There are only a few ways left to introduce Sasha that haven’t already been written before. He is a magician on the decks, the first DJ pin-up boy as featured on the cover of Mixmag in the early 90s, a purveyor of the finest beats and freshest new sounds and an artist and musician in his own right with a swag of classic cuts under his belt, songs with the amazing ability to keep getting better and better with age.
There is usually quite a bit of Sasha hype going around, and this month is no different to any other. There are new albums, re-releases of classic albums, new singles/remixes but none more exciting, none more likely to ignite a fan’s anticipation and increase the every growing hyperbole than Sasha’s forthcoming tour of Australia.
In October Global Underground will release a special edition of Sasha’s latest CD Involver, which includes the initial version along with a bonus retrospective collection of his remixes from the last 12 years. Watching Cars Go By is the second single from Felix Da Housecat’s critically acclaimed Devin Dazzle & The Neon Fever. It is a storming electronic rock monster and Sasha’s remix of it has been described as one of his best in years.
Also due for release in November is Sasha and John Digweed’s seminal Renaissance – The Mix Collection album. This mix was the first club-based compilation to go gold in the UK, selling 100,000 copies within six weeks of release – testament to deft skill of both DJ/producers. Then there is the re-release of the classic Northern Exposure album earlier this year, a compilation that in its original form sells for many hundreds of dollars on eBay.
As if the hype machine needed any more nitro shoved in the tank, Sasha had to cancel his tour of Australia in March this year to finish his Involver album. This move threw gasoline on the fire with fans waiting for the revised dates for the better part of six months – ITM’s Bing caught up with Sasha and got the low down…
Bing: Big news for Australians at the minute is your impending tour, are you looking forward to returning to Australia?
Sasha: Yeah, I cannot wait. I love Australia and always have a fantastic time when I get the chance to come down. It has been a while, two years, so I am really looking forward to it. Because of the structure of the tour it is difficult to catch up with everyone that I have made friends with throughout the years, I’m only in Sydney for one day, you see, it can be hard. On the other hand I am in Melbourne for a whole week so that will be fantastic. Every time I come out to Australia I end up going home feeling like I’ve just had the best culinary experience of my life. Then I get to bore all my friends going on about it for ages.
B: Well, Melbourne is definitely the right city for that sort of entertainment. I re-listened to Involver again this morning and the songs struck me as still sounding really fresh. Are you still playing songs from Involver at your gigs?
S: I am and it is one of those things that I feel I should do. If you went to see David Bowie and he played all his new songs and not one classic track then you may go away feeling let down and I don’t want that for the people that come along to my gigs. If I was to play upfront material for three hours straight that would be fine for some people but it only takes a few people to really go crazy over one of my own productions to send that energy through the entire crowd. Playing your own songs can be a great way to lift the atmosphere of the room; the trick is doing it at the right moment. You see, if I only tour Australia or Japan once every few years then I have to be conscious of what people would like to hear. I guess I am guilty of going off and playing my own stuff too much sometimes but there is a fine line. Plus, the Involver tracks are something I am really proud of and still enjoy playing.
B: Back just a few years ago club culture was absolutely massive, peaking if you will, it was a time of super clubs and super star DJs – was there a lot of pressure put on people like yourself? Is the scene far more relaxed these days?
S: Clubbing in the UK is still very healthy, we just don’t have the magazines doing five page spreads on super clubs any more. During that time when it was all peaking I looked at it and thought there is no way the scene can keep up this sort of pace. And it didn’t. It wasn’t much of a surprise. Last year seemed a bit like Ground Zero for dance music. Some things had to die off for other new exciting clubs, producers and DJ to be able to come through. The recession is over and the future looks fantastic. People are looking towards the future and pushing boundaries, it has become exciting again. The crowds may be smaller in some places but I think overall the future is bright. During that late 90s and through to 2001 I was known as a DJ who would hit the after hours parties, smaller clubs and still be playing on my knees at 2pm the next day. With my schedule and plans for the future this isn’t something I always have time for these days so I’ve seen changes in myself over this period also. Clubbing has evolved and I figure if I can keep on evolving with it, if I keep myself relevant then I will still be around in a few years yet.
B: You mentioned after hour’s parties, did you see this as an opportunity to play music that you couldn’t in a stadium gig?
S: Absolutely. I love it. Small gigs are of the utmost importance to DJs, it is where I made my name originally. You have the freedom to develop your own sound, try out crazy things and play music that wouldn’t work in front of a few thousand people. It is something that I truly enjoy and will still do in the future when the time and opportunity are both there. It is fantastic to make a crowd of 50 people scream and yell to something a bit left of centre, something that I would never play at a large gig. There are so many records like this that I love but don’t necessarily fit the stadium gig or festival agenda. Much of what I used on Involver were tracks that I’d been into for a long time and found fantastic for home listening but not necessarily right for playing out in big clubs. Burma, Belong, songs like this need the right context to work to the best of their abilities.
B: And at those gigs you can play absolutely anything?
S: Almost. For a few years where I toured really hard and played massive gigs all the time, every week, it kind of left me feeling like my music repertoire was slipping. I had to play big records and didn’t have the time to experiment with fresher, younger, sometimes more exciting sounds. This is something I am very conscious of these days. Sometimes you need to play the big tunes and others, well, it isn’t as appropriate. It certainly had a detrimental effect for a while but now I am conscious of it I think I can stay on top of it.
B: When the first lot of Involver press hit the net and magazines there was some talk of you making the switch away from records and playing in a more live fashion utilizing programs like Ableton Live – did this eventuate? Performance wise, Is this still something you would like to explore?
S: That is what I have been doing for the last few months. I’ve spent hours recording hundreds of songs into Live so that I can take this idea out into the public. It is so exciting and in my opinion definitely the future of DJing. This sort of program allows so much flexibility, so much on the fly creativity, for DJs with a production frame of mind there is little better. It wouldn’t surprise me if this was the starting point for massive changes in the way DJs play in the future. We may look back in a few years time and be bemused by the fact that people danced around listening to a guys just mixing records. I mean, it isn’t that hard to blend two songs together for three minutes. It is kind of mechanical, after some practice virtually anyone can do it. To me, good DJing has always been about the DJ’s musical selection and how they present the songs in a context that makes sense. Now, that said, I never want to see Jeff Mills DJing on a computer.
B: Last week my mates saw Andy Paige DJing with a mixer, two laptops running Live and a bass guitar strapped on, they said it was amazing.
S: Yeah, now that is cool. That is exactly the kind of thing I am talking about.
B: I noticed in Melbourne you are playing a four-hour set – is this kind of extended set the way you would prefer to play?
S: To me that is a normal length set. It isn’t an extended set at all. I’d rather not play less then three hours but back at Twilo we were conditioned to playing for ten!
B: I read today that there is a special edition double CD version of Involver being released and another double vinyl pack featuring the Grand National remix that people have been so keen to get hold of – any truth in the rumor?
S: Yeah, sure is. It will be out soon with a retrospective of my past mixes and a vinyl pack with the missing mixes for Involver that haven’t been available as yet. Plus, a few older mixes that are nice to have on there.
B: Has work begun on a follow up?
S: I’m thinking about it already. I’d like to get it out as soon as I can but there is not much of a chance of taking three months out and locking myself in the studio again. I’ve got a few songs in mind that I have made initial starts with. I think this may be the way I have to work this time. Maybe take a year to put it together and just get into the studio at every opportunity I have – then pull it together that way.
You can see Sasha on his Involver tour of Australia this October and November:Fri Oct 29 – Perth, Metro City
Sun Oct 31 – Sydney, Sounds on Sunday
Mon Nov 1 – Melbourne, Metro (BUY TICKETS)
Fri Nov 5 – Brisbane, Family
