:: INTERVIEWS :: MIKE AVERY

Mike Avery – Journey to the Summit, London debut –
Summit vs. Nu Religion, Friday 21st July 2006

Club DJing is a highly competitive market place. For every one DJ that has a residency or a guest slot there must be hundreds of bedroom DJs wishing it was them. This is an age where, if it’s not funky or Latin sounding or minimal, its not trendy (although what’s the point in minimal anything? Give me maximum!). Hard-house (and hard-dance) is a particularly tough cookie to crack because there are comparatively few regular hard-house promotions. Budding hard-house DJs really do have a battle on their hands to even get their demo CDs heard, let alone convince a brave promoter to allow them a warm-up slot to unleash their enthusiasm on an unsuspecting dance floor. And then there is the small matter of trying to earn a residency.

Simply being able to beat-match won’t do. Anyone with the briefest of brief understanding about how a dance track is made up, and the ability to count to sixteen can do that it seems. Being a hard-house DJ means that you have to be a showman, an attention seeker, and understand how to hook and command a crowded dancefloor within 20 seconds of starting a set. I know of some DJ wannabes who will frequently and often criticise the big names for playing commercial hard house (or “cheese”), or for being too mainstream. Of course, it’s the DJs who they so often criticise who are the ones behind the decks playing to packed dance floors, and who command a healthy fee because clubbers spend a lot of money to come and watch them play. This is an important lesson to be learned. As a DJ, forget about what you want to hear – it’s the people paying your wages whose opinion counts. If you lose your crowd because you are trying to be cool with an obscure harder than nails gabba-bounce-drum-and-bass hybrid track, then you will fail.

Another common failing for wannabe DJs is that their marketing strategy is often fundamentally flawed. Being a club and DJ reviewer, I get sent shit-loads of demos. I’d say that I probably listen to every one in ten. This is because the most common method of distributing promos isn’t exactly outstanding - if some aspiring DJ has popped a Tesco-branded CD-R in the post with a message scribbled on a post-it note then there’s nothing to differentiate that demo from another dozen or so I’ll receive in exactly the same way. If, however, someone has taken the time and care to present a demo in a well designed presentation case, then I am more likely to sit up and take notice. But even that is not enough - I’ve heard plenty of shockers that have got through the presentation quarantine. Badly thought-out play-lists that start off banging and progress through several levels of erm, banging, through to a banging end shows no thought or imagination. This is supposed to be something which showcases your abilities, so some kind of progression and variety is essential. By all means bung some brutally hard Vicious Circle or Spanish bounce at the end of the CD, but start it off with a few tracks I am likely to know. That way you’re more likely going to keep my interest long enough to want to know what the next track is, and how its been mixed in. In these days when a demo CD can be created in minutes on a computer, an intelligent track selection is sometimes more important than simple beat-matching.

I often listen to demos when I’m driving a fair distance, and I judge a demo CD to be a good one if it stays in the player from start to finish. At the end of the day, anyone can play Heavens Cry, I Don’t Care or Kick It - it’s what you do with those tracks, and when you play them that makes the difference. I know that a lot of promoters have the same attitude towards demo CDs that I have. Of course it’s possible to get noticed through a back door; if you're mates with the promoter’s sister’s boyfriend, you may be able to leapfrog the hundreds of other demos he or she will receive. But even if you’ve got enough contacts to get your CD heard in the right stereos, your CD still needs to really impress Mr or Mrs Promoter. When a respected promoter puts his or her reputation on the line and gives an unknown their big break, the DJ in question has to be good. As any promoter will tell you, one bad DJ can kill your event, and one bad event can kill your brand.

In May this year, during one of our regular clubbing trips out of capital, the boyfriend and I were handed a demo CD by a young man we’d met that weekend, a friend of a friend. The journey home down the A1M seemed to breeze by as the CD played – it had us hooked all the way. It was fun, accessible, addictive, well thought out and well presented. We also happened to know that he’d just been booked for his first ever London club event. His name was Mike Avery and according to the flyer he gave us, he was on the same line-up as guaranteed dance-floor pleasers Phil Reynolds, Digital Kid, Greg Brookman, James Condon, Cally Gage and Andy Whitby. And what’s more, Mike had been sandwiched into one of the peak slots, after Digital Kid and before Cally Gage. Baptism of fire indeed.

Mike has a secret though; he is Andy Whitby’s driver and a really good close friend of Cally Gage. “Fix!” I hear you cry. Not at all. Mike’s debut gig was secured on his own merits. He may well have excellent mentors into the world of DJing and sight his master as a huge influence in his style, but Mike earned his right to be on the line-up by himself. A dream come true for most bedroom DJs and for Mike, a milestone in years of practicing, refining and more practicing.

A great deal of time and effort went into planning Mike’s first set; he came down to London the week before to gather information about the night and the venue he was to be playing at. He also took the advice of other DJs who had already played there; they knew what type of crowd to expect, and what the equipment was capable of, and Mike sensibly bounced ideas off them, and made final adjustments to his planned play-list.

The event in question was Summit vs. Nu Religion, two relatively new promotions having a joint party at Vauxhall’s Hidden nightclub. Both promotions have already stamped their mark on London’s club scene and have already established their reputations for quality. As returning visitors to Summit, we knew from first hand experience why it was becoming so popular. We also knew that being relatively new, any mistakes could cost the promoters dearly.

So Mike’s big day had arrived. He had amassed a great deal of support for his maiden voyage into the unforgiving waters that is the London DJ circuit. We met up with him just before he took over from Digital Kid and he was a little nervous, particularly as the place was packed and Digital Kid had worked up the dance-floor into something of frenzy. But Mike was also masterful, he took control of the decks with a certain amount of authority and his one focus was to make sure at the end of the set there would be every reason for him to be asked back to play in the future. He powered up his intro and then went in to his set taking the entire dance-floor with him. The energy was infectious; his audience responded well to his choice of tracks and tight mixing, and they followed conductor style physical interaction in the way all good hard-dance DJs command from their dance-floor. Superb.

So, with the all important debut under his belt, Mike has achieved so much more than hundreds he leaves in his wake. But from the frying pan in to the fire… is this where the hard work really begins?

I caught up with Mike after his set to ask him a few questions, this is what he had to say:-

RC: Congratulations on a storming debut set, where you happy with it?

MA: Thanks very much! Yes I was very happy with it although I made a couple of errors (I think I was the only one who noticed them!), but I seemed to bounce back from them ok! I was very nervous at first but I felt like I settled into a rhythm after the first two or three mixes.

RC: It was your London debut, and only the 3rd time you've played out, yet you were on the same line up as Cally Gage, Andy Whitby, Phil Reynolds, Digital Kid, Greg Brookman... surely a dream come true?

MA: Christ I’ll say! Its funny because after Cally won the Tidy competition and went on to start her dj career, we used to have the occasional joke about her and I being on the same line-up, although I honestly believed it would never happen. Then when Cally and Andy got together, the 3 of us used to joke about it (mostly me and Andy to be honest!). Then when Summit was announced Cally and I were really happy and excited until it was announced Andy was playing too and the three of us and our friends spoke of nothing else in the weeks preceding the gig! Now it’s been and gone it still feels dream like to me, my 3rd gig, same line up as that lot, Jesus!

RC: You pulled a great choice of tunes out of the bag, what was your inspiration behind them?

MA: The tune selection was pre-prepared I’m afraid. I planned the set before hand, just as a way of keeping my nerves steady. It means less to worry about if you can do the mixes without thinking too much. Especially handy at this early stage of my ‘career’. The inspiration for using the tunes that I did was to try and get a good mix of old and new ‘anthems’ that everyone could relate too. I tried to keep a happy vibe and being a clubber at heart, tried to play a set that I would love to hear on the dance floor myself. I wanted to see the hands, the dancing and hear the cheers; I think I managed all three at various points during my set!

RC: You demonstrated some really tight mixing, clearly a lot of practice has taken place before tonight, when and how did you start getting in to DJing?

MA: I only started about 5 years ago on a pair of cheap Numarks, with a 2 channel Behringher mixer. I’d been trying to get into the world of mixing for a long time, since college really, but the circle of friends I was hanging around with weren’t really part of the scene and neither were my past girlfriends. Consequently, I went for years with this ‘yearning’ inside me. It wasn’t until an employee of mine was involved in putting a little night on locally, ‘Messy’, good name for a hard house night though eh?, that I truly got into things!! Couple of weeks and a break up later I bought some decks and here we are now!! I’ve upgraded since, although I still have the Numarks in the loft!!

RC: Your set was a good hard bouncy style tonight, is that your preferred style or do you play other genres of hard dance?

MA: I really enjoy mixing all types of hard house, depends on my mood when I’m practicing. Mostly I’ll play uplifting euphoric tunes, but I like tunes with good bass lines. I didn’t play any tracks that were actual bounce, but some were bounce-esque I guess. I try to think of the crowd. If you can get the girls on the dance floor the blokes will follow! The bass lines are generally what the girls tend to respond to initially, followed by the actual tune.

RC: Its great to see some new DJ talent playing out, but there is a danger some promoters will only play "tried and tested" familiar names, their argument being that its these names that fill a club. As a new DJ what would you say to such promoters?

MA: Give us newbie’s a go, we my surprise you!! I think that promoters would respond better if they got good quality, well thought out demos. I’ve seen some crap and it just makes me think that if a lot of new DJs are giving that out then it puts promoters off listening to them, resulting in bookings of the tried and tested.

RC: If you were promoting a club-night, and I gave you the keys for Brixton Academy, what sort of night would you put on and who would you have playing?

MA: Brixton Academy eh? You’re too kind! It would be a hard house event starting off with some hard trance and progressing through hard house, some bounce into harder house trying to keep a euphoric element, then finally into some fun filth! As a clubber, I find the journey the DJs take you on over the course of the night is very important. Peaks and troughs, peaks and troughs!!

RC: Some parts of the dance music industry had written off hard dance, or certainly tried to suggest that hard-dance, in particular hard-house, was dying a painful death. Clearly, with events such as the Tidy Weekenders, Frantic and Tasty along with new promotions such as tonight’s and Terminal all doing extremely well, the industry experts would seem to have got it badly wrong. But where do you see hard-dance in five years time?

MA: As you pointed out, I think the “experts” has it wrong. Hard house is a strong genre and it’s getting stronger. In 5 years time I think there will be more nights dedicated to the newer DJs. Not just little back street clubs, but the bigger events too. I think at all major events, there should be some kind of room or area for new DJs (like me) to showcase their talent. It’ll give them (us) a much steeper learning curve so when we do get into the bigger arenas it can be approached with a clearer head and also the promoters won’t be taking such a gamble.

RC: Now that you have your big debut under your belt, where do you plan to take your DJing career next? Do you plan any production work?

MA: For now I’d like to concentrate on playing out as much as I can and build up a bit of a following and at some point I would like to try my hand at production, but that’s a way off yet!

RC: Is there a particular venue or promotion that you would kill to play at?

MA: There’s no single place I’d like to play at more than another although the idea of playing at Sunnies North at the Club Evolution would be nice! But then I’d quite like to play at Polysexuals too, because there’s usually quite a good crowd in there! Oh and Storm too!! But overall, given its successes, Frantic would be amazing!

RC: Where do you find/buy your records?

MA: Generally on line. I used to almost exclusively use Bangingtunes.com, but now I tend to shop around a bit, mostly because of the advent of CJDs in my house!! There is more tune availability, although white labels etc tend not to be released as downloads.
RC: What sort of night would you call a "good night out?"

MA: A good night out . . . . . . . . erm! Well, I think as long as my close friends were around me, I’d generally have a pretty good night! Depends on my mood though! Sometimes, you can’t beat going out on Friday, only to roll home to bed about 10pm on the Sunday in a vague attempt to correct your weekend misdemeanors ready for Monday! Other times, a nice meal with a few drinks!

RC: Where can we normally find you if you are not DJing?

MA: When I’m not DJing I’ll either be at home practicing, on the pc, in front of a good film or at my friends house on the sofa of destiny (it’s massive!!)

RC: The next Tidy Weekender (TWX) is called "Super Heroes" - who is YOUR super-hero and why?

MA: When I was growing up my heroes were Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. I wanted so badly to have the life’s they had in their films!! I thought they were cooler than penguins!! I wanted the money, the cars, the women and the high life! I loved the way they talked to people, showed a certain respect, the right way of doing things, in almost gentlemanly fashion! Superb! In fact, my favorite film is probably Heat.

RC: What one track do you think summarises your personality?

MA: Ooooo, tough question! Probably, NRG – Never lost his hardcore – Nick Sentience mix. My friends are always telling me I’m hardcore because I seem to have this ability to stay awake for days, without any stimulants! I love the tune because of the different bass changes and the way the tunes slows in the middle. Bit like me! I’m a little slow in the middle and I love to adapt my behavior to suit the environment! Having said that there are many tunes I could choose, that was just the first off the top of my head!

RC: Thanks for your time Mike, well done on tonight and look forward to seeing you in London soon!

MA: Cheers mate.

Mike’s debut set play-list:-

Stu Allan - Feeling (Technical remix) - mikes lover intro
The Pod - Vinylgroover and Anne Savage
Cracked Logic - We Dare the Radio to Playlist Our Records
Advance - Marcel Woods
HTUK - 7 Cities (Rowland mix)
Jon The Dentist & Ollie Jaye - Feel So Good (Guyver remix)
U ready? - Andy Whitby
Loving you- Andy Whitby
Come on - Breather - Prime Mover mix
Never lost his hardcore -NRG - Nick Sentience mix
Miss.Behavin' - Such A Good Feeling (Barely Legal remix)
Breeze & Styles - You're My Angel ('One More' edit)

For more on Mike Avery, go to www.djmikeavery.com