Interview: Dj Delirious & Thomas Niemi of Happy People

A while back I was at "The Palace", the headquarters of Dj Delirious to have a chat with Thomas Niemi creator and mastermind behind the brand Happy People which in a couple of days will exhibit his new collection in Barcelona Spain for the first time ever! The occasion is of course From Sweden With Love, a first of it's kind event at the restaurant Gente de Pasta.

Find out why Thomas digs Mediterranean underwear and what Dj Delirious has to offer you kids in his goodies bag!



Let's start out with some short personal info.

MC: Marcus Carlsson form Bjorksgatan Lulea, 28 years old also known as Dj Delirious.

TN: And I'm Thomas Niemi, 30 years old, born in Svappavara but I have lived in Lulea for most of my life. I run my brand Happy People, I also Dj under different names, Youngucci, Toast Ghost etc.

I heard you used to have a club together, what was that about?

MC: Thomas usually books me as a DJ whenever I'm in Lulea, at the moment I'm living in Barcelona, but I go back home a couple of times each year and he always books me, Thomas is the promoter and organizer behind the whole thing.

TN: Yeah, me and a couple of other guys run different clubs and invite DJ's and artists.

Do you have artists form Sweden or are there any international names as well?

TN: We have actually had people form all over the world.

And if you have to name drop?

TN: Well then we can name drop two Jamaican artists we had a couple of years ago, Sunjay and Alozade that we flew in form Jamaica. Then we had Michael Knight, Million Styles, Kazey from Paris who is a really good DJ and in a couple of weeks we will have a guy called Strip Steve from Bordeaux, he plays two venues in Sweden one in Umea and another one Lulea and we're the guys behind that. And of-course Marcus who has his place booked with us whenever he's in town.

So what do you normally play Marcus?

MC: Electro-house or whatever you want to call it, it goes under a lot of names these days. A lot of bass and pretty funky stuff and I mix it up with old hits and goodies.

And what is the biggest difference between playing records here in Barcelona as opposed to Sweden, do people like the same music?

MC: Well I feel like there's a big difference, here in Spain the music usually tends to get a bit dark specially here in Barcelona. People here like heavy or minimalist Techno and I'm starting to get a bit bored with it, In Sweden people normally go out to clubs to get there party on without really choosing a place based on the music they play there, specially on Thomas's nights people really expect to hear different types of music and he or Bruce Lp normally play their hip-hop and dancehall before I go on and I really like it cause the people get started up in a good way.

Ok Thomas let's talk a little about Happy People, how did it all start?

TN: I started my first brand in 96 which was more of a skate brand and then in 97 we had our first shop called Rudie. In 2000 I bought the store and changed the name to Agent and at the same time I started having clubs that where called Happy People's Club, from there on I started making clothing and changed the name of the store to Happy People. In the beginning I mostly had T-shirts and hoodies but during the last couple of years I have incorporated more fashion design to broaden it a bit more and now I have collections with shirts, pants, jackets, beanies and bags in addition to the T-shirts and hoodies.

Do you have guest designers or do you do everything yourself?

TN: I do all the design and come up with all the ideas and then i get some help form people like Albin Holmqvist and Victor Persson with some of the graphics since I'm not that good with Illustrator and that part. But all the ideas are mine.

Marcus, you have also done some stuff for Happy People right?

MC: Well since I study Fashion Marketing here in Barcelona I help Thomas with some of the PR and communication and give him tips on that, stuff like writing press releases for magazines and media in general. I also helped out with making the look-books for the two last collections.

TN: It's really nice to have someone to help me out with that since I work so much my self, someone to exchange ideas with and get tips from about stuff I really don't know that much about.

You recently started a web-shop with the help of Marcus right?

Yeah with the help of Marcus, Albin Holmqvist and a Spanish guy I never met, that's the guys who have helped me out with starting the web shop and it's the forst website I have had during these 8 years and it was about time to have one so it feels really good!

Tell us about the new fall/ winter collection you recently released.

TN: Well as you mentioned it recently came out, I always name my collections and this one is called Stand By Me and is inspired by the movie with the same name. I have tried to create the feeling I get when I watch that movie, the American 50's with a Happy People twist.

Are you working on anything new?

TN: I have kind of started on some new stuff, since I work with each season at a time I don's feel the same pressure as the other brands who work on several seasons in advance. I try to build up something based on an idea and when I get an idea the process is relatively short form that to the final product and I really enjoy working that way. Then me and Albin Holmqvist just started on a thing that's really not for any collection, it's more a fun and in season thing.

So how do you like Barcelona and the fashion here?

TN: It's the first time I'm here so far I haven't really seen anything that have inspired me, however I shouldn't really rule anything out in the short time I have been here. (laughs.)

I heard you went to the flee market in Encants, how was that?

TN: Yeah that was really fun, I love going to markets and Encants was insane, stuff everywhere, a bit chaotic but I loved it found a lot of cool stuff. I saw a lot of furniture that I wished I could take with me back home. I kinda like the underwear culture in countries like Spain, France and Greece and I usually get stuff like wife-beaters etc when I'm there. I look at stuff like that, traditional clothing, things elder people wear etc. (laughs.)

Ok let's talk a bit about the expo, is it the first time you're a part of anything like this or has there been more fashion shows?

TN: Let me think. I have been more involved with fashion shows, I also organized some shows on my own for different collections. I feel like it's important cause it the clothing by it self doesn't necessarily show the intention I had with it and by having fashion shows or in this case an expo you are able to show how you think they should be worn or combined so it's going to be really nice! Too bad I can't be here for it, but I'm looking forward to it anyway.

Is it the first time you're showing your stuff outside of Sweden?

TN: No I actually done some things in Norway, mostly in Scandinavia and a thing in Russia as well. Never in Spain though.

So Marcus what can we expect from you on the opening night, have you thought out anything?

MC: Good music! Since it's a Swedish theme to it there's going to be a lot of Swedish stuff, really depends on the crowd. I have some ideas but I won't tell you, it's going to be an surprise! (laughs.)

And finally is there anything you guys want to add, anyone you would like to thank?

MC: I would like to thank for the opportunity to dj at something different than the typical night club, it's going to be a blast!

TN: Yeah I would also like to thank for the opportunity to be a part of something like this, it feels good after all the hard work, it's always nice to get appreciation for the time and effort you put into something. I would also like to thank Albin Holmqvist for all his help.

//Shahin