Part 2

Let's say you have a gig coming up tonight. What does your approach look like – from selecting the material and preparing for, opening and then building a set?

Well since my sets involve so many DJ tricks, there’s never any simple way to prepare my sets. I also make mastered edits of every single track I play, which takes an incredibly long amount of time. I think that is what makes my sets sound special though, so it’s always worth making the time to do the best job I can.

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?

I think the best way to answer that is that, whilst I’m rubbish at a great many things in life, DJing is luckily something I am really good at. So, aside from nerves about remembering which track to play, and when, plus trying to judge the type of crowd I’m about to play to beforehand, the thing I try and tell myself when walking out in front of an audience is that I just need to be myself and then with the courage to believe in myself a bit, it will bring the best out of me.

I do get incredibly anxious before DJ sets though, and it still surprises me when people find that surprising! I just really care about doing the best I can, I don’t really understand why other DJs wouldn’t get anxious to be honest.

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 structure my sets around specific tune combinations, with other single track selections available for padding between DJ tricks which cover many different vibes – meaning I can cater for the crowd’s response depending on where I am.

That means that whilst I play a different set each time, for every tune I play I already know which other 3-4 tunes will fit together next. It’s the best way I have found of managing to keep your head-up whilst playing to the crowd, but also getting the technical skills on point at the same time.

Plus, I practise a lot. I really think you can never practise enough.

Would you say you see DJing as improvisation? As composition in the moment? Or as something entirely different from these terms?

Not really. I just see it as a performance. I think the speed at which you mix records together and rearrange the set-list order is improvised based on the vibe of the crowd, but I definitely turn up to gigs ready to do a specific thing. I think that’s what people want me to do.

Doing headline DJ sets isn’t really about mucking about or experimenting with some new ideas, it’s about delivering a blinding performance. That’s the most important thing.

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?

For me, that difference in setting comes from doing radio show mixes. There is a very different dynamic at play when I do radio shows because rather than conducting a live audience, it’s a platform to try out new ideas and give listeners more of a sense of what I’m listening to and excited by from moment-to-moment. I guess you could say there’s less emphasis on trying to achieve dazzling DJ tricks and more focus on breaking music.

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?

Simple one to answer for me, I do what I love and I’m blessed for that to have been the case for so many years. I always want to make the most of every moment, because you never know what might happen next.

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?

That’s an interesting question because I think, perhaps unlike most DJs, there is definitely a point at which I think I’ve kinda done everything I came to do and said what I have to say.

I’m a great believer in there being a beginning, middle and end to a set - structures the gig like a proper show. I guess there’s also a point at which it perhaps undervalues what you’ve been doing so frantically for the last hour and a half if you then carry on going for another few hours.

It would be almost impossible for me to do a technical live DJ set for more than 2 hours. If it was easy then I wouldn’t be pushing myself enough.

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?

Well I’m sure not everything I do could be considered “art”, but I am very proud of the integrity I’m managed to maintain during my career due to staying very true to the music I love and remaining a passionate fan of the music I get to present to people in my sets.

Having done this for 12 years professionally (and having learnt to laugh at myself when life just gets too ridiculous these days), there have been many moments when I’ve been conscious of perhaps turning down opportunities that could of made me a lot more money, but I have no regrets and I’m happy about that.