Gamall
Co-founder / resident DJ at Demon Days

When did you first start DJing? .
I first started playing out in the mid 90s in San Francisco - mainly thanks to friends like Jonah Sharp (Spacetime Continuum) and Tomas (Rub n Tug) who did an amazing Monday night called The Gardening Club. At that point I was playing the chill out room or the alternative room or underground venues like The Top.

How has your DJing developed?
Jonah Sharp was a big inspiration initially and thanks to him I got my first taste of playing outside America in 1996 when we did a Reflective Records event in Japan. We played a special festival in a hillside winery and I was playing in the tank room. I can still remember it very clearly - playing The Visions "Detroit: One Circle" and the dancefloor going wild, people screaming and jumping up and down. That was the moment when I realized DJing was something I not only wanted to do but HAD to do. I moved to NYC a few months after that and of course the big apple had a big impact on my playing. I started changing my sound and developing and managed to play as opening DJ for acts like Kruder and Dorfmeister and Thievery Corporation as well as going overseas again for a fanatstic gig in a boat house in Bergen, Norway with DJ Morpheus.

In the late 90s I did a very popular eclectic online radio show called "On The Corner" that was on Psuedo.net and then it's own site. After that in the early 00's I felt I needed a regular club night outlet so I co-founded the monthly Rude Movements night with Karl Injex and another partner and did that for two years. That was a really interesting party because all three of us as DJs were very different. But all of that was merely warm up for what has been the biggest lesson and growth of my skills - Demon Days. I've been playing alongside Carl Craig (and occasional guests like Rhythm & Sound, Moodymann, Recloose, Santiago (Ican), Lindstrom and others), for three years now and feel now I'm really saying my own thing. I always try to look at musical expression from a jazzman's point of view. In jazz if you can play a Coltrane solo note for note musicians look at you and go great - you've got the technical skill now where you are ? They want to hear your sound what's special about you so for me I'm always striving for that - to be "more" me.

As a DJ how do you feel about the whole analog vs digital debate? You're digital right?
Well the fact is playing alongside Carl I'm constantly learning not just about approaches but about sound itself. He's a total perfectionist about sound and undoubtedly some of that has rubbed off. Saying that you would think I would want to just play vinyl but the fact is I've had such horrible experiences with clubs and turntables / needles - I think vinyl can and does sound a lot better than digital but it does depend on the record and the club. For me at the end of the day it all comes down to this - do you feel you can express yourself that way to the best of your ability ? For me shifting from vinyl to digital resulted in a tidal wave like shift in terms of how I conceptualized and visualized what I was doing as a DJ. Now I've reached a new personal shelf and I'm starting to experiment again with different programs and other different options, including having vinyl be in my set again. But one thing I will always do is be digital and by that I don't mean MP3s - I try to avoid them if at all possible. The way to redress the balance between digital and vinyl is to stick to WAV files and narrow the quality gap. Mp3s cannot compete with vinyl but wavs can. I do still buy vinyl and do make my own rips. It's not just all beatport as great as they are.

In early 2009 I decided enough was enough and even though I've bought the new Traktor and am developing sets with it my primary focus for the next stage of Demon Days will be all vinyl - not even CDs. Just vinyl. The main reason is to redress the balance as bit on a personal and social level. And also to deal with what I see as the unique sonic capabilities of vinyl. I don't believe vinyl is going away anytime soon it's just becoming more and more treasured. As I've been saying to friends lately there's no way a WAV file or MP3 can become a magickal talisman - vinyl can and often has. It's time to bring that magick.

What led you to start Demon Days with Carl Craig?
I've known Carl since the early 90s - I met him when he first came to San Francisco right after he started Planet E and we've been friends ever since. Aside from that we do have a history of doing events together - we first DJ'd together at the Anchorage underneath the Brooklyn bridge way back in 1999. When I did the Rude Movements night we brought Carl to play with us. We had such a good time that when I left Rude we started to talk about the idea of doing a regular North American based electronic club night and from that emerged Demon Days. Carl came up with the name and together we developed the concept and still are.

What for you has been the highlight of Demon Days?
There's far too many to mention. For me it's just a deep pleasure to have the opportunity to play cutting edge music in such a great environment. I love playing at Cielo but equally enjoy going to a new town and sharing our vibe. What's fantastic is being able to play music I love and have people react and enjoy it. It's also always a deep pleasure to hear Carl play (or other guests) and it's been incredible to collaborate with the artist Parra and now graphic design team collect.apply from Japan.

Tell us about the visual side of Demon Days?
Well the idea was the take the flyers and move them beyond merely a flyer and make Demon Days more of a brand that people could identify with - we wanted Demon Days to be something where people weren't just coming for Carl but would see that Demon Days is a quality electronic music night that could involve anyone. We've always thought long term about this and want this night to be something special that lasts. Parra did an incredible job establishing a very different look for Demon Days and then when he started doing a series of flyers based on the Tarot he really took it to the next level. I'm also happy that as a result of working with us we managed to help him come to NYC and do a art show at Reed Space. Now with Hal Udell and James Gibson from collect.apply we're starting a new series of flyers (Dec 2008 on) that are taking their inspiration from traditional Japanese Tengui (repeating patterns). We hope to develop this concept over the course of the next year to go far beyond the flyers into another art show and objects. For me Tengui patterns remind of the pattern recognition cycles I go through as a DJ - recognizing keys, rhythm patterns, melodic patterns - it's such a beautiful and natural thing and very much relates to the feel and sound of the music. I think we're blessed to have such a strong visual side to Demon Days.

Do you do anything other than DJ?
Well I bought my first synth - a SH101 - way back when I lived in Sheffield (North of England were I was born) and with that and a DX7 I had a kind of TG style band for a while but we never made it out of the rehearsal room. In the 90s I studied saxophone and had lessons with jazz legend Don Cherry and also studied jazz history at Mills College with Anthony Braxton. After that I played sax (briefly) and tibetan double reed horn in the wild and crazy band Psychic TV - that's where I first met Jonah (Spacetime) - he was opening for PTV. At the end of the 90s I made a one off track with Jonah under the alias Capries for Ubiquity's New Latinaires series. I always intended to make more music and am slowly working towards that goal. Last year I did an experimental one off live event under the header Itechorganika with jazz pianist Kelvin Sholar. At the moment I'm starting to work on some solo material - at my very slow pace maybe it will be ready by 2020 but it's inevitable that I will finish some material because to be a DJ now you have to make music. Also I do have special ideas that I really want to explore. But really it is a case of when it comes it comes. I'm a total perfectionist to almost an absurd point.

Aside from that a few years ago I co-produced a record for Blue Note with Larry Mizell - "Mizell" - it's a great compilation of classic Mizell Brothers material remastered(and some unreleased). I also run a well known music PR company called Backspin Promotions that has supported a very wide array of musicians for almost ten years.

What inspires you?
I grew up in Sheffield when Cabaret Voltaire and the early Human League were THE bands everyone looked up to, so for me I always looked up to electronic music as the very best / cuttng edge s**t. I'm still inspired by those sounds but also by how electronic music is constantly evolving both forwards and backwards - right now I'm excited by new music from people like Omar S (Detroit) and Lawrence(Germany) but also buzzing on things like reissues of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and French band Quartz. Electronic music is endless and as timeless as anything else out there - a lot of people forget that.

How would you describe your sound as a DJ?
It's very reflective of me as a person - it's part American, part European, part Eastern, part mystery, part new, part old and sound wise right inbetween the bounce of house and the bounce of techno. It's cutting edge but it never forgets the dance floor.

October 2008 / Additions February 2009

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* Gamall Myspace