Interview: acid house inventor Phuture

David Pollock

19 September 2014

DJ Pierre discusses his reunion with Spanky and their invention of the dance genre ahead of Glasgow gig

’Real artistry just happens, I don't believe you plan it,’ says DJ Pierre, and the co-inventor of the acid house sound as one half of Phuture. ‘We didn't realise at the time we were on the verge of creating a new genre. We knew this was new and different and that it could make a dent, but we didn't foresee how big that dent was. It was an explosion really.’

He’s harking back to 1987, when he (real name Nathaniel Jones) and Spanky (Earl Smith Jr) produced ‘Acid Trax’ in their native Chicago and got it into the hands of Ron Hardy, DJ at the Music Box. Does Pierre believe that ‘Acid Trax’ really was the first ever acid record? ‘History has already stated the fact of the matter,’ he says. ‘Tons of people had the Roland 303, those sounds were there, but no one did with it what we did with it. Acid is the method and intention you put behind the machine. We were the first to take the 303 and use it in a manner it was not intended to be used in. So, in reality, that's innovation at its core. I’ll leave it there.’

Since last year the duo are back on the road again, together, following their split in 1990. ‘It seemed as if Phuture had an open conversation that didn't come to an end,’ says Pierre now, a star by his own name too. ‘Something seemed missing for me. Phuture’s really Spanky and me; we are the heart of the group. We had others substitute over the years and Spank did his version as Phuture 303, but it seemed like a sentence that needed a period. We met about it and we decided to have the conversation.’

Made in Chicago at SWG3, Glasgow, Fri 10 Oct.