Monthly newspaper and online publication targeting 18 to 35 year olds. The ultimate guide to the hottest parties, going out and having fun. Music, fashion, film, travel, festivals, technology, comedy, and parties! London, Barcelona, Miami and Ibiza.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/424619
7 11 Issue 69 / 2014 HOUSE / ELECTRIC guestlist.net HEY, THANKS FOR TALKING TO US ALL THE WAY FROM SINGAPORE! I HAD A QUICK LOOK AT YOUR RA PAGE, IT LOOKS LIKE YOU'VE BEEN LIVING THE LIFE AND TRAVELLING LOADS RECENTLY. DO YOU HAVE ANY RECENT HIGHLIGHTS? Well, I just kind of chase the sun really! There's a festival in Fiji that I'm playing, Your Paradise. We're gonna stay for a week, and one of the parties is on this sandbank that doesn't exist until the tide goes out and it pops out in the middle of the ocean. So they ship us all out there, put a sound system on there and then we all party on this little island until the sea swallows it up and we get back on the boats. It's gonna be amazing. WOW! THAT SOUNDS INCREDIBLE. AM I RIGHT IN THINKING IT'S BEEN QUITE A BIG YEAR FOR YOU THEN? PIANO WEAPON JUST SHOT TO THE TOP OF THE BEATPORT CHARTS. WERE YOU EXPECTING SUCH A BIG REACTION TO THAT? To be honest, yeah, because as soon as we played it on the radio it went nuts. There's also a vocal version that gets released at the end of November and that's when it goes towards the UK charts... so that's pretty exciting. New territory for me for sure. But I've just kind of found my groove now, it took a little while but this last year has been great. I've hit a really good patch with music and I've found my sound now. It took me years to find it. Now I'm working with all my heroes, which is more than I could have ever asked for - people like DJ Pierre, Cajmere, Todd Terry... I find it incredible that these people are coming to work with me. These are the people that are the reason I started doing this! OK SO AS YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT GETTING INTO YOUR GROOVE AND FINDING YOUR SOUND, A LOT OF PEOPLE IN THE UK MIGHT PERHAPS STILL ASSOCIATE YOUR NAME WITH THAT MASSIVE BASS SCENE. DID YOU FIND IT QUITE HARD TO BREAK OUT OF THAT ASSOCIATION? Yeah, totally. When I started I never really wanted to do it anyway... I was always a house DJ, and when that mash-up era happened I just kind of fell into it and it just went way beyond my control. People assumed I was a dubstep DJ... fair enough I did ride it a bit too long, made a few more tracks than I should've done, but I didn't see it going that far! It kind of terrified me where I found myself in situations at gigs where I was playing after people like Skrillex. I love Sonny, he's a really nice guy, but I just found myself playing after DJs that played as hard or harder than he does and they were the opener DJs! It was terrifying! I just had to make a mature decision to just bow out and not do it anymore. It was tough because I just had to turn down 95% of my gigs and remixes until people just didn't associate me with it anymore. It's taken me about 3 years to feel like I'm back on top again now. I didn't want to change my name because it's my actual surname... if I had a different name I would've dropped it like a hot potato, but as it's my surname I didn't want to go down in history as that shitty dubstep guy! It's interesting, but not many people these days seem to remember it… I'm not ashamed of it, but it's funny that nobody seems to really know dubstep any more - people that are still in the music industry, having got a bit older, think it's pretty cool. But I'm happy I managed to distance myself slowly and reinvent myself without changing my name. WE KIND OF SAW A SIMILAR THING WITH SKREAM WHERE HE JUST HAD TO TRANSITION OUT OF THAT AND EXPLAIN THAT THAT WASN'T WHAT HE WAS ABOUT ANYMORE. IT'S GREAT THAT YOU'VE MANAGED TO MAKE A SIMILAR SUCCESS OUT OF IT TO BE HONEST. Yeah, it wasn't easy, it's one of the reasons I left England actually... English people can be very bitter about things, they love to write on forums and bitch about stuff. I didn't find it productive, because when I was changing, all I seemed to get in Britain was hate: ohhh look at him now jumping on the bandwagon… it was horrible! I'm not jumping on any bandwagon, I'm a house DJ, you just think I'm a dubstep DJ because I made a few records! I wanted to move to LA anyway, so I thought this was the time to go and find myself... not to sound like a hippy but just be inspired by another place and not be in gloomy London surrounded by haters. I've built an incredible studio in LA, just being surrounded by positivity... Americans are so positive it's unbelievable! It's just nice to distance myself from that London scene for a little while, so now I can come back and do my thing properly. THAT'S INTERESTING, I WAS GOING TO ASK YOU WHAT THE REASON WAS FOR THE MOVE TO LA. It's just one of those things... but the English scene is so important and it's amazing that we have it, because it seems as soon as something becomes popular we don't just sit and rest on it, we have to move onto the next scene and all of a sudden popular things aren't cool anymore. It's just one of those things though, it keeps the whole world moving forward musically and we help to pioneer that. But sometimes it can be done in a negative way, with this horrible hipster mentality... although you can get that anywhere in the world. But it wasn't just that - in hindsight it's really helped, but I mainly moved to LA because it's amazing! I toured here for 6 years before and every time I left I felt like I needed to stay there. It's only LA and Ibiza that's ever had that kind of effect on me. THAT'S REALLY COOL. DO YOU HAVE ANY PARTICULARLY WEIRD OR FUNNY IBIZA STORIES FOR US? Hmmm... Most of it I've forgotten! One time after Manumission, we decided to stay up all night until the next day which was an Ibiza Rocks show. I literally fell asleep DJing... People had to come and step in because I just couldn't keep my eyes open - I just thought I'd give my eyes a little rest just during this one.... and I just fell asleep! The Cuban Brothers had to come and take over. That was quite funny. But there's probably 50 things better than that which have happened this summer alone! SO NOW THAT YOU'VE FOUND YOUR GROOVE AS YOU WERE SAYING, HAVE YOU GOT ANY PLANS OR PROJECTS FOR THE FUTURE THAT YOU'RE REALLY EXCITED ABOUT? Yeah, I'm working on some more stuff with Cajmere, I think we're going to be long-time collaborators. This Doorly & Friends thing is gonna continue, cause it's worked out really well. I've got this thing with Dino Lenny, that we've just done that I'm excited about, a big epic end of the night record. I'm excited for people to hear that. WELL THAT'S GOOD TO HEAR. SO NOW THAT WE'VE TALKED ABOUT YOUR FUTURE PLANS AND THE MUSICAL SIDE OF THINGS, THERE'S ONLY ONE QUESTION LEFT FOR ME TO ASK. IF YOU WERE AN ICE CREAM, WHAT FLAVOUR WOULD YOU BE AND WHY? Oh God! Umm, now that's a good question... *laughs* I feel like this is one of those Blind Date questions that takes some real thought and the answer needs to be as cheesy as possible... My favourite flavour of ice cream is mint chocolate chip, I don't really know what that says about me… I've got nice breath, but there's chocolate stuck in my teeth? *laughing* Yeah, I don't think that would win Blind Date to be honest. WELL, IT'S BETTER THAN VANILLA BY FAR. Miriam | guestlist.net " I didn't want to go down in history as that shitty dubstep guy! " Doorly has been a succesful house DJ for years now. However, he achieved mainstream recognition at the height of the UK dubstep explosion, culminating in a popular Essential Mix in 2010. However, in this in-depth interview, he explains how all this success was in fact an accident - his heart was always in house. Having moved to LA, Doorly finally feels like he's "found his groove" - despite what the cynics and critics of England might of thought of him. With a string of succesful remixes, projects and collaborations ongoing, we called up the man himself ahead of his appearance at a pioneering warehouse party in Singapore. follow @doorly