Bringing down the house

Oli Lazarus used to work in London’s renowned Flying record store and was a committed house music lover and DJ, but his tastes started to change a few years ago.

Gradually distancing himself from the dominance of the 4/4 beat, Lazarus hooked up with Mike Patto and formed Reel People.
“He’s 10 years older than me and together, we grew up with a lot of different influences,” he reflects. “We constantly surprise each other with new music and that’s why you can hear so many influences in our records.”
The duo released the ‘Spiritual’ and ‘Reeltime’ singles on Oli’s Papa imprint, songs that fused soul, r&b and funk with jazzy broken beats. These paved the way for Reel People’s uplifting debut LP, Second Guess, which completed Oli’s move from house music.
“In the last few years, there have been so many bad house records,” he says, unwinding after a hard day in the studio.
“I used to be an out and out house DJ, but now it’s only a small part of my sets and you’re more likely to hear me playing soul, funk and jazz. This is where I came from before I got into house and I always kept an ear for music from the ’70s and ’80s.”
Hailing from east London, Lazarus says that Reel People are part of the ‘broken beat’ scene that’s sprung up around producers like Bugz In The Attic, Modaji, Seiji and Phil Asher and which has links to Jazzanova in Germany and Chris Bann in the States.
“It’s a small scene, but it’s spreading slowly all over the world,” he enthuses. “At the same time, this is a style very much rooted in east London and I suppose if we lived in Barcelona, we would sound very different.
“Working as a full, six-piece band, Reel People have toured all over the world, and Lazarus says their live highlight to date was jamming with jazz legend Herbie Hancock in Tokyo.
“He’s one of my idols, so it was like a dream come true. Japan is one of the countries where we have a huge following, so we’re treated like superstars. It’s a bit of a comedown going back to London!”
Oli feels that Reel People’s appeal is down to their hybrid sonic make up.
“It’s been my experience that people involved in music don’t often listen with open ears and that they have already made their minds up about what we sound like,” he believes. “However, I’ve played our music to mates who are punters, not aficionados and they love it.”
This reaction has a lot to do with Oli and Mike’s songwriting approach, which is uncommon to dance music but has nonetheless seen them productive: when they were recording their debut album, the duo made enough material for three long players.
“Whereas most dance producers just make tracks, we’re writing real songs with hooks and melodies,” Oli explains. “We still have so many demos lying around from the first album because we explored so many directions.”
While Oli says that the next Reel People album won’t see the light of day until late 2005, he’s busy running his label, Papa, which has an album due out from US producer DJ Spinna early next year.
“We’re trying to develop artists and release albums rather than EPs,” he concludes. “You can always get a remixer on board for a single, but our aim is to make something that isn’t just a flash in the pan.”

Reel People play the Sugar Club, Dublin on Saturday October 16.