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RA.816 Bradley Zero

Published
Jan 23, 2022
Filesize
273 MB
Length
01:59:00

A sunny live recording of the Peckham DJ in Melbourne.
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Bradley Zero is one of those people who lights up the room wherever he goes, whether he's behind the decks or just hanging around. He seems to build up good will and good vibes in all that he does from his earliest days as a Boiler Room organizer and host to the founder of Rhythm Section International, a label and party series that he runs out of Peckham which features house, funk and jazz from all over the world, true to its name, with an emphasis on warmth and connection. While he's not from there, Bradley Zero has also been a key player in making Peckham one of London dance music's key hubs, paying close attention to the neighbourhood and its residents, what they need and how he and his cohort can help the area in the face of rapid gentrification. (In some ways, he's as much of a community organizer as he is a promoter.) To us, he represents the positive impact that a good music community can have on an area, promoting rave culture's values in a real and serious way. Bradley Zero's RA Podcast was recorded live at Sun Cycle in Melbourne on New Year's Day, and it reflects the funky, old-school approach he takes to everything from his label to his DJing itself. Here he lets tracks play out until the grooves really settle in, then gradually transitions into the next—he's a DJ who plays songs as much as he plays tracks, an ethos that spreads to Rhythm Section International, whose releases project as much sunshine, passion and optimism as Bradley Zero himself. Close your eyes and maybe you can imagine yourself there, soaking in the rays in Melbourne to ring in the new year. What are you grateful for these days? Friends, family, freedom, health—the fundamental things that the pandemic really highlighted the importance of. I'm ever grateful for the trust that artists put in me with their music and generally just feel so lucky for my passion and reality to be so aligned in doing what I do. I try to never be complacent, but these past two years, and the increasing fragility of life as we know it, has really encouraged me to grab the bull by the horns—in as much of a holistic way as possible! How and where was the mix recorded? And can you tell us the idea behind it? The mix was recorded live at Sun Cycle Festival, Melbourne on January 1st, 2022. I didn't plan on using this as an opportunity to record my RA submission, but on the day, the stars aligned. Australia, and Melbourne in particular, hold a special place in my heart and this felt like a homecoming gig after such a long hiatus. The sound, the weather and the incredible energy of the crowd came together to push me to do more than I ever could in a studio environment. I entered a flow state and this is the result. As for ideas behind the mix... I knew I wanted to start upbeat and mid-tempo and end raucously. Pianos were a recurring theme, but the driving force was freedom. Rhythm Section has always been very closely connected with Peckham. How has the area changed over the last few years, especially through the pandemic, and what makes Peckham special to you? I moved here in 2008, and up until that point, I'd never really felt like I was part of a community. The sense of feeling truly "at home" was something I only really felt after moving south of the river. I never felt out of place growing up, but that's because it was all I knew. Moving to Peckham I felt I'd found my people. Like much of London, it's been in near constant change for hundreds of years, and reading more into the history of the area is illuminating. What's concerning now is the rate of change. Communities are being left behind as the money starts to pour in. The pandemic—despite being a struggle in many ways—highlighted the importance of the community and my connection to the area itself. I felt I got to really reconnect with my locale, taking time to explore the area with fresh eyes. You've been involved with a few community initiatives in London. What does community in dance music mean to you, and how can local dance music scenes contribute to communities and neighborhoods? Yes, low-key my biggest achievement to date is the South East London Housemate co-op, which I founded about ten years ago and has since passively housed tens of thousands of people without the need to go through the blood-sucking estate agents. Dancing is a community ritual, it's a rite of passage, it's a mating ground—it allows us to forget, to connect and to refresh. In that sense it's in the centre of a lot of creative communities. Through various initiatives in the last couple years we've been able to raise funds to give back to causes like the SE15 Community Fund who tackle poverty in the area. We've also been able to employ people on Universal Credit and hope to expand our outreach as we navigate out of this tumultuous period! One of the unsung heroes of the people of Peckham is Eileen Conn, a former councillor and long time community organiser and activist who works to unite disparate communities in SE15 and has been involved in so many projects to protect community spaces and creative hubs—she's been doing this since the '70s. What's one social or political cause you want the world to pay more attention to? Rent control in London would be a good place to start. What are you looking forward to in the near future? Completing this Australia tour with (God willing) a Rhythm Section Dance at Collingwood Children's Farm with JNETT, Sophie McAlister and Zjoso on January 29th, then coming back for our first Rhythm Section show of 2022 in London at E1 on February 5th. After that all sights are set on the B-Z tour across England and Wales in February. I'm especially looking forward to the Leeds date at one of the best dance floors in the world, Cosmic Slop. It's nice to be able to do that in my home town. Outside of music I've been training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and I'm excited to engage with that at my club in Dulwich. Alongside a busy schedule of releases and touring, there's a few side hustles percolating in the background: rum, sunglasses. And I want to do the Trans-Siberian Railway before the years out. Writing all this down seems lofty—I do love a challenge, though.
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