Lee Burridge is a name that should be very familiar to many by now. His two Tyrant mix releases with often partner in crime, Craig Richards, have developed a cult following in the past few years as has his Nubreed mix. He continues to tour the world to great reactions wherever he goes and is now regarded as one of the finest in the business. Lee has been pencilled down for the next Global Underground 24:7 which is due out in stores very shortly, and after the great success of Danny Howells first mix in the series, it felt right that we chatted to Lee to find out the dirt about the upcoming mix, as well as other musical tid bits.

Well Lee, how the hell have you been since RA last chatted to you in late 2001!
Has it been that long...I thought you'd found someone else! I am fine. A little jetlagged and out of it due to the current tour commitments for the CD, but in general, very happy and having a lot of fun still. Why, how are you?

Good as always mate :o)

What sort of music did you grow up with that lead you to this point?
I never grew up really. I always wanted to sound cool and hip and say I grew up with Electro and Hip-hop but, well....I didn't. I was the spazzy kid who was listening to Pop music and my parents’ country and Western collection. Even though I’m English I know who Cold Chisel are and was really good at dancing to Zeppelin and Madness and I preferred The Thompson twins to Tears for Fears (who my best friend of the time liked) and was trying to be a break dancer 'cause I thought Breakdance the movie and Beatstreet were cool. I have been trying to rectify my crimes against music by listening to less cheesy music over the last few years!

How is that magical partnership with Craig Richards going?
We are still in love!

How sweet! Will this love see a new addition to the Tyrant saga in the near future?
As I have been doing the Global underground CD Craig decided to do a Tyrant CD on his own. I think that will be the next Tyrant CD.

You're next in line for the 24:7 series. How was that like compiling something a little different then the usual mix release?
I always feel really lucky to get the opportunity to play records to people in clubs but getting the opportunity to release a CD on such a well regarded label and basically share a small selection of records I really like with others is wicked. Danny’s CD is really cool and he went for the tripped out breaks angle on his CD1 which is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while. I decided though to do something different to him (I didn't want 24/7 to become one down tempo breaks cd and one dance floor CD in the public consciousness straight away and also due to the fact that he used a couple of tracks on my list of ones I wanted to use!!), to give the series a little range. I decided to use a mixture of new and old tracks. The older ones are the tracks I carry all the time and get asked about a lot. It seems that a lot of music is appreciated by people who come to the clubs but most never ask the artist/title and maybe never get to hear those tracks again as we, as DJs, have a high turnover of music every year. Anyway, I had a lot of fun doing the CD but was a little under pressure due to travelling a lot and trying to squeeze in compiling and mixing it on the few days at home....oh poor me!!

Seeing as your reputation and stature is ever increasing, do you notice the increase in interest you are getting at your gigs, especially away from the UK?
Yeah definitely! It’s sad that a lot of DJs are overlooked (especially resident DJ’s of clubs) even though they are really really good. I have been a DJ for 18 years and it's only really been the last 3 that my profile has been at its current level. Hype and profile always helps but I really do think that the proof is in the pudding and I still think that going to various clubs/countries and playing well is a better way of raising the interest level. It’s a shame that hype wins over quality a lot of the time but hopefully both can go hand in hand.

Obviously production has now become a part of your musical life. How is that aspect working out for you? Can you shamelessly plug any upcoming releases?
I have a secret weapon when it comes to producing. My skills in the studio, to be blatantly honest, suck! I have Tasmania’s very own Andy Page living with me and although due to never being here, I haven't done too much; we have finished a couple of tracks. The first is called 'Do You Smoke Pot?’ and started out with a sample from a documentary about the reefer and became a rather groovin’ house track. We also finished a track called 'Why are the pretty ones always insane' which is a deep 4:4 track that drops into crazy ass breakbeat and electric guitar riff half way through and the most recent track we finished is 'Bongodzilla'. It’s somehow ended up being 23 minutes long (we didn't have time to finish it fortunately, as it may have ended up much longer!!).Its premise was to be the worlds biggest ever bongo record!! (kind of!). Andy’s leaving soon which sucks as we have yet to finish an Ambient track called 'Wake up, wake up, its time to take your sleeping pill" and another housey thing called 'I love you, its not the drugs'. You may have gathered, I really like stupid record titles!

Are their any DJ's or Producers that have impressed you recently? (Musically that is)?
Hmmmm, DJs...Bill Patrick in New York is really cool as is Tyler T Stadius, Ricardo Villalobos (DJ and producer), Steve Bug, Richie Hawtin of course, DJ Fuchs in Turkey, Monkz in Hungary and its early right now so my brain can't churn out anymore names, Soz!

Despite the shameful turnout in some venues of your last tour to Australia (Sydney!!), can we expect to see your beautiful bald noggin in the near future? A 24:7 tour perhaps?
I was supposed to be coming out at the end of October but the promoters had a few troubles so the answer now is no (which sucks!)

Do you have any spare time from Music? If so, what do you like to get up to?
Not in the last few months so breeding ferrets and pot holeing have been put on hold.

You can read the review of Lee' 24:7 release here;
Review : Global Underground 24:7 - Lee Burridge