Simon Caldwell has long been associated with the highest quality sounds. From raw jacking house through the most soulful funk, hip hop and dub, he can always be expected to come through with the goods. Equally comfortable playing small inner city pubs as the largest events, his career has included mindblowing sets at Love (Australia), Tresor (Germany) and supporting just about every great house & techno DJ to come through Sydney. His radio sets are equally legendary, with tapes from 2SER’s annual Mosaic Mix apparently changing hands for substantial amounts!
Simon’s been clocking up serious frequent flyer points making recent stops in Adelaide, Byron Bay and Melbourne. On top of this he’s been organising his famous Mad Racket parties monthly in Sydney and working in one of Sydney’s classic indie record shops – Red Eye.
ITM dragged Simon into a Hume Highway roadside diner on his way to titillate Canberra’s deep house fraternity.
ITM: While most top league DJs seem locked into their progressive house and breaks ghettos, I’ve always been amazed at your ability to jump around genres, both in the parties you play and within individual sets. How important is this to your enthusiasm for DJing?
SC: Well I’ve always had eclectic tastes, originating from my love for 60’s and 70’s soul, jazz and funk, which is still the binding thread of all dance music in my opinion. Dance music is almost built on its own genres and sub-genres now. Producers and DJs are quick to jump on a “new sound” (usually one record which sounds a bit different) and within a month or two you have a whole bunch of copycat tracks and a whole bunch of DJs flogging the same tunes for a little while until the next “sound” comes along. That, for me, leads to lots of boring music. Once you listen to a few bars you know what a track is going to do, which is not very fun. I can’t really understand people who say they love “breaks” (whatever that sounds like this month) but hate “house” or “hip hop”. They all used to be the same thing, or at least played side by side in a club. The narrow definitions of dance music are a marketing tool more than anything reflecting musical reality. It’s all just an arrangement of noise… That said, I’ve never really been a great lover of “rave” music, much of which seems to be an exercise in messing with people’s minds in a fairly mindless way. It’s effects for the sake of effect if you know what I mean. I think psychedelic trance is the ultimate as far as this goes. I can appreciate that it’s clever to be able to do that, but personally I don’t like being under mind control.
So, what I guess I mean about my music is that I try to play music which has an emotional effect on me, not just a physiological one. Hopefully that emotion carries over to people who are listening. I buy and listen to and play music which I like, whatever the “style”, and try and fit it into a situation.
ITM: You’re probably best known for club sets, but from my experience you seem to really gel best on radio (despite the minimal voicing). Which inspires you most, and what do you get out of them?
SC: Club sets offer the challenge of playing to a dance floor and give you instant response, which can be exciting and instantly satisfying. Radio gives me a chance to play more of a soundscape of different old and new music and incorporating spoken word and other weird stuff to hopefully end up with a 90 minute sound journey. Strange juxtapositions can be interesting. I don’t talk much because I want people to concentrate on the music.
ITM: These seem to be crazy times. With international politics and Australia’s position getting more and more cliched, how do you see the role of the DJ or music maker? Are you interested in politics?
SC: I am interested in politics on many levels, but I see a distinct lack of ethics in much of this industry, being as it is, based on money, ego and drugs. There is less and less talk about dance music as an “alternative culture” and more about it as a “lifestyle choice” or “emergent market”. I think that the horse has long bolted in many ways, though, and that people (punters) generally have themselves to blame. People burn themselves out while they are still new to a scene, so how can that scene develop over time? I think hip hop is an exception, and the recent renaissance of Sydney’s scene is a great thing. I think DJs have something of a responsibility to encourage scenes to develop and push things forward. Unfortunately, most DJs seem to be more interested in the size of their fees and other less altruistic things. It’s easier that way.
ITM: There seem to be a rash of DJs about town getting into production, and at least superficially getting serious results – any plans?
SC: Yes, I’ll let you know when I’ve finished something I’m happy with.
ITM: I’ve often felt a rush of excitement when you drop a killer track, whether Disco D or McFadden & Whitehead. Usually this ends with me hunched over crates of records for days on end. What sounds are getting you excited at the moment?
SC: I’m always in between discovering beautiful new music – the new Bola album, Larry Heard’s new single feat. Robert Owens, Shari Vari remixes, Mark Farina’s 12” on Panhandle, etc. at the moment – and rediscovering old and not-so-old music – Bobbi Humphries’ “Satin Doll” on Bluenote, Eugene McDaniels’ “Outlaw”, MD’s “Pressure Cooker”, Charles Webster’s Happy Tracks record, etc, etc… There is never a shortage of good music!
Catch Simon Caldwell at parties around the country. Check Whatson for details. Canberrans can see Simon at Sense @ Lot 33, Kingston on Friday 22 March.
