Even though Simon Caldwell doesn’t play guitar (read on!), he still attracts a large following and is renowned for that special sexy sound. Definitely one of Sydney’s top shelf DJs, Simon Caldwell kindly lends us his ear and waxes lyrical on how he gets all funked up. The upcoming party ontopoftheworld has you billed to play a 4-hour set. You would probably get pretty thirsty under those conditions. What beverage could an appreciative punter send in your direction? Beer is always good, except the “cold filtered variety”. Also, the odd shot of tequila or vodka never goes astray… What was your first truly special gig either as punter or DJ when you felt that this DJ game was something you were destined to pursue? I don’t really believe in destiny, but the early Funk Inc parties and some warehouse parties in the early 90s, both as a punter and a DJ, showed me there were people in Sydney who wanted to listen to and dance to music I was into. At the time there wasn’t the hype surrounding the “DJ game” there is now, so it was more a matter of pursuing an interest for my own enjoyment rather than trying to “make it” as a career DJ. When and how did you find yourself collecting records? I started collecting in the late 80s/early 90s as a result of being exposed to a flatmates’ collection of 70s jazz funk and soul. I was hooked by the sound of those records as well as the hip-hop records which were sampling them. There was a lack of genres in “dance music” at that time as well, so it was totally normal to hear hip hop and house together, and the common thread to all of it was that 70s funk. What are your favourite retail records haunts worldwide and on the web? Germany has good stores – Freebase and a good 2nd hand store in Frankfurt, Hardwax + heaps of tiny stores in Berlin. They are German, so their stores are usually well organised, clean and have heaps of categorised back-catalogue. London’s Vinyl Junkie is a little goldmine for house and one-off oddities, and their website is good. Too many websites to send you broke. Turntable Lab is great. Your radio program on 2SER, All Funked Up, has broad ranging musical styles. When you were growing up did you identify with any particular sub culture, like Goth, punk, bomber, raver, nerd? Oh, nerd definitely… although I didn’t think that was a subculture, really… more a state of mind. I did dabble in a little “Post-Punk”, Joy Division & co. I’ve never been a hard-core raver or homey. Too nerdy for homey, not nerdy enough for raver…or something… Your morning sets at Sabotage and Tweekin are legendary, whilst a night in the Deep End was always entertaining. What are your resounding memories of that era? Late nights… Those were fun times definitely, before the clubbing thing went all corporate branding. Deep End was a great chance to play minimal, dubby records which weren’t being played anywhere else at the time. The morning sets at Sabotage & Tweekin were a chance for me to play a busy dance floor and take it deep towards the end of the night, and the crowds were always great. Do your moods colour your sets eg amorous, melancholy? How much does the crowd in a club affect your play list? Of course the crowd, numbers especially, affects what you play to a certain extent, as does your mood. It would be strange if it didn’t. Music is an emotional thing. How hard is it to travel with a big bag of records overseas? Any tips on getting past the maximum hand luggage weight per person when travelling by plane? Pretend that bag on your shoulder is feather light. They rarely weigh the hand luggage. Mad Racket can boast an impressive list of international guests. How do they compare the Marrickville Bowling Club to other venues they’ve played at? Our guests have always praised Mad Racket for being a real grassroots party with a full dance floor and open-minded crowd. Many have favourably compared it with events in Europe and the US. A lot of the music you play sounds sexy. Do you find that this affects the way the audience responds to you as a person? Do you have groupies? I’d like to think people can separate a DJ from the music he plays, and anyway, isn’t house music meant to be “sexy”? Dancing is associated with sex. It’s a physical thing. House music is body music. I think that’s why I don’t get into “hard house”, “trance” or things like that. It has no feeling for me, only energy and noises that fuck with your head. It’s fully too sick for me. As far as “groupies” go, I don’t play a guitar… You can catch Simon Caldwell monthly (or thereabouts) at the legendary Mad Racket parties at Marrickville Bowling Club, and this weekend you can see him play a 4 hour set at the ontopoftheworld birthday party at World Bar, Saturday August 21st. Check out ITM Whatson for more info.
