DJ Nikki Dimensions

Real name and where you’re from?
Nicholas Paul Hammond and I am from North London. I have recently moved to Cheshunt in Herts just outside the M25 ring. (A bit Cleaner)

How did you get into the scene?
I heard acid and house through Danny my older brother. I would just be getting up in the morning for my cornflakes and he would be getting in all wide eyed and not hungry. I thought it was strange behaviour at the time but now I know. He passed on the tapes of Carl Cox, Eddie Richards and Grooverider and told me about the pirate radio stations and that was that. I was only twelve at the time but I knocked my pre pubesant bollocks off.

When did you get your 1st set of decks and what were they?
I bought a pair of Soundlab DLP100’s in 1990 when I was 13 years old. They were a bit wobbly so after learning to mix and scratch on those for two years using Technics was as easy as falling over when you’re drunk.

Where was your 1st booking?
I did the usual mates parties, weddings and bar mitzvahs but my first proper gig and residency was for the legendary Labyrinth in Dalston playing Hardcore and Jungle. That was in 1996 and when it started to snowball a bit.

How long have you been Djing professionally now? Do you ever get bored with it?
Ha professionally. That’s the first time I’ve been asked that. I spent the majority of the 90’s getting twatted and dancing. I suppose around 1998-99 was when I was getting on a lot of different flyers like Best of British and One Nation. Bored? I feel more in love with the music and this scene/way of life now than I ever did. I suppose it’s like the perfect relationship. The love gets stronger. And the plus is like most relationships you have to take a bit of shit now and then but this love affair is stress free.

What was the very 1st record you bought?
Erm The first tune was that ‘In the Jungle the mighty jungle the lion sleeps tonight’ You know the one that goes A-WIM-BORWEY A-WIM-BORWEY from the 1980’s which is quite ironic being into Jungle. That and ‘Karma Chameleon’ by Culture Club. I think I was 7. Ah bless.

What was the last record you bought?
I work at Juno Records so I pick up tunes every day. Yesterday I took home a tune called ‘Camera’ by Michel De Hey which is a deep techno tune. Different Dimensions of the spectrum!

How many records in your collection? And how many genres?
Blimey. I haven’t counted in years and I won’t count because it would take ages. I estimate about 10,000. Actually I might have a count up because I am building a studio in my new house and could do with a sort out.

What do you like playing most and why?
I love it all. The different styles and sets touch the different sides of my personality. I Love doing an hour of old skool Hardcore in London with all guns blazing and tearing the shit out of the place but I also love being in Spain and doing a slow building deep house and techno set for 4 or 5 hours. It’s like tantric sex and can get you in such a good state of mind.

Best event you played?
Amnesia in Barcelona in 1999 sticks out. It’s an open air super club on the beach. Picture being in the booth facing the Mediterranean with the moon reflecting off the waves. 1000 Europeans more or less shagging on the dance floor. Fire breathers and jugglers to my right. Naked go-go dancers to my left pouring Bacardi over each other. It was fiesta that night so they also got 6 six dudes that jumped out of a plane with night flares and landed on the beach and to my far left were dudes bungee jumping from a crane in the club gardens. Whoa! In England though Raindance was to host parties in a massive circus tent every year at Santa Pods VW bug Jam. Now they were proper parties man.

Is there a set you've done that really stands out for you when you thought, wow, that really rocked?
Like I said above at the Bug Jams there were a couple thousand people back outdoors raving to old skool on a warm summer evening. They were just up for having such a good time it always went off in there.

Favourite promoter?
Raindance without a doubt. Obviously I am going to be biased because they support me and I am resident there but there is electricity in the air. A real feeling like it used to be in the early nineties. I dare you to go to a Raindance and not fall in love with it.

Top 10 Favourite tunes?
Holy cow….from the acid era Frankie Knuckles ‘Tears’, Derrick May ‘Strings of Life and Keytronic Ensemble ‘Calypso of House’. The hardcore era Omni Trio ‘Feel Good’ LTJ Bukem ‘Atlantis’ and Four Horsemen ‘ Drowning in Her’. From the Jungle era LTJ Bukem ‘Horizons’ Doc Scott ‘Far Away’ and Dj Rap ‘Rumble rmx’ and recently Jay J and A Macari ‘ A little bit of Jazz’ which is a deep house tune. There are loads but they just sprang to my mind.

Worst tune?
Erm…..Any poptastic corporate boy or girl band…you know Liberty X, Westlife OH my god Bloody Westlife when they jump up from their stools on the last verse. All that crap is the devils work.

Other Dj’s & MC’s you rate?
Randall and Hype are heroes. Their abilities to tear up a rave are amazing. Mc GQ and fearless with them are good. I don’t really like mcs that much. I can’t really buzz out to the music if they are shouting about life in de ghetto. Erick Morillo has that same energy but for the house crowd.

Cosy Club or Warehouse?
I love both. Can’t beat a dirty Warehouse in East London to sweat it out and get mashed but a smart club with a crisp system in Ibiza is lovely with all those tanned bodies.

Ibiza or Bahamas?
I’ve never been to the Bahamas but I’ve been to Ibiza every year for the past ten. I am seriously in love with the night life and the lazy day time countryside in Ibiza. My dream is to scrape enough cash together and get a holiday home out there.

North or South?
I’ve been around a lot of England and I’ve got to say I feel a lot more relaxed when I leave London. Your average Londoner is stressed out to the max and very aggressive/short tempered. I’ve had good experiences going to Creamfields in Liverpool and Manchester and meeting the Welsh and Scottish. They are lovely but its facking freezing up there. I like Cornwall. The whole Oz and Kiwi surf thing down there is cool. It’s like being on an episode of Home & Away. You might bump into Alf Stewart. FLAMIN RACK OFF FLAMIN FLAME!

Do you listen to any other type of music?
I listen to all sorts. I grew up on a stable diet of Soul, Tamla Motown, George Benson, Rose Royce, The Beatles, Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson. I thank my dad for that. Going to Ibiza you hear lots of world music and fusion as well as all the usual house and electronica. Also at Juno.co.uk they have absolutely everything related to dance. Check it out its amazing.

Describe yourself in 5 words?
Loyal, honest,hard-working,fun, perverted!

If you could be any other person, (past present, fictional or real) who would you be?
I would be GOD. Sort a few of the planets issues out with a click of my fingers. If I can’t be GOD I’d be Alf Stewart and phone President Bush from the surf club and tell him to FLAMIN RACK OFF.

If you had a time machine what year would you go back to and why?
I’d go back to the 1960’s and experience the way the world changed back then. That and take loads of Acid and dope with Lennon.

What do you do to chill out away from the music?
I used to be a Landscape gardener by trade so I love working in my Garden. I’m good with my hands y’see. I also love playing with my little son Joseph. He’s three and so much fun. I also like being in bed with my wife and having a cuddle or making love to her. We’ve got our second son on the way in June. My sperms are fantastically fertile. She conceived by me having a wank in the shower and one of the buggers still made its way to her womb.

How do you see the scene 5 years from now?
People will always want to dance. It awakens the spirit and soul. From the dawn of time people have consumed psychotropic plants or tree bark and danced in unison to bangin drums. It will never stop. I just hope the kids don’t get too sucked into urban/ghetto/gangsta fashions and bring bad vibes to parties. The youngsters are so impressionable and get the wrong idea, thinking they have got to be the badman. If people stay true and don’t abuse themselves and each other we’ll be dancing until judgement day.

What have you been up to recently?
I am working my nuts off. I am the accounts dept at Juno so I am learning new skills constantly. I am also tarting up my new house and as I said we are preparing for mini Dimensions number two. That and the DJ diary is filling up nicely for. My weekly radio shows on London’s Origin 95.2 and also House Fm. When I get the chance I have a sit down and smoke some good quality afghan resin. MMmmmmmm

How do you think the scene compares now to back in the day?
I think it has gone full circle and people are really shedding their egos and letting themselves go. Wherever I have been people are very friendly and just love life and dancing. People say it’s not as good. Obviously because at its inception it was such a change of life for us in the late 80’s and so liberating but kids who are discovering it now are going to feel equally excited and liberated. There is loads of fantastic music out there right across the musical rainbow. The thing people have got to remember is that you have to search out these good events and put a bit of effort in. Don’t expect it all to happen on your doorstep. Get in the car, get on the motorway and travel to find the good times.

What does the future hold for Niki Dimensions?
Being a doting Dad and teaching my sons to be good people. Work work work basically. As you know in this day of age in England it costs a fortune to make ends meet and have a decent quality of life. Music wise I have nearly finished building a soundproof booth to mix music and make music in so productions on the agenda. That and playing at raves all over the country and world if you’ll have me. I just want to see the world before I die.

How would you like to be remembered?
I saw this epitaph in a book and I thought it was bang on so I am gonna nick it…..On my gravestone if I have one I want it to say this. ‘Nick Hammond..He Died While he was still alive’. It means I want to live life to the full until my last breath. I don’t want to ever loose my mojo and burn out and be a miserable bastard.

Anything else you want to say? Any shouts?
Thanks to my beautiful family. My wife Natalie and my son(s). To all the party people in the know who view the world from a different rose tinted angle.

Interview conducted by Bex exclusively for Fantazia 2006

Niki Dimensions Eventography :
Raindance, Tasty, Love Muzik, The Vinyl Touch, One Nation, United Dance, Moondance, Freedom to Dance, Pure Old Skool, Back To 91/92/93/94, Epidemik, Re Rave All , Mr Pitts raves in Fields, Traffic, Hardcore Revival, Tranzmission @ Ally Pally, Labyrinth, Hysteria, Livewire, Sonic Soundsystem dirty underground east London raves, Dungeons, Scala, Smartie Parties, Camden Pally, Telepathy, Desire, Breakin Science, Amnesia, Bug Jams and all the others.