In his 30s, Alicea has been DJing since the age of 14. Now adept in production, Alicea’s first moves into making music came at the advice of good friends, a Subliminal associates Harry Romero and Jose Nunez. The advice of his Subliminal stable-mates also has him prepared for his upcoming tour, “I was in Erick’s office the other day, we were going to have some lunch, and we were talking about the tour and he said that I’m going to have the time of my life. He said that every time he’s been to Australia the crowds have been very open and very responsive. Harry’s said the same thing too, but he keeps teasing me about how long the flight is!”

After achieving such success with his co-productions as Who Da Funk with Jorge Jaramillo, many have asked Alex why the pair decided to recently part company, “It’s the question of the millennium, the question that everybody keeps asking! What happened was after the success of ‘Shiny Disco Balls’ we just decided to take a bit off time off to develop our solo careers, which was always the intention from the beginning. We’re always going to have Who Da Funk, we’re definitely not going to break up and we’re still the best of friends so we’ll be doing stuff together again in the near future.”

The release of ‘Shiny Disco Balls’ heralded a new direction for the Subliminal label, the imprint moving away from standard filtered disco house in favour in Alicea and Jaramillo’s new sound. The duo dubbed their sound ‘Subliminal’s second wave’, and when reminded of it Alicea can only laugh, “We did say that didn’t we? I guess we had to label it something! When Subliminal first started it developed around a sound that Erick was known for, that funk and chunky sound that caught on for a while.” Having created such a popular sub-style in the Subliminal camp, understandably the pressure was on Alicea and Jaramillo to come up with the good for following singles, “Everybody wanted another ‘Shiny Disco Balls’. But Jorge and I set out and the beginning that we never wanted to make a record that sounded the same as the last one. There were a lot of offers thrown around, but we didn’t want to release the same song again. Anyone that’s had a hit will tell you that it’s just, like, a moment in time, it just happened, so I don’t really believe that you can set out to do that again.”

With the northern summer well and truly on Alicea’s doorstep, he’s looking forward to another season of Subliminal parties in Ibiza. With Morillo at the helm, Alicea will DJ alongside Jaramillo, as well as labelmates Harry Romero, Jose Nunez, and more. With the Subliminal Session parties proving to be among the most popular on the Spanish party isle, Alicea is understandably looking forward to returning there in 2004, “We look forward to it every year, and because it’s seasonal it makes it all the better. Last years closing party was absolutely mental! It just so happened that we were all at the club and for the last hour Erick asked us to all jump up and have go, so we were messing around and having a good time, and the people were just going mental. It was one of the most amazing parties I’ve ever been to, so after it we had a meeting a decided that we have to all be there for every closing party now! So this year the closing party is going to be Erick Morillo, Harry Romero, Jose Nunez, myself and Jorge, and Shawnee Taylor, and hopefully we’ll be able to get that magic again!”

Touring Australia for the first time with fellow Subliminal DJ Melvin Moore, who also heads up A&R at the label, the pair’s diverse style is sure to excite fans of the label’s sound, “When I do a lot of my house sets people expect lots of heavy guitars and distortion, but I love the soulful stuff. Melvin’s very diverse with his tastes, he can play anything at anytime, he’s a really great DJ. The key to being a good DJ is not going up there with the hottest records, or newest white labels – I mean I used to think that – but now I think it’s just about giving the people what they want. Regardless of what it is, just give the people what they want and they will love you!”

You can catch Alex Alicea of Who Da Funk, along with fellow Subliminal Records DJ Melvin Moore touring Australia this May at the following venues:

Sat May 8 – Family, Brisbane
Fri May 14 – Wax @ Nepean Hotel, Melbourne
Sat May 15 – Together @ Home, Sydney
Sun May 16 – Heaven, Adelaide

For more info check out ITM Whatson.