inthemix | Features | Chris Fraser: Keeping things fresh

Chris took out the ranking positions of #25 DJ in Australia and #1 DJ for ACT in the Technics inthemix50 Poll. Check out the rest of the results HERE.

If you happen to live outside of the A.C.T., then it’s more than likely your probably not familiar with the name Chris Fraser (that is if your a uneducated fool). Although if you happened to be like myself and got very messy back in the 90’s at a club called ‘Heaven’ then the name Chris Fraser conjures up a whole myriad of memories, pulsations and general feelings of gooey-ness. The simple fact is that Chris Fraser formerly the artist known as ‘Chris Fresh’ has dominated the Canberra dance scene for the last decade. From having a top 5 dance hit ‘Burning Hands’ with fellow Canberran Nash-T to establishing Canberra’s first superclub ‘Academy’, Mr Fraser has done it all. Not one to rest on his laurels he now has national and worldwide domination in his sights, with a string of releases due out soon it’s a surety that Chris Fraser is going to be around for a long time.

First of all congratulations Chris at placing 25th in this years ITM Top 50 DJ poll. What’s your opinion on the importance of such poll’s to your career and the way you get your tunes out into the public arena?

Thanks! I think anything that gets you noticed these days is probably going to be a help in moving things forward. There are so many people playing & making records that whatever you can do to stand out from the crowd in a an exposure sense is going to be good. The whole ITM50 result this year has been a really pleasant surprise, and I’m just kinda stunned that there were enough people in Canberra to get me that far up the list!

Can you fill us in about your radio background?

Radio was really the first thing I got into, I was basically a radio nerd first. When I was 14 we decided to start a small station using a set of speakers pointed at the oval at lunch time. It then moved onto the giddy heights of athletics carnival outside broadcasts, fetes and eventually school socials. Round about then I heard my first DJ mixtape, and it was all over. Once I figured out what it was the dj was doing, I never looked back. Since then I’ve done shows on community radio and spent a few years working for Triple J. Now I’m working with RawFM on my daily Freshcuts show and a bunch of other stuff, and also doing mixes for 104.7 here in Canberra on a weekly basis. I also get to call into Ministry of Sound radio every week and hang shit on Goodwill, which is a real bonus, and really the crowning glory of my radio career.

Favourite state to play in other then bloody Canberra as it’s a territory anyway?

Haha I don’t know if I have a favourite state as such. I’ve had a lot of fun playing all over the place, at the moment I’m probably most enjoying hitting the Laundry in Sydney every month for my residency up there. It’s just a great room with a really diverse bunch of people in it. it kind of reminds me of Canberra in some ways, in that it’s often never really just one specific type of crowd, it’s a real mixture of people with different tastes. Cos I’m kind of eclectic in what I’m into, that really works for me.

If you were magically able to change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?

Shit, that’s a hard one. You know what, I don’t think I can pinpoint anything in particular to change. It is what it is, a fickle, two-timing slut of a mistress that fucks with your head in ways that often beggar belief. But, you still love it and you still keep going back for more.

Chris if there was one thing seriously lacking in the A.C.T. it was a super club. I remember getting seriously messy to a banging set of your’s at Crunch @ Heaven but shit that place was so dodgy, was it place’s like the above mentioned that inspired you to get off your arse and create the Academy super club?

Was that the night that josh Abrahams played? I think I remember that! Look, Heaven was a fantastic club and I had many many brilliant nights there over the years. It’s all about time and place. Back then clubs like that were what we wanted, and I’m not sure that a club like Academy would have worked in that time period, as the market just wouldn’t have been ready for it. Academy is one of those things that was always meant to happen. In many ways I’ve been very pleasantly surprised at how well it’s done, but I always had this feeling that Canberra would embrace the right venue if we got it right. It certainly didn’t happen overnight, but we seem to have got it to a point where people get what we’ve been trying to do, and are responding to it. We realized a very long time ago in Canberra that we had a very dedicated crowd and were able to get more people to a club or event than a city of our population really should, I guess it’s not really a surprise then that we now have a club that pulls huge numbers on a weekly basis (more than most Sydney clubs by the way) and we have two DJs in the national top 50. it used to shit me that people interstate would laugh when you say that you’re from Canberra, or snigger when you mention our nightlife. I used to get worked up about it, but it really doesn’t bother me anymore. As long as what we’re doing is working and our crowd is happy, it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. If they come here, they’ll realize.

When are you going to come to Melbourne and play more?

I’m actually working on a Melbourne date right now. I should definitely be down there again before the end of the year. Stay tuned.

You partnered up with fellow Canberran Nash T to smash the shite out of the Aussie dance charts back in the naughty 90’s with the top 5 hit ‘Burning Hands’. What was that like first of all, and what flow on effect did that have for your career?

I got to come down to play Melbourne for the first time, that’s what happened! Ummm, it was the first tune we’d done together and it was a steep learning curve, that’s all I’ll say. We got to produce it with a strange funny man called Ivan Gough though, and his guidance in all matters production and celebrated gastronomic insights have been a massive influence ever since. The whole thing certainly opened a lot of doors, and I guess there’s something that could be said for having a minor hit early on and, umm, never really following it up…Actually I think the only reason the track got to where it did on the charts was because Brewster B (our label guy at the time) gave all the DJs free t-shirts. Don’t quote me on that though. Actually, quote away my friend. If there’s one thing the music industry lacks sometimes, it is honesty.

Who are your musical inspirations?

In no particular order, all that comes to mind right now is: New Order, OMD, Depeche Mode, Machinations, Pseudo Echo, the KLF, Public Image Limited, Chad Jackson, Arthur baker, Ben Liebrand, a tribe called quest, de la soul, jungle brothers, INXS, Tears for Fears, Kids in the Kitchen, Duran Duran, The Cure, Jacques Lu Cont, Sonic Youth and Gustav Mahler. I don’t think you can ever really narrow down your influences to a select few. If you’re open to it, you’re going to be inspired a thousand times a day by a thousand different things.

What are your goal’s that you would like to achieve music wise?

To be honest I’m not sure that I have any specific goals I want to achieve as such, I just want to keep improving what I’m doing. With production, you never stop learning, so if I can keep improving my sound and come up with tunes that someone wants to play, I’m happy.

What can we expect release wise for the rest of this year?

I’ve actually been doing a few remixes lately, so that’s mostly what’s on the cards at the moment. There’s Jeff Drake & Nash T feat. Big slim ‘rollover rockstar’ on vicious, then Supafly’s ‘erotic city’, Sidney ‘nobody move’ and Hyper’s newie ‘ant music’ on central. I’ve also done a mix for Inaya Day of her version of ‘Breakaway’, which is a tune I’ve had a bit to do with over the years. That’s an exciting one that should be out by the end of the year. Originals wise I’ve got a couple of newies I’m working on having out shortly too, so it’s going to be a busy end of year.

Five tracks that never leave your bag?

BSOD – this is the hook
Daft punk – aerodynamic
Sugiurumn – star baby (axwell remix)
Bloc party – banquet (boyz noise mix)
Laurent Garnier – man with the red face

Where can i get a copy of ‘Burning Hands’?

Hehe – probably at cash converters, in their 50c bin. I don’t actually even have one myself! I think I might have a white label somewhere, but I can’t tell which one it is!

Thanks Chris Fraser for your time.

And thanks for yours.