we caught up with Joe to talk summer plans and samples.

Where are you right now and what are you doing?

Right now I’m in my studio in Nottingham, it's 2am and I’m finishing off a few mixdowns ready for the extended set at Egg this weekend. It's always a wicked vibe, so a great place to test new tracks.

We last spoke to you last summer. What have been the highlights of the last year? 

I’m going to try keep this short… which is going to be hard! I have just got back from a US tour with the legend that is Green Velvet. We played four shows together, all of which were amazing, ending with a show in his home city Chicago. I did a remix of a track called 'Chicago' a few months ago with lyrics about the city. I got to play it there at a festival with the cityscape in the background so that was a tick off the bucket list!

I also recently played at DC10 for Paradise on The Terrace to an amazing crowd. This has been a dream for me for as long as I remember so I had a smile like a Cheshire Cat throughout that one.

There was a sample of Konk's  in 'Everybody's Dancing', your last big release for Relief. Was that sample that you dug up yourself? Do you have time to listen to a lot of music beyond house?

I did dig that one up from many hours of YouTube browsing! Finding the samples for a track is one of the most tedious and time consuming parts of the process, but when you find one that works perfectly it's all worth it. To be honest ,I don’t listen to a whole lot of music outside of house apart from when I am looking for samples. I used to be hugely into old skool hip-hop, Souls Of Mischief etc, and I do still listen to it when chilling from time to time, but not as much as I used to. Saying that, '93 till infinity' will forever be one of my favourite tracks.

On your recent 'Please Stop' EP there is a track called ‘Irritated Susan’, who (or what) irritated Susan and is she pleased you wrote a track about her?

Haha, the track is dedicated to my next door neighbour at university who wasn’t called Susan but was most certainly irritated. It was amusing to see how long it would take after starting to play/produce a track before the knock at the door would come, usually about 20 seconds! The track title specifically is named after the vocals I found, which is of a phone call between Susan and her neighbour. She calls to apologise for the noise following a complaint and then calls back again to retract her apology. It was something I could empathise with!

You're playing back to back with Detlef. Do you prepare for set like this any differently or just go with the flow? 

I don’t have to prepare particularly differently when playing B2B with Detlef, we're both good friends and have played together a number of times so know how to bounce off each other well. The main element of preparation is making sure I have lots of new bombs for that friendly bit of B2B competition!

What's coming up for you over the rest of the summer?

I have another two dates at Paradise, DC10, which I am very excited for, coupled with a Hot Creations EP to close out my summer in September/October. There are lots more parties at Cuckooland at Ibiza rocks, which are always huge amounts of fun! I have a release coming out on Repopulate Mars in August called the ‘Groove Tool EP’, which I announced on my Facebook page very recently if you want to check it out. I also have lots more dates in the calendar including Creamfields and Warehouse Project, so hopefully one that is near to you!

Name three tracks that sum up what you're likely to play at Egg.

Tolsti & Andsan – 'Wonder'

Latmun – 'Groove Tool' (Coming on Repopulate Mars soon, preview on my Facebook page.)

Leftwing & Kody - 'Soundboy'

Tell us something about yourself that your fans won't already know.

Back when I was sporty and really healthy (as no DJs live a really healthy lifestyle, let's be honest!) I used to compete for Great Britain at kayaking. I even won a bronze medal in a European Championships as a Junior. I think I would probably drown if I attempted now though, haha.