CREATORS CONNECT – PADDY QUINN (NO FAKIN’ AND OKQ AGENCY)
Hello everyone, KOJ here again. Welcome back to Creators Connect, where we take a dive into the minds of some of our city’s best and boldest creatives working across the music sector.
This month, I caught up with a true heavyweight of the Liverpool scene – Paddy Quinn. Part of the brains behind No Fakin’, Lost Art and new agency OKQ, Paddy brings together the worlds of music and brands through a genuine passion for creativity and boundary-pushing. I found out more about his impressive journey so far below…
Tell us about your music journey, how did you get into DJing, promoting and music culture generally?
This one’s a really long story, so I’ll try to keep to the highlights. My first experiences of really understanding music as a culture were through my cousins, who used to give me and our kid electro mixtapes and take us to St. John’s Precinct for the BBoy stage. We’d see the likes of Dave the Wave, Street Machine and Broken Glass there…I was pretty young then and not great at breakdancing, but that really started quite a passionate hip hop journey in the late 80s – copping records wherever I could and whenever I had spare money – Eric B and Rakim, Public Enemy, De La Soul…
Fast forward to the mid 90s. We used to travel over to Manchester for gigs and record shopping and through that we picked up on a club night called Headfunk, with an amazing DJ called Chubby Grooves (we became really good friends and he’s an integral part of our story). The night touched on Hip Hop, but was much more eclectic and really opened us up to a world of possibilities exploring samples, Jazz, Funk, Soul… connecting the dots. We would travel over there religiously every Friday, then hit Fat City Records (where Chubby worked) the next day to buy as much of what we’d heard the night before as we could. After doing this for 2 years, building both our record collections and our confidence behind the decks, we thought we’d try our own club night in Liverpool. We knew Tony (Butler) who had Heebie Jeebies at the time and let us try a Wednesday night… We were pretty green, the flyer was homemade and had no date on it but from day one we were hooked. Tony sold Heebies on but after a year or so opened up the Zanzibar, and thus No Fakin’ was born.
Got to shout out Tony here. Rest In Peace my friend… You always had faith in us, energised us, made us believe we could do anything… and we tried.
You’re knOwn for creating experiences and campaigns which see music culture intertwined with events and commerce. Can you explain how you got into that space and how that cross-section works?
DJing and promoting in Liverpool, while amazing, wasn’t always sustainable. I always had retail jobs here and there, cool ones though, which opened me up to the brand world. I think pretty early on I got a good understanding of how music and brand were intrinsically linked, probably a bit ahead of the curve and pre-social media. I started to dabble with bits of ‘brand partnerships’ initially through sponsorship, which really started to open up the marketing world for me. Now it’s become such a huge aspect of both the artist’s and the brand’s cycle. I like to think that with our agency, OKQ, we’re really at the forefront of this world connecting brands to artists, culture and community through campaigns and activations.
Your work with size? and Lost Art is inspirational. Can you explain the part music played in your work with both?
Just as brand and music go hand in hand, so does skateboarding. No Fakin’ and Lost Art have been partners (unofficially, then officially) since day one. Me and Mackey were both making, at least, annual pilgrimages to NYC in the late 90s/early 00s and bringing flavours of what we were experiencing out there back to our respective scenes here. We supported each other and the two passions became inseparable for both of us.
Some time in 2016 my mate (and now agency partner) Pete was the creative director at size? We’d catch up on dog walks and shoot the breeze. He approached me with an idea for a culture-forward, music-led franchise for size?, which really leaned into some of the stuff I had been exploring independently. He brought me in to help develop size? sessions connecting brand and music through instore and off site activations. Our first one was with Talib Kweli and we would go on to work with loads of incredible artists and many of our heroes: Wu Tang Clan, De La Soul, Mick Jenkins, Jay Roc, JayKae, Jazzy Jeff, Rapsody, Joy Crookes… A really impressive body of work.
Can you tell us about your new venture OKQ and how music is involved?
OKQ really builds on that early work we did with size? It’s a creative agency driven by culture, community and collaboration, connecting artists with brands through global campaigns and activations. It’s amazing getting to work with your mates for a brand we’re really into and artists we genuinely love every day.
Can you name 3 artists or bands that you feel seamlessly and authentically blend music, style and commerce the best?
Avoiding the obvious shouts, I’m gonna be biased here and say Sainté and Cat Burns. We’ve really followed their careers from day one and helped bring them into the brand world at early stages in their respective journeys. We’ve seen first hand how impactful they can be in a brand space. They’ve both got a really unique style that really resonates with today’s young consumers, and through their music and campaigns anything they touch lands with real authenticity, credibility and relevance.
I’m also gonna shout out Edson and the Patta Crew. They came from a music background, DJing, throwing parties in Amsterdam and working behind the counter at Fat Beats before setting up Patta, which has gone on to be one of today’s leading streetwear brands. Everything they do leans into music and culture, always authentic, always considered, never compromised.
I see Koj on them adapt outdoors ads though… Real talk.
Last question, what 5 tracks would be included in the soundtrack for your career?
I could never pick 5 definitive tracks, but I’ll drop in 5 that spring to mind that have some significance for this part of my life:
Main Source – Fakin’ The Funk
I love ‘Breaking Atoms’ and Large Professor, and this is where we took the name of the club night (and everything else) from.
All Natural – 50 Years
A big underground independent record when we started out and one of the first US artists we put on in Liverpool.
Lootpack – Lost Art
Where Lost Art took its name from off the back of us putting Lootpack on in the Zanzibar, it was a real moment for us and Liverpool clubland.
Mobb Deep – Shook Ones
Obviously a certified hip hop anthem, it blew my mind when I first heard it but also being lucky enough to put them on in Liverpool was a real bucket list moment for me.
First In Command – Pest Control
One of the first Liverpool Hip Hop Groups, putting the city on the map with an album years ahead of its time with a unique story of its own. I was fortunate to be able to play a small part in this finally coming out decades later too and fortunate to be able to call them friends.
Words by KOJ / @bigdaddykoj
