Responsible of the huge global anthem ‘Lazy’ back in the 90s, London lads Rocky & Diesel got their first gigs from respected club promoter and booker, Stuart Patterson. Fast forward some years, and here they are fresh as ever, remixing Stu’s new future house anthem ‘UK House Sermon’ – a roll call of all the kingpins and folks who truly made an indelible mark on the UK underground scene. Performing ‘Lazy’ on Top Of The Pops back in the day, X-Press 2 went on to receive an Ivor Novello for ‘Lazy’ – the cut they made in collaboration with Talking Heads great, David Byrne. Real names Darren Rock and Darren House, they are as active as they have ever been in the studio putting their slide on new projects. We have the pleasure to sit down with these two underground legends for a little chat!
WWD: When did X-Press 2 start and who was it in the beginning?
We made our first tune, ‘Muzik Xpress,’ in 1992. It was Rocky, Diesel and Ashley. Ashley left in 2009 to pursue some solo projects.
WWD: You’ve made a lot of great records, but you are probably most known globally for your track ‘Lazy’ with Talking Heads, David Byrne. How do you feel about the track now?
We love it. It opened so many doors and we’re very proud of that song.
WWD: How did you get David Byrnes involved back in 2002?
David had initially contacted us in the mid-90s regarding another project that we were all involved with, Ballistic Brothers. He was looking for a band to support him on a tour and liked what we were doing at the time. Unfortunately, we weren’t a band, just a bunch of DJs and sadly David Byrne wasn’t after support DJs.
Fast forward to 2001 when we were writing tracks. We had this instrumental that sounded a bit Talking Heads, according to James, our engineer. We mentioned it to our manager Chris, and he got in touch with David’s manager and the rest is history.
WWD: Tell us about your relationship with Junior Boys Own over the years? Are you all still friends now?
They gave us our first opportunity to get together and start on the road as X-Press 2. Here we are 33 years later still at it! And yes, we are still friends, of course.
WWD: Do you think the London House Club scene is still as prolific?
There are still some incredible parties and events going on so yes, absolutely, it’s still thriving.
WWD: You were pretty tight with Skint Records, too. Tell us a little about your relationship with those guys.
Skint came along and basically enabled us to make the album ‘Muzikizum,’ between them and Chris, our manager, so much stuff happened. We’ll be forever grateful.
WWD: When did you both start DJing together? What was your first gig as a duo do you remember?
June 1988 we first DJd as Rocky & Diesel. Some friends were doing a night in west London called Trance and were looking for a warmup DJ. We both wanted to do it so played back-to-back.
WWD: How did you come up with the name?
X-Press 2? That was all down to Terry Farley at Junior. We had a name for the project and the song (that ended up being Muzik Xpress) but Terry thought both the band name and the title were crap. He said you’re going to be called X-Press 2 and the song is Muzik Xpress. He liked the name S’Express (Mark Moore’s project) so kind of played with that.
WWD: What were the London parties that you were most involved and when?
We were involved with Boys Own, Flying, Queens, Full Circle, Yellow Book all back in the early – mid 90s.
WWD: You were pretty prolific in the North at Cream back in the day. Do you have good memories of that time?
Yes absolutely. We had some brilliant nights at Cream and still have loads of friends from that period.
WWD: ‘Lazy’ was probably your biggest record, but what was your favourite record that you made?
To be honest, I think ‘Lazy’ is it. We received an Ivor Novello songwriting award for it and got to do Top Of The Pops!
WWD: You have recently remixed some tracks for the ‘House Sermon’ EP. Do you go a long way back with Stu Patterson?
Yes, we do. I think Stu gave us maybe our 4th or 5th gig as Rocky & Diesel back in 1988. He was promoting events with some mates as Devil May Care. They were based out in deepest West London. So we’ve been mates for nearly 40 years!
WWD: It’s kind of an American idea to do a roll call of DJs who have contributed to the UK scene. An interesting idea right? What are your thoughts?
Great idea. Daft Punk did a brilliant one called Teachers back in the day. Ashley Beedle got a shout on there. There was also one that Wipe The Needle did back in the 2000s called UK Shouts too.
WWD: And it’s Jo Wallace’s F*CLR. One big family affair?
Yes, most definitely.
WWD: Are you both still as active in the studio together? What projects are you involved in currently?
We’re in next week working on a new remix for our pals at Riff Raff up in Middlesbrough. We can’t wait!!
WWD: What can we hope to see next from X-Press 2?
Who knows! We’ve never really planned stuff or had big ambitions. Things have just happened for us. Right place right time and all that.
WWD: Cheers to that! Thanks for the chat 🙂
Thanks!
The ‘House Sermon’ remixes are available here