Interview: IDC

You started out as an indie-dance DJ in London, what made you change your musical direction?

It’s just been an evolution rather than a distinct change of direction, a continuation of mixing genres and keeping things fluid. My club of that time, ‘Popscene’, had the tag line ‘the dance club for people who like bands’ and so it was a mix-up including Chemical Brother remixes, early Fatboy Slim, Big Beat and early bootleg mixes of my own. So what I do now is really just further down a path of ‘no borders’ music.

You regularly played at club nights like Nagnagnag. Can you describe the clubbing scene in those days?

Well I only played at Nag twice but both times the crowd and people who ran it were really cool. But at the same time there was an explosion of similar clubs around Europe that enabled me to play a lot outside of the UK for the first time. It was very exciting to see a kind of flowering of expression that had the real feel and look of a movement/moment in lots of different cities.

Have you ever been a vinyl user and do you think that the art of mixing has suffered thanks to the availability of new technology?

I started by carrying beer crates of vinyl records to clubs! But as soon as I could I moved over to CDs, which I use now. I think laptop DJing is just a bit too prog rock. If anything, technology has added too many elements to ‘the art of mixing’ and put the emphasis on how clever someone is with some piece of equipment. I think DJing is all about simply picking the right tunes for the occasion and putting them together in the best way.

You’ve played Razzmatazz over 30 times, what makes it such a special gig for you?

It’s special because it has five rooms and so pulls together many people who like different styles of music. It’s also very special because of the lovely people involved in it, like Javi who is the main man/booker, and Silvia and Sergi who welcome you at the airport. I’m lucky enough to be able to call them all my friends.

Two thousand and eight saw the release of your first album Overthrow the Boss Class. How different to recording in a studio is DJing and which do you prefer?

In many ways it’s similar, basically playing around with sounds and being based around a mixing desk, but of course in the studio you’re actively creating new things to try and stand as fixed points in time. I play guitar and bass and other instruments, so it’s good fun to do that in the studio.

Who do you make your music for?

For the glamourous, the gorgeous, the good and the guilty.

What’s next for IDC?

My second album is out in August, then I’m playing some UK festival dates including Bestival and then comes a third SE Asian tour before the end of the year. Hopefully I’ll be visiting South America for the first time next year. I’ve also just got my first track placed on a big games release, which is pretty exciting.

If you’re not going to reveal what IDC stands for, tell us another secret.

There’s a secret Sala 6 at Razzmatazz, but you can only enter if you know the magic word.  

August 5th - Razzmatazz (www.salarazzmatazz.com)