Born to a Punk Rocker and Badass Raver Mom, Archie Hamilton Carries the Torch

Archie Hamilton makes no bones about it: He’s on the Russians' payroll. Moscow Records and Moss Co., Hamilton’s labels, are nods of thanks to a friend of Russian descent who invested early on. Moscow releases are typically more clubby dance-floor tracks, and Moss Co. is a minimal sound. Moscow Records' classic tech-house is a genre the world needs. It’s a music category name Hamilton coined. His sound is techy and driving. It’s dark, yet good for dancing, grinding, or sex — shagging as they say in England, Hamilton’s home. He’s mashed London and Berlin and it sounds like “Confusion,” a popular track from his 2018 Wild Things EP. He’s also reconnecting with early 2000’s feelings and beats he experienced on the dance floor at London’s Fabric Nightclub. Hamilton has a lot of respect for DJ-producers and tech-house legends Nathan Coles and Terry Francis. The two held bimonthly residencies at Fabric for more than a decade and impacted many – Hamilton for certain.

Another legend and influence is his mom. Mamma Hamilton is an absolute badass. She was in a punk band called Pam and the Paperclips. A raver also, she took Hamilton to some of his first music festivals. Last summer in Ibiza was highlighted when mom joined him in the DJ booth. “It was an emotional moment," he says. "I had to turn around and give her a hug. It was her that said I had to quit my sales and marketing job. I owe her so much.”

Mom supported Hamilton’s piano, violin, and drums lessons. Only a mother’s love can endure a beginning drummer. The payoff is a full schedule of gigs and a burgeoning record label. He plays in Leeds, U.K., on July 14 and then it’s across the pond for Miami on Thursday, July 19, at Floyd. Momentum rolls into August with a date at Electric Island Festival in Toronto, and September is highlighted in Berlin at one of the best clubs in the world, Kater Blau. Mom should be proud.

Hamilton’s rise has been slow. He’s happy with the success of his mom in the booth, the time he manned the controls at Fabric, and his performance with Carl Cox at Privilege in Ibiza. And Romania is a recent feather in the cap – he loves Eastern Europe now. It reminds him of “turn of the century Ibiza,” back when the scene was disorganized and organic.
“[Romania] has the unbridled hedonism we love in the culture – no rules, no time limits. I was just there on Friday in Cluj. I played in the foothills of the mountains, an open-air show. Fantastic,” he adds.

He returns to Miami with good memories from earlier in the year at Miami Music Week, which was his first. In his MMW debut, he checked off all the big venues and parties: Heart Nightclub, Space, Rapture Music Festival, and Get Lost.

Among myriad wins for Hamilton, there is one minor issue — it’s SEO-related. A search for “Archie Hamilton,” the DJ’s real name, returns three Archies. In one of the all-time great ironies, another Archie Hamilton is a retired British politician. Coincidentally, the Conservative Party pol was involved in the 1994 Criminal Justice Act, which aimed to take down rave culture. The other is a British race car driver.

“Yeah, I’m kinda the antagonist of the politician and the race car driver," he laughs. "Well, he’s killing me on Google. He has amazing SEO.”

Archie Hamilton. 11 p.m. Thursday, July 19, at Floyd, 34 NE 11th St., Miami; 305-456-5613; floydmiami.com. Tickets cost $10 via residentadvisor.com.