DJ Dan interview

DJ Dan interview

2 July, 2007 | 4.02AM

• Written by: Terry Church
• Filed under: Music News: audacious records, dj dan

With DJ Dan releasing his new single ‘Needle Damage’ out today, Beatportal catches up with the cheeky American house DJ to chat about his past and his new track.

We’re confused. Your new track is called ‘Needle Damage’, which was also the artist name you used for your 1998 smash hit ‘That Zipper Track’. Why did you use the same name?

“Because I’m a biatch like that!

“The name is very appropriate.

“The inspiration for the track originally came when the needle went flying off the record one night at 1015 Folsom in San Francisco and the entire crowd cheered.

“It really could have gone either way - boos or cheers.

“It captivated everything I was playing at the time.

“Techno, breaks, house and funk with the needle scratching through it as the glue.”

So are the two tracks at all related?

“Yes, I used some samples from ‘That Zipper Track’ - I knew exactly which ones I wanted to use.

“Basically, ‘Needle Damage’ is a big fuck-off moshpit of noises that should have every DJ of all genres playing it.

“Loads of different musical genres are smashed together in this track to basically say ‘It’s all the same really’.

“I think people put way too much emphasis on categorising music and the goal here was to smash genres.

“‘Needle Damage’ focuses on my early techno inspirations from around 1991 but has a modern twist.”

How important was ‘That Zipper Track’ to your career?

“For me, it really made a statement as to the next phase of my sound.

“I had started going back to my old techno roots at the time and the track really represented that.

“I put a little bit of everything into the blender and the result was a very raw and nasty track.”

The dance music world is a very different place now to when ‘That Zipper Track was released’ isn’t it?

“Obviously the technology has improved and so has the sound quality.

“In terms of laying out tracks, Dave Aude [owner of Audacious Records, the label ‘Needle Damage’ is on] and I have worked together for years and we know when something sounds right or wrong immediately.

“We always go with what sounds dope at the time and we don’t second guess it.”

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