Mining for movers and shakers

>> For A Man Called Warwick, there’s
gold in them thar hills of vinyl

by ERIN MACLEOD

Talking to Symon Warwick, aka A Man Called Warwick, it’s difficult not to get excited about music, in the widest and wildest sense of the term. His DJ sets include tracks from just about everywhere. To this selector (and visual artist), there’s no genre that doesn’t contain a gem, there’s no place that hasn’t produced genius. The results of endless treasure hunts have led to near legendary status, judging by Turning Point, his Toronto monthly. In anticipation of his Tempo party here in Montreal, the Mirror spoke to Warwick, over the phone from his home in Toronto.

Mirror: Beyond even finding the stuff you get, how do you even know what you’re looking for?

Symon Warwick: I think it’s trial and error, really. That’s what makes it exciting. You discover something by accident. Like cumbia, for instance. Anyone who collects Latin music will know cumbia, and have heard a record and said, “That’s a load of crap,” which quite possibly is often the case. I found two really good cumbia records for a dollar. Each time I played them, they sounded better and better. That just started me thinking, “I’ve gotta have more of this.” So I start talking to other people, and of course, no one really knows what you’re on about, but in your own head, you know that there’s gotta be more. You try to dissect what you’re looking for, and at times you give up, or you take a gamble on eBay. But to pinpoint tracks in massive mountains of records, I guess it’s really spending loads of money on loads of bad records! But most people say I’ve got a horseshoe up my ass.

M: It’s like a neverending game.

SW: Yeah. And my objective is to get tracks that I can get away with playing. I think that a lot of people might not see the potential of certain music, the way it works on a dancefloor. I’m always moving, it’s never the same. It’s like finding your favourite ice cream and thinking, “How can I find a better ice cream than that?” And then you do. n

At Tempo with Andy Williams
at la Plage on Friday, Feb. 23, 10 p.m., $5