DJ/producer Ben Watt has made a surprise announcement on his label Buzzin’ Fly’s website. In advance of the imprint’s upcoming 10-year anniversary collection Buzzin’ Fly Anthology, Volume 1, 2003-2004‘ out digitally on April 22, Watt is closing the revered house label and will concentrate on his Romany and Tom book project for Bloomsbury due in 2014 and BBC 6Music 6Mix.
“I loved every minute,” wrote Ben Watt, “but all good things come to an end. It simply feels like the right moment. Buzzin’ Fly was born out of my commitment to the culture of DJing and helping young artists, but these days I am edging away from it towards other challenges – a new book I’m writing, research for another one, and a long-planned solo music project.
“At heart I have always been a creative person – whether as a writer or musician – as opposed to a business person, and after ten years in clubs and in the office I need time again to focus fully on my own stuff rather than other people’s.
“It feels appropriate to stop now in our tenth year and leave the label with, I hope, a strong reputation for what it has managed to achieve, rather than to continue with a muted presence. Someone asked why I couldn’t hand over the reins to someone else, but I don’t think it would ever have been the same. In the meantime, I hope my ongoing show for BBC 6Music’s 6Mix can still be a distilled showcase for some of the great music I come across. You never know, there might even be another imprint one day.”
Strange Feeling Records will remain a vehicle for Watt’s better half Tracey Thorn to release her work on.