Triple Threat: Jim Angel, Dicky Trisco & JKriv on people and parties

Brooklyn’s JKriv, co-head of Razor-N-Tape, multi-musician, dynamic DJ, and in-demand producer and remixer joins the line up to bring his Latin, jazzy, disco lean to the Hertfordshire Hills. He’ll be playing b2b with the inimitable cosmic disco king of festival finery, Dicky Trisco, of Electric Elephant, Disco Deviance, Secret Squirrel, and File It Under Disco fame. Jim Angel aka Jimmy K-Tel, festival founder, event producer extraordinaire, OG player of this whole heavenly Sancho Panza love affair.

We asked the comedy trio to put some questions to each other ahead of the main event.

JIM ANGEL ASKS DICKY TRISCO

You’ve played at Campo Sancho a few times, so we know you’re in the fan club. What do you think makes it so special?

Well, I started off playing Sancho boat parties which are glorious rides of rave magic down the Thames. But when I first started playing at Campo it was obvious what was special. And that’s called family or community.. whatever you want to call it.

Three decades of people hanging, growing, loving, and dancing together. Sancho Panza is the glue in many people’s lives, and you can feel it on the dance floor. Once you have been welcomed in you never need to feel lonely again. Now that is special! 

When you make something from love then what you get back is love. Easy!

You’ve played some memorable sets at Campo in both the Snare and Hi Hat and on the Middle Row stage. Talk us through your Campo highlights please?

Well, there have been many. Playing Snare and Hi Hat for first time with my old chum Pedro Herbert was a banger. But I suppose the first one after the pandemic in 2022, opening the Snare and Hi Hat. Everyone needing it and wanted it so much….I was dressed like a peacock and ready to fucking go.

The first two tunes were ‘And The Beat Goes On’ into ‘Electric Avenue’ and the screams, woops and tears were pumping out. I will remember this moment forever. Good times stay with us forever. Viva Campo!

Who are your top 3 podium partners living or otherwise.

Cleopatra, Grace Jones, and The Emperor Ming. That should get the fuckers going.

What’s the starting point in the studio that inspires you most? A bass line, a great collaborator, a piña colada..

I love working with people. Music for me is all about people, collaborations and love which hopefully then translates via the music onto the dance floor. Do fucking love a bassline mind you! 

I remember playing somewhere once and someone in the crowd came up and said “..all your music is just basslines”. Fair comment.

Favourite city in the world and best place to dance there?

Rio in a dingy warehouse somewhere downtown packed full of crazy, up for it, glamorous, semi naked people who are ready to party forever.

Legal! There is no city like it in the world. Fact!

I do also love the small clubs in Seoul, South Korea where they dance, scream, do shots and the style is so cool. I’m off to play in Hawaii next month so hoping the best is still ahead of me.

When the after’s is at yours, again, what cocktail you making us?

A pint of paint stripper for everyone…

DICKY TRISCO ASKS JKRIV

You’re a bass guy. If you could play the bass on any track at any time which one would it be?

Well, not that I could ever replace one of my idols Willie Weeks, but I’d be happy to play the bass line to Donnie Hathaway’s “Everything is Everything” from now until eternity. 

The NYC music and clubbing scene has been regenerated over the last decade. What do you think has sparked this change and what is it you love the most about the current scene?

I think along with just a general widening cultural appreciation for dance music, especially among younger people, there has been a real explosion of spaces opening. The amount of great music happening on any given night in NYC is pretty incredible and inspiring. 

One thing I love about our scene is that despite there being so many DJs, and events, and crews… I don’t feel a whole lot of competitive energy, and we are generally pretty supportive of each other. 

I know you’re a trained jazz musician despite the rep for House and Disco. If The Kriv ever makes a jazz LP (even if it’s just in your mind) then what’s the line up (dead or alive) and what’s the concept going to be?

I could easily rattle off a lineup of my jazz heroes, but the truth is our ‘A Joyful Noise’ band is really a dream lineup! Jason Lindner on keys, Jim Orso on drums, Peter Matson guitar, Domenica on flute, Stuart Bogie sax, Carter Yasutake, Brandon Markell Holmes on vocals. There’s just enough jazz in our sound for my current taste, and yes I do plan to get an album out from the group next year.

What’s it all about with the octopuses? They are tattooed all over your body. Did you meet one some place and things developed from there? Tell us more.

It really all started when I went to an aquarium as a child and a northern pacific octopus with telekinetic powers named Frankie Eightknuckles, told me that I needed to learn to play bass and make disco records. And get octopus tattoos. Any other questions?

JKRIV ASKS JIM ANGEL

What led you to festival production? Can you trace the path from your initial connection to music to where you are now?

We’ve always loved the production side of events, getting our hands dirty is kind of what we do, and production work is basically my day job. Right from warehouse parties back in 1992 via Carnival, a tent at Glade festival through to Campo beginnings, the production element is at the heart of everything we do. We love great music, amazing sound systems, delicious food, quality drinks and beautiful environments in which to dance so we’ve always wanted to control all these elements – running the production gives us that freedom and that creative space to create the perfect party.

If you had to think of one guiding principle or inspiration for Campo what would it be?

Be Kind! We want to show kindness in the production with the levels we go to, to make the party special and we hope that the kindness is then shared by everyone who comes to site. Thankfully, we’re happy to report that this is the Campo Sancho way – we’re blessed with an amazing, fun, open-minded and diverse crowd, it’s one of the things we’re most proud of and it’s the ingredient that makes the parties rock.

What are a few of the most memorable moments from Campo editions past?

We claim that the Campo Sancho site is magical, but we do this with good reason. When Norman Jay played the closing set on our outdoor stage, Middle Row, in 2021 he paid tribute to the wonderful Phil Asher who we’d lost earlier that year. There was light rain in the air and when Norman mentioned Phil a shaft of sunlight broke through the clouds and just hit the dance floor, perfectly framing it. It was a special moment. Anyone who was in the Snare and Hi Hat for DJ Eren’s closing set on Sunday night in 2022 will testify to the magic of Campo.

Share how you have managed to survive knowing Dicky Trisco as long as you have. (I’ll share mine too). 

Haha – it’s not an easy ride as you well know! He’s a wonderful man, full of love, kindness, passion for all the good things in life and the inquisitiveness of a wide eyed child but he doesn’t seem to come with an off switch! That said, I’m very happy with a constantly ON Dicky Trisco!

Any wild predictions and hopes for this year’s event?

We are excited about our 2024 line up! We book people we love and respect and generally we just ask them to bring the best musical versions of themselves. I am happy to report that we feel anyone who has played at Campo brings their absolute pure essence. I’m not not sure if it’s our superb crowd, the amazing sound systems, or the frozen cocktails, but we’ve had some very special sets that typify whoever delivers it. If that’s true after this Campo has played out then we’re all in for a truly memorable and joyous ride!