![\"\"](\"\/beta\/\/media.wonderlandmagazine.com\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Galliano.jpg\" "\\"John")
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Two boys from Peckham. John Galliano \u2013 the wunderkind behind Christian Dior. Jeremy Healy \u2013 frontman of 80s pop sensation Haysi Fantayzee and one of the most famous DJs on the planet. Over the past twenty years, their collaborations have reinvented the fashion show and provided the industry with some of its greatest runway moments. In a Wonderland exclusive, the two old friends talk shop, Charlie Chaplin and playing with eels\u2026
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John Galliano: <\/strong>Wonderland want us to talk about music, about how we work together. We don\u2019t really \u2018work\u2019 together, though, do we? Is this work? Words: Camilla Morton<\/p>\n A full version of this article first appeared in<\/em> Wonderland #15, Oct\/Nov 2008<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Two boys from Peckham. John Galliano \u2013 the wunderkind behind Christian Dior. Jeremy Healy \u2013 frontman of 80s pop sensation Haysi Fantayzee and one of the most famous DJs on the planet. Over the past twenty years, their collaborations have reinvented the fashion show and provided the industry with some of its greatest runway moments. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":439,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9419],"tags":[139,141,140,112,138,137],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nJeremy Healy:<\/strong> To be honest I am amazed its lasted this long! So which show do you want to talk about?
\nJG: They\u2019ve done a shoot based on the Dior Cruise show that we did in New York\u2026
\nJH: <\/strong>Oh, the Madonna, JLo, Christina Aguilera mix? Well, basically that was a really quick conversation because the Madonna album had just come out and you said, \u2018Use these, they\u2019re great!\u2019
\nJG:<\/strong> [Laughs] Yeah! But sometimes it\u2019s more difficult\u2026
\nJH:<\/strong> Sometimes it\u2019s a total nightmare John! It\u2019s different each time. You never totally know so you can\u2019t say there is a certain way we do things\u2026
\nJG:<\/strong> It\u2019s like those mixes you were doing when we first met\u2026
\nJH:<\/strong> Do you want to tell the story or shall I?
\nJG: <\/strong>You do it. I\u2019ll interview you for a change\u2026 Jeremy, how did we first meet, do you remember?
\nJH: <\/strong>Well, John, this is the famous fish story! [Both laugh] Was it 1985?
\nJG:<\/strong> Autumn Winter 1985\/86 so, yes, February-ish 1985.
\nJH: <\/strong>Anyway, I remember I first met you \u2018cos a girlfriend of mine was modelling in your first show and she was going on and on about it and eventually she talked me into going…
\nJG: <\/strong>The Ludic Games show at Olympia. Do you know we had to do that show twice because we had so many people turn up? So many crashers! My first show at British Fashion Week!
\nJH: <\/strong>Yeah, that\u2019s right. I wasn\u2019t really into the idea of going… It was 2\u00bd minutes long, a total mob scene to get into, she had a tree in her hair and all the models came out swinging dead mackerels that they then threw into the audience! I was totally gob-smacked! My mouth was just like hanging open\u2026 I\u2019d never seen anything like it! Strangely enough there was some bloke who looked like Mr. Spock standing in front of me, which added to the whole weirdness. I was just thinking, \u2018Did that just happen?\u2019 \u2013 and it takes quite a lot to shock me.
\nJG:<\/strong> [Laughs]
\nJH:<\/strong> I was totally blown away so I went backstage\u2026
\nJG:<\/strong> And I knew you from your club nights, from the mixes you were doing\u2026
\nJH: <\/strong>I was using audio effects, scenes from films mixed with beats, music\u2026
\nJG:<\/strong> I saw you and I was like, \u2018I know who you are\u2026 I want you to work with me!\u2019
\nJH:<\/strong> And that was it!
\nJG:<\/strong> Easy! And you\u2019ve done the music ever since. We must think of something really hard for you to do next season\u2026 OK, what was the first record you ever got?
\nJH: <\/strong>Oh that\u2019s easy! I was seven years old and it was “Space Oddity” by David Bowie.
\nJG:<\/strong> Cool! That\u2019s a pretty good start.
\nJH:<\/strong> Well, I got it when getting a record was still something special. I remember I got two records that Christmas from my uncle. I got that and Return Of Django<\/em>, you know, Lee \u2018Scratch\u2019 Perry, The Upsetters\u2026 I asked my uncle to get them for me and those were my two records. They lasted me a year. I played them and played them \u2013 the A side, the B side. I bet I still know every word to them to this day\u2026
\nJG: <\/strong>I’m The Upsetter\u2026 Why are you so ambitious? Why are you so malicious?\u2026
\nJH:<\/strong> Exactly! People think we\u2019ve known each other longer than we actually have, if that\u2019s possible. We sort of have but we didn\u2019t know\u2026 I remember, about five or six years after we\u2019d been working together, sitting together in my council flat just chatting about how we\u2019d got to where we were, our childhood, where we\u2019d grown up, that kinda stuff\u2026
\nJG: <\/strong>We were only doing one show a year at the time so we didn\u2019t get to hang out all the time, not like now. [Laughs]
\nJH:<\/strong> It\u2019s like a full time job now! Anyway, I remember telling you about how my Nan had got the original Young Americans LP, and how it still even had the price on, and how she\u2019d got it from Jones and Higgins in Peckham\u2026
\nJG: <\/strong>Oh my god! Jones and Higgins! OK and I said, \u2018I remember that store! I used to go there all the time when I was six!\u2019
\nJH:<\/strong> Yeah, and we both discovered that we\u2019d both grown up in Peckham and pretty much done the same things\u2026
\nJG:<\/strong> Gone down the high street\u2026
\nJH: <\/strong>Gone to the pet shop, played with the eels. And the greatest thing of all was when he would\u2026
\nJG:<\/strong> Stir them up! [Both laugh]
\nJH:<\/strong> Exactly! Stir them up! And do you remember the big parrot? I know you do \u2018cos one of the highlights of all your shows for me was the first show you did at Dior and you did the Peckham Parrot! There was a coat with it embroidered on it. I saw it and I knew\u2026 it was a beautiful moment.
\nJG:<\/strong> From Peckham to haute couture! But yes, we had pretty similar upbringings, didn\u2019t we? Similar experiences\u2026
\nJH:<\/strong> Yeah but we didn\u2019t really work this out till about five years later. Well, it\u2019s not the first thing you talk about\u2026
\nJG:<\/strong> Do you have a favourite show?
\nJH: <\/strong>Well, no, not really. I never expect them to be less than brilliant. I\u2019ve been lucky; it\u2019s been great. You\u2019ve never ceased to be amazing. Plus doing the shows has given me lots more toys to play with than music alone would have.
\nJG: <\/strong>But which show stands out for you?
\nJH:<\/strong> Well, Dior\u2019s 60th anniversary show was a nightmare!
\nJG:<\/strong> It was ambitious!
\nJH: <\/strong>Nightmare! We\u2019d done live strings; we\u2019d done live flamenco; and live gospel\u2026 but never all at once! We sort of bit off more than we could chew and just kept chewing!! It was the biggest logistical nightmare! It was in that huge venue\u2026
\nJG:<\/strong> Versailles\u2026
\nJH:<\/strong> The different groups were spread about 100 metres apart from each other. It was literally a complete\u2026
\nJG:<\/strong> Nightmare!
\nJH:<\/strong> It was really stressful.
\nJG:<\/strong> But so worth it.
\nJH:<\/strong> But I think if I had to choose one show, the first time we used a gospel choir, back in 2001, was really cool. I remember Malcolm McLaren coming up to me afterwards and saying, \u2018One million dollars for a show and you gave it away!\u2019 That was great, that was cool\u2026 And that was the show I met Gwen Stefani at \u2013 it was cool to work with her. And then there were the Kodo drummers \u2013 that was amazing! They were so incredible to work with. They were such perfectionists. They \/so\/ got it. I remember flying to Japan to have a conversation with them and then two weeks later they came over \u2013 fifteen drummers \u2013 and did the rehearsal. There were no clothes, just the music and we all just sat there and it was perfect. It was amazing.
\nJG: <\/strong>It was major.
\nJH:<\/strong> And that was before anything else.
\nJG:<\/strong> Before the acrobats, the staging, the clothes, the hair, the make up\u2026 the whole dramalatta.
\nJH:<\/strong> That is definitely a highlight\u2026 Sometimes you get so inspired by your research trips that when you tell me what you\u2019ve seen, it inspires me, changes everything.
\nJG:<\/strong> Well, finding those drummers was just so inspiring. I always say the music enhances and defines the show \u2013 it gives the clothes colour.
\nJH:<\/strong> \u2018Give the clothes colour!\u2019 I know, I know, you always say that\u2026 Sometimes, though, it\u2019s a bit like Charlie Chaplin; he doesn\u2019t speak but he does something really funny despite the music being really sad. Sometimes you mix it up like that. Well, that\u2019s how I see it. That\u2019s what is so great about you \u2013 you like to mix it up, alter it; tweak it just before you can predict what will come next\u2026
\nJG: <\/strong>So what are you listening to now?
\nJH: <\/strong>You!
\nJG: <\/strong>Good answer. No seriously\u2026
\nJH:<\/strong> Air conditioning\u2026 I listen to everything. There is everything out there but it\u2019s different now because the Internet has everything. You only need to know a few lyrics, a few names and you can type it in and find it. Your record library used to be your base, your inspiration, but now everyone can access everything all the time. What you have to do is use your \/nous\/ \u2013 keep it all up here \u2013 and bring it out at the right moment\u2026 Do you remember the show White Horses?
\nJG:<\/strong> On white horses let me ride away\u2026 to my world of dreams so far away\u2026 Of course I do! Sung by Jacky?
\nJH:<\/strong> Exactly. That was our era. So I would play you tunes like that and I would see your eyes well up. These were theme tunes from our childhood. I would hunt out songs like White Horses, songs that meant something to us, to growing up. Songs you knew, remembered\u2026
\nJG:<\/strong> Oh I \/so\/ remember that show. That\u2019s why music is so important. Do you remember when we had the Blue Peter theme for the cardboard cut-outs collection?
\nJH:<\/strong> I think it\u2019s really important to have a sense of humour, to see the funny side. That show was mental.
\nJG: <\/strong>But there are no rules?
\nJH:<\/strong> Not with you mate! As soon as it gets predictable, you flip it. And that is what\u2019s important. We\u2019ve done the dance thing for a while but why do the normal thing, you know? I like the clash of couture and rock, music and frocks. You have to have great music to set off the clothes. When I started doing this some of my mates in record companies thought it was a joke. They told me to go write a pop song or something. I\u2019ll never forget that. But I really liked doing it \u2013 can\u2019t say why \u2013 so I put a lot of effort into it, really spent a lot of time. And now, thank god, it\u2019s all finally paying off.
\nJG:<\/strong> How long does it usually take to compile the music for the shows?
\nJH:<\/strong> Well, that all sort of depends on you. A normal collage-like mix is about fifteen minutes so I guess that will take about four days but you also have to know what music, the vibe and what to use\u2026
\nJG: <\/strong>You usually send us ideas, tracks and stuff for us to listen to in the studio\u2026
\nJH: <\/strong>Exactly. And then you\u2019ll pick out what you like and we\u2019ll go back and forth and take it from there.
\nJG:<\/strong> Who\u2019d have thought two boys from Peckham would have turned record swapping into a career.
\nJH: <\/strong>You said it, not me!
\nJG:<\/strong> So what you got for me this season\u2026
\nJH:<\/strong> John!!!<\/p>\n