Part 2

Using your very latest DJ set as an example, what does your approach look like, from selecting the material and preparing for and opening a set? What were some of the transitions that really worked looking back?

I'm meticulous in my approach and over the years have developed my own way of doing things. I really need to stick to my process to feel confident playing the next set. I heard a saying many years ago that goes –

“Fail to prepare, Prepare to fail,”

and that’s always stuck with me. So, I'm big on preparation. I research the place I'm playing or the people who I’m making the show for and I'll get a feel for what they're about. I won’t specifically cater for them, but I'll allow to inspire my direction.

The start point is something we already spoke about - digging. I tend to take at least a full day looking for new music to play. Then I look through old music until I have an interesting box that mixes old and new and compliments several different directions. Then I try to get into the zone in the basement, which is usually easy as I'm relaxed down there, and play through the record box (both vinyl and digital). I'll remember things that go well together, and sections I liked but just as importantly I’ll remember what didn't go well and combinations to avoid.

I'm all about the transition so when I find a good one, it buzzes me up and I'll try to recreate that again in a live environment. I know there are many DJs who prefer to improvise everything and all kudos to them but I feel more comfortable once I've prepared and find it always produces better results for me personally.

How does the decision-making process work during a gig with regards to wanting to play certain records, the next transition and where you want the set to go? How far do you tend to plan during a set?

I guess we just covered areas of this question but specifically I like to work in threes and always have done.

If I know that the next three records are all going to work well then I can focus on playing them well without wasting time rummaging through a record box. It also lends itself to be able to jump sections or change tack if a certain sound is not going down so well in the club but keep consistency.

As a DJ, you can compose a set of many short tracks or play them out in full, get involved with mixing or keep the tunes as the producer intended them, create fluent segues or tension. Tell me about your personal preferences in this regard, please.

In general, I will try to play the track as the producer intended, even down to playing it as close to the right speed as possible (although there are some notable exceptions that sound great at the wrong speed). I'm much more about seamless and fluent segue ways than short sharp cuts although it’s great to use multiple techniques. It’s down to allowing each record to breathe and changing energy at the right time. If it’s got a great dynamic start then sure, cut it in quick. I do absolutely love and respect DJs that cut to perfection such as DJ Stingray 313.

I will use the practise of using track length to create impact. I remember, early on, being nervous about leaving a long track playing, thinking the crowd would get bored. But I was playing alongside DJ Harvey at the time as we were both residents at back to basics and remember him telling me that a trick was actually to keep playing a groove past the point people were getting bored. A strange thing happens - they actually become more focused and lock into the rhythm so when you finally bring in the next track they go crazy. It takes guts but give it a go …

Pieces can sound entirely different as part of a DJ set compared to playing them on their own. How do you explain this? Which tracks from your collection don't seem like much outside of a DJ set but are incredibly effective and versatile on a gig?

Well, the explanation is in the question - it is precisely because the track is in the mix rather than playing on its own.

A good DJ set can present an individual track in the right moment so that it exists outside of its original intention of being listened to as a stand-alone piece of music (unless of course it's been made specifically for the dance floor). There's often been times when I've been listening to a great DJ on the dance floor and hear a song I don't even like yet they make it sound amazing!  

Even stranger is when you go and find the track to lay yourself but find you still don’t like it!  ‘Go Figure’, as they say in America …

In terms of the overall architecture of a DJ set, how do you work with energy levels, peaks and troughs and the experience of time?

Ah, now you’re talking my language - I’m all about energy and the experience of time! I was once in fabric London for nearly 30 hours over one of their infamous birthday weekends and we got into talking about all the things we could have done in that time; such as fly around the entire planet to Australia!  Time had become something far more fluid and intangible than it exists outside the club. When the club environment is just right it is possible to stay in them for days.

I’m also into set architecture and will try my best to keep a dynamic flow of energy pulsing through the session with peaks and troughs but also with moments of stability that just stay on the groove and don't demand constant attention. You can’t expect people to jump up and down waving their hands in the air for 12 hours straight. Give them a break and they’ll be back for more …

Online DJ mixes, created in the studio as a solitary event, have become ubiquitous. From your experience with the format, what changes when it comes to the way you DJ – and to the experience as a whole - when you subtract the audience?

I'm a DJ whose perfectly happy playing records to myself? I can go in the studio and get really into it - dancing around the studio playing records to no one. It's always been like that for me and didn't just come from the ubiquitous DJ streams we saw through the pandemic, which were often more about the need for DJs to keep up their profile with the hope that people would still remember them.

When we finally came back into the clubs I felt hugely disappointed. Maybe it was over expectation, but the great return had all been too hyped up and I just didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. Suddenly, I was back in that place of having to make people dance and worry about what they may like or dislike when I’d got really used to have the freedom of playing for radio during the pandemic. It was like we'd gone through all of that reset hyperbole yet people just wanted the same ol’ thing.  

It did take quite a while before I finally had that unique and incredible experience of connection through with other people, but that was more at festivals. At a festival everyone is in it together - I had some amazing moments when I remembered why I’ve always loved playing for people. Music is communication - when it’s a two-way conversation it’s electric.

Advances in AI-supported DJing look set to transform the trade. For the future, where do you see the role of humans in DJing versus that of technology?

If we’re considering algorithms as the source code of AI then this has been going on for years. The discover and radio functions on Spotify are already playing most music in bars, restaurants, offices and hairdressers all over the planet. They are incredible tools to use in music discovery and a fantastic way to find new music.

When we step into the club though we want to connect with a human and experience their creativity face to face. And the one thing that keeps coming up in this discussion is that human creativity is an incredibly hard and intangible thing to model with algorithms.

We still know absolutely nothing about human consciousness so skills that require a conscious human are impossible to model through algorithms. We can’t write code for things we don’t understand and human creativity is right up there in the things we don’t understand.

We may be useless at pretty much everything else but DJs continue to pop up alongside creatives in lists of the hardest jobs to replace humans with robots. Surely daft punk have already proved that humans are better than robots at making music after all?

Let's imagine you lost all your music for one night and all there is left at the venue is a crate of records containing a random selection of music. How would you approach this set?

I think after answering a previous question about preparation that this is exactly what I should being doing as an OCD DJ. It would be a great exercise to take that random crate of records and see what comes out of it!

Actually, I played a very similar set to this recently at a listening audiophile bar in Barcelona called Curtis. I was invited to play but only had very different music in my box for the Exit Planet Earth show I was there to play at LAUT the next day. The beauty of digital is always having the possibility of millions of tracks at your disposal, so I jumped on Dropbox and grabbed a whole load of random stuff I wanted to hear in that environment.

I was a little shaky at first but I soon settled down and instincts took over. I found my way through the session and ended up really enjoying it, especially the very last moment when the last few people remaining in the place wanted to hear a Prince song I didn't have it but within an instant we'd worked out how to hook up a phone into the mixer and played the track they wanted, which had them dancing on the tables and leaving the place all smiles.

At the end of the day a DJs job is simply to make people happy …