Damian Harris the DJ has never let the tastes of Damian Harris the label mogul influence his ability to rock a party. Before he founded the influential Skint Records in 1995, Harris was a fan of such abstract dance imprints as Ninja Tune, Warp and Mo’ Wax. But you’d never know it by the tunes he selects for his Big Beat Boutique parties in his hometown of Brighton, England.

"I’m quite a girlie DJ," says Harris (aka Midfield General). "Girls tend to like my DJing. I always think, if girls start dancing, boys start dancing and it’s a good club."

Since 1996, Big Beat Boutique has been the place where Harris, Norman Cook (aka Fatboy Slim), and promoter G-Monday test out the latest Skint releases. According to Harris, the party was borne out of his dissatisfaction with the club scene of the day.

"I was DJing mainly at bars," Harris recalls. "There were lots of records coming out at the time that you could nod your head to; I wanted records that had more energy. House was going through one of its lulls. We wanted records that you can play at peak time that weren’t out-and-out house music. As a DJ, I’ve always thought it’s very important to have a balance between playing new stuff and playing more cutting-edge stuff, but you’ve also got to make people dance. That was the reaction to what was happening at the time in clubs.

"The clubs were becoming DJ wankfests, DJs playing rare dubs they had rather than thinking, ‘Does anyone actually want to listen to this?’ I hear people playing and being non-conformist and cutting-edge as they can be. I admire that and I’d like to get an element of that into when I’m DJing – but ultimately you have to make people dance. We still appeal to dance people, but we never took ourselves very seriously so we didn’t worry about putting out something that was cheesy, an anthemic record or a party tune."

Since its inception, Big Beat Boutique has combined bits of house with hip hop and drum-n-bass into its primary DJing style, and the organizers gave the evening its handle to reflect its large range of beats. Over time, however, the club became largely responsible for the Big Beat tag and, in some circles, the term became less than complimentary.

"With any musical genre, you get people jumping on the bandwagon and the quality drops," says Harris. "I was so relieved Big Beat started getting slagged. It became dead again. It was never our policy to have one style of music. I prefer the label to have a balance like a whole night would. When we do the Boutique, the ideal night is someone playing Northern Soul or slow dub stuff – not necessarily dancefloor stuff – when people are coming in. Then you have your midtempo, chuggy, foot-tapping one and then Norman would come and take the roof off in the last half-hour. That was always how I enjoy a night and the label is kind of like that."

Indeed, new project On the Floor at the Boutique (Skint/Columbia), a compilation mixed by Lo Fidelity All Stars, runs the gamut of grooves. From rump-shakin’ R&B (Blackstreet’s "No Diggity"), mad funk (Armand Van Helden’s "Funk Phenomena"), strident hip hop (BDP’s "You Must Learn") and the straight-up goofy (The Tams’ "Be Young Be Foolish Be Happy), there’s a vibe happening. Of course, Big Beat floor starters like Dirt’s "Raw Element" and Les Rythmes Digitales’ "(Hey You) What That Sound?" carry the disc and keep it in full-on party mode.

What put Harris in position to open Skint was a bit of a misadventure. Having worked at Loaded Records for a year and a half, he asked his bosses if he could have a go at a label putting out anything that wasn’t house. "The funny thing was they were very close to sacking me because I was rubbish – I’d get in late and I wasn’t that reliable," laughs Harris. "Norman said he told them to sack me. J.C., who’s the other partner, said, ‘I don’t know what to do about Damian. He’s a mate and everything, but he’s bloody useless.’ And apparently Norman said, ‘You should sack him then.’ A week later he went back to J.C. and said, ‘What happened? Did you sack him?’ And J.C. said, ‘We’ve given him his own label.’"

With the Skint roster boasting Fatboy Slim, Lo Fidelity Allstars, Bentley Rhythm Ace, Req, Indian Ropeman, Cut La Roc, Midfield General, among others, Harris stays true to the beliefs that started the label. For his own Midfield General album project, Harris maintains the same Boutique mentality. Keeping the balance between a few club tracks, a few midtempo numbers and a couple of vocal songs, Harris even has a comedian on one of the tunes.

For Harris, the Skint venture has blown up beyond his wildest dreams. The label signed a deal with Sony that gives Skint full artistic control, in addition to worldwide appeal. This allows the label to keep its artists as their profile grows, instead of losing them to various major labels. According to Harris, the A&R process still gives him a thrill.

"You know that thing when you’re got a new record and you can’t stop playing it to people?" says Harris. "That’s when I know I’m going to sign an act or a record. It just reflects my personal taste. They work in different situations. The unexpected – things that I never thought people would do – excites me. Some people can make a good record and it can be quite cliched, but it will work. I’ve got to get really excited about it and think this person needs to be heard. If I’m not like that about a record, there’s no point in us putting it out."