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Features
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| Introducing NEM3SI$’s new label Infinite Resistance! | | Mindbenderz talk ‘Lord of the Rings’ and fishing, as well as the creation of their new album ‘Celestial Gateway’! | | Iono-Music artists One Function, Eliyahu, Invisible Reality and Dual Vision talk Robert Miles, kids, dogs and vinyl, while we chat about their current releases! | | Luke&Flex talk influences, the Irish rave scene, why Flex wears a mask and Play Hard, their new EP out now on Onhcet Repbulik Xtreme! | | Lyktum expands on his new album ‘Home’ – talking about his love of storytelling, creating new harmonies and the concept behind his musical works. | | Pan talks getting caught short crossing the Sahara, acid eyeballs and tells us Trance is the Answer, plus shares his thoughts on his latest release 'Beyond the Horizon' - all from a beach in Spain! | | Miss C chats about living with the KLF, DJing in a huge cat’s mouth, training her brain and the upcoming super-duper Superfreq Grande party at LDN East this Saturday, 16th September! | | NEM3SI$ - I Live for the Night – talks superficiality, psychopaths, and bittersweet success, ahead of a plethora of evocative, emotional, and passionate upcoming melodic techno releases! | | Psy-Sisters Spring Blast Off! We talk to DJ competition winner ROEN along with other super talents on the lineup! | | Blasting towards summer festivals with Bahar Canca ahead of Psy-Sisters Spring Blast! | | Shyisma talks parties, UFO's, and Shotokan Karate ahead of his upcoming album 'Particles' on Iono-Music! | | SOME1 talks family, acid, stage fright and wolves - ahead of his upcoming album release ‘Voyager’ on Iono-Music in February 2023! | | The Transmission Crew tell all and talk about their first London event on 24th February 2023! | | NIXIRO talks body, mind and music production ahead of his release 'Planet Impulse' on Static Movement's label - Sol Music! | | Turning the world into a fairy tale with Ivy Orth ahead of Tribal Village’s 10th Birthday Anniversary Presents: The World Lounge Project | | The Psy-Sisters chat about music, achievements, aspirations and the 10-Year Anniversary Party - 18/12/22! | | A decade of dance music with Daniel Lesden | | Earth Needs a Rebirth! Discussions with Psy-Trance Artist Numayma | | Taking a Journey Through Time with Domino | | New Techno Rising Star DKLUB talks about his debut release White Rock on Onhcet Republik! | | PAN expands on many things including his new album 'Hyperbolic Oxymoron' due for release on the 14th April 2022 on PsyWorld Records! | | Psibindi talks all things music including her new collaborative EP 'Sentient Rays' on Aphid Records, her band Sentience Machine and 10 years of Psy-Sisters! | | N-Kore talks Jean-Michel Jarre, unfinished tracks and fatherhood! | | Celebrating International Women’s Day and Ten Years of Psy-Sisters with Amaluna |
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Interview with funky monkey DJ Darz
Reported by Lx
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Submitted 10-12-04 09:14
"Everything I play is gonna be funky" - that's what we can expect to hear when DJ Darz takes over the decks. Forget about mad stomping to 180 BPM hardcore, his stuff is a different cup of tea!
Imagine this - you find yourself in a typical hard dance club, everything spinning around, tough as nails music blasting out of the speakers and you are thinking of slowing down... So you head for the chill out room. You are hit by the fine funky music which makes you shake your ass, puts a smile on your face, you feel relaxed and hooked. You love it. That's why you want to know who the hell is that guy behind the decks. And there he is - DJ Darz!
Darz is very talented, very hot and also very young. At only 21 he has managed to play across the UK and Ibiza clubs alongside massive names such as Judge Jules and Eddie Halliwell. He is also popular by promotions such as Frantic amongst many others. Although Djing for just four short years he has played at the likes of 2kinky (Cheshire), Alska (Leicester), Heat, Fusion, Kurruption, Passion (Coalville), Peach, Progression Records, the list goes on. I am impressed by his success as well as friendly and cheerful personality. Darz is a guy to look for if you want to have a wicked and fun night out. But we’ll let him tell you more about that, so let's find out more about him...
Lexie: Hiya Darz, how have you been? Ive got few simple questions for you here if you dont mind?
Darz: Yeh I'm cool thanks!! Fire away...
Lexie: So how and when did you start DJing? Who influenced you, got you into djing?
Darz: My friends and I used to go clubbing in Liverpool to Cream amongst others from the age of 16. Like so many others I saw the DJ and thought ‘I want to do that’ so the next step was to get some decks. I got decks for my 18th Birthday and the same night I broke my ankle so for the next six weeks I was in my bedroom learning to mix, with one leg in the air!!
Lexie: How would you describe your style of music?
Darz: I’d say it’s a mixture of uplifting, driving, pumping, vocal stuff always keeping it funky, although my style has changed slightly recently. I love the hard hitting funky basslines with massive build ups – it generates an interaction with the crowd, and when it kicks in, it goes off. If it’s got energy and it rubs off on the dancefloor, I’ll play it. It’s party music!!
Lexie: Have you always been playing funky house? Why have you chosen it?
Darz: Yeah pretty much, although when I first started I enjoyed playing trance also. It was during a week’s holiday to Ibiza in 2001 that I caught the funky house bug, in particular in the back room of Eden for Judgement Sunday with sets from DJ Gee and Judge Jules. I fell in love with it that night, and have played it ever since.
Lexie: Have you ever thought of playing harder stuff - hard house/trance?
Darz: I’ll leave that to the trance heads!!! I think to be really successful in a certain genre you have to concentrate all your energy and efforts onto that style, to become known for that certain sound. Saying that I love trance, when I go clubbing it’s mainly to trance clubs, and my favourite DJs are mainly trance based.
Lexie: Which are your favourite clubs in London and worldwide?
Darz: My favourite club in London is the Cross. It’s the closest club in this country to any in Ibiza, as a venue I’d say it’s unbeatable. It’s positioned in arguably one of London’s less fashionable areas yet once inside you might as well be on the White Isle. Turnmills is an awesome club to play at... I’d say it’s the capital’s best superclub. As for worldwide, Pacha in Ibiza is the best I’ve been.
Lexie: Which is your favourite promotion you love playing for?
Darz: I’d say the promotion I play most for is Frantic, having played for them on ten occasions this year (in the funky room), whether it be Timeless, Convergence, Hard House Academy, Lisa Time or Chemistry. The funky room crowd are always up for it. My most enjoyable Frantic set this year was the August Hard House Academy – I played an extended two hour main time set sandwiched between Rob Tissera and Phil Reynolds, two DJs whom I’ve obviously a large amount of respect for. As Frantic use loads of different venues it gives the opportunity to play at all these venues, rather than just playing at the same one all the time, it keeps things fresh.
Lexie:Tell us something about your residencies.
Darz: My main residency was with the Thirsty DJs playing all across London. Being a Thirsty DJ resident gave me the opportunity to play in some awesome clubs this year such as the Ministry of Sound, Turnmills, Egg, The Brixton Academy, The Scala, Clapham Grand, The Coronet and Heaven and alongside promotions such as Frantic and Heat. There was also the Thirsty DJs trip to Ibiza in the summer playing in some of Isle’s nicest bars. But it's time to move on, I've had some great times with the Thirsty DJs and I'd like to thank Chewy for giving me the opportunity.
I'm a regular player at Thank Funk It’s Fryday @ Club U4ria/The Cook, which is a night I look forward to getting back to the minute I’ve left the decks, whilst I’ll be playing monthly at Eclectic Sessions @ Club Richmond in Earl’s Court as from January 05, which I’m really looking forward to aswell!!
Lexie: What has been your best/most enjoyable set ever? In which clubs have you had the best crowd response?
Darz: Without question, my favourite gig was in June this year at Judge Jules’ Judgement Sunday night at Eden in Ibiza. I played the last set in the funky room directly after Jules 5-7am, Jules telling me earlier that although it’s a pretty late set, it would be rammed until the very end, which it was!! Jules remained in the DJ box with me, and as Eddie Halliwell had just finished his set in the main room he came into the funky room for my set. He ended up dancing to my set on the speakers, whilst air scratching, and giving my cds out to the crowd. To have my two favourite DJs in the DJ box with me enjoying what I was doing, plus having a massive gang of mates with me made it truly a night to remember. To be able to play the same room and night that I’d discovered funky house in three years earlier was pretty special.
I’ve been fortunate enough to play some wicked gigs this year in the UK. Usually with my style of music, more often than not, you’ll find it in the back room of a hard house/trance promotion, so playing the main room to 1,000 people at 2Kinky in the summer was excellent. Also playing for Peach before it closed was an honour – Graham Gold is the nicest promoter I’ve ever played for. He made me feel really comfortable from the off – as it was my debut, asking me three or four times throughout my set if everything was OK. It’s little things like this that you remember, and doesn’t cost a penny!!! I always look forward to playing West London promotions Thank Funk It’s Fryday and Kurruption – the majority of the people are either Australian, Kiwis or South Africans, which makes for an up for it crowd like no other… and pretty damn loud –the way it should be!!
Lexie: Are there any clubs or promotions you would love to play for?
Darz: Serious @ The Cross in London. This is the best night in the country in my opinion. As a trance and funky house lover, it’s perfect for me, plus as I discussed earlier, the venue is simply awesome. Even though I live fairly close to Liverpool, I make it down to around half the parties per year. I spent my 21st birthday last year at the Christmas party, and I’ll be there again this year. Sometimes the London crowds are described as not as loud as other cities in the UK such as Glasgow, Belfast or Newcastle… I think someone forgot to tell the Serious crowd!!
Lexie: Can we expect you to be producing any tunes in the future?
Darz: I’m on the case!! I want to produce some really funky, hard hitting tunes – I love producers like DJ Flex, Sandy Wilhelm, Eric Prydz and Sebastian Ingrosso, so, hopefully, their influences will rub off on me!!
Lexie: How do you feel about using cd mixers? Do you think its the way forward?
Darz: I haven’t incorporated cds into my sets as yet, but within the next few months definitely. Some DJs have taken to playing tracks completely off cd, which I think is fine, as it’s obviously a massive part of the future, if not now. I think a mixture of both vinyl and cds is the way forward. I don’t think the crowd are really bothered about the format of the music… it’s all about the tunes!!
Lexie: Living in Liverpool, travelling all around especially to London - do you find it hard? Do you plan on moving to London?
Darz: I don’t mind travelling, most DJs have to travel so I don’t see it as a problem. When playing in London I always travel by Virgin trains, as it’s direct from Liverpool, although not always on time!!! If it’s elsewhere around the country, one of my mates drives me in the disco car, and there’s usually a gang of us with the music cranked up as high as possible, so it’s always a good laugh!! I’m definitely thinking about moving to London in the future, I love the city!!
Lexie: How do you find the clubbing scene at the moment? Has it gone better for you as a dj? How about for clubbers?
Darz: All the ‘dance music is dead’ negative press from 2002 was a load of bullsh*t!! As long as there are people on this earth, they will always want to dance. A few years back dance music, and in particular the superclub was obviously massively commercial, which isn’t always a good thing. As for now, I think most of the idiots who were in it to make a quick buck have lost interest as it’s not as mainstream, meaning that the scene is fresh with people who care about it, and want to do best what it’s all about… party!!
Lexie: Who are you favourite DJs and why?
Darz: Judge Jules, Eddie Halliwell and Simon Patterson. I’ve seen Jules more than any other DJ, and on every single occasion he has rocked it, generating each time an unbeatable atmosphere. Eddie is so exciting behind the decks – Djing is all about interaction with the crowd, the guy simply cannot stay still – this obviously rubs off on the crowd, if they see the DJ having fun behind the decks, they will have fun, simple. Simon is producing some cracking tunes as Dogzilla and really pushing the trance sound forward, and for me is the best resident anywhere in the country for Serious.
Lexie: Which are the top 3 tunes which never leave your bag?
Darz: Georgie Porgie – Life Goes On (Richard F Le Spank Mix)
Deepswing – In The Music
Everything But The Girl – Tracey In My Room
Lexie: What are your plans for New Years Eve and the early start of 2005?
Darz: New years Eve I’ll be playing at the massive Highland Gathering event at the Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh. 25,000 people are expected, the line up is massive featuring DJs such as Eric Morillo, Armand Van Helden, Felix Da Housecat, Lisa Lashes, Seb Fontaine, whilst bands include Supergrass, Razorlight, The Levellers amongst many others. The line up is really diverse, something for everyone. I’m really looking forward to checking out a couple of the bands, as it’s not something you see in a clubbing environment every weekend is it!!
The early start of 2005 I’ll continue playing for my residencies plus guest slots around the country, it’s all good!
Lexie: How do you enjoy yourself apart from music?
Darz: Watching football. I’m a massive Everton fan, having a season ticket for all the home games, and go to around half of the away games per year. After years of performing poorly, and living in the shadow of that other lot across Stanley Park, we are currently 3rd in the Premiership, after spending relatively no money, long may it continue. I recently took Twist/Kurruption resident Tommy Four Seven to a game, I think I’ve converted him into a fully fledged Evertonian!!
Lexie: Thanks for your honest answers, was a pleasure talking to you.
Darz: Cheers Lexie, take care x
Darz will next be appearing in London on December 17th at Thank Funk It's Fryday @ Club U4ria, and December 18th at Kurruption @ Finsborough Arms. He'll also be playing at the massive Highlander Gathering on NYE.
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All the best for 2005!
for darling Darz
Hey Darz, great interview
well done mate..keep up the good work.