DJ Doorly started his career as a bar tender, before starting Huddersfield event Afterparty which is now one of the biggest in the country inviting everyone from DJ Zinc to Annie Mac to headline. He himself has recorded an Essential Mix, has released a variety of electro, house and dubstep productions, edits and remixes and has played everywhere from Creamfields to Ibiza, as well as being one of Pete Tong’s favourite DJs. He also released a compilation for Ibiza Rocks in 2010 to rapturous applause.
He plays Spectrum’s 10th Birthday on the 28th of January and to celebrate offers you a free download of his Mr Scruff remix, before chatting to us….
Mr Scruff – Doorly remix http://www.mediafire.com/?ot40demwfl7fme6
How has your year been? What have been the highs and lows?
Best year so far career-wise but then I’ve been saying that for 10 years, it’s been a steadily good rise : ) Highlight was being asked to record my second Radio 1 Essential Mix in September, possibly my proudest hour! Low points, there haven’t been many to be honest, life’s good : )
What have been your biggest challenges?
I suppose trying to get people to understand what I’m all about musically, my biggest introduction to most people was a few big crossover dubstep remixes, which at the time was great as it was at the start of a fresh evolving scene but dustup is probably 5 percent of my game so I’ve spent this past 12 months touring hard and producing as varied music as possible to try and reflect where I’m heading. I’ve set up my own record label to help push this – “Pigeonhole This!” The name says it all! It will be a completely genre-less label releasing music right across the board through dub, techno, drum & bass, garage and beyond.
What have you learnt this year?
I absolutely LOVE DJing out in the clubs, but this can hold me back at times as I really need to put in more studio time to break through to the next level, I’ve ignored peoples advice for years and just kept on trucking’ 6 or 7 nights a week (often 2 or 3 gigs a night) just because I love being in clubs so much, but of late I’ve definitely realised the benefit of taking less shows and not burning out, leaving no time for music, which is the key really. So you’ll see much less of me in the clubs for the next few months while I get my head down big time!
How do you deal with the extra attention of being in the spotlight? You’ve blown up in the last 12 months…
Ah…. it’s all the same, like I said, vie been doing this years, I’m not just an overnight success who made one big tune and was catapulted into the spotlight and it’s not like I’m a movie star or anything! I love being really active on Facebook & twitter and stuff so I can speak directly to and listen to the people who are into what I do. There’s definitely a few more perks these days though!
How different are your sets from one night to the other? Do you prepare much?
Completely! I play at so many different types of gigs and right across the board with other artists so I always tailor my set to where I’m playing and who with, and I love having that versatility or I’d be bored! I never plan a set because I would never learn any new tricks if I did, every set I play I prefer to mix everything up and switch the vibe around a lot and if one particular sound is working extra well then I’ll investigate further.
How have your musical tastes evolved this year? What has got you excited?
Every few months I’ll discover something new and exciting and get well into it, add it into my production and sets then add to that with whatever catches my attention next. Right now I’m seriously into garage, funky and tropical sounding stuff and really excited about people like Roska, the night slugs crew, and the way people like Skream, Benga and the Rinse guys are pushing the scene forward on every level.
You play all over the world… are crowds different on every continent? Where are your favourite places to play?
Yeah completely different, Europe likes it deeper and more house techno based, the UK loves everything, Australia is a bit behind but a lot of fun, but my favourite place to play right now is North America, they’ve just discovered UK Bass music and its going mental, the crowds are insane over there so I’m spending pretty much half of my time ether at the moment!
What can people expect from you at Spectrum?
I think I’m playing quite late and after a lot of noisy tear out stuff before me so I’ll probably start there and try to strip it back and finish a bit deeper later on. I will be on 4 CDJs with my new Sampler.
What have you got coming up?
I will be really pushing the Label (Pigeonhole This!) this year and we have a series of unbelievably intimate special shows lined up including 3 hour back to back Versus set with Myself & Zane Lowe at the Faversham in Leeds on 4th February, plus new Label residencies in London & Los Angeles and a few one off parties in key UK cities.
You’ll be hearing the results of my studio graft with lots of Original Doorly Material cooing your way in the first quarter of 2011 and an Album, hopefully dropping before the summer. Then back to Ibiza to continue my weekly residencies over there for Ibiza Rocks and Reclaim The Dancefloor, in-between festivals & international touring.
I will also be introducing a new Much bigger and semi-live show for the festivals and bigger gigs using a full set up of the New Pioneer DJM2000 mixer, 4 CDJ2000s, An EFX1000 Effects unit, a mic and A couple of samplers (NO LAPTOPS!) we’ll also be adding some kind of visual experience to the show and I’m just working on that now, so watch out for that in the summer.
Spectrum’s “Decade of Dropping Beats” – 10th Birthday Show featuring:
Pendulum (DJ Set) with MC AD,
Joker,
Doorly,
Ms Dynamite (Live),
Skrillex (debut European show),
Tim Healey,
16 Bit,
Pete Jordan,
Modestep (Live),
Delta Heavy,
Union,
plus more tba
Fri 28th Jan – 10pm to 6am
Ewer Street Warehouse, SE1 0NR
Presale tickets on sale Friday 9am
Limited £10 / £15 and £17.50 / More on the door
Crowd Surge:
http://www.crowdsurge.com/spectrum
http://www.spectrum48k.com
http://www.londonwarehouseevents.co.uk
