Deejay Howells spins away a Jakarta night
By Joseph Manggar
JAKARTA (JP): It's not often that Jakarta is graced by a world-class entertainer of any sort, let alone a star UK DJ such as Danny Howells. Howells hammered-out a ballistic four-hour set last week at Stadium in West Jakarta that left most of the 2,000 fans awestruck and exhausted.
It's a performance that will not be soon forgotten, definitely the slyest of audio seductions, introducing foreign sounds and foreign mixes to a foreign crowd, pulse-by-pulse, beat-by-beat, and one that establishes a new lofty benchmark for the club as well. He is certainly no ordinary DJ.
For the uninitiated, a modern DJ performance is not merely a quick spin through the Top 40s chart, the latest Madonna hit, plus a few oldies from the Saturday Night Fever era. Today's performance by a world-class DJ is nothing less than an event, almost worthy of the attention given to a concert by a touring rock star.
The DJ of today does not just play "someone else's music". More often than not, they are also a recording artist and producer, as is Howells, under the alter ego Science Project. More importantly, DJs virtually create new music each night they play, with no two shows the same, ever! Each performance is expertly crafted, using skills that combine the production virtuosity of a Baby Face or Quincy Jones, the telepathic empathy of a clairvoyant shaman and the technical precision of a NASA engineer twiddling the knobs for a Space Shuttle launch.
But it is far better if Mr. Howells tells us of some of the secrets behind such audio alchemy in his own words.
We caught up with him a few hours before his set in one of the nightclub's private karaoke rooms. Danny waltzed in, looking more than a wee bit road-weary after a marathon 10-hour Independence Day set in New York City, followed by a grueling 18-hour, half- way-around-the-world flight to Jakarta, only a few hours sleep and no less than three Jakarta radio interviews. Gangly, fit, with sharp hawk-like features and dressed like an unfashionable tourist on the run, even with all that wear and tear Danny easily looked five years younger than his 29 years.
The Jakarta Post: What Asian cities have you played?
Danny Howells:For this tour, Jakarta followed by Kuala Lumpur, Manila and Tokyo. We did an Asian tour last year. Dates in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Shanghai; Beijing was the best. And then we came back this year for Singapore again and Tokyo. Tokyo was amazing, really amazing
In terms of?
Madness, complete madness, the crowds were completely nutters; that's what I like.
Did you have any fears about coming to Indonesia?
No, if I did take too much notice then I'd not be playing in Ireland or Israel. You're going somewhere and I put my trust in the people. I've been to some strange places and I've never seen any problems. If someone brings you out to, like Israel, they're not going to take me through the war zones.
How do you plan what you are going to play?
I never know until I'm playing. I'll carry everything from really, really slow Deep House through to really Hard Techno. Until I get on the decks I don't what I'll play. My mood might change, or the crowd might be into something a bit harder. I got my own boundaries which I cover in those record boxes. If the crowd likes commercial or if they want Hip-Hop, I can't really do that because I haven't got it. There's never any track I can guarantee I'll play.
So what's the best label you can put on the music you play?
Deep-sexy-futuristic-tech-funk-house!
Which is?
It's just a way of saying that we do play a lot of different styles. Progressive is a small part of it. It's a lot of Deep House, Tribal, a little Goa, some Techno. Progressive DJs take on a lot of different influences, and constantly look for new sounds and new ideas, even though Progressive House is only a small part of that package. When I think of Progressive, I think of Yes and Genesis and things like that, you know ... 25-minute drum solos, which is pretty close to what I'm doing! (laughs)
What do you do, exactly, that makes it so much more than simply playing one record after another?
You try and create an atmosphere, create a sort of feeling in the room, using music people have never heard before. (This) makes the difference between a DJ and a band; a band will be mainly focusing on established music. What I'll do is try and create a big thick feeling, an atmosphere, a response, a mood or series of moods. You're trying to take people somewhere, rather than just come over to this country with a lot of records they've already heard before, which to me seems pretty pointless, really. It's me doing my thing and hoping it works ....
Your bio mentions you worked in a mental institution for nine years. What influence did this have on you?
I think there's an element of psychosis involved (laughter). For me it ties in with pushing myself, and the crowd as well, as far as I can go, sometimes maybe a little too far. I enjoy that boundary kind of thing. God knows what I picked up from working there.
Where do you think dance music is going to go from here globally?
It's becoming much more established. For years in England, from 1988 onward, it was like, "OK, how long's it gonna last?" People were expecting it to be like disco, to disappear. But disco never really disappeared, it just went more underground and mutated. Dance music never really went away. (From) the '60s, since Motown, it's always been there in one form or another. And it's the same as now, it just gets healthier and healthier with time. Obviously, the more acknowledged it becomes, the more fragmented it becomes. So you find it split into (more) categories and genres and stuff now.
So there are no limits for dance music at the moment?
For England, it seems to be very established now; the charts always seem to be full of dance music, from underground dance music to the more commercial Trance end. Records DJs (are) producing are constantly in the Top 40 music charts. You (even) get records by DJs going in at number one.
It seems to be spreading out everywhere, and (it's been) going in the right direction for years ... and with new countries adopting it, and then putting their own unique cultural twist on it. And the more (global) influences there are, then the further it can go ....
And Danny's last words, just after his set were: "Don't worry Jakarta, I'll definitely be back. And you can quote me on that." We will.