Sean Johnston has been DJing for well over 30 years, and and making music for nearly just as long. For the last 15 he’s created magic under the moniker Hardway Bros. However, Sean’s perhaps most famous for co-founding A Love From Outer Space with close friend Andrew Weatherall. Something that began in 2009 as a low-key Thursday night at a 200-capacity Stoke Newington club, called The Drop, this has grown into a complete phenomenon, and subsequently spawned Carcassonne’s annual Convenanza Festival.

As someone who also came up through the less fashionable, less salubrious South London side of acid house and The Second Summer Of Love, Sean’s one of the few folks whose brains I regularly pick for the more historical Balearic bits I post. We previously spoke at length in the midst of the COVID pandemic, at a time of huge uncertainty. Venues were closed, and Sean instead was hosting his Emergency Broadcast System. Epic, live, 5-hour minimum, sets, for the ALFOS faithful. Since then things have opened up, and ALFOS, re-born to a certain extent, thankfully,  persists as a righteous ritual, generating power and positive energy. The last party, at London’s Phonox, marked four years since Weatherall’s sudden, untimely passing, and the gathering continues to celebrate the sorely missed legend’s life.

Sean’s, of course, completed countless original tracks and remixes. Only this week we received two cracking conversions of Chloé Raunet’s C.A.R. and David Holmes’ Too Much Room. As a producer he found further success at the controls for The Summerisle Six, and recently launched his own label, Outre-Mer. Sean’s scheduled to play the Wild Wood Disco Festival in June. The promo and press around the event gave us the excuse for another proper catch up.

The last time we spoke properly was back in the spring of 2021, I guess, at what turned out to be the middle of the pandemic and a time of great uncertainty for everyone. There were no gigs, and instead you were feeding the ALFOS faithful with your Emergency Broadcasts. Do you still find time to run these?

Yes, I do, as I was very conscious that I had picked up a lot of supporters from overseas – the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, all over Europe, South Africa and South America. Plus, a number of listeners that for various reasons can’t attend an in-person event, so I felt that I owed it to them to try to continue, as much as my schedule permits. I’m afraid it has become a bit sporadic, but I reckon it must average out at bi-monthly. We managed to do a couple of broadcasts live from The Heavenly Social which were really good fun and which added another dimension of banter opportunity.

Aren`t they something crazy like 5 hours long? 

I schedule for 5 hours, but sometimes my enthusiasm gets the better of me and it can go on somewhat longer. 

Do you ever find yourself running short of new music to play? Or are you bombarded with stuff from all angles?

No, there’s never any shortage of new music, just a shortage of time to filter it all. I’m lucky to get sent a lot of great music by PR companies, a couple of hundred a week typically, plus stuff I’m sent by producer mates and the majority of stuff which I buy. The sifting never stops, really.  I have to be quite disciplined about dedicating time to R&D, or it runs away from me, and then becomes quite daunting to deal with. It’s really challenging to listen to a thousand tracks and be able to give them the attention they deserve. I’ve been listening to stuff for a fair while now, so I have a pretty well defined idea of what I like, but conversely, I think it’s important to also try to maintain some naivety in listening to sniff out the potential excitement. Beginner’s mind…?

Do you have any current favourite artists / labels / releases?

Too many, but I really like Public Possession as a label. Those boys have such broad taste it’s always so exciting to hear what comes next. 

At what point did you start doing the ALFOS parties themselves again?

As soon as Phonox and the Berkeley Suite were allowed to re-open after the COVID restrictions.

Were you nervous about doing the first one, post-pandemic?

Yeah, very nervous. I guess, like most people I had become de-socialized – is that a word? – over the course of the lockdowns, and I found large groups of people quite daunting, and found it difficult to to be in a group, particularly where more than one conversation was taking place. I lost that knack – it took a while to come back. Plus, also, there was the worry of whether it was right to be running larger gatherings when there was still a degree of risk, plus, also on a personal level, the nagging doubt about whether I could carry the weight of expectation without Andrew to vibe off.

Have you been surprised by the huge levels of support?

Undoubtedly, it’s been a real eye-opener and also very humbling.

Friends of mine go to the parties in London and the Phonox, and they say that it`s the best night out. Not just the music but the sense of community. Everyone friendly. Now most definitely an institution, it`s come an awful long way from 80 people in a Stoke Newington basement.  Is it still “An oasis of slowness in a world of increasing velocity?” Or simply a musical sanctuary, a moment away from all the insanity?

It’s still very much an oasis of slow in a world of increasing velocity – that was a pretty good manifesto in retrospect. On the face of it it seems restrictive, but it enabled us to just find our own way of doing things, which is actually really expansive in the end. We spent nearly 10 years defining the aesthetic and it felt like we were just starting to get going. As you say though, it’s all about the crowd. It’s 100% the people that make it what it is.

I don`t think that anyone doubted that you would make a success of it following Andrew`s passing, but personally I think that you`ve been extremely brave. From the outside, your resolve never seemed to falter. Privately though, did you pause before deciding to carry on?

Yeah, of course, there was a lot of reflection on my part, and discussion with friends and family, but stopping wasn’t really an option in the end. Everyone I asked just said, “We’re really sorry, but you can’t stop, it means too much.”

Are the ALFOS parties, in some respect, a still celebration of Andrew? Do you think that a love for him is a big part of what brings together the event`s friendly community? A shared love for the man and his open minded gnostic sonics.

Very much so – there’s a lot of shared history. People came to ALFOS in the beginning because they were inevitably curious about what Andrew was going to do next, but eventually the whole thing became greater than the sum of the parts. A musical cannon and club mythos develops over time – there are tunes that only the two of us played that became anthems. We always had a very forward looking A&R policy, but sometimes in recent times, it’s comforting to play some of the classics and feel an echo of the Guv. 

ALFOS is central to Convenanza. Is the vibe there the same, just bigger?

Exactly the same vibe, but with even greater expectation for me to deliver…

You`re at the controls solo, from beginning to end. Would you ever consider letting anyone warm up, or even joining you back to back?

Andrew and I decided early on that ALFOS was either the pair of us or each of us individually.  There is so much water under the bridge defining the aesthetic that it would be very hard for someone else to understand it. That said, I have done B2B’s with Ewan Pearson, Justin Robertson, Ivan Smagghe and Vladimir Ivkovic in recent years that have been really rewarding.

ALFOS has been on the road, not just up and down the UK, but also abroad. Can you share with us some of the places you`ve played, and perhaps some upcoming shindigs?

That’s a whole other piece in itself – everything from Blackpool Cricket Club, a village hall on the Isle of Skye, to some of the best clubs and festivals in the world – it’s been quite a journey.

(Sorry, I know I’ve used this before, but I love this poster – Rob)

You`re playing the Wild Wood disco festival in June. Will this be the first time at the festival for you?

No, I played in 2022, and I’m certain that it’s one of the best small Festivals in the UK.

I know Optimo played last year. What made you sign up? 

I met one of the organisers, Vicky Fenton, at another great small UK Festival called The List, in Wakefield, and she`s been a big supporter of what I do.

How long is your set?  

Dunno, but the nature of the festival experience usually dictates a shorter, more direct set.

Will you be able to recreate the ALFOS experience?

No, that’s a 6 hour job – more a case of shut up and play the hits…

You`ve also been extremely busy in the studio since we last spoke – remixing Rheinzand, Psychederek, David Holmes, Margee, GLOK, Konformer, Secret Soul Society, D:Ream, Masonic Noodles, Islandman, Holy Youth Movement, Watson & Cole… I really love the Live at SSL dub on the last one. What does SSL stand for? Sean`s Secret Laboratory? 

To be really honest, that’s a bit of a tongue in cheek in-joke on my part – SSL is Solid State Logic – manufacturer of some of the world’s most high end mixing desks the kind of gear that Spike Stent mixes a Depeche Mode Record on, whereas in reality it’s me in my spare bedroom in Hackney on a 2012 Macbook Pro.

Did I miss anyone out?

Probably, but I’m reaching the point now where I can’t keep track of it myself.

How long have you been working with Duncan Gray aka Monkton? How did you meet? Again I really love your Uptown Dubs – the one of Jack Butters, and Electric Blue Vision`s Other Skies, especially. The old loon / luddite in me really wishes that some of these mixes will make it to vinyl. Is there any  chance of an E.P. or comp?

Inevitably, I met Duncan Gray through Andrew, when he was doing Sons of Slough with Andrew’s brother, Ian. We’ve been friends for years, but really it came together creatively after Andrew’s passing, during the lockdowns. We work really well together. Funnily enough, there is talk of an album of our dubs on Dunc’s label Tici Taci.

You`ve now launched your own label, Outre-Mer, and just released a couple of new E.P.s. The standout for me is 1979, a Smashing Pumpkins cover, that sounds like a Folky post-Cocteaus Liz Fraser fronting New Order. Are you a big Smashing Pumpkins fan?

I think that I’m actually more a fan of their producer, Flood, who has been massively inspirational. In particular his work on PJ Harvey, Depeche Mode, Erasure, Nick Cave, U2, Nitzer Ebb. He’s up there with Adrian Sherwood and William Orbit for me as a production influence.

How did you find the vocalist Sarah Rebecca?

I was a massive fan of her solo work, when she was known as S.R. Krebs. Ewan Pearson did an incredible mix of one of her tracks which turned me on to her. She sang on Pleasure Cry, one of my Hardway Bros tracks on Throne of Blood, and also on The Summerisle Trio’s cover of Willow’s Song. I think that she’s an incredible talent. We did an album together of off-kilter electro-pop songs which was rejected by her label in 2016, which I still believe is a lost classic.

What else, release-wise, do you have lined-up? 

Lined up, I have a house E.P. on Mat Edwards’ label, Rekids – with Beth Cassidy of Manchester legends Sea Fever and Section 25 – that’s a love letter to early `90s Murk records, a single with an exciting young vocalist called Kitty Noble, on Alan Dixon’s Love Attack Records, plus an E.P. of chuggers on Barcelona label, Rhythm Cult… there are also my remixes of C.A.R.’s incredible track  Anzu, a remix of Cornelius Doctor and Tushen Rai, remixes of David Holmes Too Much Room, and remixes of American artist, Jason Merle… which are all out, if not now, then very soon.

Sean will be headlining at the Wild Wood Disco Festival, which takes place June 21st -23rd. You can find out more, and purchase tickets here. 

You can catch the ALFOS Emergency Broadcast System live on Twitch TV. Del Scott has also selflessly archived the shows on Mixcloud.