Philip Glass loved diving into the house music scene in London in the swingin’ 1990s. He just couldn’t stay up late enough to become a part of it, the legendary composer says in the latest issue of the UK’s The Big Issue:

 

Ruminating on his life-long penchant for staying in, Glass said: “My younger self wouldn’t be surprised that I don’t go out a lot. Though he was more outgoing than I am now. But even when I was younger, I didn’t go to a lot of parties. I realised if I stayed out too late I couldn’t work the next morning. I remember when I came to London in the nineties there was a lot of house music. The problem with the house music scene is they didn’t get going until 1 in the morning and I preferred to be asleep by then. But I stayed up and went to listen – it was the only way to hear the music. I had lots of fun doing that, and I worked with all kinds of people, doing arrangements for people like S-Express. [sic]”

 

The last reference is to “The Glass Cut” of the 1989 S’Express track “Hey Music Lover” (which is available for less than the cost of recycled wax, according to discogs.)

Glass is a major influence on electronic music regardless, though his early riser habits, while good for his own prodigious work, means we’ll probably never hear him remix himself.

Philip Glass was interviewed as part of The Big Issue’s “Letter To My Younger Self” feature which will be released later this week.