Celebrating Andrew Weatherall | A retrospective exploration of his life and work
February 2020 was a bleak month as we said goodbye to one of the most defining characters of British dance music, Andrew Weatherall. Known as a titan of the underground scene, Weatherall was celebrated for his contagious sense of humour and eclectic choice of genres. As we reflect on his life, it is clear that few will leave such a lasting imprint on the musical world as he has.
Born in Windsor, England in 1963, Andrew Weatherall’s passion for music was born entirely out of nature instead of nurture: “I found it all on my own back. I didn’t have a mentor, or anyone that I looked up to or whose musical tastes I admired. I’m always looking, and the search is sometimes more interesting than the actual finding of people’s music or making the discovery.”
Falling deeply in love with the fashion, culture and music of post-punk, Weatherall was led on his own musical journey, which took him to London in the late 1980s. There, he started his career as a DJ due to his extensive musical knowledge and record collection whilst the acid house scene started to develop around him. The term ‘career’ is used loosely, as he never felt as though his early DJing could be defined as such due to the fact that he considered it to still be a hobby. Even when he was one of the regular DJ’s at Danny Rampling’s nightclub Shoom, his love and passion for the scene made it difficult for him to consider it a ‘career.’
Weatherall eventually started hosting his own parties and started a record label, Boy’s Owns Recordings, named after his fanzine Boy’s Own, which he founded with Terry Farley, Cymon Eckel and Steve Mayes in order to document the rave culture that he was so in love with. His untampered passion led him to becoming not only one of the key figures in the acid house music, but also a fundamental character of countercultural British music as a whole.
Cementing his name as a talented producer, Weatherall is known for his remixes, specifically Happy Monday’s ‘Hallelujah’ and New Order’s ‘World In Motion’. The remix that lingers on everyone’s minds, however, is undoubtedly Primal Scream’s ‘I’m Losing More Than I’ll Ever Have’, which evolved into Weatherall’s ‘Loaded’. This track, loaded with vocal samples from the soul group The Emotions, snippets of various Primal Scream songs, a drum loop from an Italian bootleg remix of Eddie Brickell’s ‘What I Am And So Much More’, is an example of Weatherall’s undeniable raw talent: so much so, it was placed in 59th position in NME’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time in 2014. Weatherall’s genre bending almost singlehandedly launched the transition of the rock group to the dance floor, and consequently made him one of the most prolific producers in the UK.
Weatherall can only be described as a musical tour de force, continuously producing music and DJing at club nights and festivals around the world right up until his premature death, caused by a pulmonary embolism. However, through his own desire, Weatherall never became a ‘superstar DJ’, like his contemporary Fatboy Slim. Instead, he focused his energy into the disembodied experience of the dance floor and established himself at the heart of cutting-edge electronic music, with projects such as Two Lone Swordsmen and ingenious albums, for example his 2016 ‘Convenanza’.
I was lucky enough to see Andrew Weatherall play at last year’s Dekmantel Festival, held just outside of Amsterdam. Weatherall often spoke of the ‘transcendental’ nature of the dance floor – a word that grew to encapsulate his entire ethos. Speaking to the Independent in 2016, Weatherall remarked: “the basic need for transcendence is part of the human condition, and has been for thousands of years… if I can help people get there, then all the better.” Playing a three-hour set on the main stage the first thing on the Friday, Weatherall set an incredibly high standard for the entire weekend. Grooving in the sunshine, he acknowledged his audience’s needs by playing boundless tracks that kept the crowd moving. I recall, whilst watching him play, the word ‘transcendental’ certainly was apt.
Each listener has their own unique experience of Andrew Weatherall and the music he surrounded himself with. Armed with a vast repertoire and a huge knowledge of music, Weatherall did not limit himself to a handful of genres to produce and play. Weatherall truly made the dancefloor a unifying and convivial place, far away from the music snobs and the purists. For him, everyone was welcome – the more listening to the tunes he was playing, the better! He wanted to share his passion that kept him going for so many years and appreciated the dancefloor for what it truly is: a nonsensical, experimental space for play.