Armand Van Helden is the first person to admit that in the past he's had a bit of a reputation and he did pee people off. But in this exclusive interview with Debbie Troops he explains all that and ends up being a really nice bloke.

Armand Van Helden Started in 'hip-house' 'cos it was lyrical 1992 promoter and DJ at the Loft Club & made solo debut with 'Stay on My Mind/The Anthem' for Nervous Records 'Witchdoktor' EP established tribal house's template Worked with people as varied as Tori Amos and the Stones UK no. 1 with 'You Don't Know Me' New single 'Hear My Name' out in April

Armand Van Helden - legend or regular guy?

For me it's just a regular thing that I'm doing... it's all about the music and what connects all that is really out of my control... There was a time back then when I got a little crazy and I made alot of people pretty p****d at me, but now I'm at a point where I think let me not p**s people off, let me slow it down a bit... it's good that people like what I do but strange... like here (in America) people are just like, oh that's Armand and he's playing music, but in the UK it's real different... the first time I played in the UK people were staring at me and looking at me all the time I was playing, I couldn't understand it... but it's great that in the UK they appreciate you like that... in New York I can walk around and go and by records and no-one really notices me... not even the dealers which is good... but sometimes I think they know I'm a DJ when I'm taking 200 records out of their store and standing on the sidewalk and it's f*****g freezing, waiting for a cab... not many people do that I guess.

Actually that record buying thing... is it an obsession?

Oh I don't know about that... but I do buy alot of records... I don't know exactly how many I've got in my collection but I guess it might be about 15,000... 18,000 vinyl... I do know exactly what I've got, there's no junk it's all classics to me and it's all categorized you know... disco, house, soul... rock... I am a trainspotter and I can find you to a record straight away... but I don't play much vinyl these days it's all on my MP3 - it's easier.

New York : A Mix Odyssey - Armand Van Helden Out on Southern Fried - March 22 Review : Debbie Troops Armand once more steps into the unknown breach with a mix more eclectic than an eclectic thing. There's everything here from Blondie's 'Call Me' to his own US girl duo discovery Spalding Rockwell, with liberal mashes of Soft Cell and a full-on throttle of Yazoo's 'Don't Go.' It takes a couple of listens before you get the real jist of why it works - but it does and once you're away there's no stopping a proper rock and roll of retro futuredom! Armand used to be the bad boy of dance music now he's just the good boy of what others should be taking note of!

This thing with rock... there's a real revival going on in the UK at the moment.

Yeah I know about that... I know the Darkness, they're good... I love classic rock and that's one of the reasons my new album - New York : A Mix Odyssey - has such a mix of sounds on it... it's really got that New York vibe a real mix of sounds and cultures... I wanna be able to be free and I'm lucky that I'm in a position to do new stuff, it's been more of a challenge to do this album... mixing things up and making records work like Blondie's 'Call me'... people said that it was too fast for house but I like how it's turned out, I wanted to experiment see how crazy stuff could turn out and it's great that my label Southern Fried gave me the opportunity... dance music has got so repetitive, at the moment it's a real challenge to make something that stands out... I want to go into a club have a great time and come out I don't want to spend six hours listening to something that just sounds like one long driving backbeat... so that's one of my reasons for making the album.

And playing at Sankeys, it's been a long time since you played the UK.

Too long... a long time... I think after 9/11 alot of Americans down-sized and in the UK too, club promoters said 'hey why are we paying Americans - all these big DJs when we have our homegrown talent?' and in a way they were right but I'm really looking forward to it... I love the UK and Manchester.

So you gonna be doing any record buying? - we have some great shops in Manchester, although you might have to go in disguise...

Do you?... will I?... well I might just do that if I have time... that would be great... maybe you could show me?

So that's a date then is it ? - a very charming mr.Van Helden!

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