Part 2
Can you describe your state of mind during a DJ set? What supports this ideal state of mind and what are distractions? Are there strategies to enter into this state more easily?
What supports the ideal state of mind for me is definitely sobriety. So unless it's a special occasion or I have friends with me and you know, they've come on a trip, then I really try to stay clear of alcohol when I DJ. And yeah my state of mind ideally is completely embraced and fully in the flow of that moment when I'm playing each track. Hopefully it's a happy state of mind which means I'll probably be dancing.
Strategies to enter in that state more easily are definitely just to get a good sleep before the gig. Traveling can be quite tiring so I will get sleep in after dinner because my usual play time is around 3 am so it means that from 11 to midnight, I can get a solid 3 hour nap which also means that I have banked up more sleep in total on that night, even if I might be finishing at 6 am and I'll always have a coffee in my room when I wake up. So those two things really allow me to be a bit more physically.
Rest and coffee enable me to wake up from the sleep and be ready to go and ready to flow into a hopefully a great set.
What are some of the considerations that go into deciding which track to play next? What makes two tracks a good fit? How far do you tend to plan ahead during a set?
I love when it sounds like you're remixing on the fly.
Let's say you have a super stripped-back track and then the other track that you mix in has some sort of weird FM-vibes or it's got a crazy element. And if you mix them in an unpredictable way, where it's not just the last bit of the first track into the first bit of the second track, it's more like really incorporating those two tracks - maybe even using three decks, which is something that I always do or at least always try to do. So that's what keeps it interesting to me. As far as the considerations that go into deciding which track to play next go, what matters is getting the energy where it needs to go next.
Are the crowd looking a bit tired and like they've danced loads and they maybe need to come down or they need something with a longer break so that they can just stand there for a few minutes? Or do they look like they're not dancing enough? That's usually my main thought pattern when it comes to deciding what to play next and I think that's actually the most important skill whilst DJing: being able to read the crowd and knowing where to go from that and taking them on a journey as opposed to just banging tracks because you like the sound one straight after the other.
Would you say you see DJing as improvisation? As composition in the moment? Or as something entirely different from these terms?
I think if the set is not prepared then for sure it's improvisation and composition in the moment. But I know a lot of DJs are always preparing their sets almost track for track and of course that's not improvisation. I do do that sometimes, like I mentioned earlier. But most of the time I feel if you're in the right state of mind and you're in you're in the flow, then you should be able to improvise absolutely fine.
Seeing DJs improvising and maybe even going cross- genre is what I love as well.
How do playing music at home and presenting it in the club compare and relate? What can be achieved through them, respectively, and what do you personally draw from both?
Well when you play music at home, or in the studio, let's say, it's just for yourself. Whereas in the club, it really is for the whole dance floor. It is great when the artist has a sound and of course, it's still your music and your sound that you want to play - but it's also for the hundreds of people in front of you to dance to.But when I'm playing music at home, I really have time to listen in a really relaxed state without any distractions around me. So I'll pick up on things and elements in the tracks that I would maybe not when I'm in a packed club or somewhere outside of my house.
How would you describe the relationship between your choices and goals as a DJ and the expectations, desires and feedback of the audience? How does this relationship manifest itself during a performance and how do you concretely tap into it?
Well in an ideal gig, these two elements you've just described are totally synced. So hopefully my expectations, desires and feedback as a DJ are exactly how the crowd is feeling. The relationship should be seamless between myself as a DJ and and the crowd on the dance floor. Concretely tapping into it takes experience, knowledge of the music that you're playing and a relaxed state of mind.
Especially, thanks to the storage facilities of digital media, DJ sets could potentially go on forever. Other than closing time, what marks the end of a DJ performance for you? What are the most satisfying conclusions to a set?
What I really love to end a DJ set with - and really love when other do this as well - is an old classic track. Something like The Future Sounds of London's "Papua New Guinea", which I heard Function play as his last track in Bergheim once. That really inspired me to actually come home and make my own edit of that track so that I could play it in my sets moving forward - which I've done and I do play often, as many of you know.
So that's what I love, love love to hear other DJs doing and also just throwing something different out there - perhaps something experimental they've created in the studio or something that's outside of the genre or, if you're a techno-DJ, something that's much more melodic and a real breakbeat hands-up moment where people are just smiling and getting the best feelings. That's what I like to see.
Art can be a purpose in its own right, but it can also directly feed back into everyday life, take on a social and political role and lead to more engagement. Can you describe your approach to art and being an artist?
My approach is kind of not to have an approach if I can say that. I think art should be art without thinking of what we should create or how we should act or what we should be doing and it's simply being in the moment in the state of flow, creating art purely for the sake of art.
I do like to see other artists like for example Banksy or someone completely out the music scene. This is a good example for an artist, who is challenging political and social stances in society and spreading messages or spreading alternate messages, should we say?
