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Today see’s the launch of the brand new Liberty and Nudie Jeans collaboration, seeing the legendary pair team up to create something completely spectacular, just as we expected.

The exclusive collection “Past Just Got Present” is inspired by an original Liberty Art Fabrics paisley print design, and combines the beautiful cut of Nudie jeans and the classic and renowned print from one of the oldest department stores around. The designs are influenced by the dichotomy between past and present, and it certainly comes across in every aspect of the pieces, from the cut to the fit to the fabric. The classic silhouettes from Nudie jeans Lean Dean and Grim Tim, and a new retro-esque addition Funky Ben, are married with technical laser printing, innovatively applying the design directly onto the fabric. And, they have totally hilarious names to boot.

We love a collab here at Wonderland and so do our faves over at Nudie Jeans: “When we were presented with the opportunity to dive into Liberty’s archive of retired floral, paisley and patterned fabrics, we knew we had something truly special at our fingertips.” And special it is, so head down to Liberty now and get in on the fun! The collection is super limited edition and as it launches today, we have one question for you… what are you waiting for?

Words India Opie meres

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The series “Lady of Liberty” is the result of a collaboration between photographer Thang and Ukrainian illustrator Alina. Thang is currently London-based and has worked for big clientele in the fashion industry including Italian Vogue. Alina initially studied graphic design in Kiev where she evolved her practice through more traditional artistic techniques. Upon moving to London she studied fashion illustration at London College of Fashion, and later worked for Alexander McQueen.

The series is inspired by the identity politics which continues to surround female images today. Thang described the concept to Wonderland as “a meditation upon how women continue to be judged despite the freedom they may have.” Thang’s monochrome shots are layered with Alina’s distorted, bold illustrations resulting in a captivating series of images.

Thang and Alina, how did you come to work together and how did you know you would be the right match?

Thang: When I saw Alina’s work about 2 years ago I really felt a strong connection with her and wanted to create some pieces together then. We spoke about a project then but at the time we were both busy and left it until now.
Her work has been so beautiful I just felt she’s the one for our project.

Alina: We wanted to collaborate before, but due to busy times it did not happen. Right now it was like a super appropriate time and perfect moment for me to make this project together, as I am developing my portfolio as a fashion illustrator and doing collaboration with photographer was my number one in to-do list. With Thang I knew we would make a perfect combo to create some mixed media imagery that worth being shown in our portfolio and submit to a huge magazine like Wonderland.

Alina, you’re leaving the UK soon, will you continue with your illustration work? Will you continue to collaborate together?

Alina: Yes for now I have to leave the UK, due to visa stuff, but I will definitely continue working on my illustrations . Collaborations can happen of course, because it is easy to connect through internet and make the projects together on a long distance.

How much do you collaborate, in the sense of how much input do you have on the photography, Alina and you on the illustration, Thang?

Thang: Last month Dazed held a talk for young creative and I went for it. After one of the talk about which was mentioning the crossover between gender, class, sexuality and diversity.
I actually have this idea and was practicing for the last 10 months also on these topics and after the talk it triggered me even more so to shoot.
I then threw some ideas to Alina and trusted her completely with her awesome illustration.

Alina: The collaboration was spontaneous and it always works out well for me. When you feel that you are working with the right person, you just trust his creativity I guess. When I saw the shoot I thought that I would love to draw some quirky illustrations , cover her body or  face with drawings.

How did you come up with the concept? Can you explain the themes of feminism behind it for us?

Thang: I believe in the term “gender equality” and I really struggle to understand on places that still need to recognise the value of women and treat them as equals to men.

Which is your favourite image and why? What do you think it conveys?

Alina: I love the close up portrait because it is my weakness – Portraits. How much can you tell with your look, eyes, lips, eyebrows… I usually paint portraits and showing all my emotions in colours and texture focusing on either eyes or lips,etc. I think in this image when illustration overlapping photograph it gives this strong , sexy, crazy look.

Thang: I like the full length the most because she was moving when I shot her and she was in a free spirit state of mind. It was really good working with Lena as she made the shoot extra special going the extra mile and completely committed to our ideas.

Photographer: Thang LV

Illustrator: Alina Zamanova

Model: Lena

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Upon meeting Ryan Lott – the name responsible for post-rock, hip-hop outfit Son Lux – his talent and musical know-how comes to the fore in its full entirety. Son Lux has taken off since being described as “Best New Artist” of 2008; since releasing two EPs, two LPs and collaborating with some serious music industry talent. With a re-imagined EP on the list featuring Lorde and other creative collisions that include Peter Silberman of The Antlers, Richard Parry of Arcade Fire, fellow Sisyphus band member Sufjan Stevens and infamous Beyoncé producer Boots, Ryan highlights that he isn’t just about one project but a kaleidoscope musical ventures. Not only making waves as a musical artist, Ryan is also just as well known for composing the soundtracks to Looper (2012), Don Jon (2013), The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby (2014) and most recently, the upcoming teen comedy Paper Towns featuring model-actress crossover Cara Delevingne.

Based in New York, Ryan manages to catch up with Wonderland during his London visit – just one of the many international stops he will have to make this year. In between playfully showing off his new gleaming white converse “kicks” to giggling over the love for his new found British slang word “chunder”, we dig deep with the talented musician on all things from song lyrics to recording a hit single with Bronchitis.

So your real name is Ryan Lott, what’s the story behind your stage name Son Lux?

Initially it came from the desire to create a separate identity for myself for a particular project, so that if at any moment I wanted to abandon the project or create something else that was rather contradictory, I wasn’t going to throw anyone through a loop. You know, I knew about myself that I’m rather omnivorous as far as my musical tastes and urges and I wasn’t quite sure yet what this new idea I was conjuring was going to be. It hadn’t articulated itself. I just thought it wise to come up with a new name for it, rather than give my name to it. It also creates a certain liberty as well; I didn’t anticipate that. I like the idea of a two-word name, because it’s like a person’s name: first name and last name. I also like the combination of words that were inherently pretty contrasting, and the word “lux” from the latin “light” is from a dead language that is routing in something ancient and yet lingers with us. And then “son”, it means different things to different people, depending on where you are in the world. It appears in different languages. It has a universal open sound, so I like that contrast and ultimately contrast is about everything at the heart of Son Lux. 

At what point was it that you realised you wanted to become a full-time musician?

I think I was probably… I mean it was a slow discovery, initial urges were young. Very young. I was just a kid. I think I rationally made the decision, maybe in my freshman or sophomore year in high school. But I think I knew before that, kind of deep down. So yeah, there’s no turning back. I started taking piano lessons when I was five or six, it was the family rule. It wasn’t because my family is musical or anything like that, it was a matter of discipline. Through middle school we had to do piano lessons and I’m really glad, because I know ultimately I would have found music but I wouldn’t have had the head start that I did.

What did you listen to growing up?

Because music wasn’t an important part of my family, I wouldn’t listen to anything apart from the radio. Whatever that was happening around me, anything I absorbed. And then I played in a band – it’s funny – I was always in bands that wanted to write their own music. I’m actually just kind of realising that. We would steal little bits of other people’s music though, it was kind of democratic. Then in middle school I played grunge because I’m old, so I was playing Nirvana in 1991 when it was super fashionable. I think that Nirvana was super weird because it was like the thing that the misfit kids and the cheerleaders all agreed on. Isn’t that amazing? You can’t even imagine that right now. There really isn’t a modern day equivalent, and that’s kind of because rock is extinct. Hip Hop has taken it’s place, but Hip Hop is ubiquitous in the same way that Nirvana was – it’s hard to explain. I was sentient enough a human being to really recognise it, I didn’t understand context back then so I didn’t realise the significance of it. That whole grunge era… and fucking Red Hot Chilli Peppers? Blood Sugar Sex Magik dropped, it was just a great year for music. You think about a band now that’s really big, in ten years they’re not going to really big. And if they are, it’s going to be kind of ironic but Nirvana never became ironic. Everyone just kept liking them. They disappeared but whenever you heard it, it was always good. It was never like “oh do you remember this song”. Even still, when that shit comes on the radio, it sounds incredible. There was an era in the nineties when music from the fidelity standpoint, music was doing something really special and it was before the whole Lo-fi reactionary stuff, which has its own charms, I’m not hating it, but there was a golden era in the nineties that was really special. 

You’ve spent quite a bit of your career composing music for commercials, and you’ve recently put together the score for the Paper Towns movie starring Cara Delevingne. How do you go about composing music for the screen?

Something a lot of people don’t understand about film scoring is that you actually do have the whole film to work with – you see the whole film. It’s really important because you have to develop music that is going to be portable and able to adapt to various scenes in a film in order to create a consistent theme or a consistent vibe, or an inconsistent one depending on what the film requires. Someone telling you about a movie and someone showing you a movie is a totally different experience. So you see an early-finished cut, and there’s a lot of crappy stuff about it and it’s kind of half done. So if they’re driving a car there will just be a green screen; there’s technical or temporary things that are rough about the film. What a lot of people don’t realise about films is that nearly all of the voices are re-recorded. So Cara goes into a studio and she sees a big screen of herself acting and she lip-syncs to herself – or she does the opposite of lip-sync – she replaces her voice. It’s difficult. It’s one of the skills of screen actor. We have the film to watch and then we cultivate the themes around the different characters, we determine the palette. Paper Towns was fun because I got to do traditional score stuff, but I also got to do song score stuff and instrumentals on the record.

You’ve just recently revealed your second song ‘You Don’t Know Me’ from your new album, what’s the inspiration behind the lyrics?

I mean, there’s a lot of audible frustration in that song [laughs]. I think I like to avoid saying what a song is about because I feel like it’s really important for people to bring their own meanings and associations to a song and it’s almost besides the point what I think the song is because it lives outside of me. That said, it comes from a place of being perplexed and being frustrated. There’s anger in that song. We wrote that song on the road last year. We’re all from the United States and you know, spending most of the year away from the continent at a time when there was so much formative change happening and perplexing, frustrating and depressing news. We wrote that song and the whole album in that environment, mentally. There’s a lot of bright life giving energy in the record but there’s also a lot of darkness and desperation.

And it features Moses Sumney and Hanna Benn from Pollens. Where did you meet them? Did you seek them out or did the collaboration just happen organically?

Uh-huh, yep I did. I was looking for interesting voices and for people who don’t really fit into a category. I always try to work with instrumentalists or vocalists who are creative artists, not just performers because I’m looking to conjure something from them that maybe they haven’t conjured from themselves but  have the ability to do it. There’s a creative conversation that happens in the process when I work with people. It’s important for me that they can bring their own voice, their own intention; that they can truly be themselves. It’s my job to facilitate that, but at the same time bring out something in them that they haven’t had the chance to do themselves. It’s responsive – I’m not telling them what to do. I create prompts and guide improvisation. Do you know Hanna’s stuff from Pollens? Well that group doesn’t exist any more but she’s endeavouring to write her own music now. She’s a really remarkable singer and creative person. She doesn’t really fit in to any category. I hope we can make more music together; she’s really special. Same with Moses, man. Actually, we recorded him on two songs and one of them just didn’t make the cut for the album but it will come out eventually. Sweet guy, a really really sweet guy.

I read you recorded “You Don’t Know Me” while suffering from a nasty bout of Bronchitis, why did you decide to go ahead with the recording and not rest up?

[Laughs] Yeah, that’s right. Well, the only reason I recorded it was to create what’s called a scratch vocal. A scratch vocal is a temporary vocal, just to get the idea down. It wasn’t supposed to be a final version. It wasn’t that I liked it so much, but I played it for the band and my manager to show them the idea and they all said “this is fantastic”; you shouldn’t record it again because it has a special quality. They gave me the confidence to listen to it just imaging it wasn’t me and then I said yeah, there is something special about it. It’s consistent with the frustration of the lyrics. I think that’s when you have to decide whether a take is good or not, is the quality of it telling the story as well as the lyric itself? What kind of intention is bolstering it? If the intention is there than it’s a good take. 

It’s amazing. So how does your other band Sisyphus differ from the kind of music you’re making as Son Lux?

You know, Paper Towns I did as Ryan Lott, because ultimately it’s a stylised teen movie. It’s not consistent with the band, but it’s still me. So I think I have been blessed to have lot of different opportunities to write lots of different types of music and different kinds of projects for different purposes. I think I’m the exact wrong person to ask what’s unifying or what’s different about each thing, because it’s all me. Friends will see an ad and can tell that that’s you. Maybe it just means I have a discernable voice but I don’t think it’s that. It’s impossible to say.

Okay, last one. What else is on the cards for Son Lux for the remainder of 2015?

So we’re going on tour and are back here for Visions Festival. It will be our first time playing a festival with our friends The Antlers, I’ve been friends with Peter for a long time.  They’re great, they’re sweet guys too. This record is going to come out, and Paper Towns is going to come out. We’re going to tour a lot in Europe and the UK and we’re about to start a six-week North America tour and circle around the continent. We come back six weeks later and finish in New York. I’m sure we’ll manage to make new music while we’re touring, too. It’s easy to be inspired.

Son Lux’s record “Bones” comes out on June 22nd via Glassnote Records.

Words: Hannah Sargeant

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Your favourite pair of kicks just got a funky fresh update, just in time for summer. That’s right, Italian footwear super brand Superga have teamed up with Liberty of London for a capsule collection of floral sneakers. Featuring Liberty’s iconic fabrics, the Superga x Liberty Art Fabrics Collection 2750 Cotu Classics come in four contrasting prints, one of which will be stocked exclusively in Superga stores and on Superga.co.uk. Step into summer in style.

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Nudie Jeans new unisex model may look like your standard straight leg, but the subtle details transform these jeans into a versatile staple for both the sexes. And, with new colour innovations on offer, you can choose from a distressed blue, excessively bleached white-blue and rusty grey, each crafted from top-notch material. Nudie Jeans believe in the strength and longevity of denim and jeans – even if they do get better with age and their timeless rock and roll aesthetic is omnipresent in the new design that features turned-up ankles and a dishevelled appeal.

Lean Deans hit refresh on a tired and tested straight-leg style, rejuvenating them with charm, just as they re-launch their space at Liberty London. It’s safe to say the Lean Deans will fly off the appropriately stylish shelves.

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Having played Glastonbury, Notting Hill Carnival and released her EP ‘Dominonation’ via Bpitch control, it’s safe to say 2014 has been an incredibly busy year for MAMA. Born in South London and based in Berlin, MAMA featured on Tiefschwarz ‘Corporate Butcher’ in 2012 and has attracted a range of remixes from the likes of Hannah Holland, Catz and Dogs, Paul Kalkbrenner and Pan Pot. Not that she’s spent her whole musical career locked in a studio, she also supported Bloc Party’s Kele on his first European tour after he turned up at her gig in London.

While her album may be called Dreams of Liberty, its contents aren’t all peace and love. For MAMA, dreams of liberty fall along spiritual, geographic, sexual and emotional lines with the search being one of fear and obsession. Written during a miserably cold Berlin winter, Dreams of Liberty, proves that MAMA triumphs in any surrounding. Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long until we hear the results of a summer spent in Sun.

How did you first start making music?

I’ve been writing songs and lyrics for 10 years but I caught the production bug when I moved to Berlin 5 years ago. I just couldn’t find a non-Techno producer in Berlin at the time so I thought to hell with it I might as well learn to produce my own music. It was the best choice I’ve ever made.

What did you listen to growing up?

The sounds of New Jack Swing, Gangsta Rap and Kate Bush.

Who (if anyone) did you work on the new album with and how did those collaborations come about?

I wrote and produced this album in my bedroom over a very cold winter in Berlin hence the dark vibe.

The Oscar Wilde interlude at the beginning ofDreams of Liberty is fabulous and mad. How did you come to write it, or is it quoted from something else?

I had a dream that I was washing Oscar Wilde’s feet in exchange for some of his wisdom so as soon as I woke up, I jumped in my studio and tried to capture the dream.

There’s so much going on in London at the moment, both musically and artistically. What made you decide to decamp to Berlin?

I was on holiday in Berlin one weekend and dancing at Berghain when a old guy with dreadlocks and a cane came up to me and whispered in my ear “Move to Berlin and make music everyday” and then I lost him in the crowd. Maybe I was tripping, who knows but I took his advice anyway whoever he was.

That’s a great story! There’s something haunting and industrial about the sounds on the album, what inspired those effects and how did you achieve them?

I suppose it’s because I’m quite a sensitive person and I exposed all my deepest darkest fears on this record. Some of the lyrics are terribly sad but I find it quite uplifting because it was a sort of exorcism for me. It set me free, so to speak.

You toured with Kele, what was that like?

First of all, I was a Bloc Party fanatic so when Kele randomly turned up at one of my London gigs I was completely overwhelmed. The show itself was a disaster. The sound guy didn’t show up, I forgot my backing track music at my parents place on the other side of town, my poor Mother was ill in bed but insisted on driving one hour to drop it off for me just in time for the show. My dancers at the time cancelled last minute so I just dragged these two hot Grace Jones-esque girls off the street and asked them if they could dance and luckily they were incredible. Kele watched the entire show with his fingers in his ears, I thought it was because he hated the music but he later told me it was because the sound was terrible. Anyway, I’m glad I made it happen in the end because if he hadn’t seen the show he wouldn’t have invited me to open for him on his European tour. The tour was like a dream come true. I would do it again in a flash.

That’s a pretty iconic life moment. What can we expect from your live shows? Are they as dramatic as your sound would lead us to expect?

I perform live with Riccardo Paffetti on the keyboards and drum machines. The live show is like a journey. The music starts quite emotional and deep then leads to absolute dance mania. I try to ensure that people are screaming, raving, making out and hysterical by the end of my set. I feel free onstage, it’s the only time I can be myself and I want the audience to escape within my world.

You recorded the album in your bedroom, yet there’s an expansiveness to the tracks that suggests otherwise. How did you stop the recording process from becoming too insular?

I find making music in my room gives the sound a very personal touch. It was important for me to write as soon as I felt the desire to write a song whether it was at 3am or when I just woke up out of a nightmare. When I completed the songs, I tried to open it up to some other influences with a rap verse from an artist called Rubinkarta on ‘Hysteria’ and some extra guitar parts from Flip X on ‘Electricity’ and ‘Freedom to Love’ and then I finally took the finished product to Riccardo Paffetti who mixed and mastered it in his studio in Kreuzberg.

What were your main inspirations while you were writing the album?

The only thing I had in mind was to be truthful and intuitive.

There’s a darkness to your music. What message are you trying to get across in your songs?

To let those who hurt easily know they are not alone. We’re all in it together and we should support each other.

Now that you’ve completed your debut LP what can we expect from you in the coming months? Have you started work on the next record at all?

I’m always writing so my 2nd and 3rd album are probably done. I’d like to tour the album and expand the live show with visuals and lighting at some point. I’ve also written several album collaborations with other artists such as a house and techno producer called Argy. The ‘ARGY & MAMA’ album is out on Bpitch Control Records in January 2015. My alto ego ‘Mona Lazette’ has an album out in 2015 produced by Munk, I also feature on 5 tracks from the new MUNK album out in October 2014 so I really look forward to exploring all my different musical personalities and to, of course. keep writing intuitively.

Is it a nice feeling to have the project finished, or are you ever struck by the urge to go back and tinker with it?

If I could I would most definitely make more tweaks, hire a live orchestra, get Dr Dre producing the beats with tracks featuring Lil Kim and Tricky. I’ll hold that lovely thought for a bit longer….mmmmm.

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He was an overnight success that streamed onto our movie screens earlier this year, and now Diarmaid Murtagh is looking to take his career to new heights as he stars in the major Hollywood film ‘Dracula Untold’. Playing Dumitru, a loyal friend to the infamous Dracula, played by Luke Evans, the film is the first big-budget Dracula film in over 14 years and has caused overwhelming excitement amongst both fans and critics.

Born in Ireland, Murtagh spent much of his early career on stage and in many English and Irish TV productions, but has since taken his career to the big screen, starring in productions such as ‘Monuments Men’ and ‘Good People’ and with his latest role in ‘Dracula Untold’ to add to his accomplishments, here at Wonderland we talk to Diarmaid about his current success, inspirations and the new vampire epic.

So tell us, when did you realise you wanted to be an actor?

I first realised, or should I say absolutely decided, I wanted to be an actor whilst on a student summer Visa to Chicago in the Summer of 2003. I had just finished a Business degree in Ireland. I knew I didn’t want to do that and had been an active member of the drama society on campus which sowed the seeds. However it was whilst I was in Chicago and seeing the incredible productions in theatres like the Goodman, Steppenwolf, Shakespeare on the Lake and the Second City Comedy Club that the idea became fully formed to me. The joy of the artists on stage, the fulfilment. I knew it was what I wanted for myself too.

Did you ever imagine you’d be as successful as you are now?

I’m an extremely positive person and once I apply myself to something I’m pretty much relentless in seeing it through, so from that side of my personality I suppose I always believed in myself in this career. But so much of becoming a successful actor isn’t down to you. The decision of whether you get a job or not and are thus deemed “successful” is a decision that lies with others. The actors’ role in all this equation is to be ready to take advantage of any opportunities when they do arrive. I’ve always tried to be the most prepared, but ‘on-it’ guy walking into the room. A lot of the time it doesn’t work out, but then sometimes it does. And here we are.

Well it certainly did for you. Who are the actors whose careers you sought to emulate as you began your own?

I’m an enormous fan of Liam Neeson, always have been. He’s an immense actor but also from what I hear (I’ve never met him) a wonderful man also. In my teens, when I wasn’t even interested in acting, I still remember seeing his performances in ‘Schindlers List’ and ‘Michael Collins’ and I was blown away by what he achieved on screening those films. Ultimately though it’s impossible to emulate any one actor’s pathway. You can just take encouragement and heart from their personal journeys to where they’ve gotten, but then apply yourself to telling your own

How does it feel to be involved in a film that adds a new chapter to the pop-culture phenomenon that is the character of “Dracula”?

I’m very proud of our take on this ever popular theme that is vampires and ‘Dracula’ himself. It’s just a huge expansive legend that has taken many guises over the last 100 years or so, but ours is right at the coal face of how it all started. Set in the mysterious and mystical backdrop of Transylvania at that time whilst the very real, and historically accurate, threat of the might of the Turkish army looms large just over the next mountain top. It’s great to have been part of telling part of that story.

You worked on the film with Charles Dance. He’s a legend, did you learn anything from him on set?

Absolutely. I’ve been blessed to work with some enormous box office names in the last eighteen months but for me I always find myself studying and observing the senior guys a lot. The gents that have been doing this for years and have such ownership and assuredness in their performances. Bill Murray (Monuments Men), Tom Wilkinson, (Good People) or more recently Charles Dance. Charles has such grace and poise in how he prepares, and then subsequently delivers his roles. There is a sure-footedness, but also a wonderful mischief, to many of his performances – particularly as Master Vampire in Dracula Untold. He can also make a barking dog scurry whimpering out of a make-up trailer simply by growling back at him. True story, I’ve seen it.

Yeah you’ve worked with some of the most famous names in the world: George Clooney and Cate Blanchett to name but two. Do you ever feel star-struck walking onto set?

I don’t really. For me there is great re-assurance and validation in that when you arrive on set, you’re the guy they chose. The choices you made be it in an audition or whether previous work – you’re here now so do your job. When I first met George it was on set right before we shot on a very busy and hectic day. There was a great energy and focus about the day so you get swept up in that and play your part to keep it all running smoothly and keep the boss happy, AKA George Clooney in that case.

So having done TV, movies and performed on stage, which is your favourite medium?

I learned an immense amount from my time on stage early in my career. It was just what I needed, right when I needed it. Right now I feel like screen is where I’d like to focus myself. The whole process just excites me and leaves me wanting more. I will go back to stage at some point, but for now I’m enjoying the opportunities that are coming my way.

Your success has come pretty quickly, it seems like in the last year you’ve gone from doing TV shows in Ireland to having roles in major Hollywood pictures. To what do you attribute this steep rise?

Haha, my brother likes to call that the “seven year overnight success”. I left drama school then, and believe me there have been a lot of lean and hard times in between. Support from friends and family has been crucial. That said, yes, since around the beginning of last year things turned a bit I suppose. There is no one element to which I could contribute the rapid turnaround though if I had to say something I would say I have become infinitely more at ease in the audition room and have learned to enjoy the quieter in between times, which can be hard. I moved to London in Spring 2012 after opportunities in Dublin had become harder to come by, and all of that was hard to take – it took a toll on me. So I came to London with a general acceptance of things. I stopped over thinking auditions or waiting for the phone to ring. I let myself be free to just thoroughly enjoy my audition experience, to enjoy presenting my interpretation of how I saw this character engaging in this scene, and shared that with the people in the room. Once it was over then, I would leave the room and genuinely barely ever think about it again. It was done. Let it go.

How have your family and friends back in Ireland taken your newfound success?

They’re really happy for me, because they know how much hard workand tough times have led up to a point like this. All along they’ve seenevery bit of TV work as it came along, but en mass they’ve all come tothe various stage productions which has always meant a lot. At the end ofthe day though when you’re back with your close family and friends,nothing ever really changes which is just how it should be.

Working so much you must be away from home a lot. Do you miss Ireland when you’re away, or do you see yourself settling down somewhere like LA?

I’m always away from home, and there are times I miss it for sure. This summer I spent a lot of time in Romania shooting ‘Sons of Liberty’ and half way through there really was a point I just wanted to walk around my hometown. It passes though. I truly love what I do. My friends and family know that, and I love be part of projects that they’ll enjoy watching and to make the proud. I’ve come a long way from where I started but honestly these days, it actually just feels like the very beginning of a long road. I like following the work right now, so wherever that is fine by me. London is ‘home’, maybe LA someday, just not just yet.

You’ve managed to play an extraordinary range of characters thus far in your career: is variety something that you prioritise when choosing your roles?

Variety is very important for sure. So far I’ve played a number of historical period characters, but each with very difference backgrounds and purpose. The physical transformation is also something I really enjoy. I think when you’re choosing a role it’s important that it challenges you in a new way that what you’ve done before.

Who is your favourite character that you’ve played?

My favourite character I think thus far would be Dumitru in Dracula Untold. He’s a bit different to all the characters around him but has a very clear purpose along with a great loyalty to those around him.

In Monuments Men you were directed by George Clooney. Did you find it helpful being directed by someone who understands what it’s like to be in front of the camera as well as behind it?

Without a doubt. It separates him from a lot of other directors. He has that know-how both sides of the lens which is a huge asset to any film maker but in addition he as a person is very articulate on top of that. He’s succinct in what it is exactly he’s after in any given scene, or moment. He passes that along, and everything moves forward really quickly as a result. The set of Monuments Men is possibly the smoothest I’ve ever worked on. The actors are of course in great hands with George, but also his crew are like an extension of his next thought. Once he’s just about done on a shot already the wheels are in motion to quickly set up the next one. Very fluid and slick.

Could you ever see yourself going down a similar path and getting involved in directing or producing?

I would love to at some point. Maybe in 3 or 4 years, or whenever the right opportunity came along. More recently I have become more engaged behind the camera with producers and directors to get a grasp of the process from their viewpoint. Trying to gain some insights there. So at some point I think for sure I’ll end up in a producer capacity but now my focus is very much on acting.

That’s understandable. Lastly, hat does the future hold for you?

Hopefully some interesting professional challenges and opportunities as well as personal adventures. I’m looking forward to whatever comes next.

So are we!

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Londoner Josh Caffe knows a thing or two about where to find the best new music. A highly respected producer, as well as one of London’s most prolific DJ’s (he hosts a monthly party at the Ace Hotel and another at notorious sweatbox Vogue Fabrics) he’s developed a cult following amongst the tastemakers of East London.

In honour of his latest release – the lush soul-house track “All Gone” – a collaboration with fellow producer David Newtron and London vocalist Fi McClusky – we asked him to throw together a playlist of his favourite songs of the moment.

1. All Gone – Josh Caffe & David Newtron feat. Fi McCluskey

This is the 3rd track I’ve co produced and put out with David. I enjoy working with him in the studio, always a fun, natural process. Fi’s an amazing vocalist from a folk/electronic background but put her on a house track and she morphs into something soulful.

2. Kelela – Guns & Synths
This track is from Kelela’s mixtape ‘CUT 4 ME’. She’s worked with some great producers like Bok Bok & Nguzunguzu. This is one of my favourite tracks. Can’t get enough.

3. Liberty – Hercules & Love Affair feat John Grant
When I found out Hercules & Love Affair were working with John Grant I was really excited to hear the outcome. John Grant’s a total legend and his vocals give this track a beautiful edge.

4. One (Live edit) Seven Davis Jr
I recently discovered Seven Davis Jr through Soundcloud. He’s a mix between Prince & Stevie Wonder and produces futuristic sounds with classic influences as well as somewhat alien concepts. This track is taken from his ‘Friends’ EP. LOVE!

5. I want you (Pushing Up mix) – Cassio Ware
Great track from Cassio’s ‘I Want You’ EP which he did with DJ Crime. Love his vocals. Super sexy.

6. Come and get it – Mount Sims
Mount Sims made amazing tracks that were part of my clubbing days at sorely missed nights such Nag Nag Nag & The Cock at Ghetto. This track is from his ‘Ultra Sex’ album, a concept album that focused on the themes of technology and sexuality.

7. Blue Magic – Terry Farley & Rocky
I’ve recently had the honour of working with Terry Farley on a track with Leo Zero. Both are brilliant house producers so I can’t wait to hear what they’ve done with it!

8. Live It feat. Xander – Hannah Holland
Hannah Holland heads up Native City and Batty Bass Records (which I’m part of). I worked on a track called Play With The Maid for her ‘Live It’ EP but the title track is brilliant and features vocals from NYC’s amazing Xander. I can only describe him as a mystical angel.

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