The politics of cheese: Wayne G & Stewart Who?

by Cyclone Wehner

London DJ Wayne G and his sparring partner Stewart Who? have grown rather fond of Australia. And it's not just because their highly camp single, "Twisted" , shifted more units in this country than anywhere else in the world. (Although, of course, that does work in our favour.) No, these two just like the vibe. 'You have really great grass over here,' muses Stewart, a sometime columnist for London's cult queerzine, "QX". Wayne appreciates the friendliness. 'At the moment London is very intense, very unfriendly. It's such a big place, but it's so difficult to find friends.' Stewart interrupts, 'It's just difficult for Wayne to find friends.' Wayne laughs, 'Yeah, well, that probably is the case, actually... '

Wayne and Stewart's last round of interviews with Australia was to promote their latest album "Thru The K-Hole" which contains the singles "Twisted" and "Breakdance Is Back". Other witty track titles include "He's Got You - Fuck It", "I'm Not Having A Come Down" and "Debauchery". Indeed, it would seem, in explaining the concept behind "K-Hole" that these two favour the same designer drug as Madonna. 'Me and Wayne had consumed an awful lot of Ketamine over the Christmas and New Year period and, I don't know, we were slightly inspired by the experience, which I wouldn't recommend to anyone. But "Thru The K-hole" was just a reference to the strange place you go to in your subconscious when you indulge in great amounts of Ketamine. You really do go to another planet or another consciousness or another level -- or something. So we were trying to bridge a gap between reality and what happens under the influence of Ketamine.' Wayne is impressed. 'You made that up quick!,' he says to Stewart with a laugh.

This duo admit that their music is cheesy, so don't expect any lame protestations to the contrary. Nor are they about to apologise to those within the dance scene who think there is a glut of cheese on the market already. As far as Wayne and Stewart are concerned, they are in it purely for the fun. 'I just couldn't sit here and say we're not cheesy,' starts Stewart. 'I really couldn't do that with a straight face. I think dance music has got so very, very serious. About 10 years ago when I started to enjoy dance music -- and the drugs that went with it, I suppose, it really was just about having a laugh. People's minds were really open to what they heard on the dancefloor and what they experienced in clubs and at raves. Now we're at a stage where dance music is divided into all these little genres and they're all quite serious. There's nobody having a laugh and it's rare that you go to clubs and see the same sort of fun with a capital 'F' going on like it used to be. So basically our album is cheesy, but it's fun. We were never asking to be taken seriously. I've put some thought into some of the lyrics I've written but, at the end of the day, you can't actually be too deep or intellectual because on the dancefloor people don't want to hear theories of relativity ... Or maybe they do. I don't know. I'll have to research that market!'

And so, Stewart sums up "Thru The K-Hole" as 'cheesy punk music'. 'While we're having a lot of fun and we're being cheesy, it's also quite punk,' he decides. 'I'm saying some quite radical things.' [Laughter]

Inevitably talk turns to Judge Jules' recent (and typically pompous) comments on why lightsticks should be banned in clubs. It's ironic that one of the UK's most infamously cheesy DJs should now become the patron saint of lightstick snobbery, but that's just how it is. Both Wayne and Stewart feel that Jules has no right to stop playing his music mid-set just to tell off punters for their glowsticks (or apparel), as he has done in the UK of late on numerous occasions. As Wayne points out, clubbers are welcome to bring glowsticks to London's Heaven, where he is resident, and he feels that these add to the party atmosphere. (Heaven is in fact now selling them.) 'I don't see what his problem is,' Wayne says of Jules. 'These people have made him and now he's turning on them and badmouthing them. It will be his downfall!' Stewart agrees: 'A DJ should be getting on with his mix, really, and not looking out at what people are wearing and what they're doing. All respect to Jules, he's a great DJ, but I don't think he should be a spokesman for a nation.' Oh, the politics of cheese.

"Thru the K-Hole" is out through Sony.