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msnbc.com/newsweek online interview with sasha
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| trunks1022 |
sorry if repost...
DJ Culture
Superstar discmaster and producer Sasha (often paired with pal John Digweed) never expected to make a career out of dance music, much less tour across America with live shows.
WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Vanessa Juarez
Newsweek
Updated: 7:57 a.m. ET Feb. 3, 2006
Feb. 3, 2006 - What happens when you squeeze a bunch of party animals and free booze into a small theater to watch a documentary about themselves? A lot of laughter, woo-hoos, oohs and aahs. That was the scene last week during a screening in New York of “Delta Heavy,” a documentary about the 2002 Sasha & John Digweed tour, one of the biggest touring DJ events to hit the United States. It was a big deal for electronica, because the British DJ duo took their progressive house music out of the nightclubs (as in the old days at New York City’s Twilo) and into concert halls with a full sound and lighting crew, making their performances feel more like rock shows. The flick, to be released on DVD Feb. 7, charts the travels of the spinners, who played to 85,000 dance-music lovers in 31 cities. Combined, seven Sasha and Digweed albums have sold more than half a million copies in the States—a goldmine for the dance-music segment. Sasha (born Alexander Coe), 36, spoke to NEWSWEEK’s Vanessa Juarez about it all. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: You walked out of the “Delta Heavy” screening last week. Why?
I tried to watch it a couple of times but it just creeps me out. I’m really not good with cameras. They really had to twist my arm for me to even agree to do that whole documentary thing. I’ve been dragging my feet the whole way. [Laughs.]
Did you shoot any of it yourself?
Yeah, we went off with video cameras a couple of times and stuff, yeah. It just weirds me out seeing myself on the TV screen.
Why do you think it’s so difficult to go on an electronic-music tour in the United States?
I think it’s taken a long time for people’s perception of what a DJ is, you know, when you’re dealing with traditional rock venues, it definitely takes some persuading that this is going to work.
To persuade them that it can be as entertaining as a rock show?
Right, right, definitely. I guess we proved that you could do that. It was definitely a wild experience traveling across America like that, doing back-to-back shows. I’m definitely happy that the documentary is coming out because it documents a time on a tour that was really successful for us.
What were you expecting before the tour and did you feel differently afterward?
I didn’t really know what to expect, you know. I’d done tours before—a month on the road going club to club. But the being on the bus thing and the way that you form friendships and the closeness with the whole crew that you’re with is really, really special.
Your friend Sparrow in the film says something about “skeletons in the closet” with you and John. Do you have any idea what he’s talking about?
[Laughs.] I think he’s just being silly. John and I are good.
At one point, you say, “I decided to stay out of trouble this year.” What were you steering clear of?
I don’t know. I don’t know what I was talking about then. The tour was pretty tame anyway because we weren’t having the opportunity to kind of stick around in any cities. The gigs would stop at like 2 a.m. and the coach would be on the road by 3. We had five days off in Vegas in the middle of the tour, and it definitely made the next few days getting back on the bus very difficult. So that was the only time we really let our hair down.
I read somewhere that when you’re DJing live, you’re trying to tell a story with the music.
I don’t know if I ever said that. [Laughs.]
Well someone wrote that.
I don’t know about trying to tell stories, you know. You want people to go home with a smile on their face. It’s a bit of escapism and so you’ve always got to be aware of the party, that people are out there to enjoy themselves. [When you’re DJing, you] try not to disappear up your own a—, but try not to be too experimental. It’s a balance. I think I try to balance between playing all new stuff and experimenting with new sounds and making sure that the party is still rockin.’
How much are you and your fellow DJs influenced by the partying and everything that comes with the dance-club culture: drugs, alcohol, sex.
I mean, I really don’t know about that. I mean too much of that and you’re not going to get your job done. You have to be aware that people are out to party.
I suppose there’s a line you have to draw.
Right, absolutely. And I guess people draw it in different places. But you know, it’s something that’s part of the culture. But at the same time it’s not really a truly important part of it, because great music is good music. People can go out and dance to that and not everyone has to be completely out of their minds to enjoy it.
A lot of that—doing ecstasy has historically been …
You know, I’d really rather not talk about drugs at all, especially not to NEWSWEEK. I think it’s a really, really touchy subject. I think everyone has personal opinions about it, and it’s just not really somewhere I feel comfortable talking about. I just think the way it looks on paper, it never reads well.
I was just going to ask if you think that culture has changed at all through the years? I mean you’ve been touring for about 15 years.
Yeah, yeah. It has changed. It’s changed me so much. I’ve kind of gotten to a point where I have a reputation to uphold. You’re only as good as your last set or as your last release. You get to a certain point in your career where you play one bad set and it’s all over the Internet chat rooms, you know. So there was a degree of professionalism that kicked into all of our careers a few years back, which definitely, it really wasn’t like that in the beginning. It was much more about having some fun. I don’t think any of us really thought we were going to make a big career out of it.
Do you think you’ll ever get too old to do this?
Yeah, of course. I mean, I’m not thinking about retiring any time soon but, um, yeah, I’m sure there will be a day when maybe my ears will pack up.
I noticed a wedding band the other day. You married?
Yeah. I just got married.
And how does your wife feel about you being at the clubs? I assume it’s difficult to have a spouse who’s in a profession where women are throwing themselves at your man.
Yeah, I know a lot of DJs' girlfriends who find it very hard. If you’re away all of the time, it’s very hard. I’m lucky enough that my wife travels with me to a lot of places. It helps keep us together.
Do you miss the days of spinning at Twilo?
Absolutely. They were good days, definitely good days. It was a really great club. People constantly look back to the older days and how much better it was, but I just keep looking forward and keep trying to evolve in what I do. I’m setting my studio up in New York at the moment and I’m just about to go into the studio for a few months and work on some music.
What are you listening to these days?
I love the Jose Gonzalez album. I buy so much music. I like the Sigur Ros album.
What do you think of Madonna’s latest stuff? Is she done yet?
How could she be done when she keeps getting No. 1 albums? She’s still got it, no matter what you think of the music, she still nails it, you know. It always has a dance element to it. The production and stuff is always really good. She really seems to pick the hottest [producers] of the time and work with them.
Is there anything else you’d like to add or say? Do you hate doing interviews?
Um, I don’t hate doing interviews, no. I don’t like cameras, though.
© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.
© 2006 MSNBC.com
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11151564/site/newsweek/ |
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| DJ Eco |
| this interview is garbage... the interviewer tries so hard to get him to explain a huge drug aspect of clubs and DJing that he really seems indifferent about talking about. its ridiculous, i think she interviewed him to try and do some investigative journalism and then it ended up not going so well, so now all it is is an interview... bringing up that "skeletons in the closet" thing, and right after asking him what he meant by "steering out of trouble this year", cmon, next thing you know, she puts two pills on the table and goes "youre a clubber, can you tell me what these are?"... garbage... and im glad he finally said hed rather not talk about drugs, because thats EXACTLY what she didnt wanna hear. |
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| trunks1022 |
| heh yeah it's not very useful. sasha was probably like, ok we're done here |
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| LuNaSeA |
| damn, he got really snippy about the drug questions LOL! |
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| Groundhog Boy |
| quote: | Originally posted by LuNaSeA
damn, he got really snippy about the drug questions LOL! |
I would be, too, if I were him. It seems like that's the only thing that the mainstream media wants the general public to think goes on in the EDM scene. She obviously didn't know much at all about him or what he does, so she asked stupid questions about drugs and club culture like he's the spokesman. |
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| pyro264jb |
| quote: | sasha newsweek interview
Do you miss the days of spinning at Twilo?
Absolutely. They were good days, definitely good days. It was a really great club. People constantly look back to the older days and how much better it was, but I just keep looking forward and keep trying to evolve in what I do. I’m setting my studio up in New York at the moment and I’m just about to go into the studio for a few months and work on some music.
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