Are We All Still Dancing To The Same Beat?
The career of the DJ has changed massively over the last 10 years to become much more in line with that of a band or performing artist. Travelling can be exciting, and scary. For instance, one thing that can play on the mind of an artist is how the crowd will receive them. It’s fair to say certain genres work better in particular places - Techno at Berlin’s Berghain, Chill Out at Ibizan beach bar Cafe Del Mar or House Music at Chicago’s Smart Bar. I wanted to find out how much bleed through there is and whether you need to alter what you do musically to be accepted. The fact is, underground dance music is at it’s most vibrant, but more and more artists are finding that releasing music isn’t enough anymore and to grow their brand they need to get out on the road and tour as much as possible. In short, touring is the essential part of an artist’s income these days. It still isn’t a huge amount of money as Nick Thayer explained in a brave and incredibly revealing Tumblr post a while back, beginning with: “I wanted to take a second to break some numbers down for you. I’m doing this to be transparent. To let you know what the life of producer / DJ looks like from the financial end.”
In order to find the answers, over the last few weeks I’ve been chatting to a few friends who tour to hear the views of DJs themselves. Nick Warren is considered by many in the music industry to be something of a pioneer. Starting out as a resident DJ in the back room of a pub in his hometown, he quickly rose through the ranks to become Massive Attacks’ official support DJ, set up progressive house supergroup Way Out West, spent time as a Cream resident DJ at their globally renowned base in Liverpool, UK and toured the World with Global Underground. When we spoke, he was on tour, DJing in South America. He took a few minutes out of his busy schedule to Skype with me before jetting off to New York to meet up with Jody, his partner in Way Out West, for a series of US shows. As always, Nick is eloquent, measured and fiercely passionate about dance music.
“Certain places in the world prefer a different sound but to be honest it isn't many places.” He told me, “The main one would be Argentina where the deep progressive sound is very very popular, but like most places around the world, techno is big everywhere, maybe slightly on the wane now, but still very popular. There are strong markets everywhere around the globe and like all touring DJ's I am visiting every corner of the globe this year. From Bali to Beirut, you can find exciting scenes with exceptional resident DJ’s.” I move the conversation on to discuss his choice of music when touring and whether he finds it changes depending on the location. “Its a dangerous path to take as a touring headline DJ to change your sound because you think the crowd likes a certain sound in different places.” He says with some authority, adding: “You book Hernan Cattaneo because you want to hear him play his music, the same with Sven Vath or Solomun.”
When I mentioned this to Mick Park, one half of production team Tilt, he agreed: “We’ve been fortunate enough to have many of our own productions become successful in clubs so people coming to see our shows know what they are getting.” We also talked about the role of the DJ as a kind of dance floor pied piper and he mentioned that in the context of the club they have made certain decisions over the type of music they would play. “If we are touring Europe we tend to go with a tougher underground sound, but we like to integrate that with many of our own re-edits, remixes and productions - that gives us our own identity and trademark sound when we are DJing.” A veteran of the scene with an impressive 25+ years at the top of his game, Mick believes the whole dance scene is in a particularly good place right now, quoting Croatia, Asia and India as real places of interest moving forward, but it was the White Isle of Ibiza that he waxed the most lyrically. “Ibiza has always, and will always be, very close to my heart. I first DJed there in 1994 at Ku (now Privilege), Amnesia and Pacha, and it’s always felt like I’m home when I go every year. We are going to be involved with Paul Oakenfold’s ‘Generations’ Tour this year, so that will get us out and about I am sure!”
Another artist who views Ibiza as his mecca is Micko Roche. The Irish-born downtempo producer has recently finished an amazing debut album on Afterlife’s SubatomicUK label and is due for release very soon. I started by asking him whether he thought certain genres resonated in particular places, “For sure,” He began, “Music has always been a regional thing. The Blues on the Mississippi Delta, Jazz in New Orleans, Country Music in Nashville… My sound resonates on sun kissed coastlines where life is slow and laid back and the atmosphere is chilled.” As a relative newcomer to the scene, I was interested to hear the views of someone without the baggage of years of travelling and he wasted no time in putting across his well considered ideas of the global marketplace. “I think the dance music scene is in a change of flux right now, but in a good way. People seem to be ignoring the whole EDM nonsense and looking for honest meaningful music. There are great new artists bubbling to the surface on a regular basis taking the whole scene forward in a more exciting and thoughtful direction.”
Selador frontman and all round superstar DJ Dave Seaman, like Nick Warren, is widely regarded as a dance music pioneer. From similarly humble beginnings in the North of England, Dave has grown an enviable resume. Mixmag Editor and music journalist, DJ/Producer, label owner and devout dad, seldom a month goes by without Dave getting on a plane to somewhere new, in fact when we speak, he’s somewhere in the US making ‘America Gyrate Again’! “Music is very dependent not only on the city or country you’re playing in and the cultural differences that come with that, but also on the venue itself. In David Byrne’s fantastic book ‘How Music Works’, there’s a great section on how music developed over the ages depending on where it was being played. You have to fill the space that’s appropriate to the time and place.” He told me, “In terms of geographical influence there are slight nuances between say Argentina where they go out very late and are also very patient allowing DJs to build a set slowly over a long period of time and say a night in the UK that finishes at 3am where people want you to get to the point quicker as time is of the essence. But I’d say it’s actually less defined than it used to be. The advent of the internet has meant that countries are not so insular anymore and different sounds exist in different territories now. In most big cities you’ll find Techno nights alongside deeper alternatives.”
I wanted to find out a little more about the logistics of arranging a tour from an agent’s point of view, so I contacted Craig at WeAreOne who covers primarily artists from the Trance scene and Kal at Underground Artists who focuses on House and Techno artists. I put a very contentious question to them both about whether they chose to book tours based on how much money the promoters had or where those promoters were based to augment their artists brand. Craig was very clear from the off that the profile of the artist is very important for where the tour is booked “With the larger acts, their fees price out the smaller events anyway. With smaller acts fees are more flexible and used to build their profiles.”
Equally, Kal believes in today’s market ,and with the pressures promoters face to fill the venue, value for money is paramount. “I try to look for good parties, for us there isn’t as much focus on money, we are still a developing agency.” He started, “We want our guys to play the right parties, it’s not all about being paid a load of money just to play and then the party could be bad. Nobody wants to play to an empty room. Money will come in time as the artists start to get bigger and this happens by playing the best parties.” Dave Seaman, who organises his schedule with label manager, Steve Parry concurred adding, “I try to balance things a much as possible. There are some fantastic small rooms that are an absolute pleasure to play but obviously have very limited budgets. It’s just case of wanting to play the best gigs whether they are big festivals or small intimate venues. Variety is the spice of life and all that!
So there we are. Dance music is flourishing still after 30 years in development and new locations are being discovered all the time. Tours form the lion's share of the touring DJs wages, and as fans we love the fact that they can come to our home towns so often. Having said that, branding counts, so for many upcoming artists their focus will be on brand identity in order to tour and for the old guard, it’s about picking the cream of the crop and making a good party wherever they travel to. If you’re feeling particularly adventurous this year, why not check out some of the new hotspots like Croatia, India and beyond and see for yourselves why they shine, or if staying at home is more your speed, there’s always an intimate new place just waiting for you to step on to it’s dance floor. Unleash the pioneer in you this year and see just how far you can go!
Nick Thayer - https://www.facebook.com/nickthayermelbourne/
Tumblr post - http://thayernick.tumblr.com/post/80563891112/do-you-wanna-know-just-how-much-money-i-make
Nick Warren - https://www.facebook.com/NickWarrenDJ/?fref=ts
Mick Park/TILT - https://www.facebook.com/tiltofficialuk/?pnref=lhc
Micko Roche - https://www.facebook.com/MickoRocheMusic/?fref=ts
SubatomicUK - https://www.facebook.com/Subatomicuk/?fref=ts
Dave Seaman - https://www.facebook.com/daveseamanofficial/?fref=ts
Selador - https://www.facebook.com/SeladorRecordings/?fref=ts
Craig Davies/Weareone - https://www.facebook.com/weareonebookingspr/?fref=ts
Kai Jhugroo/Underground Artists - https://www.facebook.com/Underground.Artists.Agency/?fref=ts
