NATURE VERSUS NURTURE
Ahead of DJ Nature’s regional debut at Analog Roomon Thursday, July 26thDubai Night spoke with the man himself…
What has been happening on the touring front?
Not much to be honest. I have been really concentrating on production in between gigs though which has been good.
Does it still hold the same amount of magic it once did?
Hmmmmm it’s a good question. It really depends on the where the gig is i think. Whenever i get an offer from a place I have never been to before, like Dubai which is actually in a continent i have never been to, i am incredibly excited.
Your life as DJ Milo back in The Wild Bunch days seems like a different life away, is that the case or are the two still linked in some way?
Aesthetically I think there is a link because of my basic musical foundation being of West Indian roots, but that’s basically where the link ends. I never link the two when I am doing interviews normally because I want whatever project I am working on at the time to stand on its own merit and not have my past affiliations cloud peoples’ judgment of what they are hearing today from me. I guess I should give people more credit, but I have been guilty of it myself when artists cross genres.
Being a Scotsman, scanning through your RA mix from a few years ago I couldn’t help but notice a Deacon Blue track sneaking in there. Are you a fan of the band or was it more that particular remix that spoke to you?
It was that particular mix. Living in NY I had never heard of Deacon Blue before. As far as I knew that was the title of one of my favourite Steely Dan songs.
How do you feel the disco scene of today measures up against that of when you were coming up?
Well I don’t think I am the best person to ask about that because I am not really “on the scene”. When I started going to clubs in the 70’s it was the beginning of the disco scene and I was living in the UK. Of course, we all know it was huge back then but very limited amount of records available.
I know now when you go to record store there a huge amount of songs available. If we are talking about the club scene I really can’t comment on that too much because I don’t go out like that unless I am playing and then my perspective is different and really focused on what I am playing. The one thing I found strange is how people face the DJ in clubs today, no one did that when I was going to clubs. People were there to lose themselves in what the DJ was playing and not the personality of the source. But I’m quite oblivious to it when I work now and just get on with trying to touch people emotionally through the music. Help them forget whatever has been stressing them the week previous even if it’s just for a few hours.
Who do you feel is keeping the original disco spirit alive at the moment?
Again, I am not the most knowledgeable about what is going on out there as I don’t search around the net to see what other people are doing, what people are listening to, who’s “hot” and all that sort of stuff. I just don’t have time for it. I guess for the little I have seen by chance guys like Tony Humphries, Louie Vega and Harvey are out there doing their thing still. I guess they are from an early era that were connected to the original scene to an extent so I guess they carry that on.
What (non-disco) artists have you been digging recently and where did you find them?
I guess when it comes to labelling non-disco you mean disco sub genres such as techno, deep house, minimal etc? There are too many artists that I like or have liked over the last few years because they have consistently put great music out. Artists like Larry Heard, Lawrence, Rod Modell, STL, Bradock, Juno6, DJ Rush, Vega, Lars Bartkuhn, Alveol, Jamal Moss and many others.
What has been happening in the studio lately and what do you have coming up?
Well I have been working on material for my own label which i am starting later this year. It will be called “FWD EVR” (forward ever) and the 1st release will be the “Conflicting Interests” EP.
What is your thoughts ahead of playing in Dubai? Have you heard much about the scene here?
I haven’t heard anything about the scene, but I am incredibly excited as I stated earlier here.
Do you approach a new city or country the same way – just do your thing and work it out from there?
I pretty much just do my thing, as i guess whoever book me know what i do. I mean if folks listen to my mixes on Soundcloud they should see i pretty much cover a lot of ground across genres within the “house” label.
DJ Nature headlines Analog Room at Stereo Arcade (Doubletree By Hilton, JBR) on Thursday, July 26th.
Ahead of DJ Nature’s regional debut at Analog Roomon Thursday, July 26thDubai Night spoke with the man himself…
What has been happening on the touring front?
Not much to be honest. I have been really concentrating on production in between gigs though which has been good.
Does it still hold the same amount of magic it once did?
Hmmmmm it’s a good question. It really depends on the where the gig is i think. Whenever i get an offer from a place I have never been to before, like Dubai which is actually in a continent i have never been to, i am incredibly excited.
Your life as DJ Milo back in The Wild Bunch days seems like a different life away, is that the case or are the two still linked in some way?
Aesthetically I think there is a link because of my basic musical foundation being of West Indian roots, but that’s basically where the link ends. I never link the two when I am doing interviews normally because I want whatever project I am working on at the time to stand on its own merit and not have my past affiliations cloud peoples’ judgment of what they are hearing today from me. I guess I should give people more credit, but I have been guilty of it myself when artists cross genres.
Being a Scotsman, scanning through your RA mix from a few years ago I couldn’t help but notice a Deacon Blue track sneaking in there. Are you a fan of the band or was it more that particular remix that spoke to you?
It was that particular mix. Living in NY I had never heard of Deacon Blue before. As far as I knew that was the title of one of my favourite Steely Dan songs.
How do you feel the disco scene of today measures up against that of when you were coming up?
Well I don’t think I am the best person to ask about that because I am not really “on the scene”. When I started going to clubs in the 70’s it was the beginning of the disco scene and I was living in the UK. Of course, we all know it was huge back then but very limited amount of records available.
I know now when you go to record store there a huge amount of songs available. If we are talking about the club scene I really can’t comment on that too much because I don’t go out like that unless I am playing and then my perspective is different and really focused on what I am playing. The one thing I found strange is how people face the DJ in clubs today, no one did that when I was going to clubs. People were there to lose themselves in what the DJ was playing and not the personality of the source. But I’m quite oblivious to it when I work now and just get on with trying to touch people emotionally through the music. Help them forget whatever has been stressing them the week previous even if it’s just for a few hours.
Who do you feel is keeping the original disco spirit alive at the moment?
Again, I am not the most knowledgeable about what is going on out there as I don’t search around the net to see what other people are doing, what people are listening to, who’s “hot” and all that sort of stuff. I just don’t have time for it. I guess for the little I have seen by chance guys like Tony Humphries, Louie Vega and Harvey are out there doing their thing still. I guess they are from an early era that were connected to the original scene to an extent so I guess they carry that on.
What (non-disco) artists have you been digging recently and where did you find them?
I guess when it comes to labelling non-disco you mean disco sub genres such as techno, deep house, minimal etc? There are too many artists that I like or have liked over the last few years because they have consistently put great music out. Artists like Larry Heard, Lawrence, Rod Modell, STL, Bradock, Juno6, DJ Rush, Vega, Lars Bartkuhn, Alveol, Jamal Moss and many others.
What has been happening in the studio lately and what do you have coming up?
Well I have been working on material for my own label which i am starting later this year. It will be called “FWD EVR” (forward ever) and the 1st release will be the “Conflicting Interests” EP.
What is your thoughts ahead of playing in Dubai? Have you heard much about the scene here?
I haven’t heard anything about the scene, but I am incredibly excited as I stated earlier here.
Do you approach a new city or country the same way – just do your thing and work it out from there?
I pretty much just do my thing, as i guess whoever book me know what i do. I mean if folks listen to my mixes on Soundcloud they should see i pretty much cover a lot of ground across genres within the “house” label.
DJ Nature headlines Analog Room at Stereo Arcade (Doubletree By Hilton, JBR) on Thursday, July 26th.