Actress

I have a sneaking suspicion that Darren 'Actress' Cunningham is having a bit of fun at my expense when he cites Lady Gaga as one of his current inspirations, along with 'Taio Cruz and N-Dubz'.

I'm in no mood to complain though, as I'm sat at the kitchen table of a man who has somehow managed to build a formidable reputation in the music industry whilst remaining firmly in the shadows. In a world of mass marketing and USP's, Cunningham has gone firmly against the grain with a stealthy approach founded on attention to detail and an unshakeable belief that good music will always find a home. Through his imprint Werk Discs he has brought us music by notable producers Lukid, Zomby and Lone amongst others, continually confounding expectations with albums of depth, beauty and unpredictability.

Recently his own productions have been enjoying some of the limelight too. Under his Actress moniker he announced himself with 2008's 'Hazyvlle' - a mesmerising tour-de-force of Detroit-influenced bitcrushed soundscapes that neatly debunked the notion that electronic music could never be personal or emotional. It was an album that heaved with ideas and experience, with grainy artwork echoing the elusive persona that Cunningham has come to cultivate by doing things strictly on his own terms. Recent follow up 'Splazsh' was similarly well-received and found him letting some lighter shades into his palette.

Sitting across from me in his kitchen, Cunningham's intense passion for his projects rings through loud and clear. Extremely intelligent and articulate, he parries my less eloquent questions with a suspicious raised eyebrow and the occasional incredulous snort. He's friendly and helpful enough though, and gives a fascinating insight as he enjoys an afternoon beer.

You're from Wolverhampton originally. How long have you been in London?

Eleven years.

Did you come down specifically for music?

Erm....yes and no...basically I came down to study, I did a degree in recording arts. That was the main reason for coming down. I'd just finished playing football, was knocking around Wolves doing part time jobs and kind of figuring out what the next move was gonna be. I love Wolves, I love it to bits, it'll always be who I am, but I couldn't stay there. 'Cos you just get into a 'way', you know what I mean? I'd be a completely different person now, although I'd still be making music. I came down to try and get into the music a bit more. It was a bizarre experience. The best thing about it was meeting other people- not necessarily like-minded- some were like-minded, others were in completely different areas. It was interesting meeting people, obviously that transpired into going out clubbing, going to different places around London.

Where did the ambition to form a label come from?

When I first came to London I was taking my music round to a lot small, independent record labels at the time. I got my minidiscs together and....

Minidiscs?

Yeah. I was recording on Minidiscs, still record on Minidiscs. Well, I still record bits on Minidiscs because of the different sample rates and...the way that it sounds from the compression built into the system, gives it that woodiness I suppose. That was all that I had at the time, so you have to use what you've got and make the best of it. So I was taking my Minidiscs round to record labels and I wanted a job in a record label. I was never really angling for a deal or anything, I just wanted to hear what people were thinking about my music.

You were quite pro-active?

Yeah, definitely. It was an opportunity to go out and really explore, you know what I mean? Being out of home for the first time- you read all these magazines, you see all the pictures, you see all the club nights. And when you're at home in Wolves, London is quite a big thing for someone who's not from there. And before coming to London I'd been to Tribal Gathering, it was a massive experience for me- I saw Daft Punk, Jeff Mills, Kraftwerk, all there at the same time...and at the time I didn't recognise what it meant. I didn't know who Kraftwerk were at that point- I'd heard their music but I didn't know who they were as such. So I definitely feel it joined a lot of dots when I came to London. I just got more into conversing with people who had an interest in music and wanted to go places in music, in whatever discipline. That kind of builds a drive really, a hunger, you can explore your creativity a little bit more. That's really where it all started.

How were you meeting people? Through your course or were you doorstopping people with your demos?

No no, never that full on, to be honest with you. When I first got here I didn't have any mates, I was kind of wandering around myself. Probably in the early days I probably would've have a CD on me, I was a little bit more pro-active in that way, but just for feedback and opinion really. I remember getting in touch with Andy Vass, right when I was first setting up my email, he'd just released the first record on Background Records....'Background 001', that was a big record for me. A special record, that it. That [record] kind of triggered something in me to be honest with you, because you could see how lo-fi it was and I was like, you just need to capture your imagination with some kind of aesthetic and the music does the rest basically. It all starts with the music, in terms of where I come from.

Were you getting positive feedback?

Mostly positive, yeah. I think they were a bit confused, 'cos when someone comes with a tape, you always have in mind 'is this a possibility for release?'. But if you're hearing something that you like but just couldn't put it out, it kind of fucks with you [laughs]. I think they liked it but it just wouldn't have fitted with their record labels.

Do you ever have that conflict now as label head?

Well one of the main reasons I started the label was specifically 'cos of the reaction I was getting. The reason they were finding themselves in that situation in my mind was because they had already made a clear decision to stick with a certain sound and cater for a certain market, and there's only so much room for manoeuvre when you start off on that foot. It's very difficult to turn around- Peacefrog managed to do it I suppose, but it's not easy. So I didn't want to have a label that was constricted in that way. I think that's something that stuck there and I've thought about from a philosophical point of view. Decisions for me aren't that conscious, to be honest with you. I didn't want to be in the position where I could say 'nah, it doesn't fit with the label', unless it was trance or something where it's so far away from what Werk is.

So how did you go about starting up the label?

Again, I needed certain things to tick boxes to give the idea it was possible. I'd started doing club nights with my mate Gav- it all starts with mates really. We were tapping into audiences that were kind of getting bored with the general clubbing experience at that time- you could only listen to techno all night, or you could only listen to drum n bass...what we tried to do was have it so Madlib could be played next to Joy Division and Joy Division could be played next to Kraftwerk and blah blah. Just kind of joining the dots between quality electronic music, without being boring or excluding female activity. At the end of the day it's a party, for me. So yeah it all kind of started there but I was still writing at the same time and I just wanted to see what [starting a label] involved- the general makeup of the industry, understanding copyright law [laughs], you know what I mean? For me it was a different application of my degree. I think it had always been in the back of my mind that after my degree it would be something to do. It was really hard to get into recording studios after university, it was just mad. So I decided to get into TV instead- I was always quite interested in sound effects, doing Foley, visuals...so I decided to go into TV as a form of conservative, solid income so I could say to my mum and dad 'I'm still doing what I want to do but I'm earning at the same time' [laughs].