This is the unedited version of an article later published by the Village Voice on November 1, 2014, found here.
Daley Padley, better know as Hot Since 82, stands tall in a sea of over-saturated and stagnated EDM DJs and producers. His music is deep and smooth, emblematic of one musical movement’s turn back to the basics. But even more ardent than the music is the man himself, a U.K.-born self-proclaimed “joker” who comes from humble beginnings but has since 2011 been rocking the EDM community with his genuine creativity and drive. Already a massive hit in U.K. and across Europe, Hot Since 82 has been coming up in the American EDM scene as a true pioneer for honesty and originality, and is loved by basically every EDM fan that comes into contact with him and his music. Hot Since 82 kicked off the American leg of his Knee Deep in Sound Tour this weekend, and it’s coming to Output this Saturday, November 1st. The tour is also in conjunction with Hot Since 82’s new Mix Album, which is also entitled Knee Deep in Sound.
“When I was around 16, my older brother got some turn tables,” Padley recalls of his DJing beginnings. “Obviously I’ve always been surrounded by House Music and something I’ve loved since the age of 9… My older brother got some turntables, and at first we old had one! We didn’t even have a mixer. So, we used to have to set one turn table up into the amplifier, but we didn’t have any speakers, so we had to put the needle on the record, put your ear to the actual needle to hear this ‘ttcchhh, tttchhhh’. So, it was crazy. Then, after a few months we got a mixer, then a speaker, then one more turntable, and then within the year we actually had a full table. And I wasn’t actually allowed to play on the turn tables because they were my mean older brother’s, so every time he’d go out I’d sneak, you know, maybe a couple of hours on the decks and stuff, and that’s how I learned!” It was from his own home in Leeds, U.K. that Padley taught himself how to work on the tables. From there, he went on to work more on his own, building his own PVC and eventually moving into Logic 5.5. But it was from these early beginnings that Padley really became who he was.
“I’m a very normal person you know, I’m from Yorkshire, in the UK, which is a very working-class district, and…I don’t know, I think most of the fans kind of can relate to the background where I’m from. I haven’t changed, I will never change…and especially, like the place where I’m from, like I said it’s very working class, and nothing ever good comes out of this place, it’s very, I guess it’s depressing in a way, you know,” and Padley was an undeniable source of inspiration for his friends, family and peers back home. “And it doesn’t matter, like, the background where you came from as well, cause like I’m from a really poor background also, and it’s kind of that old tale of, you know, it doesn’t matter where you’re from or how much money you have, if you believe in something you can always achieve your goals.” And so he did. Initially starting out in the U.K., he calls the presence of Techno and House “like making a cup of tea”… it’s just what they do. It is no surprise then, that Padley understood the scene so well and was able to enter it with such a specific sound and niche. What is so moving about his music remains his ability to traverse the various elements of the Deep House genre, which as we’ve learned can become a bit of an umbrella term. But with Hot Since 82’s music there is a perfect balance between the melodic, transient qualities of the genre and the deeper, more drop-centered kinds of tracks, both of which Hot Since 82 has mastered beautifully.
Hot Since 82 is the refreshing breath of air the EDM community so badly craves and needs. As the times and sounds change, people branch out and begin looking for different artists, newer tracks, fuller sounds, and that is where they will find Hot Since 82. “You know, EDM’s here,” he says, “and it’s a big umbrella. There’s all these different avenues around it, and people are finding their own way now, they’re educated, and I guess this is why I’ve been so busy coming out in America as well. I’ve come out here, I’ve spent a lot of time, the last album that came out, the Little Black Book, I came out here for three weeks, you know, I don’t just come out here and play a show and go home. I do radio interviews, I do as much press as possible, because I generally do love to come out here, I just love educating different people on the different kind of House music as well, so let’s what happens in the net 12 months as well!”
Since his “Taken” Event earlier in the year, Hot Since 82 has been packing on the mystery in a rather unimaginative climate. “Taken” was an event where a handful of Hot Since 82’s more diehard fans were kidnapped, blindfolded, and bussed out to a secret rave location for a private Hot Since 82 show. The coolest part? “I got blindfolded, I got put on the coach with everyone else,” says Padley, “And, I mean, still to this I couldn’t even tell you where the venue was!” In addition, Padley will be hosting what he’s calling Knee Deep at Home, a house-party meets performance hosted live at Padley’s home alongside his friends, family and a few lucky fans. The entire thing will be streamed across the globe, and all active webcams will be able to interact and take part in this very laidback, down-to-earth, inclusive experience. “I always like to interact with the fans as much as possible, because I’m super happy to be here right now, there are a lot of people that would like to be in my position, so let’s get involved with the crowd, right?!” This genuine love for his music, his career and his fans, as well as his impassioned creativity and originality, are currently unmatched. Hot Since 82 is ready to bring his vision and music across the Atlantic once more and inspire us over here in America to join him on his very creative and very honest musical journey.
Padley only had one day of rest between the U.K. leg of his Knee Deep in Sound tour and coming to the U.S. “I’m gonna be out there [in America] touring the releases of the label’s new mixed compilation, which is also called Knee Deep in Sound, and we’re just gonna come out there and tour it. There’s a hell of a lot of new music, and just introducing everyone in the States to the new music we have coming out in the release… I’m just excited to see what people think of the new music, so, super, super exciting.”
His investment in the music and love for his fans has provided the EDM community with an almost rags-to-riches, Robin-Hood-esque figure, who has come from his humble beginnings, given the world the music it so badly craves, and included as many people as possible in his celebration and success. “That’s kind of the fairy tale where I’m from as well, you know, we never had anything as kids… I had to work extremely hard, you know, sometimes I was buying studio equipment or decks or records, and barely eating or paying bills, just because I wanted to buy the next bit of equipment to push my skills forward. And any interviews I’ve done, you know, I’ve never shied away from my past and where I’m from, and I think people can relate to it and appreciate what I’ve done.” Padley embodies the time-old tale of ‘no matter where you’ve come from, your dreams can be achieved’. He stands for a new component of EDM, where both the music and the experience regain those elements of mystery, excitement and genuine involvement that have slowly been lost over the years, that are slowly coming back with our wholly unique Hot Since 82.