Carl Cox Interview
The Guestlist Network sat down with Mr Carl Cox, one of the biggest techno deejays in the world. Carl certainly has a very long history in music, so we felt it was only right that we take it back, way back....he kindly filled us in on the beginnings, the middles and the currents!
Where in the world, are you right now?
I'm in Melbourne, Australia and It's currently 11:55pm
Any gigs tonight?
No, I'm actually in the studio working on my new album project, theres a little exclusive for you!
Ok, Cool...lets take it back to the start, when did your love affair with music start?
I started at 8 years old, I can remember playing music to people by recording my dads 7" onto a tape then play them alongside the actual 7"s, switching from phono to tape just at the right time! As you can imagine most eight year olds were playing with mates or on the swings or thinking about school, i was busy listening intently to my fathers records. My father was always playing music at home, you would hear four or five tracks and then they would just stop. One night I heard my dad play music downstairs, I came to see what all the fuss was about and he said "Right, either you go back to sleep or you keep changing the record until I tell you to stop. I became Coxs son, the quiet one in the corner! The human jukebox if you will!
Can you remember the big tunes in the cox house when you were young?
Yeah, When a man loves a woman, Lots of stuff on Stax like Sam & Dave over to the The Jacksons, Even Dolly Parton & Elvis Presley would get played.
When did you first get into electronic music?
It was going in to my teens that I got really into synth based stuff and started messing around with synths too- Gary Numan, Kraftwerk- anything that was outside of a band music, music that you didn't need a whole band to play but sounded out of this world. And when house music came- that was me, I was on it like a rash. All these discos records were made by bands but suddenly you didn't need a band, you just needed some drum machines, a computer sequencing things, all these mad synthesisers that would make the most out there noises. I was completely on it, i was always look toward the future.
When did you get your first sets as a deejay?
When I was 17 or 18, i went to places like Palladium Piccadilly, Charing Cross Road.
Who were your music heroes?
Frankie Knuckles, David Morales, DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, Jellybean Benitez,
What do you prefer, making music in the studio or being out there playing it?
With studio you kinda make the music and imagine what it is gonna do to the club. I like giving people tunes to play in their own sets- Its all very well saying, Ive made a banger and I'm gonna play it and its gonna be great but the satisfaction comes from people playing your tune in their sets and telling you how much it went off. When your deejaying, I mean its a one shot deal ya know?
If I had to pick between the two, it would be deejaying hands down. But I am a bit of a muso in the fact that I can play Piano and I can play drums
