Five Things with Simon Caldwell

As so many DJs will attest, I grew up surrounded by musical inspiration in a musical household, with a cello-playing mother, a vinyl collection including the Baja Marimba Band and Herb Alpert, plus regular doses of Countdown. Surely it was a foregone conclusion that I would become a DJ. Classically trained to fourth finger violin, the influences run deep.

2. Inspirations

Kraftwerk would have to be my favourite live band. I first heard them in primary school and have been attempting to emulate their stage presence ever since. The funk, dance inspiration and general life coaching comes from the Godfather, James Brown. Except for the wife-beating and guns stuff. Seriously, though, I still find the soul, jazz and funk of the ’60s and ’70s and the boogie and house of the ’80s to be my main inspiration. They pretty much set the template for everything we are still playing and listening to. I put getting into funky music down to my Sudanese flatmate Ashraf in London, circa 1989.

3. Your Crew

In the ’90s I had a stint with the gangsters of All Funked Up, and managed to avoid doing time. Now I be rolling with the Mad Racket homies and doing some work on the side for the FBi.

4. The Music You Make And Play

I play a lot of styles. At Civic with Dreems I’ll be mainly playing house and techno music. I have a penchant for Detroit bass and German electro in my downtime.

5. Music, Right Here, Right Now

The Sydney club scene is as healthy as it’s ever been, if your idea of healthy is a morbidly obese gambling addict sitting around watching MMA, drinking cheap takeaway piss, listening to talkback radio (and chill trap) and complaining about The Noisy Young Folk. The upside of all this difficulty has been something of a uniting of the scene, which hopefully continues.