This passion has seen Ben shine through in the Melbourne DJ circuit in a very short period of time.  His resume now includes supporting internationals such as Christopher Lawrence and Kyau & Albert.  He has also played for an abundance of crews at various Melbourne locations.  These days Ben’s passion is ‘Interview’, a multi genre night that he has launched at Tilt Bar.

Here is the interview with the man behind ‘Interview’.

You have been a part of the Melbourne dance scene for quite a few years.  When and how did you get started with DJing?

My passion for music and DJing began when I first started school.  Having a desire to learn various instruments and types of music which will in turn lead me down the electronic path, but I wasn’t to know that at this stage. I played the clarinet, the saxophone, the guitar and always wanted to learn the drums (but the parents kept saying no to that one).  After having some musical theory and knowledge under my belt I could listen to other people’s music with a clearer understanding of how it was put together.

As soon as I was introduced to some of the early 90’s electronica I was hooked! Mind you I was only in year eight at this stage and my capability to enjoy or explore the genre had its boundaries. All the kids at school would always make fun of ‘the guy with the big headphones’ so I generally kept my lust for music to myself, but always tried to convince some of the kids at school that this is the music of the future.

Jump ahead a few years to 2002 when my parents asked me what I wanted for my 18th birthday that year, straight out I wanted a mixer! I knew I couldn’t afford any decks at this stage but thought that if I worked hard enough I could one day.   I chose the Numark EM-260 2 Channel Mixer with a built in Korg Kaoss pad. I was the happiest guy in the world, plugging it up to everything! Old record players, laptops, friends DVD players and drop effects during movies.  From that day I have collected an array of equipment and records and experience from all areas of the scene.  I thank a good friend of mine who loaned me two completely stuffed Stanton belt-driven decks so I could get started. That was around two or three years ago. 

You play an array of sounds from trance to tribal and even up to the harder styles.  Which do you enjoy the most?

I absolutely adore trance. It was the one genre that got me from the word go and as the scene has evolved so has the music and people’s needs to find something more attractive. I needed to find a sound unique to myself and my likings evolved with the movements of genres into sub-genres and so on. Also as friendship groups change so does the music within them. I explored a range of different sounds and began at the grass roots of each genre to develop an understanding of how quickly the music was evolving and what patterns it followed as it was doing this.

The tribal side of things I got from a good friend Matt Solo, who had a massive tribal influence on me, every time I was playing trance he would come up to me and give me that look as though “I hate this music” and so on, so I took a page out of his book, headed off to Alley Tunes.  I secretly practiced some movement between progressive and tribal at home and experimented a little bit on some crowds I played for. Until I had a firm grip on the style I was going for, Sat my friend Matt Solo down at Altitude one Sunday morning and played this set for him. To my surprise he was impressed. Ever since then I have always tried to use that tribal element within my sets, its really effective and I love the percussive elements and the raw “back to bush” feel that you can get from it.

The harder stuff came about when hard trance was massive in Melbourne. Before all this hardstyle and hard dance crap came into the scene. I loved the Tidy label and it was a great environment to grow a passion for music in a totally different genre and lifestyle.  I don’t really crank up the BPM all that much these days. Basically I try to find a medium between all the genres I love. This is why I love playing closing sets because you can take it anywhere you like at the wee hours of the morning. And you know your doing a good job if you can keep the crowd rocking till close.

You have launched “Interview”, which is a monthly event in a smaller sized bar playing a mix of genres.  Tell us more about Interview, the idea behind it and how it differs from other nights.

This has been a party three years in the making, waiting for the prime opportunity to launch it and have it stay on its feet successfully. I have been watching the way the industry opens its doors to new nights, new ideas and new musicians and I am sad to say it’s such a tough market to get a break in. I was looking into the reasons why nights succeed and why they fail and I always came to the same conclusions, its all about the vibe and the people behind it, you could have the worlds best DJ playing in a super club but what is a party without the atmosphere and general electric buzz amongst the audience?

I have been promoting for a while and I have worked with a heap of different people in different fields.  I can firmly say I have a grasp on how an event can be marketed in the correct way to attract the correct audience giving the organizers the right vibe. Having sold 600+ tickets to some of the cities biggest events several times in a row has given me a bunch knowledge as to how to sell a party, but having said this I was a bit over doing these things for other peoples parties and wanted to focus my skills on running something that we had created supporting local talent and especially new talent all the way from start to wherever they might go.

In a nutshell Interview began at grass-roots which meant that instead of starting with a massive club and massive sound system and massive budget we started with the complete opposite. No budget, a small venue and a pretty wobbly DJ table upstairs! That in mind the idea behind starting grass-roots was to build a scene inside a scene and at the time we launched Interview (December 2005) the scene around us was in tatters, having all the smaller nights dropping off the radar and losing venues and playing to tiny audiences.

Our approach was mixing a cross section of great DJ’s who play a great variety of genres, with each one individually recognized for their signature style; we hoped it would work, and it did. We play a mixture of breaks, electro, house, progressive, tribal and trance with six residents, (five DJ’s and one live act) and a growing list of new talent. We are up to our 6th party at Tilt Bar and in the last five parties we have had Steve May, Martin Roth [Vandit], DJ Promo and a nice list of local support.

Interview supports local talent and even gives some new comers a go.  Do you believe this is an important factor for keeping the industry alive?

I believe that this is the main factor for keeping the scene healthy and in-tact. There are so many people out there that want to get involved and give it a go and if we can support that in any way shape or form I am all for it! We are actually planning on opening the bar on an off night and get the BBQ happening out the back in the courtyard to run a bit of an “Audition” for Interview. This is still being worked out and you can expect to hear more about this in the near future.

Recently you closed the main room at Obsession, which was held at Room680.  How did it feel to bring it home in the main room?

That was an awesome party. So many happy people there the place felt alive with excitement. It was one of my dreams the second I walked into room for the very first time, wanting to play on that sound system. I love closing sets, you have the ability to take it to whatever extreme’s you like and if all goes well you can still have a crowd of people at 7am screaming for more!

A large number of DJs are now moving into CD and computer programmed sets.  Is this something you will also progress to or are you a vinyl fan?

I am and always will be a huge vinyl fan!! I have a nice little collection of around 1000 records or more. Not all for playing out in clubs as I have a fetish for old school trance and hopefully in a few years would have collected all the tracks that I got my inspiration from in the beginning, circa 1989 – 2001 Although I know that in this day and age technology is changing all the time and I will need to be able to use the technology that is being engineered to keep up with the times. I don’t believe that if I stick to my way you will hear any less of a performance. I think it will be a gradual process to which I will adhere to in the long run but currently my decks and Korg Kaoss Pad 2 are more than enough to keep me busy in a DJ booth.

I am undertaking an Audio Engineering course at the beginning of 2007 to learn the art of sound and production and start to put together some ideas that have been kept in thought for far too long. My advancement to new technologies will eventually take place during this course. I will always have a box of records at a gig and a small CD case of ‘emergency tracks’ and local productions.

This year you have supported Internationals such as Christopher Lawrence, Martin Roth and Kyau & Albert.  Are there more support appearances in the pipeline with anyone we should know about?

In regards to Interview and what we have in store for the future you can definitely count on seeing some more international goods coming through the doors.  In regards to bookings on my end there is nothing that I can talk about just yet, but there sure is some big stuff in the pipeline! It’s been a great year so far and hopefully will continue onwards and upwards and I’ll just keep running up that hill.

Is there a particular night or event that you dream of playing before 2006 is through?

There are so many things I want to do by the time 2006 is through.  There has been some talk of a few interstate gigs which I am very excited about including Sydney and Canberra. But nothing confirmed as yet.

In regards to those dream gigs you talk of, what DJ wouldn’t dream to play at any Future Entertainment party?
 
I am a massive fan of Godskitchen and it would be pretty special to have a spin at one of these festivals! My all time biggest dream gig would be to play a closing set to a big stage production. That would blow me away!

Interview featuring Steve May is on this Saturday 27th May, check ITM whatson for more details.