Brum & bass

It's not easy to get Carl Kennedy to complain. About the only things that get a (tiny) gripe out of the Birmingham export and house music triple-threat are England and, when pressed, how there's 'so much crap' in dance music today. And even then, he adds that 'the most awesome thing about dance music today is that it's a lot easier for people like myself to do what they want to do'.

New York-based Kennedy also happens to be a prolific producer, he runs his own label, Wasted Youth, and he has nailed down residencies at two of the world's best-known house nights. So surely he hasn't traversed the rockiest of roads?

'New York nearly killed me,' he says, bluntly. He made the big leap to the Big Apple when he was just 20, and in a reversal of the route generally preferred by dance music artists, made a go of a career in the US before ever trying for England (where, it must be said, he's still no household name).

'For the past 10 years, I haven't really had anything set up out of London, but that's going to change this year,' he says. 'I'll be commuting a lot more from New York, and I'm looking forward to going home and showing my home country what I've been doing and who I am ... in a good way.'

Next week Kennedy will be guest DJ at Deca-Dance, a new Thursday nighter at Central nightclub M1NT, which aims to feature at least one star DJ each month.

Kennedy cut his DJ-ing teeth at New York's fashion parties, and it wasn't until 1998 that he scored his residency at house night GBH, which was soon to become one of New York's top club events. 'Looking back, I must have had a lot of passion for the industry and the music,' he says. 'To survive in New York, I was prepared to do anything. I had to keep leaving the country [to renew my visa]. It took me two or three years to get a proper one.'

When GBH moved to one of the city's flagship clubs, Centro-fly, Kennedy's status as a force to be reckoned with was cemented, and by 2003 he was playing alongside house heavyweights such as the Chemical Brothers, Dmitri from Paris and Roger Sanchez.

'I like to play big records, and big records work in any room so I can go underground and new, or I can keep it ... not mainstream, but friendly, where people are going to be happy,' he says. Pete Tong also called him one of the world's best undiscovered DJs, although ask Kennedy and he'll maintain he remains undiscovered.

'I seem to have gone the wrong way round - I've done a lot in America, Australia, and Eastern Europe, but I've never been home to my home country and done what I've done everywhere else,' he says. 'That kind of hurts me a little, because all the press is based over there and they're very influential. The UK is not as great as everyone thinks it is, but it's been a major factor [in dance music].'

These days, he keeps busy with extensive touring and shuttling between his two homes in New York City and Sydney, where he's also a resident at electro and house night Famous. 'New York feeds my soul and Australia is such an amazing country,' he says. 'The UK is pretty crap - bad weather, expensive. Don't get me wrong, I'm very proud to be British, but the lifestyle in New York, Sydney and Europe is far better.'

Kennedy started his label last year, billing it as an endeavour 'for the artist, by the artist'. 'Everything I've worked for and created in the past 10 years I want to be able to provide for new artists coming through, and fast-track them through the heartache I've been through,' he says. 'My honesty is 100 per cent. I'm 10 years in, so I'm starting to earn my wings and you can't knock me for that. I might not be the best, or the greatest, but I'm in my own little world and I'm moving forward.'

Say what he may, Kennedy has garnered plenty of accolades for his work as a producer, not least his latest track, last year's Ride the Storm, which pretty much sums up what he's all about - lithe bass lines finished off with sexy, soulful instrumentals, all beneath loved-up vocals telling you to 'ride the storm, life goes on'.

'The track just shows you that you can get through anything,' he explains. 'Though that's the thing with journalists! They ask you questions like that, and I don't know ... you just make music and you go with what you make at the time.'

Carl Kennedy, Oct 23, 9pm, M1NT, 108 Hollywood Rd, Central, HK$200. Inquiries tel: 2261 1111