DJ Hell: Techno visionary, be it day or night

He’s presented himself under many different guises – anti-superstar DJ, international Gigolo label boss, dance music jetsetter and even the GQ Man of the Year. But above and beyond all that though, DJ Hell is known as a techno visionary who’s stood the test of time and remains a revered figure around the world. And this year, he’s delivered his project that will see him further cement this status. His new album Teufeslwerk is a double-album opus of 16 songs split across two discs, divided stylistically into ‘Day’ and ‘Night’. The first ‘Day’ record sees Hell indulging the avante garde and experimental side of his musical personality, while the ‘Night’ section of the record is a dynamic collection of techno tracks that explores it in all its different shapes and flavours.

“The album I did is a double album, or you may call it double whopper,” DJ Hell told ITM. “There’s my whole life, my whole musical experience and my whole knowledge about music and life into it.”

And over the next two weekends, we’ll get to see the album brought to the festival stages as he returns to Australia for the first time in, unbelievably, nearly a decade as part of the Stereosonic tour. ITM fins out what we can expect.

You’re heading down to Australia shortly. What have you been up to since we last saw you? What does a DJ Hell set sound like these days?

It’s almost one decade since I last visited Australia and I think lots of things have changed. Not only in my world but the music world has changed radically, life has changed radically and Obama will be President of the new world order. For me, I will bring my new album down to Australia called Teufelswerk and present lots of new Hell and Gigolo material. The sound of the mega church of Gigolo was and is always very disco/avantgarde/new wave/techno/electro based, so my DJ sets are more or less all over these musical styles

Anyone or any tracks on Gigolo Records at the moment we should know about?

The next release is always the best, we have DJ Pierre from Chicago doing his new single I’ve Lost Control in a very old school Wild Pitch kinda way. Then we’ve got music from Snuff Crew, Heib, Fetisch & Me, my album is coming February. Also, following on from Gigolo working with the Presets, we have a new Australian producer called Kikimoto Allstars doing his first album on Gigolo, I can see the press and DJs loving this new artist.

You once commented that 2007 was a bad year for music, but you were more optimistic for 2008. Has that turned out to be true? And how is 2009 looking?

2007 will be written down as the year when the music industry died, but still there was lots of great music produced and there were hundreds of great parties all over the planet happening. 2008 showed everybody that we were not finished yet and so many great new labels/DJs/producers/clubs/festivals/new technology formed. There was no time to sit down and reflect what’s new and what’s maybe good or bad for the future of DJ and club culture. 2009, I am going to work day and night pushing my album, when I wake in the morning my first thoughts will be for the album. I hope more old school heads are going to be in the studio and working on new concepts and new musical directions.

You say you rarely look at the crowd when you’re DJing, yet you have a strong reputation for being able to read the crowd and give them what they want. How do you tell what your audience wants from you without looking at them?

You have to eat and read the atmosphere and here in Australia it’s almost all about festivals and outdoor actions – not much a nightclubbing culture like in Berlin. So, I have to think about it and push it in a different direction, I think most of the people expect the unexpected and that’s a good feeling when you go out and play at parties all around the world.

You once said that you almost never play your older music. Are there any of your older tracks you still use? What about older tracks from other artists? Any classics you still use?

It doesn’t feel right to promote yourself every day or every weekend to only push your own music and play only your own stuff. I only know one great DJ in the world or let’s say two, okay, I know four. These four can rock every crowd in the world and only play their own music or remixes and it’s still wild and outstanding performance: Jeff Mills, Joey Beltram, Carl Craig and Derrick May.

There’s hundreds of classic tunes I have used all over the years, but right now I am more focused on brand new material, big tunes from new Gigolo producers and what’s hot or will be hot or is not released yet, or even better will never be released.

You said that you ‘dreamed of song structures and melodies’ from an early age. Do you still dream about music? Can you describe your creative process for us?

There’s not much dreaming for the moment, no time. The album I did is a double album or you may call it double whopper. There’s my whole life, my whole musical experience and my whole knowledge about music and life into it. I can’t go to the studio right now because there’s nothing left in me right now. I put all my ideas from the last 30 years of DJing into this album, so I need a break from the studio. Also, I did a new compilation with lots of new artists and lots of new music from the mega church of Gigolo.

Your career spans three decades: you must have seen plenty of things change, but has anything stayed the same? And is it possible to surprise you any more?

You’re right. It’s hard to surprise me but who knows, I might get a new touch into my music and into my life after this Australian tour. I still do vinyl and I love it. Nothing is the same any more but the magic of nightlife is moving me and Gigolo. I try to find new roads and new ways of doing what I am doing, the same as the beginning.

Catch DJ Hell playing on the Stereosonic tour which kicks off this weekend…

Sat Nov 22 – Stereosonic, Brisbane
Fri Nov 28 – Stereosonic pres. satellite v4.0, Sydney
Sat Nov 29 – Stereosonic, Melbourne
Sat Nov 29 – Stereosonic, Adelaide
Sun Nov 30 – Stereosonic, Perth

For all the latest on the Stereosonic tour head to the inthemix festival page, with news updates, interviews, DJ mixes, videos and heaps more!