DJ SY Past & Present

This article is about Polysexual Presents Ravesexual @ Air in Birmingham (UK), Sat 01 Nov 2008

DJ SY

Sy started djing professionally in 1989 playing hip-hop, soul and house. He gained a residency at a nightclub called Venus in Nottingham in 1990 whilst still at university.
The night became legendary, and because of this he was booked at events all over the Midlands, such as Nemesis in Leicester, Amnesia in Coventry, Time in Birmingham and at The Eclipse (the ravers mecca!)

Having gained a name as a DJ with a style of mixing that was unique to the newly born rave scene, other promoters such as Dreamscape, Helter Skelter, Obsession, Fantasia, Interdance and Perception included Sy on their line-ups. Club work all over the country and abroad followed and helped to establish his reputation as the Scratchmaster.

Sy's individual mixing ability has maintained his popularity with ravers young and old and his infamous Old Skool sets are still in high demand. He is still one of the hardest working and in demand DJ's on the circuit and can be found playing all over the country every weekend - his constant high quality upfront sets helped him gain the title of Hardcore Heaven's "Hardcore DJ Of The Year" for 2004 & 2005. Sy appears at virtually every major UK Hardcore gig, including Slammin' Vinyl, Hardcore Heaven, HTID, Uproar, Dizstruxshon, Vibealite, Uprising, and Tasty, and more often than not graces the decks for his infamous Power Hour last set with MC Storm.

The UK Hardcore scene has benefited recently from a surge in interest, with the quality and content of the music vastly improved from the lull in the late 90's. Together with his long-time producing partner, DJ Unknown, Sy has helped this newly found faith in hardcore, and their co-owned record label, Quosh Records, now boasts an impressive discography of over 90 releases.

Late late late fantazia interview

How did you come by the name SY?
I used to be a graffiti writer, and wanted a name short for Simon (my real name), but found Si couldn't be written as a tag very stylishly, so I just changed it to Sy (plus that's how it's pronounced anyway!)

Where did you first DJ and how did you get your first big break?
I DJ professionally for the first time in a wine bar in Nottingham, and the owner then bought a club and took me with him, leading to loads of gigs in the Midlands.

What is your preferred style of music away from the scene - do u still dabble in the hip hop scene?
I don't dabble in it, but I still love a bit of hip hop

How did you learn how to scratch?
By messing about on my dad's shite turntable and the volume control before I could afford Technics

Whose idea was it to remix Baby D - Let me be your Fantasy?
Did you think that trying to mix such a Classic tune in a garage fashion wouldn't do the original justice?
Especially the official release version (Trick or Treat) had that lame ass MCing all over it !!
Pete Tong heard the bootleg mix on one of those Essential Mixes and wanted the track remixed officially (he owns the rights to the original), because he'd heard the track was causing such a storm in the clubs. It was the record company who stipulated that they wanted an mc on it. The very fact that it reached number 16 in the charts with absolutely no radio play from Kiss or Capital Radio etc I think demonstrates quite clearly that the remix did the original justice. Plus, of course, the fact that it was more than just casually endorsed by the original artist. It annoys me when so-called die hard hardcore ravers slag us off for doing that remix - many of the big early hardcore tunes from 92 were rip offs of old tunes; for instance "Sweet Harmony" was a rip of old US house tracks by Marshall Jefferson and Ce Ce rogers, and "Out Of Space" by the Prodigy was a rip of an old reggae tune. We just reworked it in the style that was popular at the time, as those hardcore producers had done in the early 90s.

Do you play under any other names?
No

What do u think of the new Hardcore breakbeat style tracks being produced and what do u think to the breaks remixes of old skool tunes e.g. music takes u?
I've only heard one or two "new" hardcore breakbeat tunes (by which I presume you mean 170ish bpm tracks) so I can't really comment objectively. I've also only heard the new reworking of Zero B's "Lock Up", which I thought sounded phat.

Did you like playing with MC Scratchmaster Techno as a lot of his sets seemed to involve him - did you request him?
To be honest when I'm DJing I don't pay much attention to the mc - I'm too busy cueing up scratches/the next tune to listen to what they're doing. A lot of people ask me about him, so I guess he must have been popular! I've never requested a particular mc over another, nor have I (as some big name djs tend to do) pulled the volume down on an mc, however f***ing annoying they might be, because at the end of the day the promoter has booked that person to do a job. If they're shit at that job, they won't be booked again.

What is your favourite mix of DJ's Unite as it was almost your signature tune?
Was it? Why?
I can't remember playing it that often. Still, I reckon DJ's Unite Vol 3 was the best reworking of it - tougher beats and a better arrangement than the original.

What's been your most embarrassing moment while DJing?
I can't think of anything particularly embarrassing that's happened, to be honest.

What's your favourite all time tune?
Too many to pick one, but I'll never forget getting LFO's "LFO" through the post and thinking this is f***Ing awesome.

In light of the recent breakbeat hardcore revival do you think it was a mistake for Happy Hardcore producers to drop the breakbeat piano sound in favour of the 4 beat / techno sound in '94?
Interesting question, and a controversial one at that. Some of the best early hardcore tunes were 4/4, from Bizarre Inc through to a lot of the Basement Records releases (which I still count as some of the best underground dance music ever produced), and all the Belgian and Dutch stuff which preceded UK hardcore (in about 1990-91) was 4/4, so I can't really see how the progression (in terms of beats) into the "happy" hardcore (what a f***ing stupid name - always makes me think of "nappy hardcore") of '94 onwards can be seen as much different. What I detested, and still do, was the tendency for virtually all of the new producers to produce every single track without even the slightest hint of a bass line. To me, music sounds unfinished and weak without a bottom end thumping through - I know not everyone "feels" the same frequencies in music, but to me it it was the bass line and bass noises of the early hardcore that made it sound "hardcore" and underground, and hence attracted me to it.

Useful interesting links

Old Skool Tracks

Energy Rush

HTID

Hardcore Extreme Team

Whos Hardcore

Quosh records