My Interview With DJ Kutski

1) For those who are not familiar with who you are, give a brief description of yourself and where you come from.

Well, I'm from a city near Liverpool called Chester in England (UK). I DJ in clubs around the UK every weekend (as well as internationally), I have a radio show every Friday night on BBC Radio 1, and I write the hard dance and hardcore section in the leading dance music magazine "M8"!

2) What genre of music do you play and produce?

I play all types of music that I like to describe as "rave". To me, this includes hard dance, hard trance, hardstyle, hardcore, oldskool etc... and I like to mix it all up in my sets!!! So even if I'm playing a predominantly hard dance event, I'll still sneak in a bit of drum and bass if I think the time is right ;o)

3) Have you experimented with other genres of music?

Yes of cause!! I love music in general and still listen to such a wide range, from 1960's soul and funk, through to hard metal bands like Rage Against the Machine!! I've recently gotten into dubstep, which is like a slowed down version of drum and bass, with big basslines and lots of ragga influences. I think it is the fact that I listen and am influenced by such a wide range of music that makes me unique when I come back to doing my thing with hard dance!!!

4) At what age did you first realize you potential as a DJ?

I don't think there was any particular point I thought I could make a career out of DJ'ing. I started off at home with cheap second hand equipment when I was still at school and just loved it so much I kept doing it!! Slowly I started to get bookings and one thing lead to another; and here I am today!!!

5) For how long have you been DJing/producing?

I first got turntables when I was aged 13 and I'm 26 now, so I've been spinning records for half of my life!!! Production came a bit later on when it was more possible to make professional sounding tracks without all the expensive studio hardware. I must have been about 20 when I got into it and a couple of years passed while I improved my skills and had my first release when I was about 22!

6) Which countries have you performed in and, which was your most memorable trip?

I get about quite a lot these days, over the last 12 months alone I've been to Holland, Australia, Germany, Ibiza, and Canada! My first ever international gig was in Yugoslavia! I'd never even travelled abroad alone, so to go out there to DJ was quite a daunting thing to do but it was a great experience!!! Also playing Cape Town was amazing as at the time I wasn't a very well travelled person so to get to visit such an exotic location compared to England was mind-blowing for me! On top of this the gig was amazing and there people where so friendly loved every minute of my short stay :)

7) Inspiration is almost always needed to create success. What has been your motivation and inspiration for getting you to this stage of your career?

I just really love what I do and want to share it with other people! I know it sounds cheesy, but I don't want to be famous from it. I'm not bothered about getting rich, I just want to create things I'm really proud of and share it with other people!! That’s why I really do love it when people take the time to say they enjoy and appreciate what I do, because that is what I do it for!

8) What well known DJ's have you collaborated with?

I've been lucky enough to work with many of the people I idolized when I was coming through the ranks myself. People such as Slipmatt, BK, DJ Storm, Billy 'Daniel' Bunter and Jon Doe. I've also been able to work with many of my peers that I respect greatly, like Technikal, Alex Kidd, Dark by Design and so on!

9) Have you featured on any album or have you released your own to the greater public?

I've had my tracks on quite a few compilations over the years, from Euphoria to Tidy to Bonkers. I've only recently been working on my own albums. Last year I mixed one of the CDs on the Hardcore 2007 compilation released by Ministry of Sound. More recently, my set was recorded from the Tidy Weekender event and will be used on their Tidy Weekender Live Compilation released in November this year!! Also my latest collaboration with BK called "Fracture" has featured on his latest artist album Nu Wave that’s out now.

10) Who are some of your favourite local and international DJ's?

My favorite DJ’s from home are also my close friends which is so cool!! Organ Donors, Alex Kidd, Jordan Suckly, Dark By Design etc... Internationally, I love what Kamui are doing, alone with all the Dutch hardstyle and gabber producers like Showtek and Evil Activities!!

11) Apart from DJing, are you planning any new ventures for the future?

The radio work I've been doing has really been taking off so I hope to do more of that! I never planned to get into it, I just kind of fell into it, but I'm so glad I did 'cause I absolutely love it!! I'm also hoping to set up my own club brand next year, expanding on what I do as a DJ and pushing an eclectic music policy.

12) Your music has reached innumerable supporters from all over. Do you make your music readily available to download from the internet? If not, why?

Yes, I'm one of the few people that does actually!! I believe that if you give something to people and they like it, they will support you, and that is how I have made my career!! If you go to my website (www.djkutski.com) you will see an abundance of free CD's to download in the "mixtapes" section, and I put just as much effort into each of them as i do to the ones that are sold in the shops!! My theory is if I do this and people appreciate it, they would want to support me when I get an opportunity to do a big CD and they will gladly buy it :)

13) Which clubs do you play most frequently at?

Good Greef is the main one in England!! I love it as the music police is perfect for what I play!! I also play a lot for Inside Out at the Arches in Glasgow which is another amazing club and the crowd there are absolutely crazy!!!

14) Do you DJ/produce on a full-time basis?

Yes. I was a transport planner by day for the local government until about 2 years ago. Finally it got to the point I just didn't have time to do both anymore, and I didn't want to let the amazing opportunity with music pass. So I plucked up the courage to leave my day job and haven't looked back since!!!

15) In your opinion, is the hardstyle and trance fraternity changing in numbers with the introduction of newer genres of music?

I think so, but it’s all in a positive way!! Music needs to keep evolving to remain interesting, and even with hard dance clubs in general, there are a lot of people preferring the hardstyle sound to the traditional UK hard house sound than there were a few years ago, but as long as people are still going to the clubs and the DJ's are cutting edge with their music, this will all strengthen the scene!!

16) You currently have a radio show on BBC Radio1 in the UK, please tell everybody more about that and how they can tune in.

Yeah, I have recently been promoted to a weekly slot on Radio 1 every Friday night 1-3am (UK time), after Judge Jules!! But, thanks to modern technology you can listen to the show anytime, anywhere via the new BBC iPlayer!!! Just log on to www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/kutski and choose the listen again option!! I'd love to build up an international listenership so please try and catch the show and get in touch at kutski@bbc.co.uk :o)

For free downloads and latest information, please visit www.djkutski.com

Thanks Kutski for your time…

- To find out more about DJ Kutski click here, here or here…. HAHA!
- To download Kutski's lastest FREE CD, please click here.