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Lee Burridge.
Aus: London / UK
Move's on: Almost Anonymous Records.
Biographie: Meet Lee Burridge, he can’t play the piano …
By Harley Augustine, Writemix 2007
Most DJ biographies spend this opening paragraph waxing lyrical about how ‘Artist X’ was born into a family of wandering minstrels, regularly sang for his/her supper on the streets of London, had mastered the arts of several large and complex instruments by aged nine, and discovered House music by hanging out with the wrong crowd for a night - and much of the following week. Well, folks, there will be none of that here … indeed, this isn’t your ordinary DJ biography, because the UK’s Lee Burridge is no ordinary DJ. That being said; don’t be alarmed. Lee’s rise to international DJ stardom is still a decidedly windswept and interesting tale, so make yourself a good cup of tea, get comfortable, and prepare to be taken on a ride which starts in a tiny rural pub in South Western England – a pub owned by none other than Lee’s dad and frequented by men in smart tweed jackets.
In much the same way that Leonardo Da Vinci inadvertently commenced his career painting his friend’s houses, Lee’s DJ career kicked off with a string of uninspiring gigs which saw him playing 7” records to packed floors at weddings, birthday parties and the odd ‘upbeat’ funeral – not too mention his father’s pub, and regular crowds aged anywhere from 5 to 95. Spotted by a local nightclub owner who booked him to play every Saturday night, it wasn’t long before Lee was playing his handpicked selection of “the worst pop music from the 1980’s” at an array of neon-soaked nightspots. While spinning the likes of Depeche Mode, Rick Astley and The Pet Shop Boys wasn’t entirely without merit, in 1988 Lee tripped over Acid House during a walk to the shops one afternoon and the rest, as they say, is history. Completely infatuated with its unique sounds and driving beats, he started attending some of the outdoor ‘rave parties’ that were gaining notoriety and glow sticks near London’s M25 motorway – it was here, amidst a flurry of brightly coloured t-shirts, that infatuation quickly became obsession and he was hooked for life. “I’d always loved music but I had never felt so excited about it”, he says. “All I could think about was finding Acid House records, and before long my record collection grew from one little red milk crate, to 35,000 today, in 2007!” With the support of some fellow Acid House-addicted mates Lee started putting on small club events and outdoor beach parties (yes, England does have water, waves and sand), but without ‘connections’ in London, he learned quickly that extracting blood from a stone was a much simpler task than landing ‘big gigs’. Good thing, too, because had he landed one of these coveted slots in the big smoke, he wouldn’t have decided to pack his bags to seek greener pastures and darker DJ booths in South Eastern Asia, now would he? …
Discovered quietly whipping a crowd into a veritable frenzy by one of Hong Kong’s premier club owners, Lee packed his records, toothbrush and favourite pair of trainers, and headed for Hong Kong in 1991. While this plan appeared to be a good one, there was one small problem: Hong Kong’s underground dance music scene was non-existent … which Lee realised on his first night out. But, as a perennial firm believer that the glass is half full, he quickly dug in and spent the next few years “changing all that”. Small Sunday night parties for a couple of hundred punters soon gave way for a healthy, buzzing club scene that, before long, saw him playing marathon sets three nights a week. As word of Hong Kong’s uber-cool scene spread, it wasn’t long before the world’s biggest club nights, labels and DJ’s starting arriving on expensive jets to throw hedonistic parties – nor was it long before Craig Richards and Sasha experienced Lee’s talents first-hand and offered to launch his career back home in the UK. Cool …
While Lee spent the majority of the 1990’s rocking Hong Kong (including a three year stint playing six nights a week and resting on Mondays), he also spent his fair share of time frequenting one of Thailand’s then best kept secrets – Haadrin. Ask any geezer in the street today what Haadrin’s ‘famous for’ and they’ll tell you it’s ‘where the Full Moon Party is held, innit’; but back in 92’, when Oprah was fat and environmentalists were ‘whinging hippies’, the Full Moon Party comprised ten people, a circle of drums, a DJ with a dual-tape cassette player … and lots and lots of fires. Realising the potential of this Mecca-in-waiting, Lee and a mate from Hong Kong told some local Thai lads to organise a stack of speakers and returned shortly thereafter with a pair of dusty Technics 1200’s and shiny, silver crate of vinyl. For three months, they threw small beach parties every week, and huge ones to celebrate the freakish, monthly Full Moon. So, was Lee the founding father of dance music in Thailand? Kind of, yeah, although his version of events is decidedly more humble. “Dance music and the Full Moon phenomenon was always something that was going to happen in Haadrin - I was just lucky enough to have been there very early on while the parties grew”, he explains diplomatically. “I wouldn't credit myself with being the first person playing dance music in Haadrin - that right goes to a fantastic DJ who went by the name of ‘Backyard Dave’ - but I was definitely one of the first guys to play records on the beach. We didn't have a proper DJ box, just decks set up on a plank of wood balanced on beer crates – oh, and some palm tree leaves strategically placed to protect us if it rained! Unfortunately we never invested quite enough strategy in our leaf placement, so I was regularly electrocuted by the mixer when it got damp”. Lee continued to visit Haadrin every year until 1999, and still cites his gigs on the sand and at The Backyard Club as those dearest to his heart. He is now also 100% immune to electrocution, but that’s not important right now …
Anyway, back to the story, folks … now … where were we? Ah, yes … London, 1997 … despite being more popular than ‘all you can eat’ green tea ice cream nights in Hong Kong, Lee packs the same toothbrush and his favourite pair of Thai fishing pants, and returns to the UK to launch his career on home soil with the help of DJ demigods, Sasha and Craig Richards. Bereft of a manager or an agent, despite regular appearances at Craig’s hugely popular parties, gigs were still like hen’s teeth to secure and it’s fair to say that this first year back ‘in country’ wasn’t loads of fun. However, as always, Lee kept smiling, kept on trucking … and by 1998 he was sharing the booth with Sasha and Craig at the first (and now infamous) Tyrant nights in London - not too mention spinning prime slots at the likes of Cream, Golden, and Ministry of Sound. Indeed, such was Lee’s rise to notoriety in 98’ that the year majestically culminated in Hooj Choons inviting him to mix a disc for a compilation of their breaks tunes (which, for the record, he nailed in one night with a pair of decks, a mixer and records), and the chance to mix his own widely acclaimed compilation release, ‘Metropolis’ on Tide Records. By 1999, Tyrant was bigger than ten bears and was mercilessly rocking the socks off London and Nottingham every month; and with Sasha unable to make some of the gigs, Lee and Craig were left on their own to successfully satisfy the growing crowds. “We thought people would be really pissed that Sasha wasn’t playing. Thankfully Craig and I produced the goods, the crowds kept gurning!” Lee muses. Such was the hype surrounding Tyrant that when the night’s compilation was released Pete Tong raved about it, it won ‘album of the month’ in every magazine worth reading, and it is still lauded over today as one of history’s finest, timeless mixes. Despite Sasha bowing out of the Tyrant project after a couple of years, Lee and Craig continue to play to this very day and have appeared together beneath its banner on BBC Radio One’s revered Essential Mix and Homelands’ broadcasts.
Okay, so he made a name for himself in Asia, and he shot to stardom in 1990’s, but what else has Lee Burridge done? Put simply … loads! In a career that now spans two decades, Lee is a globally acclaimed DJ who regularly appears in DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJ list, and has rocked iconic festivals like Exit, Creamfields, Love Parade, Dance Valley, Ultra, Acafest and Coachella. He’s commanded no less than five compilations, including two for the world-beating Global Underground series, and has thrown his own party at the Miami Winter Music Conference for the last three years’ running. And, in between all of this, he’s found the time and energy to travel the globe thrilling clubs from Jakarta to Denver, and fulfilling residencies from New York to Sydney. However, while all of this is very nice, if Lee has any say in it, it’s the development of his ‘365’ project that evokes most recent pride. Fuelled by the monotony of unrelenting travel and launched in 2005, ‘365’ was a unique idea that saw Lee assume bi-monthly residencies in seven different hubs around the world (New York, Ibiza, Buenos Aires, Sydney, Denver and Hong Kong) with the sole aim of growing the relationship between himself and his crowds. “I wanted to expand the impact that an international DJ could have on seven different countries/cities, so I set about playing in each place for a couple of months”, he explains. “I wanted the crowds to really get to know me – my sound, my vibe – and it’s been an incredible journey watching our mutual understanding of one another grow and grow.” Now in its third year, ‘365’ also sees Lee hooking up with local producers in each city/country to hit the studio and write tracks …
Did someone mention writing music? Great. Because despite a self-proclaimed, decade-long lack of inclination, Lee managed to get off his talented bum and start wrestling with keyboards and computers to make music a couple of years ago. Good thing, too … because his first solo production, the ‘Lost and Found EP’ (Fire), was snapped up a host of compilations including James Lavelle’s ‘Global Underground’. Most recently, Lee’s affinity with studios and machines that go ‘bing’ has spawned his very own label, ‘Almost Anonymous’, which he’s using to send tracks knocked up on the ‘365’ project to market. In fact, by the end of the year, tracks alongside the likes of Andy Page, Dan F and Steve Porter will all be hitting online and offline shelves!
With 2007 well underway, as usual, Lee’s got his nose to grindstone and loving every minute of it – mind you, compared to electrocution, it’s probably bliss! On top of his ‘Almost Anonymous’ releases, his annual ‘Lovelee’ party will be twisting a few hundred minds in September … he’ll be changing lives forever at the USA’s Burning Man Festival … oh, and then there’s the small matter of touring the planet to support his illustrious x3 disc mix for the uber-underground, world-renowned Balance compilation series.
So, there it is. Lee Burridge in a nutshell. All you really need to know now is that he can’t play piano, he enjoys camping and long walks on the beach, he doesn’t take his computer clubbing, and … according to Sander Klinenberg … he’s a wizard with a road map on long journeys in a motor home!
But that’s a tale for another day ….
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