Author: Danny Kuperberg

Danny in the middle. His students making him feel old!

I developed Amped for over ten years (2005 – 2017) into a showcase gig at authentic London venues for talented 16 and 17 year old musicians to really show off what they can do. They were from all backgrounds and performed all styles with true style, displaying real creative talent. The genres ranged from rock to R&B, from hip hop to soul. And crucially they played authentic gigs (no school halls or churches) in and around Camden Town and beyond. They played their instruments live – quite the opposite of the plethora of karaoke identikit celebrity wannabes sadly striving to make a name for themselves on TV talent shows nowadays.

Our young talent actually wrote their own songs, played actual instruments and, thank the Lord there were no manipulated vocals and certainly no Autotune to hide the fact that they probably couldn’t hold a vocal melody. No dance routines either! They gigged at venues which are the real deal. Yes, it’s nerve racking but also so very rewarding. Many of them told me that they would never forget the experience. I’m so proud of them all!

BEAT and Woodhouse College pick students, mainly from the London borough of Barnet, but also Camden, Enfield, Haringey, Islington and Brent London boroughs. They must audition and pass a music theory test, and the standard is high. We can realistically claim that we have some of the finest young talent potential in a large area of North London.

All of this is the absolute antithesis to the reality TV vocal talent shows that grace our screens so routinely nowadays.

Every student must produce and engineer all of their own performances in our state-of-the-art recording studio at Woodhouse College.

This afternoon gig NEVER takes place in a church or school hall. Most 16 year olds I’ve come across know that isn’t very cool. And I agree.

I want to give them an authentic, tough, realistic but above all fun experience. To show them how gigging can be both extremely nerve-racking, thrilling and creatively fulfilling at the same time.

If it goes well and they’re inspired by the experience, they’ll have the bug for life.

The BEAT contemporary music technology A-level department at Woodhouse College was headed by Danny Kuperberg (2005 – 2016). And our wonderful talented alumni have a lot of success stories to show for it, for example:

Sophie Hiller: main backing vocalist on all of Tom Jones’ international concert dates. Sophie studied Music A-level at Woodhouse.

James Turner: Works at The Dairy recording studios. James is chief sound engineer.  He’s mixed and recorded for Joss Stone, Nitin Sawhny (who owns the studio) and other international star names. He also helps on live sound and PA at Glastonbury. James is a talented guitarist too.

Michael Jablonka: Brilliant blues lead guitarist. Has toured internationally with countless acts including NDubz. His own band The Dark Tides, is highly respected within the industry and often plays backing for name acts.

Our students mainly gig in Camden Town, legendary hub for much of the UKs pop and rock talent.

They also gig in Crouch End where Danny lives. Crouch End is very much a part of the London studio and musician scene. Konk studios, owned by Ray Davies of The Kinks, still hosts name bands, and over the last forty years, has been the home for some of music’s most legendary recordings. Our base here was The Music Palace – now trendy indie cinema The Arthouse.

The Church state-of-the-art recording studio in central Crouch End was formerly owned by and was the studio home of Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox of The Eurythmics. It later belonged to David Grey, the piano singer-songwriter. Now it is the creative hub for Paul Epworth, the multi-grammy winning key songwriter and producer behind Adele. He also composed James Bond’s Skyfall theme.

Coincidentally, Dominic Betmead, a Paul Epworth collaborator and signing with his new Wolf Tone signings, is one of Danny’s clients.

Here is an example of some press coverage for our Music Palace Crouch End gig all the way back in March 2011:

Simon Marlin and former member Max Reich make up The Shapeshifters. They are one of the most successful UK dance acts of all time, currently with well over 1,250,000 Spotify monthly listeners.

I’d worked with Simon Marlin (otherwise known as The Shapeshifters) showing him music theory, riff repetition and keyboard techniques to be utilised in his sophisticated Ableton and Logic masters. Simon’s a great guy and deserves his success. The course was an intensive two months; similar in many ways to the musical mentoring I’d given fellow dance music sensation, top international DJ/Producer Jamie Jones who attracts huge numbers to his raves across the globe.. Simon had a worldwide Number One smash, Lola’s Theme, now one of the best-selling dance music singles of all time, certainly from the UK.

The year was 2003, and quite unbelievably, Lola’s Theme was Simon’s debut release. The lifestyle of these hard-working and creative musicians is very lucrative, very competitive and very international. They deserve every penny they earn for the almost super-human work rate they somehow manage to maintain.

Anyway, all this took place at his then-wife Lola Marlin’s North London home, around 2013. I was surprised to discover that the key sample that underpins Lola’s Theme was in fact taken from vinyl sitting in a cabinet directly below where the piano stood! Definitely a story to dine out on for me. Lola, who I’m still occasionally in touch with was the song’s inspiration. She’s pretty impressive herself – and her pet dogs were the friendliest I’ve ever met. They used to prance in excitement to the music. In fact one might say that they’d bark to the beat!

There really is no stopping Jamie Jones

Jamie, now with over 1.2m Facebook and 575,000 Instragram followers, is still considered the most influential and important dance music producer / DJ working in the world today.

And believe me, he deserves it. I should know.

I showed and played Jamie basic harmony, chord voicings as well as some structural songwriting techniques during our period working together.

Following our first session, I could tell he had an exceptional talent for melody, writing riffs on the fly, arrangement skills for building texture. This despite the fact that his keyboard technique was at a very rudimentary level.

I have long wanted dance music, or EDM as it is now known, to adopt a more musical, melodic and interesting harmonic structure rather than the robotic grooves that so often dominate. I poured this aspiration into our sessions.

It was an intensive learning curve for Jamie I’m sure. More techniques than I’ve ever crammed into regular hour long sessions. And no doubt an eye-opening cornucopia of creative possibilities was opening up for Jamie, which he’s later confirmed with me.

Essentially it was a crash course in music theory and music making; based around keyboard and synths but covering arrangement, harmonic progression, riff-making, bassline construction etc.

Following this, we had intermittent sessions as Jamie was abroad touring, such was his draw. It isn’t an exaggeration to say that house and techno have become more musical in recent years. And all critics praise Jamie’s melodic and harmonic invention.

During all of our sessions, he was like a sponge, soaking up ideas. Better still, he had a receptive, modest and mature attitude. This, despite the fact that he was already enjoying major success even before our sessions.

That is VERY unusual, as in most cases, success goes to artists’ heads and they behave in an arrogant, ‘know-it-all’ manner.

Jamie and I are still in touch and text occasionally. These days he’s based between Ibiza and LA, and has told me he misses London.

He told me recently that if he comes round, he’d like another session or two.

Do you think maybe we could again nudge EDM into becoming just that bit more musical? Or at least get the music critics to notice it again? Listening to his music now and comparing it to how it sounded before we met, I know I have played some part in his work sounding more arranged and flowing. Lee Foss, his DJ compadre, even confirmed this to me in an Instagram post later! Quite how much part is debatable, but ultimately it doesn’t really matter. Dance music has been nudged forward both more melodically and harmonically. And that’s all that matters.

Here is Jamie Jones live, doing what he does best. Overlaying parts, synth and drum. And slowly working his savvy crowd up, taking them to whatever place the music dictates.

Kevin McKay owns and has developed Glasgow Underground Records, a hugely influential dance music label which has produced many successful dance musicians, DJs and producers, the most notable being Mylo and Grum, both top and in-demand global dance stars.

In the ultra-competitive world of dance music, Kevin McKay is both a taste-maker and a trend setter; a rare combination.

I taught Kevin performance and keyboard skills. Both Kevin and I think his remixes, original work and production on his labels’ famous dance musicians work have all improved no end.

Like the world’s top DJ, and most successful Danny client of all, Jamie Jones, Kevin acknowledged early on that without keyboard, melody and harmony skills, his work would always be a pale imitation of his real potential. And that’s in my view why Kevin, like Jamie, is successful. He’s humble enough to acknowledge openly where his limitations are – and then to work on them

Tastemaker, record company founder, major underground dance music player, accomplished producer and now new dad. Much respect Kevin.

Below, he discusses digital formats in his capacity as a record company boss. And it’s in The Sun newspaper!

Very excited that Sadie and I will be opening at The Pigalle Club in Piccadilly on Friday 5th April at around 7.45pm. Check out this amusing link: The Beatles played there in 1963 (not to mention Dusty Springfield etc.

http://www.beatlesbible.com/1963/04/21/live-pigalle-club-london/

The one person with whom I’ve collaborated that has meant more to me than any of my famous collaborators or dance music clients is Zaid Joseph.

Zaid’s a very successful promoter. Many say that he is THE most influential promoter in Camden Town and beyond.

He has compered the likes of The Maccabees, Babyshambles, Jack Penate as well as The Grumbleweeds'(!) careers. In fact

Zaid collaborated with Andy Boyd, former manager of Sophie Ellis Bextor. It was she who made quite a splash during the Covid 19 lockdown from late March 2020 up to around February 2021) from her disco kitchen in Brighton. She’s married to The Libertines (Pete Doherty, Kate Moss’s former flame as well as talented musician Carl Barat) as well as their subsequent incarnation, Babyshambles.

Andy Boyd is the former manager of The Libertines (Pete Doherty) and their next incarnation, Babyshambles. He also managed popstar Sophie Ellis Bextor, now famous for performing disco numbers in her Brighton front room during the Covid lockdowns.

Zaid in full flow

But far more importantly, Zaid has introduced burgeoning talented young musicians to the London live scene. Without Zaid, much music would have remained unheard; so much talent untapped.

Gigging is a way of life. A bug that all creative musicians never want to give up. It’s far far more than a route to fame and fortune. And Zaid is the embodiment of that ethic.

The gigs he promotes and comperes are the real deal. No school or church halls here.

A former Butlins bluecoat, Zaid has fostered talent like no other, and not just within the Camden music hothouse. He’s involved in promoting live events in venues in London’s West End and beyond.

Together over the last eight years, we have joined forces to give my talented BEAT and Woodhouse students, as well as top young talent from Camden, Brent, Enfield and Haringey, the same opportunities. With no backing tapes, voice manipulation, Autotune or nightmare X-Factor-style karaoke blandness.

Its been an inspiring partnership for me. The venues we have used have been Bar Vinyl, Bar Solo and, later, Bayou. These venues are right opposite Camden Town tube in Inverness Street. Prior to that, I used the Music Palace in Crouch End where I live. Its now the trendy new indie cinema, The Arthouse.

Here’s a promo shot for Zaid’s Vinyl gigs:

Following these smaller gigs, and if the young pups can handle it, they’ll move on to Camden Proud (see below). But they have to be good as its a more prestigious venue.

For several years, Zaid and I had been presenting the ‘Amped’ showcase which is always an inspiring afternoon and evening of excitement, creativity and flair. A new younger generation of North London music talent gets to enjoy the thrill of performing. This is how it should be.

Here’s to another eight years Zaid!

Danny will be performing and then accompanying Sadie at upcoming gigs in Piccadilly and Camden Town in the next 2 months.

Watch this space!