Nice to see you Davey! We are happy to have you back in ASOT. We’ve heard that most of your set tonight will be mostly your newest IDs. Could you tell us a bit more about what you are working on right now?
– Yes, that’s true! There’s about 6 collaborations in there with some of my own artists that I manage, as well as some other guys that I think we could do something amazing together, then there’s several originals, remixes, and then 2 other remixes from 2 artists that I manage, fingers crossed that I get a good reaction from the crowd!
With all this new music, an EP or a new album could be on the way! Do you prefer to release one single at a time or are you planning on producing a full album any time soon?
– I would love the opportunity to release a full album, it’s something I think I need to speak with Armada but it’s not being tabled at the moment, so I’m releasing, well, I’ve got lots of release material, but we are releasing on a schedule, every 6 to 7 weeks there’s a new release, there was one yesterday, we’ve released ‘Aftermath’, and then at the end of the month there’s another really special remix, from one of my favorite trance tracks, the artist actually asked me personally to remix it for him and I actually met him for the first time tonight, here! Yeah, I’m still trying to absorb everything that’s going on, it’s quite surreal to be at A State Of Trance!
You’ve been one of Armin’s favorites for a while now, and have been featured in many ASOT radio shows over the last years. How does it feel to have shared stage with trance giants such as Armin van Buuren, Markus Schulz, Ruben de Ronde and other big names in the industry?
– I still have to pinch myself on a daily basis like, “is this really happening?”, because you spend years, and years, and years, looking up to these guys and then, to even speak to them to me, it gets my adrenaline going, but then I try to actually converse with them at a friendship level, and then to play with them on stage, and then to look at them like equals, we can have a nice conversation, and they know who I am, it’s crazy! It’s something I’ve never thought it would actually happen, I’ve been doing this for 15 years now and before ‘Fallout’ was released in 2017 I was ready to walk away from the music business so I just had my daughter, my fiancée and I are planning to get married and buy a house, and then this happened and now we’re still working on how everything’s going to fit, and then I still work my day job, I now run an artist agency, as well as a DJ, and I have no sleep!
We know that you are also keeping yourself busy with NextGen Artists, your own booking firm. How do you manage to keep it up with both aspects of your work? Don’t you ever feel like you need a rest?
– I’ve got a rest planned next weekend, actually! My fiancée, my daughter and I are going away for the weekend, just in the UK! Phone’s going off, no e-mails! Because this weekend is the launch of pretty much my whole tour schedule! So next weekend’s free, then after that I’m not going to get to see them as much as I do. I still work a day job so I’ve got to be very careful with my holiday allocation, they don’t understand DJing, a DJ to these guys while at work it’s that of the 60’s, you introduce the track and then you press play and pause. They don’t understand the concept of events like these. Me planning an event like this one, for them, it doesn’t add up!
After so many years producing and DJing, you must have heard a lot of good DJs in your life. Who would you say is your favorite DJ/producer and why?
– Everybody has that one DJ that pulls him into the industry. I didn’t even realize I was listening to trance music when I was listening to him: Tiësto. It was his older trance stuff that got me into it. I didn’t even know what I was listening to! I kind of remember that I stumbled across his music, but the way he structured his sets, everything, all of it, was a journey from start to finish, you could see him at a 1-hour set, 2-hour set, 6-hour set, you would always feel completely mind-blown after you’ve seen him, that is ingraining to me, the way I structure my sets and especially my musical style, well, you just listen to it! It speaks for itself at the end of the day. A lot of people keep asking me: “do you think he’s going to come back, do you think he’ll do some trance here and there”? Hopefully one day, I’d love to even, it never happened, but to do a collaboration or just to meet him actually! It would be so cool!
Let’s wrap it up with one simple question: What’s your favorite British football team?
– Whoops! I don’t follow football! I used to play rugby when I was a lot younger, and then I’ve always been into kickboxing, karate, muay-thai, football was one my weakest things at school, I could never run a straight line, could never kick a ball!
Thank you Davey for your time!
