Scratching It With DJ SY

After having the pleasure of actually watching Sy scratch in Hyperbolic earlier this year. I was totally at awe at the Scratchmaster at work. As far as I’m concerned his style makes him quite completely different. I call it Sy’s funky hardcore and boy is it funky. He never fails to amaze me, and his sets blow my mind and take me right away – what more can you say? He really is the No 1 SCRATCHMASTER!

I caught up with Sy after his set at the first Vision on the 3rd November at around 7.15am. He always seems to be full of surprises. I recall one of his scratches lasting for what seemed to be an eternity. I stood mouth ajar in amazement.

Accompanied by his sidekick for the evening DJ Burglar, an up and coming jungle DJ with a safe attitude. We made our way to the office at Vision to commence the interview. What a proud and happy woman I was, I was interviewing DJ Sy. What a buzz?

I began with the obvious of questions. “What is your name?” the reply being far from obvious. Sy said “classified”. This led me to believe that the interview that was to follow was surely going to be a truly memorable experience. I’ve since found out that Sy’s real name is Simon. The name Sy apparently originated from the hip-hop days when Sy was a graffiti writer. You little vandal Sy!

Sy has turned 27 and I’m pleased to say he is Libra which just happens to be my starsign. At least one thing in common with the scratchmaster.

When asked how old Sy feels, he retorted between naught and fifty, but feels that the scene most definitely keeps you young. I totally agree with this.

He doesn’t believe in the horoscopes and isn’t superstitious and when asked his views on UFO’s he just laughs and said “Yeah it’s a good rave record”.

Sy drives a Cosworth, I asked him if his car is a status symbol and after a short discussion Sy admitted that he supposes it is. I asked him if the allegations of him having car races with other DJ’s was true. Sy said “It might be,” and then said that he has raced Dougal and apparently Sy was the victor and left Dougal standing. I shall investigate!

Next question was who is your favourite DJ. Sy said “DJ Burglar”, his sidekick. Sy was inspired by all the old hip-hop guys such as Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster DS and all the old school. Hip-hop influenced Sy most originally, although nowadays Sy’s influences come from Hardcore and a lot of house.

He was brought up in Croydon and his upbringing had no effect on him musically. Sy said “except for having to be home for dinner every night”. Sy’s favourite food is Cantonese and hates tomatoes. So if on the look out for Sy maybe we should check out the Cantonese restaurants in the Croydon area. No tom’s on Sy’s breakfast menu though.

I asked Sy about the best experience he had had DJ’ing. His reply sent a shiver down my spine. He said accordingly “Every night I play out, I love it. I can’t pin point one experience although New Years Eve down at West Point Fantazia which was one of the best ever, it was a wicked buzz”. The worst happenings whilst DJ’ing for Sy is breaking down on the journey to gig’s especially United Dance as they never believe him.

Sy’s favourite track of all time is L.F.O. by L.F.O., Sy also enjoys listening to jungle and a lot of house. He started to mix when hardcore was very similar to the house of today, Sy still plays house today. This just goes to show that he is unbiased with his music tastes. A definite plus with the segregation of the scene being what it is. He believes that the segregation of the scene is bad and doesn’t like it at all. He gets fed up with playing too cheesy, and feels it should be more rounded.

He likes to play at big events and the smaller clubs equally, he says it’s a different buzz every time. Sy feeds off the vibes from the crowd. He says that if the crowd are having it, then he gets right into it, and he surely does, he loves it!

Sy started mixing as a bedroom DJ at the age of sixteen. Eleven years ago, and has been scratching for ten years. He has been DJ’ing professionally since 1990. He worked with a pirate radio station in Nottingham called Rave FM and loved working live on radio, he did it for 4 years. Sy is currently working with record labels ‘Quosh’, ‘Impact’, ‘Homegrown’, ‘Hectic’, and ‘Chedder’. He’s also just started a new record label called Teriffic Choons. Good luck with that Sy. He’s got two new tracks coming out on Homegrown and there’s also Chedder 4 which is a remix of Ben E Kings ‘Stand By Me’. Looking forward to a copy of that. He writes record reviews himself on occasions, he enjoys writing them with a sense of humour which shouldn’t be difficult as he definitely has a sense of humour. When asked whom he’d most like to do a PA with Sy smiled and said Kylie Minogue. He doesn’t really have a favourite MC, he’s not too keen on them although he doesn’t mind the thoughtful MC’s who don’t MC over the scratching or mixing.

The question do you think the scene should stay underground had to be asked. Sy answered “It would be good to get something in the charts on the happy tip. To give it more recognition that it deserves. Just as long as it doesn’t go too commercialised, like it did before, but I don’t think it will. It needs more exposure especially from TV and radio. Radio 1 have a jungle show, but there’s no happy show”.

When asked if he thought jungle is really moody as many accusers said he replied “It depends on the crowd” and gestured towards his friendly sidekick, jungle DJ Burglar, “He’s not too moody is he?” Burglar smiled, there was the answer. Sy doesn’t really have any politics, and is indifferent as long as raves are going ahead. I asked Sy his views on the drug intake in the rave scene. He feels that it’s the individuals decision at the end of the day. I got the impression that Sy isn’t judgmental, but yet you should know the score!

When asked his views on alcohol consumption Sy smiled and said “The more the better”. He doesn’t have much time for any other interests, but in the week likes to go clubbing with a bit of alcohol abuse. In the summer he likes to go fishing for carp or whatever?

The clubs that Sy rates most ie rave clubs are Kinetic, Diehard, Fusion, Hyperbolic and the newly opened Vision. When asked who Sy thought was the best promoter, he wasn’t giving anything away but who could blame him. Sy’s advice to the up and coming DJ’s is keep sending off the tapes, keep bugging promoters, make sure you play well every time you play out and don’t give up. That’s the only way to do it. Sound advice from the master, take heed because only the best is good enough.

Sy is young, free and single and from what I can see he enjoys life to the full doing what he loves most of all. He really does adore his music and it shows. I don’t think it’s possible for a DJ to enjoy playing a set any more than Sy does. Most definitely a real hardcore DJ, that knows exactly what the party goers want. He’s always got time for the party goers, which I think is a big plus because many DJ’s seem to forget where they started.

Sy’s ambition is to own a Lotus Carlton, he will really be the race winner if he fulfils that ambition, only that time it will do more than leave Dougal standing. As we were, as Sy wheel span off into the morning.