By In the world of podcasts, ‘Trailblazers: Electronic Pioneers’ stands head and shoulders above the competition. And co-hosts Nick Halkes and Eddy Temple-Morris have done it again – bagging interviews with some of dance music’s leading lights and most interesting characters for their latest season.
The new series – season four – of ‘Trailblazers: Electronic Pioneers’ features conversations with key influential innovators from the electronic music world including Carl Cox, Roger Sanchez and Grooverider. Nick and Eddy also speak to Human League and Heaven 17 founder Martyn Ware, the man who invented the 12-inch single, Tom Moulton, and Ninjatune/Coldcut trailblazer Jonathan More and more.
“Nick and I have always seen our podcast as a rolling legacy project, to give people a free and easily accessible archive to capture and preserve the stories behind electronic music, which has changed the lives of millions of people around the world,” says Eddy. “It’s important to Eddy and I to continue building this archive, which documents the stories behind so many significant people, events and pieces of music,” adds Nick.
Nick Halkes and Eddy Temple-Morris
Influential
Halkes and Temple-Morris are influential figures in the music industry themselves. Nick Halkes launched the XL Recordings and Positiva labels, signing The Prodigy and SL2 to XL and a string of era-defining hits from Reel 2 Real, Bucketheads and BBE to Positiva. Today, Nick manages The Prodigy’s Liam Howlett and drum & bass legends Bad Company UK. He has a publishing joint venture with Sentric and plays at numerous big festivals with his Reach Up Disco Wonderland brand.
Eddy Temple-Morris is a radio and TV broadcaster with more than 30 years’ experience across Radio One, MTV, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and now Virgin Radio and Amazon TV. As a DJ he’s held residencies at some of the greatest clubs and festivals in the world, toured with bands from The Prodigy to Pendulum and has written and co-produced music used by TV shows. He helped launch the careers of Snow Patrol, Kasabian and Zane Lowe.
Deep Dive
Despite their own impressive careers, both co-hosts have a huge appetite for learning and unearthing untold stories, which gives ‘Trailblazers: Electronic Pioneers’ its enduring appeal. “I love talking to people and continuing to learn about music,” said Nick. “Finding out how tracks are made; how the people involved met; the circumstances that resulted in the creation of music that has stood the test of time. Every single episode I learn something new about music that I love.”
“For me, it’s all about the stories behind the songs,” said Eddy. “I love a good story and appreciate good story telling. A deep dive podcast like this can open up windows where there were only walls before, to let the light in, and to illuminate what was once in relative darkness.”
Digging deep with their guests has thrown up a number of surprises. “DJ Marky made a drum & bass classic called LK with Stamina LC,” says Nick. “I was stunned to learn what LK stood for. You’ll have to listen to the Marky episode to find out!” Eddy, meanwhile, says he was surprised to discover that he started DJing before Paul Oakenfold, a podcast guest in the previous season.
DJ Marky
Inspiration
The affable podcast hosts pinpoint determination and dedication to their craft as the key to their guests’ success, and draw inspiration from each legend in the ‘Trailblazers’ hotseat. “Again and again in this season we hear from people who have worked really hard to achieve what they’ve achieved whilst retaining a really positive attitude – despite their journey not always being smooth,” reveals Nick. “Marky received a bunch of negative feedback when he first dropped T99’s Anasthasia but he saw the potential of the emergent rave scene and was prepared to defend and support it. Jonathan More from Coldcut even got a glass ashtray thrown at him for not playing what some punters were expecting. I’m going to keep working hard, keep trusting my instincts and keep watching out for low flying ashtrays! I’m determined to keep learning and each one of these conversations has given me a fresh insight that can help me in my work as a manager, publisher and beyond.”
Echoing Nick’s sentiments, Eddy says: “David Bowie said, ‘Don’t play to the gallery’, meaning don’t go for the most obvious, do your own thing, don’t give people what you think they want and stay true to yourself. Every delightful guest Nick and I have interviewed can say they followed Bowie’s advice, and both Nick’s and my careers in the relative fringes are testament to that and we have no plans on changing.”
Featuring eight episodes, season four of ‘Trailblazers: Electronic Pioneers’ is sponsored by Skiddle and produced in association with Audio Culture. Catch the episodes across all platforms including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Podchaser and more.
Also read: Spinning The Mirrorball: Nick Halkes Talks Disco and Beyond
