Twitterview with Lee Dunn (Ghosts of Venice/Youth Attack!)

Today I had the pleasure of having a chat with Leeds-based musician Lee Dunn over Twitter. Over the last couple of years he's been making a name for himself as one half of cut-up electro group Youth Attack!, but more recently he's started a new solo project, Ghosts Of Venice, which focuses on disco and house. He's already reworked Club Cavalry, Feadz and Shakira under his new moniker, and has his debut solo effort "I Learned From The Best" coming out later this month for FREE download! Here's what we nattered on about...

Hello GoV. If you had to describe your sound in three words, what would they be?
Probably "Party Filter House", I think that best describes it.

What do you think was the moment you decided "that's it, I wanna make music"?
There wasn't really a defining moment, I've been in bands/DJing for many years on and off. It kind of just happened. One day Chris [Petty, the other half of Youth Attack!] and I just decided to make a track together, and everything naturally progressed from there. The Ghosts Of Venice stuff came after my holiday in Ibiza with Jaymo and Grum, which made me fall in love with House music all over again.

With your new Ghosts of Venice material, which artist (if any) have you tried to emulate?
I wanted to do something that went back to the Crydamoure and Roulé era. The Ghost of Bangalter haha. It kind of evolved from that really.

What was the first track you ever made, under any band or alias?
I recorded an album with my first band, it was terrible. I think we sold about 100 copies of the CD, most of them were probably to our Mums.

Haha sounds fun. So, let's talk about your club night Kill The Rhythm. Who's been your favourite guest?
I think my favourite guest was In Flagranti, he's such a nice dude. But loads of our friends played the night, Hostage, Joe And Will Ask?, etc. So they're always good ones. We've stopped doing it now. But we've got a few dates planned in other cities in the new year.

Didn't know you'd stopped doing the night. That pretty much renders my next question useless haha.
Haha. We didnt make a big deal of it, it just had to happen. We had big names every week. I just had to take a step back and concentrate on making music. We're starting the Kill The Rhythm label in the new year too. I couldnt do everything! haha.

What's been on your stereo recently then?
The new Ocelot album, Those dudes are gonna blow up. I'm currently remixing the first single off the album due out new year. I've been listening to Le Principle, Paul Johnson, Strip Steve. The XX album has been on heavy rotation for me as well. My favourite band of 2009.

Time for a good old hypothetical: If you could pick one song to erase from history, what would it be?
Boomtown Rats 'I Dont Like Mondays'. Fair enough Bob Geldof did a lot for charity, but the guy is an idiot. He's been milking that song for about 20 years now!

Geldof's a cunt. So what does the new year hold for Ghosts of Venice, Youth Attack! and the rest of your crew? Any top secret dancefloor weapons in the works?
Well well, got some big things planned. I'm hoping to head over to Chicago in a few months to work with Le Principle on a GoV track, some big remixes coming out soon too. There's an EP in the works, and a Youth Attack! Album I'm starting on. We're launching the Kill The Rhythm record label which I mentioned before, some really good stuff coming out on it too. There's also a few other big collaborations hopefully!

Finally, Coke or Pepsi?
Coke all the way!

True dat. Thanks a lot for talking to us :)
Pleasure's all mine :)

Such a nice lad. We've been loving his remixes of Feadz and Heads We Dance on the blog, and the other day he sent us this nice little Christmas present. Enjoy :)

Janet Jackson - Make Me (Ghosts of Venice Edit)

Keep it funky,
Joe