D’Julz Interview

D’Julz Interview

24 May, 2007 | 6.53AM

• Section: Music News
• Written by: Terry Church

French dance music is all about filtered disco and Daft Punk, isn’t it? At least, that’s what the wider world may think.

But anyone who takes French electronic music seriously will know that away from the limelight, a talented group of DJs and artists have been pushing and making other forms of electronic music in the country for donkey’s years.

Laurent Garnier, DJ Deep, Jennifer Cardini, David Duriez, Dan Ghenacia, David Guetta, Ed Banger and Kitsuné records. Justice.

These are just some of the names that have been pushing French electronic music in very different directions.

Julien Veniel aka DJulz is one such Frenchman who knows what he’s talking about.

As a resident DJ of Paris’ flagship electronic music club Le Rex for 10 years and a producer for just a long, he is one man who has been involved in France’s electronic music scene almost as long as he has been eating croissants.

“I’ve always found it funny how there is a huge gap between the ‘French’ sound you hear worldwide, and the music you actually hear in French clubs,” D’Julz tells Beatportal.

“With the whole filtered disco thing, you had very talented French producers making music and bringing attention to France, but they weren’t DJs and never played in clubs.

“There are no filtered disco clubs in France, music has always been much more eclectic and diverse.

“There was a time when in the past I’d play abroad and people expected me to play Daft Punk records because I was French, but I never did.”

France’s eternal love affair with electronic music began around 1992 when illegal raves starting kicking off.

But like in Britain, when the police and authorities starting cracking down, the scene moved indoors, into clubs.

Le Rex located on bd Poissonnière was the first club in the country to fully embrace electronic music in 1996 and a bloke named Laurent Garnier became the club’s first ever DJ resident.

“Laurent was one of the first DJs I heard and the first DJ to play electronic music in clubs in Paris,” says Julien.

“I learnt a lot from him.

“Back then the scene was so small in France that all the DJs used to go record shopping together because there was only two shops in Paris selling dance vinyl.

“Everyone was connected because the club scene was tiny.

“Paris’ club scene now is still very small.”

Currently there are only a handful of quality electronic music clubs in Paris and a few one-off parties occasionally, and compared to most Western capital cities, the dance music scene in Paris is very modest.

“I’m not sure why, but compared to Spain or England nightlife is not as important to French people.

“Clubs in this country have always been used for hanging out and meeting friends, not for dancing all night.

“Saying that, you still find excellent DJs in Paris every weekend, but for some reason French people don’t like to go out as much as other nationalities.”

DJulz has been running his party Bassculture at Le Rex since 1997, the same year that he jacked in his day job as a copywriter in an advertising firm to focus on his DJ career.

Every two months, Julien invites one DJ he respects and together the two of them play all night.

“I’ve been very lucky to be able to do my own night at Le Rex.

“The club lets me bring in any DJ I want, and there is very high quality control.

“I’m very choosy. It’s not about trends, or inviting DJs in the hope they will invite me to play with them elsewhere.

“Also they can’t just be a good producer, they have to be a top DJ first and foremost.”

Next month, D’Julz has Loco Dice playing for him, and a couple of months before that Fuckpony from Get Physical played live alongside DJ Jay Haze.

D’Julz himself plays a mixture of deep house, minimal and techno, a style that isn’t governed by the latest trends, but rather by history.

“I think as a DJ it’s important to show you’ve been here for a long time, so my sets always are a mixture of old and new tracks.

“I don’t think as a DJ it’s right to erase your past every time a new trend comes along,” says D’Julz, a DJ who despite the attention filtered disco has brought to his country, has kept plodding away with his own style in the background.

And it’s DJs like D’Julz who keep peddling, to ensure France’s Tour de Electronic Music never ends.

• (3) Comments
• (556) Views
• Check out D'Julz on Beatport