Inspiration can strike at any moment when you’re a musician or a producer, and in the age of the smartphone, we’re always only a few clicks away from recording a sample that could grow into our next track.
That’s exactly what happened to British drum ‘n’ bass producer and DJ Bou on his flight from London to Las Vegas last week, but the sample in question is very far from what you might expect.
No, Bou didn’t record the roar of the engines during takeoff or a spontaneous conversation with a stranger sat beside him – instead, he sampled the altercation between an enraged passenger and British Airways cabin crew as they attempted to calm the disorderly traveller down.
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Bou had just boarded flight BA275 to Las Vegas from London Heathrow on 6 August when a disturbance broke out. Footage shared to the producer’s Instagram and filmed by his tour manager shows a male passenger struggling with several flight attendants in the aisle before takeoff, refusing to sit down while swearing and shouting aggressively.
Leading the crew’s response to the irate passenger was flight attendant Sophie Turner, who was recorded repeatedly requesting that the man sits down. “If I have to tell you again, I will be restraining you sir, if you do not stay seated,” Turner states firmly in the clip.
Bou later shared an Instagram video narrating the incident: “I boarded the plane, got to my seat, ready for some sleep because I got a long-ass journey ahead – but all I could hear was a load of noise coming from the back, from some drunken idiot,” he says.
“Fair play to the air hostess here because she absolutely held it down and she was doing the most out of everyone. Big love to her, British Airways you need to give her a raise.
The aircraft was forced to return to the gate before armed police boarded and removed him from the plane. It’s since been confirmed that he was later arrested on suspicion of being drunk onboard an aircraft and disobeying the orders of the captain.
“We were finally able to move on to the runway,” Bou said, “but best believe your boy had to sample that shit”. The video then shows the producer chopping up the recording of the altercation in his DAW, sampling Turner’s command to “stay seated” and placing it just before the drop in a new track.
Before the plane had even landed, Turner had spotted Bou’s Instagram story and sent him a DM identifying herself. The pair posed for a photo before disembarking, and Bou invited Turner to his show in Las Vegas that night to join him on stage.
Later that evening at Las Vegas venue We All Scream, Bou played the track – fittingly titled STAY SEATED – for the first time with Turner dancing alongside him. “Big up Sophie, you’re a real one,” the DJ wrote on his Instagram post.
The response from Bou’s fans has been predictably delighted, with commenters demanding that the DJ enlists Turner as tour security and proposing that British Airways rebrand as “British Air Raves”.
