1.Growing Up
I remember my sister and my mum playing music from when I was very young, and I used to sit next to the ‘three in one’ (turntable, tape deck and radio for those who have never heard of it) and listen. As a teenager I started recording stuff off the radio and actually worked out the timing of the recording head of my tape-to-tape player (a cassette player with a play unit and a record unit) so that I could cut out talking and edit recordings to make my own mixtapes. Then I started DJing through scratching and mixing when I was 16 and have been immersed in music ever since… so no complaints at all so far.
2.Inspirations
Carl Cox has always inspired because he’s technically a brilliant DJ, but he also actually enjoys himself when he plays and his enthusiasm from the console I think is infectious to the crowd. The first time I saw him play he had four turntables running and he absolutely rocked the place – I was like, “Wow!” To top it off he is a down-to-earth, cool dude.
3.Your Crew
I started out DJing in Frankston, and Andy Van (Vandalism/Madison Avenue) and Colin Daniels (head honcho at Inertia now) were very close mates – we started our label, Vicious, together back then. Fast-forward to now and the label is still running. DJ-wise I play venues with Colin McMillan (the notorious Funky Col), Tom Evans, Brad Sassman, Greg Sara, Luke McD, and tend to hang at the venues where they all play as well.
4.The Music You Make And Play
The vibe I am bringing to my sets at the moment is very house-orientated, from Toolroom tech housey vibes to deeper stuff, but definitely with a funky edge. Labels like Off Recordings, Suara, Toolroom and Defected are really delivering amazing music. I tend to use lots of a capella when I play, and mix a lot.
5.Music, Right Here, Right Now
I think the music scene is really buzzing. There is so much attention on Aussie artists right now, from Flume to Will Sparks to our own Peking Duk and everything in between. There’s a real friendship too and most of the artists breaking are helping others around them, which is awesome. The lockouts in Sydney are a joke and are really affecting the inner-city vibe in that city, but Melbourne is really rocking with lots of cool venues, one-off events and super-solid club nights. Such an out-of-touch approach by the ruling powers in Sydney is hard to believe in 2014 so let’s hope they get voted out at the next election (although I have to add the fact that there seems to be no united argument from the industry up there, which is not good either and doesn’t help).
Catch John Course atMarquee onFriday September 26.
