Sunship, the legendary UK Garage pioneer, talks in this exclusive interview about his latest projects.
Known for iconic tracks like Flowers and Friendly Pressure, Sunship reflects on his enduring influence in the UK music scene and the resurgence of his classic hits, which continue to captivate new audiences through platforms like TikTok.
He discusses his latest single, You’re My Thrill, which brilliantly combines his jazz roots with a fresh UK Garage and Bassline twist, and shares insights into his return to Dorado Records, exciting collaborations, and the creative evolution that keeps him pushing musical boundaries.
Your new single You’re My Thrill marks a return to UK Garage with a nod to your jazz roots. What inspired you to revisit this jazz standard and give it a modern UKG and Bassline twist?
My daughter Xanthe introduced me to Joni Mitchell’s version of You’re My Thrill about three or four years ago, and I absolutely loved it. When I met the singer Tracy Ray, who sings on my version, I decided to see if I could do a version of it. We initially did a version that hasn’t come out yet, which is kind of an electro soul jazz mix. Because my remix of Jhelisa’s Friendly Pressure has popped off and UK garage sounds do well in the summer, I decided to give You’re My Thrill a UKG flavour, and it seemed to work!
The release of You’re My Thrill features two versions, a UK garage mix and a bassline mix. How did you approach creating these distinct versions, and what do you think each brings to the track?
Thank you for saying they’re distinct! For the UKG mix, I tried to keep that pretty kind of just bouncy four-to-the-floor old-school UK garage, with chopped vocals, and just basically give it a feel-good summer vibe. And the bassline mix, I just completely wanted to flip it up and harmonically make it kind of dark house. I like doing the kind of bassline ones because I think I feel I get a bit more freedom to do what I want. As with garage, sometimes you have to kind of stick to a certain plan.
You’ve had a significant impact on UK garage, with classics like Flowers and the viral hit Friendly Pressure (Into The Sunshine Mix). How does it feel to see your work continue to resonate with new audiences, especially with the resurgence of Friendly Pressure on TikTok?
It is obviously lovely to have things you made a while back pop off. I had a track pop off on TikTok about two years ago called Red Flag by Lauren Murray. A lot of my old ones have had a fair few plays. I’m just humbly grateful; I must have done something right back in the day!
Friendly Pressure – Into The Sunshine 2024 is a slick update of your original mix. What was the creative process behind revisiting and refreshing this track for a new generation?
I made the original remix 26 years ago, and now everything’s moved on so much production-wise.
All the sounds are in a computer now, whereas in 1998 everything was analogue, obviously being triggered by a computer, but pretty much all this stuff was music on actual hardware. Now everything’s in the computer. So the updated version of Friendly Pressure just got a bigger, fresher sound. And I tried to incorporate a bit of bassline in there, then it kind of flips to a speed garage section.
You’ve been part of the UK music scene since the 1980s, starting with Swamp Children and The Brand New Heavies. How has your journey as a musician and producer evolved over the years, particularly as you’ve transitioned into the UK Garage genre?
I think it’s been a natural progression for me. I just kind of started off life in pop music, then got into punk and reggae around the same time, and that evolved into Latin jazz, jazz, soul funk, and The Brand New Heavies. Then I got into hip-hop, house, or jazz funk hip-hop as it was at the time. I went with the whole love for producing and loved the new sounds. I think what happened to me was that I enjoyed UK Garage because it was funk. It was just basically, to me, like new school funk; it just made you want to move. Plus, it was anything goes, and you could be quite creative back in those days.
Your work has been celebrated across various platforms, from radio play by Pete Tong and Mistajam to viral success on TikTok. How do you navigate the changes in the music industry, and what strategies do you use to keep your sound relevant?
Well, I don’t think I do; I just try to ignore the music industry completely. I just love music, and so that’s how I navigate everything. I just concentrate wholly and solely on music and I avoid the industry completely and utterly. I just try to follow new music. My daughter Xanthe is going to be in Sunship with me now, and she keeps me up to date with a lot of young, fresh music, and I do dig out a lot of stuff myself. At the moment, I’m listening to a lot of ghetto house, DJ Slugo, DJ Assault, DJ Rashad, DJ Nasty.
Collaborating with Tracy Ray on You’re My Thrill and working with other artists like XANTHE in 2024 highlights your continued influence in the scene. What do you look for in a collaboration, and how do you ensure that each project stands out?
Tracy Ray is a fantastic singer, technically, melodically; her phrasing is exceptional, and when I first got her in the studio, I didn’t realise how talented she was creatively. She started doing all these backing vocals arrangements, really in-depth and absolutely fantastic.
I think I look forward to collaborating as it’s all about connecting musically, and we connect on lots of different levels musically, like jazz, funk, soul, all plethora of dance music. It’s exactly the same with Xanthe; I bounce off her too.
We haven’t worked together for about three or four years now, but we’re back working together and I’m about to do an album with her and another artist called DeeDee. We click because we’ve got a musical connection, similar to what I found with Tracy Ray.
Returning to Dorado Records, where you first made your mark in the mid-90s, must feel like a full-circle moment. How does it feel to be back with the label, and what does this partnership mean for your current and future projects?
Absolutely fab. loving being back at Dorado and Ollie Buckwell, the man behind the label. Great to be back with Ollie; he‘s very supportive, and back in the day, he was important to me in as much as kind of, you know, helping me as an artist, funding albums, singles, and we had a fair bit of success together as well. Back in the day, I won a MOBO award from the first Sunship album. It was a great time, and I’m absolutely over the moon that Friendly Pressure has had a resurgence and hooked me back up with Dorado and Ollie.
Your past work, like the remix of Sweet Female Attitude’s Flowers and Mis-Teeq’s All I Want, became iconic tracks in the UKG scene. What do you think it was about those remixes that made them so timeless and impactful?
With Flowers, I just think it was just kind of right place, right time. I’d had a few tracks that built up to that, club hits and radio hits like Friendly Pressure and Try Me Out. There were a few even earlier on, I did a couple of E-17 mixes that got me a lot of plays on the radio. I was getting a lot of remixes in, but I think with Flowers it was just the type of vocal, a sweet kind of tune. I have to say it was quite dull, the original Flowers.
I think even Sweet Female Attitude would admit that, but I like the bridge on it, and it just seemed to come together. That particular summer was just like nuts for UK Garage, and it just incorporated the feel-good attitude at the time. When it popped off, it was playing in every car, getting blasted out, I was loving it. For Mis-Teeq’s All I Want, that was a similar kind of thing. It’s great that people still listen to the tunes!
Looking ahead, what are your goals for 2024 and beyond? Are there any new genres or musical directions you’re interested in exploring, or any upcoming projects you’re particularly excited about?
I’ve got two projects, one with Tracy Ray and another with Xanthe, and Xanthe and DeeDee, which we don’t have a name for yet. But watch this space. They’re gonna be quite multi-genre. I’m really into all different styles of dance music, always have been.
Unfortunately, I did for many years get pigeonholed into the UK Garage stereotype, but even when I was doing that, I was still doing other things. For example, for the album I’m doing with Tracy Ray, we have a downtempo kind of track that I will possibly remix into a garage track, or we may do a drum and bass track. Or with Xanthe, the same thing.
There are all sorts of influences that we want to touch upon, and I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed making music so much. I’m around people that I click with and I’m loving making music with. I’m not too interested in the music industry. I’m just all about music.
