Gus F: Not such a Smalltown boy...

When Colleen played Gus F's remix of Jimmy Somerville's classic song "Smalltown Boy", I instantly felt I had to meet him for an interview. Little did I know what I would find there!

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1) Hello, Gus, and thank you so much for joining us here on the Balearic Breakfast blog! Colleen played your remix of Bronski Beat's "Smalltown Boy" during the 180th Balearic Breakfast episode dedicated to Pride Month. The song resonates on many levels for a lot of people around the world. How did you work on it? Could you tell me what you wanted to convey? As a producer, Is it hard to touch a "classic"?

Hello Artur! My pleasure! I started an event called Secret Sunset during the Covid lockdown as an outlet to continue playing music whilst clubs and other venues were shut. I would find beautiful locations around the island of Jersey, where I live, and broadcast a live stream. However, Facebook would frequently cut a stream due to copyright issues as the algorithms would detect recognisable music. I had dabbled in music production before, but not seriously. I bought a new synth and ended up producing music just for those events so I could bypass the Facebook police! One of the tunes I loved as a child (without understanding its significance – just the iconic top line of the melody and of course, Jimmy’s vocal) was Smalltown Boy. Whilst there have been many versions over the years, I wanted to give it the Secret Sunset treatment and give people watching from home a kind of nostalgic experience, whether for Ibiza sunsets they missed during lockdown or for the actual original Smalltown Boy that might spark memories. I had no idea it would mean so much to so many people – I uploaded a version to YouTube, and it exploded. So many views and nice comments with no marketing whatsoever. I’m obviously fully aware of the meaning of the song within LGBTQ+ communities, it’s such an incredibly sad story, and one that so many people can identify with, so I was keen to try and maintain the melancholy of the song and obviously the iconic vocal from Jimmy Somerville, nostalgic and dreamy.

2) I read on your socials that you got Jimmy's support! That must have been quite a moment for you! Congratulations from the bottom of our hearts; we know how much such a moment is precious! How did that all happen?! Tell us the story please!

Believe it or not, some unknown person shared it with Jimmy’s team and he approved of it; I had nothing to do with that part of it… Next thing I knew the YouTube video I had made with my bootleg (unauthorised/unofficial) version was shared on Jimmy’s official channels and it blew up!

I figured if Jimmy liked it, there was a possibility I could maybe get an official release, so I set about learning how to do this. At the time, I don’t think I had any signed music yet, no label or anything; I had to learn how the music business works in terms of licensing, publishing rights, recording rights, etc. It took me almost two years, due in part to my naivety, but I kept working away and after an email a week (not even joking… I sent a LOT of emails!) I finally got full permission. Funnily enough, the usual difficulty is not with publishing, but with the master recording from which the vocal sample came; however that part was easier as I was in direct contact with Jimmy’s team. When you’re a nobody in the music business, it’s difficult to get anybody to respond to emails! It was worth the wait 😊  

3) Then, you kept on flying on the wings of your dream and got the track released, the 1000 CDs being sold out during the pre-order campaign! Wow, just wow! What was the hardest part of the whole adventure, in your opinion? Was it crafting a track that would enhance the original version while respecting its legacy, or were they the publishing steps?

I think my version surprised Jimmy’s team with its popularity when it was released on streaming platforms. When the 40th anniversary releases were being planned, they asked me for permission to include my version on the limited edition 1,000 CDs, that are coming out later this month. Of course, I said yes… I was delighted to be asked! This was a big validation moment for me and one I’ll always be proud of. Quite honestly, the effort to get the official release was a LOT more time-consuming than making the remix in the first place (which actually came together really quickly! Sometimes things just fall into place!).

4) Music is the centre of your life; you're someone reaching high with a smile, and we here, on the Balearic Breakfast blog, love that! You're the first person who DJed the full London marathon! Wow, once again! Can you tell us how that happened and how you prepared yourself for that incredible journey?! (It's easier to reach incredible goals with music right?! ^^)

  When one of my son’s best friends was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma (an aggressive form of cancer) over a year ago, I felt absolutely powerless and helpless to do anything about it. Cancer is a horrible disease at any time (my father passed away 11 years ago from pancreatic cancer), but it’s even worse when it’s a child. It’s completely indiscriminate; another friend was recently lucky to survive an 11-hour surgery, resulting in the removal of her pelvic tumour, colon, part of her liver, spleen, and a total hysterectomy and ileostomy. Although I felt helpless, I wanted to do something about it anyway. After a slight glitch myself (I was hospitalised twice last year) I regained my full health decided to raise as much money as I could for Cancer Research UK, the world’s leading cancer research organisation. With my music reach, I just figured I’d have a chance at raising more than simply asking friends & family for donations, especially during difficult economic times. So I decided to try & run the London Marathon whilst DJing.

It was a story of trial and error… There were a lot of failures along the way! Blood, sweat and tears… Literally all three… Quite honestly, I’ve had better ideas as I struggled around the course, and no surprise to me that I was the first person to do it, as nobody else is crazy enough to try it… 🤣 But I got there in the end, and it was an overall success. All my fellow runners were supportive, but it was the crowd that got me round; the noise was amazing as they heard me approaching (I had a subwoofer and two speakers on my back, as well as the speakers on the Numark Mixstream Pro Go I was using – thanks to Numark for all their support!). Not sure if I’ll do anything like that again, as it took me a long time to recover physically and emotionally. I’m not sure if I’m there yet 😅

5) You seem to be very busy, active, and musically prolific! What's next on your agenda?

  I love electronic music, I absolutely devour it and can’t get enough of it. But I’m also keen to produce an album whose shelf life isn’t as ridiculously short as a lot of music is today. Popular one month, then consigned to the archives. More music is being produced today than ever before, and Artificial Intelligence coming around the corner will not slow this down… But I still think there is room for an original album of music that can be listened to from start to finish, and one that won’t sound out-of-date in a year or two. So that’s my aim, to focus on creating something I can be proud of and that will hopefully be appreciated for more than a few short weeks 😊

Thank you so much Gus!

You're welcome Artur!