In an industry where the classic image of a heavyweight performer consists of scuffed trainers, record company T-shirt and faded jeans, Danny Howells stands out like a sparkling and occasionally paisley-clad star, not to mention the fact that his eyeliner is almost as well-known as his own distinct brand of ‘deepsexyfuturistictechfunkhouse’ dance music.
It’s been almost two years since Danny Howells last toured Australia, and it is a sure sign of his success that those who attended the last round of gigs are still talking about it in rapt and awed tones. Pretty good for a man who doesn’t plan his sets as carefully as one might think. “I have a vague idea of the certain key tracks that are hammering but generally it’s all sort of worked out on the night,” Danny said from his couch in England. “I carry a lot of music and I have several thousand tracks on CD and about 130 tracks on record, which is way more than what you can play in one set. It’s all kind of spontaneous really, and it depends on how the crowd is and how I’m feeling.”
Gone are the days where DJs proceed into a club with a massive entourage in tow for the purpose of carrying record cases, and this is perhaps thanks to the CD burning revolution, a change that Danny is more than happy to adapt to. “I prefer vinyl to be honest, but CD is good for having back-ups of all my re-edits and just random tracks that I’m only going to play once or twice on a tour so it’s nice having those burnt to CD, rather than lugging records about,” he said. “If I were to carry the records of the music that I wanted I’d be carrying about five boxes worth. It’s convenient because you can have like ten tracks on each CD and you can do a lot more with CD players than you can with record decks.”
His latest addition to the phenomenally successful Global Underground compilations is “Number 27, Miami”. Before we get to discussing the compilation itself, I compliment Danny on the rather stunning paisley shirt he’s wearing whilst gracing the front cover. “Oh thank you, oh yes, that’s all very nice, let’s talk about the cover, shall we? Fucking hell!” he said, but thankfully he was laughing at the same time. Thank goodness he’s got a great sense of humour or else this article would’ve been a lot shorter. “The way Global Underground works is you do a party somewhere and you base it upon a certain night and with this one it was pretty straightforward really. I do an annual party in Miami at Space called ‘Howelloween’, which is every Halloween right, and so basically I played an indoors set which became disc two, and an outdoor set in the morning, which became disc one.
“I based it very, very heavily on the two sets that I played there so that made it a bit easier really. I had a vague idea before the party of the certain tracks that I wanted to use for the compilation and fortunately I got to play them that night in the club. So when I sat down to actually put the CD together I had a nice starting point to build it on, so that’s how that was worked out,” and here Danny pauses before saying, “You want to talk about the shirt again, don’t you…” I assure him that I am sincere both in my praise of the CD and of the accompanying shirt, but what would motivate someone to make such a bold statement with paisley? “I’m an old hippie and I love paisley and I love flowers and shit like that and people don’t appreciate it,” said Danny, “so I’m just on a mission to get as many shirts exposed to the world as I possibly can.”
Now here’s something interesting that I hadn’t heard before; it turns out that the lovely Mr Howells used to be a psychiatric nurse for almost a decade before making it big as a DJ, where he would work all day at the hospital, and then work evenings plying his DJ trade. “They used to cross over sometimes in the sense that I’d see people that I’d see in the clubs and then they’d suddenly get admitted to the hospital and they’d be like “Hello Danny, I heard your set last week on Hasting’s Pier”, and I’d be like “Ah, alright mate” so it was quite crazy in that sense,” said ex-Nurse Howells. “I used to relate to a lot of the younger patients as well because some of them would know me from the local clubs or whatever which is maybe where they started going a bit crazy in the first place and they’d see me on the other end, trying to bring them back down to earth again, so I was providing an all-round service really!”
And last but not least here’s something for the budding deck masters out there: Danny has some pithy and important advice to impart. “If you’re going to party, do it afterwards. Anything that’s going to cause you to lose it can’t be good, and I’ve seen DJs playing and I’ve asked “Oh, are you having a good night tonight?” and they’re playing like shit and they’re going, “Yeah, it’s the best set I’ve ever played!” and I’m going, “Um, yep, alright, I’ll have what you’ve taken, mate. Fucking bring it on!”
Danny Howells hits Australia shores this weekend, touring the country:
Jun 4th – Brisbane, Slinky vs Global Underground
Jun 5th – Perth, Ministry of Sound Sessions (BUY TICKETS)
Jun 10th – Canberra, Academy (ITM SOLD OUT)
Jun 11th – Melbourne, Room 680 (BUY TICKETS)
Jun 12th – Sydney, We Love… Sounds (SOLD OUT)
Article courtesy of BMA magazine in Canberra.
