Catch Ray this Saturday for Deeper at Babalou!!!

What inspired you to start DJ'ing?

I started collecting records from the age of 12, back then it was pretty much a bit of everything, mostly the stuff you would hear in the charts or see on tv. As with most young people i was introduced to cooler stuff through my older sibling, My brother Stephen got me into early original electro, and i guess that lead me into my love of hip hop and American Soul and Disco. To be honest i always wanted to dance, that was why i bought the music, i never really considered the dj side of things. By the time I was in my teens, i was deep inside the hip hop side of things, religiously recording videos off MTV and the Box music channel and buying imported New york dj mix tapes from Red Records in Brixton. I was amazed at how hype these guys were, Kid Capri and Dj Clue were amongst some of my Favourites. By this time i had began to build up a bit of collection, and was buying more tunes than ever, so i started making tapes for myself and my close friends, and because i wanted to get that real blended mix tape effect i got the cash together to buy an amp, 2 decks (a pair of dodgey Ariston turntables, technics were way out of my price range) a mixer and some small moniter speakers. From then on I was completely hooked. So that was my original inspiration, the desire to have my tapes nicely blended.

How important do you think it is for a DJ to pay his dues and learn the trade through a residency?

I do think it is quite important to pay your dues in anything you persue as a career. When i 1st got heavily into the club scene, there weren't as many different promotions and parties as there are now. If you wanted to play to a real wide and clued up audience, you had to try and land sets in the big clubs, which of course were dominated by the more well known bigger names.

The only way for someone like me, being a dj, and not music producer, to get a foot in the door, was to just go to lots of different parties and just to get to know the people in the scene, mainly the djs, thinking back i must have been a right pain in the ass, with all my newbie anorak ways. lol!! But thats how people got to know me and know how i play, I would always bombard the djs with my mix cds, till eventually i started getting the odd warm up slot here and there. This was obviously like a dream come true, even if it was usually just me and the bar staff for the 1st hour or so. Warming things up for the next dj is real artform if you want to do it properly, you don't want to go hell for leather from the offset, you have to build things to the point, that when the next dj comes on, the room is nicely hyped but he or she still has a place to go, peak to early and the only place you can go is down. I would actually always make a point of coming to parties very early so could catch the resident's warm up sets, you were always guaranteed to hear some really cool obscure stuff, where as the djs later on would have to drop a lot more of the more well known beats. This and all my eventual various weekly bar/club residencies have made me a lot more sensitive toward playing for and pleasing a crowd. I am a strong beliver in the entertainment factor of djing, there is absolutely no point in trying to be to cool for school and dropping a load of obscure sounds if the crowd are not feeling it. And that goes hand in hand with knowing when to dropbrand new music and knowing when to drop in the older more classic tracks. It is a real test for a dj to realise a set isn't going well, make the necessary change and turn things around, i think playing the same venue week in and week out is the only way to gain that kind of experience.

What impact on London clubbing do you think the closure of the goods yard will have?

The Cross was a major part of my early clubbing history, it was where i heard and met some of my house music heroes, and where I have had many a wild and messy time, plus it was the 1st club i played as a headline dj, so it is very sad to see it and the rest of the clubs in that area close down. But i always look at these changes to the scene with optimism, and i feel not only will it intensify the atmosphere in the bigger clubs ie more peeps coming through the doors, it will also spawn the rise of a lot more smaller venues, so you will end up with great djs playing to more intimate crowds, which in my experience always leads to a classic session.

What is your opinion on the whole culture of DJs being booked to bring people or getting paid per person on their guest list?

Ahhhhh! The old forum fave debate. lol I think it goes back to paying your dues. The DJ's job is to entertain the crowd, thats what the punters are paying their entrance fee's for! you don't hear anyone saying 'Yeah! wicked party! The dj was whack but i heard he brought a lot of people down, so it was all good.' I have been lucky enough to meet some real great party promoters over the years, who actually promoted their parties, whether it was marching up down high streets dropping flyers into shops or standing in the freezing cold in the wee hours handing out flyers to messy clubbers. Obviously with the current power of the internet, how you promote a party has changed, but i think the principles remain the same, the promoter is meant to find a venue, select the djs that are skilled and capable of catering for a crowd with wide varying taste and then by any means possible spread the word to as many people as they can. Doing all those things may not make it an over night success, but it should lay down the strong foundations to make sure your party is one that stays around for a long time.

What DJ's and producers are doing it for you at the moment?

I don't get to hear as many djs as i used to, that is something I aim to do more of this year. but being involved with a club like Jaded, i do get to hear some amazing guest djs, ones that have really stood out for me on a personal level include Paul woolford, will saul, Red Robin Luke VB and Dan Curtain. On the production side, i'm a sucker for the deeper sounds and i'm picking up great stuff from Ric Mclelland AKA Scope, Manuel tur, Sebastian Davidson, Solaris Heights and a very talented up and coming production outfit called Mididropmusic, these guys are making some amazingly lush deep sounds.

How do you see clubland evolving in the next 12 months?

I think it will be the clubber that evolves, people are so much more clued up than before, as in regards to what they want to hear when they go out, they have become as geeky about the music as the dj's, which is all good, i think it can only serve to make the scene richer, with the quality parties really becoming the main stayers. The promoters will not only have to program some amazing line ups but also find more amazing ways to entertain their customers ie wacky activities and of course lots of themed dressing up antics, basically listening to serious electronic music while still having a silly and fun time.

What tips do you have for up and coming DJs?

Use the force!! lol!! Always try to give them something they can feel.

If there is one rule in life to live by, what is it?

Always look at the big picture, you may think your problems are the end of the world, but if you simply step back and look at them in the grand scheme of things, you'll see that things are never really that bad.



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