DJ Nipper Profile/Interview 1996

There’s a scene in the Eddie Murphy film ‘Coming To America’ where Murphy. In three roles, discusses who the greatest heavyweight champion of all time is. About seven or so years ago I had a similar debate, relating to DJs in this instance, with some friends after a night out. Suitably monged out, we whittled away the remaining hours of Sunday morning arguing the toss over who, exactly, was the best DJ we had ever heard. The case went in for obvious choices such as Sasha, Slipmatt and Grooverider, but I being particularly argumentative, wasn’t having any of it. You see for me, back then, there could be only one. The jack in question was called DJ Nipper.

Back in the late eighties DJ Nipper was one of the chosen ones. The addition of his name to a line up guaranteed people through the door. Hundreds flocked to see him play at the now legendary The Mana Live, even more were there to catch him at the Hacienda and eventually his talents were noticed by those from outside of the clubbing circle. The music industry as a whole began to open its eyes to this mixing guru from Manchester.

In 1989 Nipper realised a personal dream and was asked to tour with rap star Big Daddy Kane as one of his support DJs. Further offers of DJ support came from the likes of The Shamen, 808 State & The Bassheads and Nipper entered the nineties riding on the crest of the proverbial wave. The start of the decade signalled the beginning of the most productive period of his career. Nipper, like many of his contemporaries at the time, began to feel his way around the recording studio and this environment became his second home.

He released a white label under the moniker of The Kid Unknown, an electronic breakbeat masterpiece called ‘Nightmare’, which would later be picked up by the Sheffield label Warp. ‘Devastating Beat Creator’ followed, as did a shit load of remixing work. Then it happened. As the club scene began to evolve into this little gift box called commercialism, Nipper, with the whole world in the palm of his hand, went AWOL.

The rumour within the clubbing fraternity went into overdrive. It seemed that the world and his wife had an opinion on his disappearance. Stories began to circulate of his alleged death in a car accident, some suggested a more sinister gangland connection to his absence, whilst others maintained they had seen him in Tesco’s helping Elvis to stack the shelves. All of these rumours were of course, complete and utter bollocks. “The truth of the matter”, begins a very candid Paul Fitzpatrick (AKA Nipper) from within the confines of his own basement studio, “was that I was very young not to mention very, very naïve. I was earning what was then, and what to me still is, silly amounts of money.

I was being driven from gig to gig, picking up the equivalent of someone’s monthly salary for what amounted to a couple of hours of my time. Every where I went, people wanted to be with me and listen to what I had to say, to such an extent that I found it difficult to tell the difference between real friends and those that just wanted a piece of Nipper, the DJ. So that along with the fact that I was also getting totally hammered out of me head every night, began to take its toll”.

“Things had also started to change within the scene. I mean the whole point of something like The Mana Live, was that we’d throw down whatever we wanted as long as it was good. That was something I do as a DJ, back then I liked to mix it up… breakbeat and electro, together with some guaranteed floor fillers. Then dance music seemed to separate. It wasn’t ‘cool’ to be a ‘rave’ DJ. I liked playing Jungle in my sets, but I also liked to mix in house and sometimes a little bit of techno. The thing is, some of these new promoters didn’t want you to do that kind of thing. You had to be either a jungalist, a house DJ or a techno jock. Period! There just wasn’t any middle ground any more.

If I played at a Jungle night, then anyone that saw me on the flyer would assume that I was a Jungle DJ. As a result I’d lose bookings at other nights with a different music policy. It was just a load of fucking bollocks. I lost my direction and in the end, I’d just had enough. I got some savings together, sold my car and some equipment, and me and my girlfriend Gaynor, we just got on a plane and went to Thailand”. During the course of his sabbatical, Nipper had the opportunity to sit and contemplate what had happened. As he had prepared to leave, many people doubted he would go, others expected him to come back with his tail between his legs. They were wrong. He did go, and he stayed gone.

“It was the best thing that could have happened to me”, Nipper remarks of his departure, “I rediscovered myself, I realised what the important things in life actually were. I was happy, I had Gaynor and we loved each other. Then after we had travelled for a while, we decided it was time to come back”. Late into 1994 Nipper arrived back in Manchester, more focussed than before and with a new, more mature perspective that only parenthood can bring. He went back onto the DJ circuit playing ‘cheesy anthems in cheesy clubs’, after all needs must for a man with a family to support.

However this is a DJ who cites his influences as hip hop and electro masters Funkmaster Flex, Grand Master Flash and Cash Money, therefore it was almost inevitable that he would return to his roots. In 1996 he signed to Polydor’s newly revamped Hi-Life label on the strength of a tentative demo tape, that was given a full release earlier this year as ‘Dope On Wax’. This sample laden, electro influenced, breakbeat stomper is perhaps Hi Life’s acknowledgement of the much touted return to the ‘Old Skool’. A vibe that is currently filling clubs across London, and looks set to explode provincially.

“This is were I am musically now”, sighs Nipper, “I want the opportunity to play hip hop based breakbeat, maybe even throw in some electro funk stuff. I can’t see how much longer I can go on playing music that I don’t enjoy playing”. Fortunately it looks like he could get his wish. There’s a new wave of breakbeat DJs and producers from both sides of the Atlantic that are set to explode into clubland this year. Names like Jon Carter, Derek Dehlarge, Dub Pistols, DJ Icey and Uberzone will be included into the vocabulary of many a clubber and labels such as Wall Of Sound, Skint, Concrete, Bolshi and City Of Angels will all become hotter than chicken vindaloo.

DJ Nipper remains head and shoulders above his peers in terms of technical proficiency, he’s one of only a few professional DJs who can mix, cut and scratch… all whilst working a crowd at the same time. “This is one of my biggest gripes”, he states, “I can’t understand why there are so many talentless DJs at the top of our profession. If I was a football player and I wanted to play for someone like Manchester United, then I’d have to be fucking good football player. If I was an actor, and wanted to win an Oscar, then I’d have to put in one hell of a performance… So can someone please tell me why the likes of Jeremy Healey and Boy George are up there in the premiership, when you’ve got kids bursting with talent who can’t even make it out of the fucking Vauxhall Conference?”

“I cannot stand that type of DJ, it wouldn’t be accepted in other professions, so why it is tolerated in this one? I can safely say that I would wipe the floor with most professional DJs in this country. The obvious exception is DJ Hype, who is just totally brilliant. His cuttin’ and scrathin’ blew me away when I heard it. He’s absolutely first rate. I admire Sasha’s technique as well, but the majority of the rest, can go and bollocks”.

Fighting talk, at no mistake, but can anyone really disagree with him? No? I didn’t think so. Watch this space…