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Nick Warren - Global Underground

On one level, Global Underground stars the world’s best DJs providing executive-class mixes from the world’s most exotic clubs – wrapped up with some of the glossiest packaging and photography dance music has ever seen. On the other, Global Underground has become something bigger – an axis around which DJs, fans, clubbers, journalists and obsessives all circulate. Since being immortalised by Channel 4 in the hilarious and acclaimed documentary Getting Away With It – which reached over a million viewers - Global’s Fat Lad supremos, James Todd and Andy Horsfield get recognised wherever they go. And Global Underground’s best-selling albums are famous all around the world for a DJ line-up that is simply world class: Sasha, Paul Oakenfold, John Digweed, Nick Warren, Danny Tenaglia, Dave Seaman, Tony de Vit, Darren Emerson and now Deep Dish. There’s also the Prototype series, starring UK’s Radio 1 DJ, Seb Fontaine, now up to its fourth volume. And recently, the Boxed Boys upped the stakes once again, pumping investment into the future of dance music with their NuBreed series which showcases cutting edge DJs on the edge of the big time. NuBreed have released albums by Australia’s Anthony Pappa, Danny Howells, Steve Lawler, Sander Kleinenberg and Lee Burridge.

“Andy? His toenails are like chisels, and he’s got the loudest nostrils in Western Europe” – James Todd

“James will always be the last man standing. Once you’ve met him, you certainly won’t forget him” – Andy Horsfield

Though it’s difficult to pin James and Andy down, you could say that Andy does more of the organising, and James does more of the creative work. But then again, with eight years as a rock photographer behind him, Andy certainly has a visual imagination. He was also a chef in Guernsey and claims he was slim then, but no one believes him. He grew up in Glasgow, then in Cullercoats near Whitley Bay, and now lives in a riverfront apartment in Newcastle just down the road from James.

Famously described by Pete Tong as “an animal”, James Todd is a whirlwind of ideas, banter, energy and enthusiasm. He grew up in Hong Kong and Newcastle. James Todd was called hyperactive at school – if you meet him, you’ll know why. His murky past includes a fashion business – at one point, 30 seamstresses were working under James churning out rave gear – wearing make-up as a new romantic, and sharing a music studio with

Lindisfarne. In addition to acting as the public face of Boxed, James is a talented musician in his own right. He also reckons he could have become a professional footballer – but no one believes him. Andy and James first met in 1993 and started a fledgling club merchandise business. Then, in 1996 they launched Global Underground with a live mix album from Tony de Vit, recorded in Tel Aviv.

“Everyone was going – why Tel Aviv? And to be honest, that was exactly the reaction we wanted” – James Todd

Tony de Vit went on to release another mix LP, from Tokyo, before his tragic death. Global Underground went on to Oslo with Paul Oakenfold, Sao Paolo with Nick Warren and San Francisco with Sasha. They’ve been travelling ever since, building up a reputation as party animals, making friends in club scenes all over the world, becoming essential links in an international trance axis that links Hong Kong to Hungary, and leaving crazy memories everywhere they went (“They make a lot of mess,” grinned one Argentinean clubber). Paul Oakenfold’s New York album has sold in excess of 150,000 copies – 1999’s Sasha set from Space in Ibiza is hot on its heels with 125,000. In Hungary they get recognised, in South Africa people thought they were popstars. Their horizons are limitless: this is an international operation. 73% of their sales are abroad. On the Boxed website, an assortment of message boards give a true idea of the scale of Global Underground as clubbers from all over the world flame off.

“This is the man who steals 50% of everything I earn” – James Todd
“51%” – Andy Horsfield

The media have been quick to catch onto the Boxed phenomenon. Darren Emerson’s first Global Underground mix was praised by The Times. Sasha’s Ibiza mix has just made the hallowed pages of America’s Rolling Stone. When legendary 80s pop show The Tube was revived last year, Global Underground organised the dance night and starred on screen. The Boxed Boys have been interviewed in Israeli dance magazines and on Slovakian television; in Florida they appeared on Channel 4’s Miami Nice; in the UK they even appeared on the cover, with Darren Emerson, of X-Fade magazine. They’ve even just been interviewed for Rolling Stone Online.

“DJs are important. They’re the tastemakers of the scene. But don’t put them on a pedestal. Too many people pander to DJs. In bowl two fat Geordie lads and tell them they’re a set of twats” – Andy Horsfield

The Boxed Boys are famous for their down-to-Earth approach. These hard-living, hard-working Geordie nutters might spend their lives travelling, but they always come home to their mates on Tyneside. You can take the Fat Lad out of Newcastle, but you can’t take Newcastle out of the Fat Lad, and their straight-talking approach has won them respect and friends, not just among the international DJ set, but among ordinary clubbers all over the world. More than a decade of acid house has created a mobile breed of young businessmen like James and Andy – busy trashing the puritan work ethic with their insistence on fun and using a ruthlessly creative entrepreneurial ethos to do so. They’ve built their lives around a five star rollercoaster where the music never stops. And they’ve built a DJ mix series that stands as a document of the finest in underground dance music.

“Global Underground is our attempt to capture global dance music – it’s as simple as that” – Andy Horsfield
“The best mix albums ever, or an excuse for two Geordies to go barmy in strange places?” – Muzik mag
“Far and away the best compilations on the market” – DJ magazine
“This mix is sorcery” – Mixmag magazine
“Boxed’s superb series” – M8 magazine
“Global Underground like a prophet in Hungary” – Hungarian clubber
“They’re like Stussy in the face of Nike” – Pete Tong (BBC Radio 1 dance supremo)

http://www.globalunderground.co.uk

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