Bringing The Beat back - Magazine Work

We catch up with Him_self_Her, the hottest and most powerful DJ duo to come out of Leicester in years

It’s not everyday that you can say you live in the same town with a DJing duo who have become widely recognised.

However in Leicester you can tell people exactly that.

Him_self_Her, formed of Claire Spooner and Leon Baggotts, are leading the way for a breakthrough of British DJs gaining recognition and respect not only in their hometown but across the country.

Having come from different back­grounds, Claire and Leon intertwine their different experiences to bring together something very special; different ideas and influences which formulate their unique sound, which they - and many others - de­scribe as ‘house music with feeling.’

However, the pair do not stick to their description on purpose, instead producing what sounds good to their ears, Claire tells me. “We don’t make music in any particu­lar sub-genre; as long as it has feeling and emotion, we just go with it.”

2012 was the year that really broke the pair into the limelight. Their track, ‘Gone too long’ brought them recognition, along­side a signing with label giant Crosstown Rebels. The track has over a million views on Youtube, which is pretty impressive for an underground music act.

“It was all pretty crazy, as it was only the second release we had as a duo. We knew we had something special when we made that track, but we never realised just how far it would take us,” Claire tells me with delight.

Having both been DJs in their own rights for as long as ten years, Claire ex­plains it was only a matter of time before Him_self_Her became the powerful duo. “It just happened naturally, as were both DJing at the same venues around the Mid­lands and because we had similar styles we often got booked on the same line ups.

She continued “We then decided to put on a party together in our home town, as we felt there was a gap for our style of music in Leicester and this led to a couple of studio sessions together.

And this party, being of course, Anoche.

And it’s not everyday either that you can say you can attend parties thrown by such a respectable DJing duo.

Having been around for as long as Him_self_Her have been, Anoche has built itself up to one of the best parties in Leices­ter - having headline acts such as Yousef, DJ Sneak and Hot Since 82. The parties thrown by Claire and Leon show that they have a passion for what they do, and that they are all about the music, not the money.

“We really launched the brand just so that we could play the music that we want­ed to, and to test out our own productions, but at the same time we always had a longer term plan to book big DJs that had never been to the city before.”

Although the underground scene has been struggling in Leicester over the years, Claire believes it is still holding strong. “There have been some absolutely awesome artists coming out of Leicester lately, especially Rebel who is making some seriously good techno at the minute, plus emerging artists like Feft and HoH.”

And the next Anoche? No dates are planned due to Him_self_Her’s hectic schedule, but Claire hints “with our new connections with labels like Crosstown Rebels, we are hoping to put on our biggest events yet, so watch this space!”