Aydin The Funky Chile, or ATFC as he’s also known, has enjoyed a stellar year in 2007. Continuing to evolve as both a DJ and producer, he recently chatted with ITM on the eve of his forthcoming Australian tour, talking about his new production with Armand Van Helden, the state of the house movement, and his recent move to Spain. Habla ingles?
How are you looking forward to your forthcoming Australian tour?
Very much so! Although I’ve been [to Australia] a number of times, almost everything about this tour is new – the time of year, the clubs I’m playing at and I’ve never been to Perth or played Summadayze before – all new ground to cover!
How do you find Australian crowds? Knowledgeable and up for it? How are you going to spend your down time in Australia?
It depends where you are, but generally you get a bit of everything everywhere. Since I first came house music has really progressed and the crowds have become more knowledgeable and open minded with it. It changes every year so ask me again in January! When I’m not DJing I have a truck load of work to do so I guess I’ll be spending most of my time in hotel rooms. It’s a good thing because last year I spent all my wages on art and things like skydiving. My wife wasn’t too pleased when I got back.
You’ve been rather busy in recent months, releasing a swag of productions and remixes on premier labels like Toolroom and Southern Fried. In a recent email to me you said ‘don’t worry I’m not a full time chaser of the electro bandwagon – just a little tougher and more electronic in places’. What brought about this subtle change in your sound, and will it continue?
I like to keep myself interested and excited in both what I play out and what I make in the studio. At the moment that happens to come from more electronic sounds. It’s a combination of my own taste and what I see working on the dancefloor. Before, while DJing, I was always a little bit worried about veering too far away from the sound I was known for as a producer. I’ve solved that problem by dabbling with a different sound in the studio and now I think crowds should be able to expect a wide variety of house when they come to one of my gigs. Too many DJ-producers constantly chase the sound of now and consequently always end up missing the boat slightly. I’m not saying I’m at the coal face of dance music, but I’m certainly not on the bandwagon either. I think it makes for a longer shelf life. Of course, my most commercially successful records have been filed under ‘Funky House’ and you’ll hopefully see ATFC on many more Hed Kandi CD’s to come.
Armand Van Helden was in Australia just a few weeks ago and rocked a few dates. How did the collaboration with him on ‘NY Style’ come about?
I’m tempted to tell you we hooked up at his loft in NY after double billing at Cielo the night before. We jammed in his studio until the early hours and came out with ‘NY Style’. In reality, I sampled Armand’s voice at the beginning of an old mixtape of his. I had the brainwave of taking the resulting demo to his label Southern Fried, totally expecting them to throw it back at me! They loved it and sent it to Armand who did too. The result is ATFC vs Armand Van Helden ‘NY Style’. I’m pleased with that, with or without the jam session.
What other projects do you have in the pipeline for 2008?
I’ve got releases forthcoming on Southern Fried, Toolroom and of course Onephatdeeva, but more recently things have stepped up a gear. I’ve recently signed a new deal with Defected which will involve singles, remixes – including the newly finished Funkerman ‘Speed Up’ remix and soon to be started Bob Sinclar ‘Together’ cut – DJing at Defected events and I’m going to be mixing their Miami compilation as well as a possible ‘Best of ATFC’ in the Autumn. Alongside that I’ve [also] signed a similar deal with Toolroom. They’ve just signed a possible biggie of mine – ‘Ya Killin Me’ – as part of a larger deal involving DJing at Toolroom club nights and mixing the next ‘Toolroom Knights’ CD. So I’m going to be in bed with both those labels quite heavily next year.
What can we expect from Onephatdeeva and Onephatdeepa in 2008?
From me? I don’t know if I’ll be able to fit anything else in to be honest. I’m happy for other labels to promote me for a change. However, we are planning to digitally release tunes from other artists. By only releasing download versions it keeps our costs and risk at a minimum, meaning we can release tunes from new, upcoming artists without worrying about the financial and commercial aspect. Although the demise of vinyl is, for many, the end of an era, it does mean that small, independent labels like Onephatdeeva and Deepa can continue to thrive and achieve what they were set up to do; release underground music that otherwise wouldn’t be heard.
What are your thoughts on where the house movement is heading right now?
I know it sounds miserable but it really bores me to think about it. It’s just dance music at the end of the day. Dancing’s about fun and you know what happens when you try and predict fun eh? It isn’t going away; it won’t die. In fact at a time when the industry has been in turmoil over sales, my DJ diary has never been busier. In musical terms it’s been a fantastic year for house music. Barriers have been broken and it’s now very hard to pin a DJ down to a specific house sound. I think the success of ‘minimal’ has brought techno and house closer together and you’ll find producers like DJ Spen using techno influences in their records. It’s a good thing when I’m able to have the broad taste and ability to record for a label like Defected one month and then Toolroom the next. That says more about the mixture of influences out there than it does about ATFC.
How have you found the move to Spain? Are you missing the UK?
All going to plan so far. We moved to Javea on the Costa Blanca – 1.5 hr car ferry to Ibiza town! – in September and it’s been perfect. The kids are settled in school and I have an excuse to open a bottle of rosé at 6pm every evening. It’s like being on a never ending holiday. We moved because we could. We don’t need the UK anymore as most of my DJ bookings are in Europe or further a field. All I figured [was] I needed was a good airport and ADSL [internet]. So far things haven’t changed business-wise, in fact it’s got a lot better. The pressure to create was quite high in England as it’s so expensive to live there. Now the pressures off I find I’m making better records and more of them. On a personal level, most of our family live abroad so it made it a bit easier to do the same ourselves.
Finally, your Top 5 as we head into 2008?
1. ATFC – ‘Ya Killin’ Me’ (Toolroom)
2. DJ Spen – ‘Wonderous’ (Defected)
3. Tim Deluxe – ‘You Got Tha Touch’ (Skint)
4. Axwell – ‘Submariner’ (Axtone)
5. DONS – ‘Nighttrain (Jerry Ropero) (Joia)
Catch ATFC as he wings his way around Australia this NYE and into January:
Dec 31 – Cargo NYE, Sydney
Jan 6 – Summadayze, Perth
Jan 11 – Famous, Gold Coast
Jan 12 – Famous, Melbourne
