Youve been playing for 15 years?
Ive been involved, I dont exactly remember when I really started but Ive always been into the club scene, I was a promoter before I started DJing and Ive always been involved in dance music house music, electronic music I think it was late 80s, Id say 1987, 1988?... Id always been buying records but as far as spinning goes Id say early 90s. I dont know exactly what year I started but it was quite a long time ago 15, 12 years. But Ive always had turntables and records.
What were the clubs like when you were promoting, during the mid and late 1980s?
When I first started promoting it was awesome. The big two clubs I frequently went to were Graceland (it had just opened up) and Luv-a-fair. So those were the ones when I first started going. It was more underground as far as the crowd goes, not too much trouble, very downtown oriented. Graceland was a big gay bar when it first opened up. It had high ceilings, at nine oclock theres already a line up of 200 people trying to get in. It was pretty risqu, they were playing acid house, they would have go-go dancers dancing on podiums in the middle of the room, they had drag queens, transvestites, straight people, actors, models it was a really good mix crowd, everyone all fit in there. It was very crazy, people running around naked pretty wild back in the day.
What clubs have you been resident of?
The first place that I played at, actually, in a club that I remember, probably where Richards on Richards (is now). Back in 93 I used to be a promoter there on Tuesday night and that was when Tyler T-Bone Stadius first moved to Vancouver. He played for us a little bit and we also had Dickey Doo when he first started DJing and there was another DJ called DJ Quest on the gay circuit and he played house music and I would go in there at nine oclock and start playing my music so thats probably around 93 94.. thats how I got started.
Did you ever play at The Lux?
The Lux? With Mike H? O, that was a long time ago! I remember that place extremely well. Yeah, lots of memories at the Lux that was a long time that was another me that was a great time every weekend we would go down there with Mr. Mike H he was the guy that ran the whole place. Yeah, it was cool. It was a theatre down on Hastings and every weekend it was like a rave but not really a rave. This was before the rave was big. It was a big after-hours.
What kind of music was played back then?
When I first started playing it was house music some 80s stuff, playing a bit of everything and then the rave movement came in and suddenly I got exposed to harder music techno or trance. German techno was really big at that time in the early 90s and that was a big influence. I was into acid Jazz, Jamiroquai, I was into a lot of different stuff back in the day.
And you would always play all that different music at a party?
Yeah I would buy, no I wouldnt. It would depend on what kind of party I played. I started playing house, a little more banging stuff, there was a whole bunch of early influences DJs like T-Bone Tyler Stadius, like DJ Czech so I would hang out with those guys and listen to Czech play you know some big build-ups, some big beats tracks, a little bit of everything. Its really hard to pinpoint, like when I look at my old records I see early house, vocal house to some really banging build-ups techno music.
Nowadays people seem to complain that DJs only play one type of music. When the electronic music scene was just getting started you would hear a larger range of genres, the DJ wouldnt limit himself to one style.
Well, it really depends. The way I look at DJing it is a form of expression. You play what you like to play and hope that people will like what you do. Myself, I play a range from deep house to tech house, progressive house, some breaks I work with the crowds sometimes but I also like to challenge the crowd, take them in a different direction. You know what? Its all up to you. Some people like to go to an all-you-can eat buffet thats got everything, some people like to go to a sushi bar and just have sashimi, Some people like to go to a pizza place and just eat pizza. They dont want to eat sushi when they go to a pizza joint so its hard to tell whats right and whats wrong. You know, people should not really complain. You play what you like and if people like you then you get yourself a resident night and you build yourself up that way You cant really complain. If you dont like it then dont go.
When people complain about Vancouver, saying that its got a horrible nightlife, do you think that theyre full of it?
Vancouver is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It has a very diverse culture, diverse population in the western world. Ive lived in Hong Kong, Ive lived in England, Ive traveled through Europe and other places and Vancouver is probably one of the best places in the world. The problem is that we dont have a big population thats it. You cant knock Vancouver; youd be crazy to do it. This is a place where youve got so much freedom, so much room, so clean, so beautiful. People may complain a lot because they havent seen many other places in the world. Try to live in a communist country for awhile or a place where there are racial problems then you will realize that this is the best place in the world Maybe in nightlife were lacking but thats because we are a small city. If people complain they should do some research or get off their ass and do something themselves, start something, start promoting and get more people into the scene influence people, go and talk to people, play the music, do the CD, you know, go and do it.
A few years ago you toured in China. How was it?
I did a whole bunch of places last year and Im going back again next month, in Asia. I like going to Asia.
I read that you were the first North American DJ to tour China.
No, Im not the first DJ to do China. Lots of people have toured China like Paul Oakenfold, Tiesto, BG, John Digweed played there.
Hong Kong or mainland China?
Mainland China. Theres a great club scene over there, its crazy Its very vibrant its hard to say, it could be very vibrant but its a communist country and they control the situation a lot.
What are the clubs like?
The clubs? Theyre big clubs with huge sound systems, lots of lighting. Theyre good nightclubs. A lot are very expensive to go to. Theres one big problem over there; whenever the club gets too big they kind of have to pay off the right people. The government is pretty corrupt, you know. If they dont like you theyll come into your club and theres like one thousand people there and make everyone pee in the cup and if they find drugs in those people they just arrest those people, throw them into the correctional facility for three months, shave their heads and lock them up for three months. If youre local Chinese people thats what they do to you There are some clubs that are mainly foreigners but there are some clubs that are mainly Chinese so it really really depends on which club you play, you know, which environment you play in most of the clubs in China play Chinese music, like a top 40 club, and on top of that there are lots of clubs that play a lot of trance, some clubs that play house but house is still not a very popular thing, its not as popular as deeper, trancier anthems.
I was on your website and it mentioned something about a VUTAG crew?
I was part of many crews but the VUTAG crew was the old crew of DJ Lace, Pretty Boy and a whole bunch of other DJs but VUTAG was mainly DJ Lace DJ Lace is a pioneer, he's been a DJ for twenty years, he's taught most of the people to write music, taught most of the people how to turn on a computer... he had a studio in the upstairs of the nightclub Mars, he was a DJ there and he somehow convinced the owner to give him the room so he could put all his gear and somehow that turned into his studio. That was the mid '90s and all the Djs would hang out there... we would all go there and hang out... there was me, Czech, James Brown, Pretty Boy and Eric Lewis... just a crew, the VU Crew. And VU Records put out a couple of records... Lace managed to get another studio out of Graceland when Graceland became the Palladium. He had the upstairs.
You came out with your own album called Recital 001
Yeah, that was a mix compilation that Nettwerk Records decided to put out... five years ago... BT put out an album with Nettwerk Records... they managed BT at that time and I was the opening and closing DJ for BT's sets. I guess I played really well so his guys called me and said Hey, would you like to put out a compilation? and I said Sure! So I put a whole bunch of music together and made a compilation.
Have you put out another compilation since then?
No, but I do a lot of mix CDs... I've made 35 CDs already... I was actually one of the first Djs in Vancouver to start making promo CDs. Before that we all had tapes. Everyone had tapes. And making tapes was a real bitch. You know, you have to sit there and... you needed a tape deck and have everything perfectly set up and then the tape would stop and you would have to flip over to the other side. Nowadays you've got everything on the computer, you can sit there and listen to your set, you've can adjust the volume levels, you can do a whole bunch of mastering to make the CD sound better. Also, duplicating tapes is way more difficult.
Can you be a good DJ without being a good mixer?
No... First, you have to have good taste in music and you have to know how to mix them together... And, on top of that, if you have good business skills and personality, you have the right people backing you up.
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