HiFi Sean

Love. Joy. Entertainment. Knowledge. Transcendence... the emotions that emanate among the crowd – and from behind the decks to be fair – at a Hifi Sean DJ set are as varied as they are vital. But all of it originates from one point. You see, when it comes to music, everything Sean Dickson puts his considerable talents to derives from a place of pure and unadulterated passion. Whether he’s DJ’ing at Glitterbox in Ibiza, singing with his band The Soup Dragons, collaborating with David McAlmont on a triptych of acclaimed albums, remixing S’Express or producing dance floor banger after dance floor banger, it can all be explained by a simple and joyous belief in the magical properties of music.

“People often ask me what the difference is between playing in a band and being a DJ,” he explains. “When you’re in a band you’re playing your own music, it’s based on your music. As a DJ I mix my own music in with other people’s music. The music I make is because I love it; the music I play is because I love it. It’s all based on the love of the music you like and sharing it with other people and hoping that they connect.”

And connect they do. From his creative base of London, he holds down residencies at a number of cool establishments, including Soho House’s many bases across the capital and is a regular guest at the likes of Glitterbox and the infamous east London Metropolis Strip Club. His ecstatic sets take in the likes of house, techno, disco and electro without being beholden to any single rigid style. As such, his free-thinking and wide-ranging selections make him a favourite of the Balearic crowd too.

This obsession with music stems from his formative teenage years. He grew up in and around the same fertile Glasgow scene that birthed The Jesus And Mary Chain and Primal Scream; was best mates with future members of Teenage Fanclub and BMX Bandits and formed his own band, The Soup Dragons, who were feted by John Peel.

The Soup Dragons’ success saw the band reach incredible highs. The group were massive in America – he unknowingly duetted with Prince (a big fan of the band) on one of his own songs, they toured with INXS and sold lots of records.

When the band split, Dickson maintained his sonic curiosity spurred on by a throwaway comment his friend John Peel once made to him when the pair were sat around the latter’s kitchen table. When Dickson asked him why he listened to all the tapes, CDs and records he was sent, the Godfather of broadcasting simply replied: ‘Because the next record I hear may be the best record I’ve ever heard’.”

The spirit buried in that explanation explains Dickson’s ongoing musical quest. “This is why I’m here. This is why I’m doing this. It’s a drug; music’s a drug. And it’s about connections. That quote is totally right. It’s something that you hope, as a DJ, you might make that happen to someone.”

His re-emergence as a DJ is no second act then. As a teenager he would take his records to his friends’ houses and turn his mates on to his favourite sounds. They used to put on parties in Bellshill, just outside Glasgow, which were attended by the city’s ultra cool and creative crowd that centred around the influential Splash One club.

“The mixing came later on at the Art School,” he reminisces, “but I was a selector. I’ve always been a selector. I think we all are. I do like discovering records that nobody knows. The music is out there. It needs to be discovered and shared with other people.”

The Art School is a reference to the club ‘Record Playerz’ that he co-ran at the Glasgow School of Art for six years before moving to London. Upon relocating south, he immersed himself in the capital’s after-hours gay clubbing scene, where he’d typically play from 5am to 9am. The final confirmation of him being a bona fide ‘dance’ artist came in 2016 with the release of his Ft album, a collaborative effort with the likes of Fred Schneider, Yoko Ono, Bootsy Collins, Billie Ray Martin, David McAlmont, Alan Vega, and his old Glasgow pal Norman Blake. The album spurned the Billboard Dance number one single Testify with Crystal Waters.

Since then, he’s released three stunning ‘electronic soul’ albums with McAlmont, musically collabed with The Blessed Madonna, remixed house music staple Shout to the Top by Fire Island, made records with Horse Meat Disco’s Severino and toured in USA, Australia, Finland, France and Italy to name but a few dance floor destinations.

This bout of prolificity will continue this summer with the release of his ‘hands-in-the-air’ piano-led, gospel-inspired stomper Waiting for the Sun and then No More, an infectious late-night collaboration with Chicago house legend Ralphi Rosario, featuring Dajae.

“I understand the elements of what creates energy on a dance floor,” he explains. “I take the passion I experience when DJ’ing into the music that I then make to be played on a dance floor. I love DJ’ing. I love making records. I love playing those records out.”

It really is as simple as that. Once more onto the dance floor, my friends...

Jim Butler, Editor Disco Pogo