DJ Carl Cox In Depth

It took Carl Cox many years to reach the height of DJ stardom with a lot of hard work. Then once at the top, he found himself fighting a new battle to stay one of the UK’s (if not the worlds) number one DJ’s. Today, he is still there at the top after many years, but how does he keep going? The man who once was a scaffolder and then lost £40,000 in one year has come through. He has almost fully booked DJ’ing until February 1994, appearing regularly on TV (hypnosis/BPM) and things are only getting better. So what makes this great man tick…

So when did you first start DJ’ing?

Way back when I was 8 years old. My Mum and Dad used to have parties for their friends and I used to play the music for everybody. I loved doing it and from then I always wanted to be a DJ.

Before making it in DJ’ing, what other work did you used to do?

Many years ago I used to be a scaffolder on building sites. At the same time I used to run my own mobile disco playing at weddings etc. From there I started to build up my own sound system and got involved in all night parties. After a while I decided to drop the sound system and concentrate on my DJing, lucky enough it worked out fine.

What made you want to DJ at all night parties?

When all night parties first hit the UK, I was playing hip hop, funk and soul and mixing them altogether. As soon as I heard house music, I jumped straight onto it. People thought it was freaky music at the time, but I knew it would become big like it has.

Where did your first real big break come on the house music scene?

My first real big break came at Sun Rise back in 1989. Every top DJ at the time was playing that night and I managed to get on the play list as my old manager refused to sell tickets for them unless I played. They agreed, so I was on the play list. I was due to play at 10.30am the next morning and by that time all the top DJs had played and the crowd had seen it all. There were about 15,000 people present. Around 6,000 or 7,000 people were sitting on the floor and the rest were just swaying from side to side. So I thought I’ve got to do something extra special here to get the crowd going. So I did. I grabbed the third spare deck and started mixing on three decks. The whole place started rocking and from there the work just flooded in. On the night three decks worked for me and that’s what my name 3 Deck Wizard stemmed from.

What made you use three decks?

It was just a natural progression. There is only so much you can do with two decks.

There is another DJ out there trying to go one better than the standard you set by using four decks. His names GE Real, who is new on the scene and has come straight in as a four deck mixer. What do you think of that?

I think the way he is doing it is unfair. He has basically come along and said to everybody that he can mix on four decks. It’s so hard to mix on four decks and you can’t sustain it all the way through your set. One DJ on their own can’t really make four decks sound good, there physically isn’t enough time, you need two DJ’s. Four decks just sounds a complete mishmash and it just looks as though your trying to prove something. I have no problem with GE Real but I think he should do the leg work first with 2 decks and not just dive in on 4 decks and try to leap frog many DJ’s who have been around for years.

Talking of DJ’s, what do you think about DJ’s playing all these dub plates trying to compete against one another?

At the moment a lot of DJ’s are playing dub plates: and some of them are not particularly good and the ones that are being released to the shops. It’s a shame because if a record is good it needs to be released to record shops so that people can buy it, instead they’re remaining exclusive to certain DJ’s so that they become really big tracks with the crowd as they are hardly ever heard.

So, is the reason we never really get any big anthems any more?

Yes, anthems come out of good tunes that are played a lot when released. If a record is good it should be released so that people can relate to it and it lifts the crowd. Everybody should aim to make a record that is going to be an anthem instead of just putting out a record for the sake of it.

Do you think that music can be improved?

There’s too many records being put out at the moment which are not very good breakbeat tracks. We rely heavily on labels such as formation, reinforce and suburban base to keep the breakbeat going. People should not put out a breakbeat record unless it’s good.

What about your own records Carl?

Once one of my records is pressed, it takes 10 weeks to get out in the shops as everything is done right from promotion to distribution. The least one of my records have sold is 10,000 copies “I Want You For Ever” sold around 47,000 to 50,000 copies, so it proves that people like them. I’ve got a new record coming out in a couple of weeks called “Planet Of Love” which should sell more, hopefully.

We hear you have an album on its way, is it still coming out this year?

I will be trying my upmost to get it released before Christmas, if not it will be February 1994.

Can you see the breakbeat stuff being around a long time in the future?

Yes, but eventually it will become like Tim Hip Hop and all close in on itself. A while ago it used to appeal to lots of people, but now it doesn’t. It’s become too fast and people, can’t dance to it anymore. A year ago it was a lot.

Are you playing other styles of music other than hardcore?

I do play a lot of breakbeat and the hard edge of music, but there are too many records which are very similar. At the moment breakbeat’s come to a bit of a standstill, so I can’t play a full set of it. I like to mix it in with some good Italian, Belgium and Techno. I just like to play music that sounds good.

There are people out there who think you play garage sets under the name of DJ Wizard, is this true?

Well, that stems from my nick name The Three Deck Wizard. But that rumour spread from the Pleasure Dome in Skegness. I played a hardcore set, then I was booked to play in the House and Progressive room up there as well. They didn’t want to put my name on the flyer for a Housey set because a) people wouldn’t believe it and b) I’m not really supposed to play house sets as far as anyone’s concerned. So they put on Wizard and nobody knew it was going to be me. Every one was dancing to my set and clapping at the end. Then I came clean and told everyone in the room it was actually Carl Cox who was DJ Wizard. I think all DJ’s should play a bit of everything to keep their DJ lives going longer.

Moving away from the music, what’s your opinion on MC’s?

I’ve never really used MC’s, I think they get too much money for what they do. They rabbit on loads so the promoter can see them and give them some money. But then on the other hand a MC who is talented and works well with the DJ is good. The worst thing about MC’s is that they chat all over your mixing or all over the records. At the end of the day the record was not made for someone to chat all over. MC’s seem to just go on about nothing, for example they say things like they called their dog Harry or they had kippers for breakfast! One MC that I do work well with is Magika. Another one I rate is Robbie Dee. Once I was playing up in Leicester and these two MC’s came up to me and asked if it was ok for them to MC over my set. I said yes, no problem. The next thing I knew they’re both fighting on stage. I stopped the music, the security came running on to the stage and they’re still fighting. Then they rolled off the stage into the crowd still fighting. The security got hold of them and kicked them both out of the venue. Someone announced over the mike ‘Carl Cox will be playing for the next two hours with no MC’. One minute I had two MC’s the next I had none. I think people do like to hear MC’s to lift them, but they have to be good.

So have you pulled the mike on a lot of MC’s?

No not really. Out of about 100, only 2 MC’s have been stopped by me. At the end of the day I like to let them make fools of themselves if they’re no good. Also, I think the music cuts through what the MC says.

Have you got any funny stories from when you’ve been no the road?

Every time I stop at a service station, I always see ravers. As I walk in I can hear them whispering to one another “Look there’s Carl Cox”. I then go up to the counter and I can hear them whispering “Look he’s buying a coke and some chips” or whatever. Next they usually get the courage to come over to you and say “Are you Carl Cox?” As soon as you say yes, they ask for your autograph and then loads of them came over to me chatting away at the table. I enjoy it though as they tell me all their stories which make me laugh even more.

What would you say then is the best part of DJ’ing?

The crowd for sure and the acknowledgement they give you.

And what’s worst part about DJ’ing?

Well, the driving’s quite bad; last year I clocked up over 1,000,000 miles and this year I’ll be topping that. Doing that amount of mileage, things go wrong with your car sometimes. I remember once, I was playing up in Liverpool. In finished there, then next I had to play down on the South Coast. I drove all the way down, then about a mile from the gig I got a flat tyre. So I jumped out of the card and started to thumb down the road with my record box. Luckily enough I made it in the end. The really bad thing about DJ’ing though is the hours. I never really get time to myself because I’m playing out three nights a week, so I need to sleep during a few days. Then I’m out buying records or in the studio, so I don’t have much of a life outside music.

How many times a week do you play out?

I play out every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. In all I play about 6 or 7 times every week.

What’s your most embarrassing moment?

I remember once I was doing the last set at the Marina in Great Yarmouth. I was really tired, but steaming into the records. The crowd were going for it and everything was going great. Then for some strange reason I had a mental blank. I was playing this great record and the crowd were rocking, when all of sudden I just pulled the needle off the record. The whole place just went completely silent, no music, no nothing. I turned around and put the record back in its sleeve in the box. At this stage there was still no music and I realised what I had done. So, I pulled another record out, put it on the decks, queued it up and then let the record start playing. The crowd went for it and I sighed with relief. I had go away with a big cock up. I was the one deck wizard.

Do you do anything else other than DJ?

I’ve got my own DJ Agency which Rachel and Darien run. The agency is called Ultimate Music Management and we handle about 10 DJ’s in the best possible way. I’ve also got my own record label MMR Records, I’m setting up Industrial Strength’s UK office and I’m working on about 5 remixes. So really I’m quite busy.

Finally, any message for up and coming DJ’s?

Keep going, never give up and play the music you believe in. We do need new blood DJ’s on the circuit.

Reproduced with permission of Blaze