I have been watching Daze for some time now, and believe you and me, he is one of Manchester's Underground Stars! Currently rocking the British Isles with some Bombin sets, he agreed to be interviewed and be placed in the hotseat for an interview with us, so sit back and enjoy!
BAZZY B:
DAZE, THE LAST TIME I SPOKE TO YOU, IT WAS THROUGH DRUM AND BASS FOR YER FACE MAG, AND YOU WERE TRYING TO PROMOTE YOURSELF THROUGH THE CLUB NIGHTS "CHROME". NOW I AM INTERVIEWING YOU THROUGH BOMB SOUNDS, AND YOU ARE RELEASING TRACKS THROUGH THE LABEL SOPHONIC RECORDINGS. YOU HAVE DONE A LOT IN THE SPACE OF A FEW MONTHS, WHAT HAS BEEN THE KEY TO YOUR SUCCESS?
DJ DAZE:
I was introduced to the promoters over there last year and they heard my tapes and my tunes and liked them so they are just giving me a bit of support which is cool. I was there last month with JJ Frost and it was a wicked event, really enjoyed it, everyone seemed really into my set so look out for me doing a few more for them in the future.
BAZZY B:
THE CHROME NIGHTS ARE DOING REALLY WELL, AND IS CURRENTLY 4TH IN OUR TOP CLUB NIGHTS CHART, WHAT ARE YOUR AIMS FOR FUTURE CHROME NIGHTS?
DJ DAZE:
its a wicked night in a top venue with a great sound system and no attitude, just up for it party people out for a good night If the readers want info on the nights there they can mail to:chrome@sophonic.co.uk
BAZZY B:
HOW IS WORK WITH ADVISORY GOING?
DJ DAZE:
ok, advisory was set up by DJ sappo last year and is going to be an outlet for his stuff mainly, although #003 was a track by me "dark spirit" and a remix by sej and tripwire on the other side. Apart from advisory we are in the process of setting up "Armageddon" and "adrenalin", with Armageddon being mainly my stuff and adrenalin being mostly tripwires things, although its not exclusive.The releases so far have been:
dj sappo - "tickatock bass / x-rated" - adv001
dj sappo - "ding dong 99 / re-groove" - adv002
dj sappo - "senses [sej+tripwire rmx] / dj daze - "dark spirit" -
adv003
dj sappo - "energy / passive" - adv004
dj sappo - "daywalker / tickatock bass [stomp mix]"
"fuzz / fuzz [dopeskillz remix]" adv ep001
theres also a daywalker mix CD by kenny ken featuring the above tracks plus bonus ones from myself and tripwire.
Touching down very soon will be Armageddon 001 which will be "pulsate /generator" by myself, snippets of which can be heard at http://www.mp3.com/daze theres loads of tracks up there that wont be coming out for a while too so check em out, plus about another 6 I haven't uploaded yet!
BAZZY B:
WHAT TRACKS ARE OUT AND ABOUT AT THE MOMENT FOR PEOPLE TO GRAB A HOLD OF ?
DJ DAZE:
Of mine personally theres:
"dark spirit" - adv 003
"rock solid" - bonus track on the daywalker CD
"pulsate / generator" arm 001 [very soon]
"control freak" - sophonic 001
"back in the daze" - sophonic 002 [very soon]
BAZZY B:
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN THE BUSINESS AND WHAT STARTED IT ALL OFF FOR YOU?
DJ DAZE:
I first got into "electronic music" in the early eighties through listeningto bands like OMD, The Human league, Depeche Mode, Jean-Michael-Jarre and Kraftwerk etc. Then I saw Malcolm McLarens "Buffalo Gals" video on Top of the Pops one night and it just blew me away!! That led to a constant diet of hip-hop taped from local DJ Stu Allan's radio shows every Sunday night. The DJ'ing aspect of it was the thing I was really into but because I couldn't afford any decks of my own I had to make do with cutting up records on tape machines, using the pause button to make my own mixes.
After leaving school in1987 I started to get more into the early house sound that was coming across from the states which led into the whole acid house thing and a few mad nights in the Hacienda [when I could get in!!]. My favourite period was just around the corner though when the sounds of "Hardcore" hit me around 1990. Between then and the end of 1993 I was going out every weekend and it was at this point that I got my first pair of 1210's. Many DJ'ing spots at parties followed plus guest spots on the now defunct radio station Sunset 102, playing stuff on Formation, Production house, Strictly Underground and Suburban Base etc. Unfortunately, after these heady days the music for me took a bit of a nosedive and during 1994/95 I kept a low profile. Most nights out were to "old school" events reliving the early sound.
As 1995 drew to a close a chance meeting through a friend of a friend gave me the chance to "play around" in a studio owned by an ex-keyboard player for "The Fall". From that moment I was hooked and knew that I had to get some studio gear for myself. At this time I saw an advert in the local paper for a sound engineering course at Spirit Studios in Manchester. I went along to an open day and within minutes had enrolled on a fifteen month Diploma course. As an added bonus, "jungle" had decided to reinvent itself as "Drum'n'Bass" and I got back into the beats at just the right time. Doing stuff in the studios was great but I couldn't get enough, I had to get some equipment at home. To fund this I sold over 1000 12" records!!
This paid for my Atari ST and an Akai sampler plus a few other bits to get me going, there was no looking back now.
Towards the end of 1997 I got a couple of lucky breaks. After finishing the engineering course at Spirit Studios I was offered an engineering job there which I of course gladly excepted. The other was getting one of my early tunes onto the "Future Music" magazines demo CD. Nothing really came of it but, undeterred, I just concentrated on honing my sound and learning more and more engineering techniques.
A guy I had met on the course worked in the local record shop, "Spin-Inn" and told me that Sappo who worked there ran a couple of labels and I should maybe take a demo in for him to listen to. I did, and although the tunes weren't quite "there", Sappo could hear in the production that I knew what I was doing in the studio and so took me on board.
Which brings me up to the present really. I recently left Spirit
Studios after three years and dived headlong into producing my own tunes. The result of this is my first release due out on Advisory recordings any time now, plus a couple more tracks finished for a new sister label "Armageddon". As well as this, a residency at Manchester Jungle nights "Squiggle-Dee-Mash" and "Rollin'" plus up-coming guest spots at "Chrome" in Liverpool means its all go at the moment.
BAZZY B:
ER OK THEN, THAT'S A LOT TO TAKE IN :) HE HE, SO WHEN YOU FIRST GOT IN THE SCENE, AND MAYBE NOW, WHO DID YOU LOOK UP TO?
DJ DAZE:
erm, to tell u the truth, I never really looked up to anyone, there is obviously dj/producers that I like but I never go out to try and sound like anyone. I just do my own thing and hopefully people will be into it. I just try and make music that I would like to hear when I go out, stuff to try and make people dance rather than stand in a corner and stroke their beards!! [although I'm guilty of this!!!] I try and bridge the gap between jump-up and the more techno steppy sound. Dunno if it works but thats my aim.
BAZZY B:
WHERE AND HOW CAN PEOPLE GET IN TOUCH WITH YOU FOR FUTURE BOOKINGS?
DJ DAZE:
Easy you can just call me direct 07901 804660 or u can fax advisory for any info on DJ's, tunes whatever on 0161 953 4027.
BAZZY B:
CHEERS FOR THE INTERVIEW MATE, AND MAYBE WE'LL SEE YA BIGGER THAN RONI IN THE FUTURE, HE HE.
