Carl Cox's take on big-name "MTV jukebox" DJs

It wouldn’t be an Australian summer without a visit from honorary countryman Carl Cox. After two years at the helm of his own Carl Cox & Friends arena at Stereosonic, the stalwart DJ will be back at the national festival with ‘The Revolution Continues’. Pushing a tech-house and techno focus on his stage this year, inspired by his legendary Ibiza residency, Cox will be joined by a couple of fellow White Isle icons: Adam Beyer and Loco Dice. “When I met Carl the first time, it was just amazing,” Dice told inthemix. “It clicked immediately together.” In a new interview with DMC World, Cox touched on that kinship with like-minded artists, while also drawing a line between his kind of DJ and the big-names who go for “the Rihanna reaction”.

“It’s right down the middle which is great and it showing everyone the yin and yang of where the DJ is at in 2012,” the veteran tells DMC World. “If you go on a tour of all of the big clubs in Ibiza – and all round the world for that matter – you will see time and time again how the majority of the biggest DJs in the world have the same playlist playing the same records every time. They are scared of stepping out of their ‘two hour comfort zone set’.

“It is far too pop-tastic for me; you get what you see on the tin with these guys. It’s like having an MTV jukebox behind the decks. On the other side of the coin you have us lot, they probably see us as old school DJs. People out there still want to see a ‘DJ’s DJ’ – they want to see a DJ make a mistake, they want to see some passion, they want to get their money’s worth.

“Look at someone like Laurent Garnier – it’s as if you know Laurent just by the records he plays, he does such an awesome job. It is not in our essence to do what other DJs do and go for ‘the Rihanna reaction’, as we call it. We leave that to the others…”

While musically he’s a different breed to Cox, we heard similar sentiments from Stereo mainstage star Laidback Luke this year, who lamented the repetition in some prominent DJs’ sets. “A lot of DJs are comfortable with what they play at various festivals and are doing the same sets over and over again,” he told inthemix. “To me, what real DJing is about is anticipating the moment, the location and the crowd. Playing the same set would be impossible for me. For me, DJing is about improvisation in the moment. Sometimes DJs bring out confetti and fireworks that needs to be synched, which I don’t really see the use of, to be honest.”