interviewsofrecordingartists.com
He's so cool, he doesn't care if you don't know who is. Why? Simply because all of the "right" people do. The DJ know to millions of dance music fans around the world simply as Sasha, who was born Alexander Coe from Bangor, in the North Wales region of England. Sasha is one half of the British DJ team, Sasha and John Digweed. While Sasha and John Digweed already have their huge global fan base, the two actually count themselves among the very few British DJs who have established their DJ "craft" in the USA as well. Sasha himself has even been a regular DJ at the elite New York City club Twilo. He is also rated highly as a recording producer as well. And in his duties as a producer, Sasha has worked with some of the music industry elite by producing top selling re-mixes records for pop superstar Madonna as well as the British techno team of The Chemical Brothers. In Amsterdam, whenever the following interview was conducted, Sasha looks back on the past ten years of the British dance scene, reflects on the changes that have come about.
(Q)- Your name please?
Sasha - This is Sasha.
(Q)- The dance and DJ scene has certainly reached new heights in popularity in Britain and the majority of countries in Europe, hasn't it?
Sasha- The fact that people are going out and listening to underground music, is becoming something that is so big.
(Q)- Yet there is two sides of the scene. The commercial and the highly non commercial, "underground" clubs.
Sasha- I think there is definitely some lines that have seen blurred. In Britain, there are people who have gotten in and then out of the dance music scene and then they've seen that they can make quite a lot of money, become famous and then record really commercial music.
(Q)- How has the dance scene overall in England changed within the past ten years?
Sasha- In England, ten years ago it was very clear lines, what was commercial club and what was a noncommercial club. But those same lines have become blurred in the last ten years, they definitely have. I've traveled around the world and the lines between a commercial club and a noncommercial club, are blurred all around the world. I have been to clubs all over the world and you can go virtually anywhere in the world right now and they're playing house music.
(Q)- Does that increased commercial element of the dance scene trouble you?
Sasha- It doesn't trouble me because I stick to my guns, I stick to and play only the music that I believe in. I stick to what I've done. But I definitely do feel some of the boundaries that even until five years ago existed between commercial and noncommercial are now quite blurred.
(Q)- Is there a sense of familiarity to you with the people who come out to dance and party, between the underground and commercial clubs with which you DJ in throughout the world?
Sasha- Yes. You can be the DJ to a thousand people anywhere in the world and if that crowd is going off, then there is no difference if you're in South America or England. There is no difference to me. In Britain and Europe, dance music has become a part of everyday life over here. I've gone from South America to Scandinavia within the period of time of only one week and it really doesn't seem any different.
(Q) Dance and techno are not as popular in the USA as in Britain, Europe and in Asia. The DJ team of Sasha and John Digweed are still recognized as the top pioneers of the DJ culture. In your opinion, why has dance music yet to break big onto the American (USA) pop scene?
Sasha- Possibly because dance is a part of everyday life in Europe. And while it has not yet in America (USA) become a part of everyday life yet, I can feel it coming. Since we did our first tour we have watched the American scene grow. I think that this next tour (spring 2002) of America is going to be something special.
(Q)- Do you have a plan to establish yourself and John in the USA in a major way? There is after all the Sasha and John Digweed Delta Heavy Spring 2002 Tour. What is the goal of the American (USA) tour?
Sasha- The only plan we have is that John and I thought that we should play America (USA) together. John and I have been DJs in a lot clubs around the world and when we looked at America, we decided over seven years ago, to work together in America and then we started doing just that. That is the only real plan we've ever had. The rest of it all, everything else, has really taken us by surprise. We've really enjoyed touring together and we've had a lot of fun playing together.
(Q)- Has the London club scene become all too much about being seen being out in public and getting your picture in a column in "The Sun" or another British paper? Is it all about that element more then about going out and enjoying yourself at a club and listening to dance music? Is it now just about the celebrity "stars" coming out at night and walking down the red carpet with all the photographers doing their thing?
Sasha- I think that actually it has gone the other way. Five years ago, the dance clubs in London were the "cool" place to be seen and whereas now, I think that now dance music in Britain has become so much of the fabric of the country that it is not the cool place to be seen anymore. If you're talking about walking down the red carpet and the cool places to be seen, the people in London especially have gone on to look for something different. Half of the problem is the fact that I think clubs have tried to follow trends and the clubs have not really followed the music. A club like Fabric (One of the top London nightclubs.) in London was founded on the music first principle and it's the kind of club where it doesn't really matter what the fashion changes are, that club is going to be full because that club was founded on the music. Other clubs have tried to follow trends. Those are the clubs that seem to have gone out of fashion. It's a weird and complicated scene right now really.
(Q)- In what ways is the London club scene so weird? Is it because Britain is in the post- Paula Yates (Paula Yates was a British TV star who died at the age of 40.) era? Too many people have become far too desperate for their, "Fifteen Minutes Of Fame" like the pop artist Andy Warhol used to say?
Sasha- Yes. Britain is definitely a society that is too obsessed with celebrity. The tabloids are obsessed with minor TV celebrities and football (soccer) players. And, it has become harder in England over the last five years to find cool places to DJ at. But the places that have stuck to their guns musically are still doing well, stayed busy and are still full. The clubs that have just followed onto whatever the "Next Big Thing" is I think are the ones that have lost their way. Because some of the big clubs that have, kind of founded themselves on the support of a certain kind of crowd, when they decided to suddenly change their tactics by changing their music, they lose their crowds instantly. Which is why I haven't really responded to trends or followed whatever fashion is happening in music at the time.
(Q)- Sasha and John Digweed, in a way, represent celebrity and yet, the DJ team of Sasha and John Digweed come across in the press at times as almost anti-star. What is wrong with publicity? You don't want publicity for your craft of being a DJ? Are you, "too cool" for the press?
Sasha- I'm not into the red carpet kind of thing, I'm not like a weird abstract artist either. I guess I try to keep the whole thing at a distance.
(Q)- Yet Britain is very into pop stars, especially Liam and Noel Gallagher of Oasis and that whole celebrity sort of thing. You two both do have a bit of celebrity status to yourselves.
Sasha- John and I couldn't be further away from Liam and Noel (he laughs). I don't think for us there's any influence or any sort of premeditated plan. I got into this for the music and the celebrity thing happened and before we knew it, we were kind of thrust into this. But, we never really contemplated about becoming superstars.
(Q)- So you find yourself having to say, "No", whenever you are asked to DJ for many British clubs and parties on an increasing basis?
Sasha- Yes. Absolutely. My (booking) agent is saying, "No", constantly.
(Q)- You do want to keep it going don't you? And, doesn't that make it difficult for you?
Sasha- I don't really know. I have to strive to create our own sort of environment. I've never wanted to aligned myself with any sort of trendy, up and coming club. I've always kind of done my own thing and most of the time, if I am going to play one of those big clubs with John, we'll kind of be in there on a Monday or a Thursday night and we'll pack the house out. We won't go into those clubs on a Saturday night. We've just always done our on thing, by sticking to our roots and I think that has actually been sort of fundamental and actually helped us to stay the course.
(Q)- What does the craft of being a club DJ mean to you personally?
Sasha- It means traveling, meeting people and having fun. It is a craft and there is a sense of apprenticeship involved, I think of it as my life and I like to look at how I can better it. I don't really have this massive sort of artistic plan for how it's going to get on and be. I just kind of get on with it. John's very professional about things and he's very aware how to craft a night and how to craft someone's experience of going out for a night at a club. I don't have a massive artistic plan.
(Q)- Do you personally own a massive vinyl recording collection which you utilize for the club events you DJ?
Sasha- Yes. I have 30,000 albums, not including the white (Promotional only) label albums. It's all vinyl.
(Q)- Are you constantly, "digging into", your collection to find the right mix of material for your appearances?
Sasha- I wouldn't say "Digging In". Last year (2001) I had two people spend like six months to database my whole collection. So I have the collection readily available.
(Q)- When you DJ, can someone who is attending a club, find out what you're into on a particular evening by listening to the mix of the music you spin?
Sasha- Yes. Though I definitely do dig into the past every now and then. Especially New Years Eve and for important birthday party shows. John and I try to stay ahead of everyone and find out what the make of the latest music is, but we still do go into the past every now and then.
(Q)- It seems as if the dance and techno musical genres in general have really taken off in popularity. As a DJ, you have been one of the visionaries of the movement. Assuming that you have studied previous cultural movements within European and British popular society. Does any of what is happening today, in the underground clubs in Germany, to you, resemble the period of time known as "Golden Twenties" in Berlin in the 1920's?
Sasha- The period of time in the 1920's was actually an underground movement. And what we're experiencing now, with the (international) dance scene is an underground movement, but it is a big underground movement (he laughs). It has much more commercial edge to it. The whole scene that was in the 1920's in Germany, was different. Those artists and the people who were involved in that movement were completely cut off from the outside world, doing their own thing. They were really creating something that really didn't have any exterior influences. Currently the dance music scene is definitely a youth movement. It's pro freedom, anti-MTV, anti-Brittney Spears and anti-'N Sync. It's kind of like a movement that is away from that kind of stuff but I don't think it carries the kind of gravity of that scene (from the 1920's in Berlin, Germany).
end.
