Industry Insiders: DJ Sasha, Turntabilst Troubadour

DJ Sasha, global DJ and producer, on not getting jaded about the music, his new CD, Invol2ver, and following his belly around the world.

Point of Origin: I’m originally from North Wales, but I ended up in Manchester when the famous nightclub Hacienda was opened. I was completely blown away by the music, decided to start DJing locally, and then it just went crazy and I ended up playing all over the world.

So what’s with the name Sasha? You’re not Russian. I don’t have any Russian heritage, but my father studied Russian literature at university, and also I think my mom watched Dr. Zhivago too many times.

Any mentors? I had a mentor when it came to DJing and programming sets, one of the DJs from Hacienda, Jon Dasilva. He taught me about mixing key and using acapellas, and I always went to the club very early with him to watch how he’d build a set. That was really something that stuck with me throughout my career. But later on, when it came to handling press and dealing with having a career as a DJ, there wasn’t really a precedent for myself and other first-wave DJs like Carl Cox and Paul Oakenfold. There wasn’t really anyone to aspire to because it was all so new, so that was all a shot in the dark.

There’s constant talk now about the music scene not being “what it was in the old days.” Do you agree? It just drives me mad when I hear people talk about that; I seriously just want to punch them. They’ve been talking about the good old days since 1990; it’s an ongoing thing. When people go out for the first time and have that initial kind of buzz of the music hitting them, that connection with the music is on a deep, spiritual level. And when they grow up and they stop going out as much, the music changes, which it has always done. It’s an inexorable force, change always happens. They start getting cynical, they’re burnt out, they’re tired, the music doesn’t sound the same to them, because it has moved on from where they were.

So we haven’t reached the day that the music died? I personally think 2008 has been one of the most exciting years for electronic music in a long time. I just find that when people talk about how it’s not what it was, of course its not! It’s never going to be how it was. It’s a powerful kind of music, and when you go out clubbing, you kind of lose yourself on the dance floor for a few hours. It’s a powerful experience, and you get very connected to that particular moment, that particular time. It happens with me as well. I’ve become attached to certain periods of music. And the thing about electronic music is that it’s always evolving, it’s always pushing forward, and not every single time is it going to go to a place that you absolutely love, but I always have faith that its going come around and it always does.

Favorite Spin Zones: Twilo was amazing, and since Twilo, New York’s been a little difficult. There are still great things here, but you just have to go to smaller clubs; there isn’t really a huge center of the club scene in New York anymore. But the scene in Buenos Aires, Romania and Eastern Europe is amazing at the moment. The scene in the UK has come back really strongly, but it’s not the same as it was at the end of the 1990s, when they had all those super clubs. It’s definitely changed, but I look at it from a global perspective—as long as the music keeps coming out and it’s exciting, and people keep coming out and listening to it. I just really can’t get jaded about it.

Favorite Hangs: I love being down in South America; Uruguay, Buenos Aires, I love that vibe down there. Greece is one of my favorite countries, and I love the food there. My belly tends to lead me around the world. When I’m traveling, I’m always looking for out-of-the-way street food places where all the locals are eating. I guess Anthony Bourdain and that Andrew Zimmerman guy have been quite inspiring. I’m definitely a bit of a chowhound. I’ll hunt out the freshest sardines I can find in Portugal, or the finest John Dory fish and tapas in Spain. That’s definitely one of the greater pleasures of my job, the fact that I get to sample this kind of food. We went to Vietnam and just had street food for a month, and it was amazing, but then I flew to Beijing, stayed at a posh American hotel and got food poisoning from the tomato pasta. So ironic.

For a long time, you were half of the famous Sasha & Digweed duo. How does DJing with a partner compare to spinning solo? It’s a different experience; it can be more fun, but it’s just good to know you’ve got someone there who’s got your back and has a real understanding of you. If you’re having an off night, they can really take the strike and vice versa, because it’s very rare that the two of us will have a bad night. If one of us isn’t connecting properly, the other one will take over and it jut seems to work. It’s a great working relationship we have, and it still works. We’re still very good friends, and we’re still very much a part of each other’s lives; we’ve been linked together at the head since the early 90s.

Who are the next big DJs? Audio Fly is really hot, and Scarlett Etienne, who’s actually from the States and is doing really well in Europe. I’m sure they’ll be over here, Stateside, touring soon.

The way DJs access music is very different these days. Have digital files made everything easier? It’s easier in some respects, but a lot of the stuff you get sent digitally just has no quality control. Instead of coming through a label, a distributor, and a record shop, you’re actually getting it sent directly from the artist, so you end up getting bombarded with a lot of tracks that are just not really up to scratch. I still buy a hell of a lot of vinyl every week, because the vinyl releases now are much more limited, so they’re harder to get hold of. For someone to put out a piece of vinyl, that’s a loved piece of music and it’s a lot more commitment than just e-mailing somebody a link. I find the quality of music I’m finding on vinyl now is amazing, whereas 10 years ago, I used to get bombarded with 95% rubbish. Now, it’s the other way around, because the vinyl I’m getting is really high quality and it’s the digital stuff that can really kind of weigh you down with just the sheer volume of bad music.

Invol2ver is the new CD; what’s the sound like? I think it’s much more of a pure sound than the last record. Even though a lot of the artists on the last record were electronic artists, the sound shot all over the place. It had Spanish guitars on it, and the tempo and the sound moved around quite a lot. This record starts off on a certain vibe and pretty much continues there the rest of the record. I felt it was really important for me to put out a record that had a really pure, coherent sound to it. It’s been three and a half years since the last record, and I think people might have been wondering where my head was at musically, so it was really important that this record had a good sound to it. It seems to have hit home instantly. It’s been voted compilation of the year by DJ magazine, which is really wonderful.

Any side projects while you’re on tour? We’ve got a lot of singles that were half-finished and didn’t make it onto Invol2ver, so we’re working on that. We’ve got plans to finish up those things throughout the winter and release them in January, February, and March up toward the Winter Music Conference.

Projections: I could definitely see myself getting into full-time music production, but at the moment I’m having so much fun with DJing, that I can’t see an end to it yet.

What are you doing this weekend? I just finished my US tour in Miami Sunday night, so I’m leaving for Australia on Sunday.

Photo by Dan Reid.