It’s one of those urban myths that turns out to be true: the UK’s pioneering acid, techno and house legend Carl Cox actually does live in Frankston.
‘Frangers’, as it’s colloquially known, is at the end of a train line 55 kilometres south-east of Melbourne’s CBD and the butt of many a bogan joke (e.g. What’s the first question asked during a Frankston quiz night? ‘What you looking at?’). But Cox loves it.
“I bought my house here in Frankston 12 years ago and I’m still here now,” he says. “Every time I come back it feels like new. I see my neighbours again and go to my local store up the road and they’re like, ‘Hey Carl, you’re back again, we saw you on Spicks And Specks. It’s hilarious. I love it.”
Moreover, Cox is unabashedly fond of Aussies, electing to take up residence here after playing his Millennium gig in Sydney (after which he flew to Hawaii over the international date line to ring in 2000 all over again). “People have been so accepting of me in this country – I’m able to be myself,” he explains. “Living and growing up in the UK were fine, but I find I’m only able to become three-quarters of myself there and the rest of the time I feel I’m stifled. So coming to Australia, I feel free.”
Cox, who started out as a mobile disco DJ, was on the cutting edge of the nascent bangers scene in the ’80s and has been a stalwart ever since. Even the big man himself is somewhat bewildered when it comes to his longevity. “I can remember when I played my first acid house record to a crowd that had been listening to hip hop and funk and cut-up breakbeats – the dancefloor cleared,” he recalls, unleashing his trademark contagious laugh. “But then somehow, this music became the very soundtrack of our existence to date. No one could have foreseen it. I can remember saying in an interview that, ‘By the time I’m 45, I’m gonna be done; too old for this thing,’ and 55 I am now. I’ve been involved in this music now for nearly 30 years. I never knew that my career would span for that much. You know, I never even had a job that lasted longer than six months.”
Indeed, Cox is in awe of how techno has unfolded over time. “This thing has lasted longer than punk, longer than rock’n’roll,” he says. “Yeah, longer than rock music to some point, because a lot of them rock legends are dying off or not performing any more. In our lifetime, the sound of the kick drum is outlasting nearly every single musical genre that’s been out to date. I know we’re not The Beatles and I’m not John Lennon, but that’s unbelievable.”
Perhaps understandably, given his long service to the scene, Cox has made a few noises about edging towards retirement. For instance, he’s pulled the pin on his legendary residency in Ibiza at Space after 15 years and folded Global, his weekly podcast radio show (Kiss FM broadcasts it in Australia every Monday). Plus, he’s easing back from DJing a crazy 80 to 100 shows each year to a more than modest 38.
“If you’re going to any of those events, they’re going to be so special because people may or may not know that it could be or couldn’t be the last party I do,” he says. “I’m not saying it will be the last party that I do, but what I am saying is that even for me, I need to move on at some point and do something else.”
It’s a fair call. For instance, in practical terms, his gig at Space took up every Monday to Wednesday during party season, notwithstanding the fact that he actually performed on Tuesdays. So, how’s he going to fill the free time? Cox doesn’t hesitate. “Fishing, sleeping, try to to have a relationship, see my family and friends even more. I’m loving the idea that I can now tell people, ‘I do have time to see you.’ I do have time to kick back and relax. I do have time to even have a relationship, if that arises.
“Before, I never had the opportunity – it was very difficult. Unfortunately, my mum died last year, so the time I would have loved to spend with her, well, it was very difficult. I’d go back and forth to Barbados to see her and eventually she died. So I’m kind of happy that I was able to see her as much as I could, but if I didn’t have a residency I would have seen her more. I don’t want to have that with my sisters or my niece in my future.”
Realistically, though, Cox isn’t showing any signs of going quietly into the night. On top of gigging around the world (for instance, he’s headlining Tomorrowland in Belgium in July), he runs the record label Intec Digital, is a dedicated rev head (he heads up his own racing team and is mad for dirt biking), and is taking his own dance party Pure – a showcase of new techno talent – into its second year Down Under.
“You know, it was even difficult to cull the amount of parties that I do this year. In the end, the gigs will go down from 38 to 30, to 25 to 20. I’m not going to retire – it’s not possible. I think I’m going to die, eventually, over the turntables.”
Carl Cox DJs at Pure 2017,at theHordern Pavilion onSaturday April 22, with Adam Beyer, Noir, Eric Powell and more.
