:: INTERVIEWS :: IN BED WITH CALLY GAGE

Cally Gage is one of those people you can’t help but like. Behind the decks or on the dance-floor, or face to face, her energy knows no bounds. With a trade-mark perma-smile, good looks and infectious personality, Cally has risen from clubber to clubber's idol in two short years and its easy to see why… her loyal fans regard her as being “one of them” and it is usual (and quite touching) to hear “Go Cally, go!” as she takes her audience through top tunes and tight mixing. A firm favourite at after-hours club Twist, Cally is enjoying continued and growing success with her fans right behind one of the friendliest DJs on the circuit.

Since winning a DJ competition at one of Tidy’s Summer Camps in 2004 Cally Gage has been building a reputation for herself as one of the UK’s up and coming DJ talents. With a fan-base that is as enthusiastic about her as she is about her music, Cally regularly appears on top-night line-ups and is a familiar name on flyers with the likes of Phil Reyolds, Greg Brookman, K90, Lab4, Rob Tissera and Andy Whitby promoting some of the biggest events in the UK. Now signed up to Frantic, she is up there with the big boys.

2006 is a turning point for Cally as her career again is taking huge strides; playing out at her dream events including the mighty Global Gathering as well as her first appearance in Ibiza; August also sees her debut commercial release as part of the Frantic Residents series, and studio time penned for later this year.

I’d arranged to meet Cally after her set at Storm vs Frantic at the Emporium in Coleville where she played a typically superb Gage set – playing an early slot alongside some of the biggest hard house DJs, and had the place rocking right from the word go and set the pace for the night…. The familiar “Go Cally, go!” rang out throughout the venue that night as it usually does when I see her play.

Go Cally Go!

RU: Hi Cally, thanks for taking the time out to speak to me…

CG: My pleasure hun, treat me gently though, I’ve read your interviews before…

RU: First question I need to ask, why do they call you Cally Gage?

CG: Haha, I do get asked this all the time actually! My mum liked a character in a 1980’s BBC tv programme called Blakes 7 who was called Cally, so that’s where it came from. I’ve never seen it, but heard its really good. I’m really happy with my name, its unusual. Saying that, people do think sometimes that I am one half of Cally & Juice, which I’m not, by the way.

RU: I’d like to say I don’t remember Blake's 7, but I’d be lying. That was an awesome set you played tonight. You looked as though you were loving it, do you prefer the classics?

CG: I *LOVE* playing classics. They’re the tunes I listened to when I was first on the hard-house scene, and everyone knows them. You get an amazing reaction from the crowd and each tracks means something different to different people. I think people do get tired of them so you can’t play them too often, but once in a while is always good.

RU: Do you have a favourite classic?

CG: Without a doubt, “I Don’t Care” has to be my favourite tune ever.

RU: Its mine too… I love it! You first shot to fame winning a DJ competition at a Tidy Summer Camp, what was that like for you?

CG: Two years ago next month in fact. Winning the competition was a little weird at the time and for quite a while afterwards as well! I’d never played out before, I’d just sent demos out to websites and other industry people. Then I got a call when I was at work from Tidy Kelly and I nearly cried when she told me I was in the final five - I couldn’t believe it! Unfortunately I had just sold my Tidy Summer Camp ticket because the group I was going with backed out, and one of the conditions of the competition was that I had to be a ticket holder. I thought fuck it, and tried my luck by turning up anyway. Russell (MD of Tidy) was at the gate and I pleaded with him to be let in. In the end, Russell said that he’d flip a coin and if I called it correctly I would be allowed in. I chose correctly and got to play.

RU: So your career was based on the flip of a coin? You’re one lucky bitch!

CG: Damn right. And thanks to Russell too for letting me have a chance. Otherwise I would have fucked it right up! I was shaking like a leaf when I put the needle on for the first record – I had to hold my hand with my other hand to steady myself when I dropped the needle!

RU: But you struggled through?

CG: Yeah, once I fired up the first track the rest all slotted in to place. I played some familiar tunes as well as a few classics, which I think helped sway the judges opinions – as well as my talent, of course!!

RU: Did they tell you there and then that you’d won?

CG: No, I had to wait until the next day! I was going to leave straight afterwards but they didn’t announce the results until the next day. I was stunned when they announced me as the winner – they had to say my name twice as I didn’t believe it! [Cally laughs]

RU: You are a technically brilliant mixer, and do far more than simply beat-match. How would you describe your style of mixing?

CG: I strive to make my mixes as good as possible, they have to be perfect – that’s why I practise so much. I really pride myself on more than simply beat-matching and work to have a real progression in my set, that often means getting the hook of the next track to come in at just the right place to keep the floor on the up. Admittedly some of it is just luck and I think “fucking hell, that worked” but I want to be known as a DJ who is technical and who can do it, not just a female DJ, so I spend at least an hour a day, often more, refining and perfecting mixes.

RU: Is it more difficult for female DJs to prove their ability?

CG: I’m not sure – I’ve never been a man, haha! Its still a bit of a novelty actually. Someone recently said to me “Oh, you can actually mix!”, which I thought was quite funny. Sometimes though, it can be easier because there are fewer female DJs around at the moment, especially who play the same style as me anyway.

RU: Watching you tonight underlines that you are one of the best DJs to watch, the concentration on your face as you drop a mix followed by the sheer euphoria and body language as you get in to the next track is amazing to watch…

CG: People say they’ve watched me concentrate and that I have a concentration look! I’m not really conscious of it to be honest, but I do enjoy myself, so much.

RU: You are about to live-out one of your ambitions by playing at Global Gathering, how excited are you?

CG: Very. (Cally smiles) I’m playing twice – two sets, how exciting! I’m really pleased, I’ve never played a festival before and it’s been difficult to get to play at one, so I was so chuffed when Claire at Contagious Clubwear asked me. I’m very excited. I’m on the same line up as Lisa Pin-Up, Andy Whitby and Ilogik, I can’t bloody wait!

RU: And you are playing in Ibiza for the first time too… are you nervous?

CG: I was supposed to play at Space for WiLDCHiLD so I was gutted when the Wildchild event got cancelled at the last minute, but I am playing in August for a night called Charleys Angelz so I’m really happy about that, Ibiza…. (Cally goes a little dreamy at this point!)

RU: You are signed to the mighty Frantic and are amongst some pedigree DJs where does Cally Gage go from here?

CG: Ah! I have a four point plan! I was really lucky that Will [Patterson] signed me up to Frantic, Frantic is one of the best promotions in the country and Will took a risk taking me under his wing. The last couple of years have been a real rollercoaster, but my plan is to take it to the next level over the next few months. I’ve got a new website [www.callygage.co.uk] which is launching soon, and there is the next Frantic Residents CD coming out on 25th September, which is mixed by me and Andy [Whitby]. I’m going to be playing a lot more around the country and am also due to go into the studio to do my own productions.

RU: Do you have anyone lined up to work with in the studio?

CG: I hope to work with Greg Brookman, Technikal, Lee Pasch and MDA & Spherical. They are all incredibly talented guys and have done some amazing productions of their own, so it would be amazing to get into the studio with them.

RU: Looking back on your career to-date, do you have a favourite set so far?

CG: Oh God, that’s a hard one. Possibly the back to back I did with Andy at Koko for Timeless last October. That was an amazing night. There was a lot of hype around the event and of course it was classics which everyone loves. It was totally rammed, and we played the massive classics that no-one else seemed to play for some reason; tunes like Breather and Music is Moving. Everything was perfect. I saw loads of mates there who don’t normally go clubbing. The view from the stage when we were playing was incredible… I won’t ever forget that! Recently I have been enjoying my sets a lot more and I think it’s because I feel I can relax a lot more – I’ve learnt so much in the last 2 years and I feel that this has really helped me get to where I am today.

RU: We are seeing your name appear in more and more DJ line-ups now, are there any gigs you won’t do?

CG: I always grab flyers when I leave a club to see if my name is on them, I still get so excited! To be honest, my management sort out all my gigs and I trust them not to book me for anything inappropriate.

RU: What about playing at Starkers, it’s a nudist night in London where all the punters and staff including the DJs have to be in the buff, except for shoes, would you do that for example?

CG: Er, no. All my shoes come with outfits!

RU: A couple of times we have seen you take over from DJs that have just nose-dived and you’ve on more than one occasion rescued a dire night to chants of “Go Cally” – how does that make you feel?

CG: Its nice, really nice, but it still makes me go a bit girly and shy. It’s a bit weird, but very humbling. I still get a bit weirded out that people want to hear me play. But secretly I love it!

RU: You are extremely versatile and seem more than comfortable with all the sub-genres hard dance has under it. If you were asked to play a mammoth six hour set, how would you plan that and would you try to include all parts of the hard dance spectrum?

CG: Six hours? Wow… I’d play everything. Probably start bouncy, a few classics, then go hard trancey then build it up to something tougher. I’d play the whole spectrum. It would be hard work though.

RU: If we saw you walking down a street we’d never guess you were a hard house DJ, how did you get in to hard house and then how did you become a DJ?

CG: Funnily enough, someone said that to me the other week… “You don’t look like a DJ”. I was out five years ago on New Years Eve and some friends had a spare ticket to Sunday North in Leeds for New Years Day. It was my first hard house club and I fell in love with the music, and with Rob Tissera. All my mates could mix at the time and I wanted to join in, so I bought a friends decks really cheap and practiced all the time, but I never thought I should, or would, play out. But when I met Andy [Whitby] he convinced me to send out some demos, which then led onto the comp. The rest as they say, is history!

RU: Your weekends sometimes see you covering huge distances between gigs, what do you listen to in the car to while away the miles?

CG: Really bad demos, haha! And some good ones too. Some guys who are trying to get on to the DJ circuit want me to critique their work, some are really good, some can’t even beat-match, but I always give honest feedback. I listen to hard house all the time generally. Or Disney?

RU: Disney? Where does he play?

CG: No, Disney like, er, Bear Necessities [Cally and her driver Mike then do a really bad impression of the Disney classic “Bear Necessities”]

RU: Oh God….

CG: Oh and Take That! They’re my guilty secret. I saw them recently in concert. I love Robbie Williams.

RU: But he’s not in Take That anymore.

CG: Yeah, shame. When I was younger I had a full size poster of him above my bed, so he was the last person I saw each night, and the first person when I woke up- sad now, I know!

RU: Mark Owen is quite sweet.

CG: Yeah, but Robbie was the bad boy, I like bad boys!

RU: It’s no secret that Andy Whitby is lucky enough to be your boyfriend, is there not a clash of personalities going on there? Is he a “bad boy”

CG: Bad boy? Not as bad as you’d like him to be, I read the interview you did with him. [Click here to read the Andy Whitby interview]

RU: Ah, yes, I’m, sorry about that, I got a little carried away.

CG: I’ll forgive you! We actually work well as a relationship, we’re like salt and pepper, his good points are my bad points and vice versa, so we balance each other out.

RU: Is there a case of stealing each others records for your own sets?

CG: [Laughs] He doesn’t let me anywhere near his records, not even his own! We have so many CDs and vinyl, one of our rooms is full of it.

RU: I absolutely hate “back to back” DJing, in many cases I think its promoters ripping off clubbers to get more headline DJs on their flyers, but some duo DJs that come as a double act work really well, would you ever consider a “Gage and Whitby” style show similar to the likes of Wid & Ben, The Tidy Boys etc?

CG: No, I like playing on my own too much. We do work well together though, so maybe once in a while, but never as a regular thing, just for special occasions maybe?

RU: Talking of Wid & Ben, you played a blinding set at their “An Evening In With” session. If you were to do an “Evening In With Cally Gage”, who would you ask to play?

CG: Difficult. Me, obviously, be a bit pointless having an evening in with me without me I guess! Who else? God, there are so many. Of course Andy, Mike Avery [new DJ talent about to take the scene by storm] Matt Pickup, Lucy Fur, Greg Brookman, Pin-Up, oh and Steve Hill – I’d like to have a lot of up and coming DJs but would have to include the likes of Pin-Up and Mr Hill.

RC: And if you could choose any venue anywhere in the world for it, where would it be?

CG: Obviously, I have not been to every club in the world although I do get about a bit! But I’d love to play somewhere with a beautiful background… with mountains, parrots, a beach… somewhere emotional.

RU: Parrots?

CG: Yeah, what’s wrong with parrots? I like parrots!

RU: Nothing I suppose, I was expecting you to say lasers and a big smoke machine! But we’ll go with parrots. I read somewhere that you changed Andy’s life. What affect has he had on you?

CG: Aw, he’ a sweetie [goes girly, very girly, starts playing with her hair] . Well, he started it all for me by convincing me to send out demos. He’s actually really supportive and give me loads of advice.

RU: If you are out on a girl’s night out, what would be the one track guaranteed to get you on the dance floor?

CG: Something cheesy like “Saturday Night” by Whigfield… I know the dance and so does my hairdryer. Or anything by Take That so I can scream!

RU: You really miss Take That, don’t you.

CG: I miss waking up to see Robbie Williams on my ceiling. Andy says that he doesn’t really like the poster on the ceiling anymore, it says it puts him off.

RU: Off what?

CG: You know… off… it [Cally blushes]

RU: Enough of Take That….. If Cally Gage were a brand, what would your brand values be?

CG: Most definitely to have fun. Honesty, I like to be honest, accessible… vibrant… yes, vibrant.

RU: If Frantic said that they were going to do a nude Frantic Residents calendar, would you do it?

CG: Er, mmm… if I had something strategically placed, maybe I would. I’m not very comfortable in showing myself off, and I think people would prefer to see me with my clothes on to be honest.

RU: If you could choose anyone, dead or alive, to shadow them for a week, who would it be?

CG: Robbie [Williams, who else?] but it would probably be one sided! Not that I am fanatical about him or anything, honest!

 

RU: Whose phone number would you most like to have in your phone?

CG: Er, Robbie. He’d get a lot of silent calls because I’d be too nervous to speak to him.

RU: If money was no object, what five things would you want to own or do?

CG: Um, I’d give my mum a load of money to buy a new house, then go shopping… in Las Vegas… then buy a Nissan 350Z – black, convertible. It’s the sexiest car on the planet. Oh, and it have a personalised number plate; Miss Gage!

RU: Only so you could say “the car in front is Miss Gage”

CG: Haha Yeah, that’d be fierce! I tried getting a sponsorship deal with Nissan once, saying I’d drive the 350Z to gigs; they pointed out that all my gigs are at night, anyone who would be interested would be in a night club and therefore unable to see it, so I didn’t get away with that one….

RU: Anything else?

CG: Yeah, I’d buy a beautiful house for me and Andy and a beautiful dog!

RU: And a parrot?

CG: Yes, a beautiful parrot too! And an island in Dubai. They have man-made islands in the shape of the world, so you can actually buy England, how cool would that be?

RU: I think you’ll find we are owned by the Americans already, ask Mr Bush! What is the worst chat-up line some-one has ever used on you?

CG: “I’ve just got out of prison, but your CD kept me going”

RU: Nice! Please complete the following statements: My first job was…..

CG: At SuperBurger – and I got sacked five times! My mum was the manager there and I really needed the job, but she kept sacking me as I didn’t turn up a lot of the time!

RU: My first record I bought was…

CG: Legend B – Lost in Love

RU: My first kiss was with….

CG: A boy called Daniel on my first day at school.

RU: Junior or senior school?

CG: Junior…. My mum dropped me off and I ran off to get a boyfriend.

RU: You were a quick mover then?

CG: Yeah, honey, I wanted to get a good one

RU: My first love was…

CG: Dancing, I was dancing until I was 21, and wanted to make a career out of it. I made a Westlife dance video and was a show-girl in Italy. I took it really seriously for a while.

RU: My first porn movie I saw was…

CG: Oh God, this is awful, don’t know if I should tell you!

RU: I think you should….

CG: Well, I didn’t watch all of it! I was at school and these lads got loads of people around to their house at lunch time, I thought I was going to watch Home and Away or something, but they put this gross video on…. Animal Farm. I was just watching it eating my Hula-Hoops – God, that makes it sound even more seedy!

RU: You look so innocent! My first celebrity crush was on….

CG: Take a wild guess…

RU: Robbie Williams by any chance? No need to answer that… Last time I cried was. .

CG: The other week when I hit a rabbit in my car. I had absolutely no chance of missing him… I phoned up Andy crying saying “I’ve just killed a bunny wabbit” .

RU: Bless… fantastic to have a chance to interview you Cally – its been a pleasure.

CG: My pleasure babes.

-END-

Cally has a busy August with Ibiza and Frantic’s 9th birthday among other gigs… watch out for her name on a line-up near you. If you’ve seen her before, you will know that she is one to watch.

IMAGE COPYWRITE BEN THOMAS