CHRIS HILL INTERVIEW

I sent Belfast based D+B producer/dj/promoter Dj Chill 10 quick questions and here are his glorious answers.

1. Firstly tell everyone a bit about yourself and your dj'ing history

I started DJing when I was a student at Belfast Art College.... began playing at parties, running wee one-off nights here and there in the Students Union and a few bars and art centres, gallery spaces.... that type of thing.

In 2000 I was lucky enough to win a prize in Knowledge magazine's "Dexterity" worldwide mixing competition. That gave me a great boost, and got my name round enough to get slots at a variety of dnb nights in Belfast, including Judge Dread's "Solid" DnB night, and Calibre and Sage's "Balance" night. I also got great support from local websites like Electrotoxic, Irish Drum and Bass and Serious Bass, getting mixes on their websites.

In February 2003 I started Step DnB with my best mate Playford. It was a load of work but we had a lot of fun too. We were lucky enough to have amazing DJs play at our parties - Shimon (Ram Records), Silver (Accidental Heroes), Mark XTC (Beatz), Red One (Ram Records) and Futurebound (Infrared/Viper). I began to regularly play around Ireland and throughout the UK.

I'm into all types of dnb and have been lucky enough to play at a pretty wide variety of dnb nights. I love to drill tunes out at a straight up "go mad" dancefloor, but I love getting into the deeper stuff too. Everything has it's time and place.


2. what happened with step?

That's a very long story - lol. There were problems with The Menagerie, including them messing up our bookings, resulting in us having to cancel our second birthday. We came to the decision that we could no longer work with the venue. I used the opportunity to take a break from club promotion and start to learn about music production. I have since learned the studio takes over your life - lol.


3. how u finding the local D+B scene?

It's cool.

Belfast's own, Calibre is one of the biggest producers in DnB!

Hago is throwing great parties in Derry.... The Bad Taste Crew are doing cool parties in The Front Page, Belfast.... The Bad Operator is running great stuff in Bangor...

Down south - Resonance... DnB Impact... Reach... Nu Killa Kru... Phase 2... Bassbin.... loads!

Special mention to Beckett and Skeletor for running idnb.com also - killer djs too!

There's a lot of talent and a lot of great parties going off.


4. what local dj's past and present do u rate?

Anyone who doesn't work for Cool FM - lol

The truth is if i started putting a list of great local DJs, the list would never end! The talent here is incredible..... I don't think people here realise how good local djs are.


5. whats your production setup?

My entire studio is software. Cubase SX is my main sequencer..... it's a great for fiddling about with audio. I use a Beringher BCF 2000 for mixing and controlling on the sequencer, and use an Edirol PCR-30 Keyboard controller and an Akai MPC-16 drum pad controller for battering about vstis. My monitors are Alesis M1s (passive ones through an Alesis amp). They're not considered to be the best speakers on the market - you have to work hard to get a mixdown work on them but they are solid and haven't blown up yet.


6. whats the best gig you have ever played?

The Step First Birthday at Menagerie - February 2004. I was amazed how many people came down, and so early on too. Practically from the doors opened, the place was buzzing. By the end of the gig, when Shimon was playing, I thought the roof was going to come down - people were going so nuts. From start to finish, that gig knocked me off my feet - not least because I met my missus there that night!


7. hard question but what's your fav d+b/jungle record ever made?

Christ - there are so many! If I have to pick one it would have to be "Bodyrock" by Andy C & Shimon (Ram Records). It was so innovative, so different to any kind of music that had gone before it, let alone a new style of dnb. Most of all, though, it's a record that was so good that it caught the ears of people right across dance music, and made then listen to drum and bass at a time when a lot of critics were saying it was dead and past it's best. It was phenomenally successful - got to number 28 in the UK charts on vinyl sales alone, albeit for a week - lol.


8. who's your inspiration?

Fuck!!!!
Ram Trilogy, Ed Rush & Optical, Dom & Roland, J Majik, Dillinja, Futurebound, Moving Fusion, John B, Teebee, Calyx, Bad Company, Boymerang, Mampi Swift, Sonic & Silver, Mark XTC, Ganja Kru, Marcus Intalex, ST Files, Calibre, Klute, Doc Scott, Hive, Keaton & Gridlok, Fabio, Grooverider, Matrix, Noisia, Tim Exile, Omni Trio, Blu Mar Ten, LTJ Bukem, Blame, Rob Playford, Anthony Rother, Daft Punk, Adam Freeland, Richie Hawtin, Basement Jaxx, Derrick Carter, Kevin Saunderson, Dr Dre, Brian Eno, Dave Clarke, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Chic, BB King, Marvin Gaye, Bob Marley, Pink Floyd, Jimmy McGriff, Jackson Pollock, Vincent Van Gogh, Edvard Munch, John Cage, Francis Bacon, Paul Cezanne and my Da!

Not to mention, local promoters and DJs who love good music, whatever style it is!


9. what can we expect to see from dj chill in the future e.g forthcomings gigs, productions etc

Check out Shine, QUBSU Belfast on Dec 1st. I'm playing with Goldie. I can't wait for that - sure to be a scorcher! My tunes all very much works in progress, but are getting there - check out some bits on www.myspace.com/djchillcriticalmass


10. can u give me an all time top 5 or a mix, cheers

1. Origin Unknown - "Valley of the Shadows"
2. Ed Rush, Optical and Fierce - "Alien Girl"
3. Moving Fusion "Turbulence"
4. Ganja Kru "Super Sharp Shooter"
5. LTJ Bukem "Music (Peshay Remix)"

(......oh aye, and Andy C and Shimon "Bodyrock", of course)


DJ CHILL MYSPACE