1.Growing Up
I was very lucky to travel with my father from the age of three all over Europe and North Africa – he operated a long-distance haulage company so I would often be perched in the passenger seat. I would say from the age of five I can remember everything that was played along the journey: Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd, Paul Young, Santana, Dire Straits, New Order, Fleetwood Mac, John Lee Hooker, The Doors, Sting, Led Zeppelin… My God, I’m chit-chatting now, this list could go on and on! I was so lucky to be educated from such a young age and I am very grateful for this. To this day I still own and listen to all their albums.
2. Inspirations
Around 1995 the first-ever record I purchased was the D-Livin ‘Why’ on 12-inch. To this day it sits framed in my parents’ house. I went down the jungle route as I found it to be a lot more soulful and reggae-like. I would go to the old jungle and drum’n’bass parties and be that excited juvenile lurking in the background watching Kenny Ken, M-Beats, DJ Krust, Ragga Twins, Hype, Micky Finn… These guys really inspired me to go out and get my first pair of Numark Belt Drives (I couldn’t quite afford the 1200s!). Santa Claus soon delivered in due course, in ’97 I believe.
3.Your Crew
A lot of my mates went down the DnB route while I stuck to jungle. Knocking about with a new bunch of friends in ’96 and ’97, I made the transition to UK garage and funky house. Myself and my buddy Jack Fuller, we run Bad Apple in Sydney, which we started in 2011, and we have been lucky enough to host Huxley, Soul Clap, Mosca, Mark Henning and Mike Huckaby. We have been grateful to support a plethora of internationals and play alongside some amazing local talent throughout Australia.
4. The Music You Play
These records have been with me since I started out… they never get boring, although I have not played Cevin out for years! I’ll definitely be giving that Visnadi tune a little rinse at the upcoming Dubfire show.
Deep Dish – ‘The Future Of The Future’. (I think I’ve replaced the sleeve twice – it’s currently held together by tape!)
Octave One – ‘Blackwater’ (chase the blues instrumental)
Cevin Fisher – ‘(You Got Me) Burning Up’
Visnadi – ‘Racing Tracks’ (Ritchie Hawtin and Villalobos)
Sunship – ‘Cheque-One-Two’
5. Music, Right Here, Right Now
The local music scene is very healthy and more internationals want to come visit Australia to showcase themselves, but we have many obstacles, and for obvious reasons I won’t go into those stupid fucking lockout laws as it’s just soul-destroying. There’s a handful of amazing venues in Sydney that give you the opportunity to play at or showcase your own branded event with your local DJs. There’s still a serious lack of venues. Folk need more choice.
Catch him with Dubfire, Space Junk, AboutJack, Micky Price, Ed Wells atGreenwood HotelonSaturday December 20, ticketsonline.
