Wednesday 28th, August 2002
AJ Gibson
Mark and Daniela had a chance to chat it up with Godskitchen resident AJ Gibson at Godskitchen Global Gathering a couple of weekends ago. One of the busiest DJs on the trance scene nowadays, AJ not only holds a residency at the world-renowned Godskitchen club in Birmingham, England but also plays at more than five other clubs during the summer!
Daniela: And before you DJed or were an electrician, you DJed birthday parties and weddings?
AJ: Yea, all sorts of parties really. I just played music to people, basically. All different types of music, all different styles.
Daniela: Was it like a side job?
AJ: Yea it was, it was like a hobby really. It was never anything about the money. Still isn’t now, but I mean I put a lot of money I earn back into what I do.
Mark: When did you start DJing?
AJ: Twelve years ago; yea, about twelve and a half years ago.
Daniela: How did you Godskitchen pick you up 6 and a half years ago?
AJ: Erm, I just gave ‘em a call and went to see him [the owner Chris] and basically they opened the club which was in the area I lived in— Coventry, I live in Stratford, it’s only about 15 miles away- and basically made me resident in the area and been with them ever since, really.
[Don’t you wish it could be this simple for every DJ?!]
Daniela: On your website I read that you’re also a resident for other clubs?
AJ: Yeh, I have six or seven residencies somewhere [laughs]. A few of them are little clubs but I like little clubs, you know, 500 capacity clubs that are all sweaty!
Daniela: How often do you play a week? Are they monthly residencies?
AJ: Yea, monthly but I play about 4 times a week to 5 times a week and every weekend. So yea, it’s about half my life is spent on motorways. I spend more time on motorways than doing clubs actually! [laughs]
AJ: Oh look, my friends have just turned up! [Huge robot aliens on stilts enter the press area. We have a laugh.]
Daniela: Do you have any favorite type of equipment you like to you use in the studio?
AJ: Decks! [laughs] Mixer, headphones, monitors and you’re all right. Few records as well. Nah, I’m not a technology buff…There are people that know their equipment but as long as you can play music you’re all right as far as I’m concerned. I’m terrible on computers- it takes me about six weeks to write two emails! [laughs] I’m more hands on, really. Started playing CDs recently which is quite good. A lot easier than I thought it would be.
Daniela: There’s a lot of talk about how CDs and possibly MP3s might or are encroaching on the territory of vinyl. What do you think will happen in the future, do you think people will start spinning with CDs?
AJ: People are now, take Mauro Picotto: a lot of his sets are off CD. But I mean, generally that’s because it’s music you can’t get and it’s not even been pressed, you know? And it’s a good way of testing…I don’t think vinyl will ever fade out.
Daniela: What was your reaction to Cream closing down for the summer?
AJ: I think they just need to basically assess the situation and give the kids what they want instead of trying to be cool and playing hip and trendy music that the 18 years don’t want. It’s all a bit embarrassing, really, for them, isn’t it? You can’t knock Cream for what they’ve done—they’ve done a fantastic job for dance music but the 18 year olds are not as educated as the 25 years olds and they’re basically playing 25-26 year old’s music and the kids don’t want it. It’s all about partying! …Everyone’s trying to be cool. People need to go back to simply putting on parties basically. Instead of trying to impress people, they [the 18-years-olds] just want to go out and party.
Daniela: Do you think there’s any threat of Cream closing down for good?
AJ: No, I don’t think so. They’ll get it sorted out. Cream’s an institute, they can’t close. They haven’t been getting it right for the past 12-18 months so they’re just closing down to sit down and look at it properly. There’s no point in running on with a club that’s empty and making it worse for themselves.
Daniela: In the UK, the dance scene is huge but worldwide, comparing to the UK, it’s not as big. Do you think it’s going to going to get bigger over the years?
AJ: It’s growing still, isn’t it? I mean, take trance music for instance: globally, it’s the biggest music around the world. In the last few years, it’s gone commercial and a lot of people don’t like this commercial thing but it’s rubbish really cos that’s making it even stronger! ...It’s about having fun. You’re 18, you wanna go out for a night of fun, you know have to be told what you want to listen to or go somewhere cos it’s cool, you wanna go out with your mates!
Daniela: Were you into dance music when you were a teenager?
AJ: I was into all sorts of dance music over the years but yea, I’ve always been into electronic music.
Daniela: Lately, there’s been a few articles in newspapers about the demise of superclubs and the future of clubbing. What do you think will be in store for the future clubbers and the future of dance music?
AJ: The superclubs—they’ll all still be there. They’ll probably do bigger events and stuff like that but I think it’s going to go back into the smaller clubs. I certainly do think that…The superclubs have done so much for the industry and they have dominated over the past few years. Other than that, I think there’s a lot of people panicking at the moment for no reason. There’s a lot of festivals over the summer and they just knock the numbers in clubs…But dance music will always be around cos people always want to dance, don’t they? [smiles widely]
Trance.nu would like to thank AJ Gibson and Matt Mancini for their kindness and courtesies!
Written by:
LuNaSeA
Mark and Daniela had a chance to chat it up with Godskitchen resident AJ Gibson at Godskitchen Global Gathering a couple of weekends ago. One of the busiest DJs on the trance scene nowadays, AJ not only holds a residency at the world-renowned Godskitchen club in Birmingham, England but also plays at more than five other clubs during the summer!
Daniela: And before you DJed or were an electrician, you DJed birthday parties and weddings?
AJ: Yea, all sorts of parties really. I just played music to people, basically. All different types of music, all different styles.
Daniela: Was it like a side job?
AJ: Yea it was, it was like a hobby really. It was never anything about the money. Still isn’t now, but I mean I put a lot of money I earn back into what I do.
Mark: When did you start DJing?
AJ: Twelve years ago; yea, about twelve and a half years ago.
Daniela: How did you Godskitchen pick you up 6 and a half years ago?
AJ: Erm, I just gave ‘em a call and went to see him [the owner Chris] and basically they opened the club which was in the area I lived in— Coventry, I live in Stratford, it’s only about 15 miles away- and basically made me resident in the area and been with them ever since, really.
[Don’t you wish it could be this simple for every DJ?!]
Daniela: On your website I read that you’re also a resident for other clubs?
AJ: Yeh, I have six or seven residencies somewhere [laughs]. A few of them are little clubs but I like little clubs, you know, 500 capacity clubs that are all sweaty!
Daniela: How often do you play a week? Are they monthly residencies?
AJ: Yea, monthly but I play about 4 times a week to 5 times a week and every weekend. So yea, it’s about half my life is spent on motorways. I spend more time on motorways than doing clubs actually! [laughs]
AJ: Oh look, my friends have just turned up! [Huge robot aliens on stilts enter the press area. We have a laugh.]
Daniela: Do you have any favorite type of equipment you like to you use in the studio?
AJ: Decks! [laughs] Mixer, headphones, monitors and you’re all right. Few records as well. Nah, I’m not a technology buff…There are people that know their equipment but as long as you can play music you’re all right as far as I’m concerned. I’m terrible on computers- it takes me about six weeks to write two emails! [laughs] I’m more hands on, really. Started playing CDs recently which is quite good. A lot easier than I thought it would be.
Daniela: There’s a lot of talk about how CDs and possibly MP3s might or are encroaching on the territory of vinyl. What do you think will happen in the future, do you think people will start spinning with CDs?
AJ: People are now, take Mauro Picotto: a lot of his sets are off CD. But I mean, generally that’s because it’s music you can’t get and it’s not even been pressed, you know? And it’s a good way of testing…I don’t think vinyl will ever fade out.
Daniela: What was your reaction to Cream closing down for the summer?
AJ: I think they just need to basically assess the situation and give the kids what they want instead of trying to be cool and playing hip and trendy music that the 18 years don’t want. It’s all a bit embarrassing, really, for them, isn’t it? You can’t knock Cream for what they’ve done—they’ve done a fantastic job for dance music but the 18 year olds are not as educated as the 25 years olds and they’re basically playing 25-26 year old’s music and the kids don’t want it. It’s all about partying! …Everyone’s trying to be cool. People need to go back to simply putting on parties basically. Instead of trying to impress people, they [the 18-years-olds] just want to go out and party.
Daniela: Do you think there’s any threat of Cream closing down for good?
AJ: No, I don’t think so. They’ll get it sorted out. Cream’s an institute, they can’t close. They haven’t been getting it right for the past 12-18 months so they’re just closing down to sit down and look at it properly. There’s no point in running on with a club that’s empty and making it worse for themselves.
Daniela: In the UK, the dance scene is huge but worldwide, comparing to the UK, it’s not as big. Do you think it’s going to going to get bigger over the years?
AJ: It’s growing still, isn’t it? I mean, take trance music for instance: globally, it’s the biggest music around the world. In the last few years, it’s gone commercial and a lot of people don’t like this commercial thing but it’s rubbish really cos that’s making it even stronger! ...It’s about having fun. You’re 18, you wanna go out for a night of fun, you know have to be told what you want to listen to or go somewhere cos it’s cool, you wanna go out with your mates!
Daniela: Were you into dance music when you were a teenager?
AJ: I was into all sorts of dance music over the years but yea, I’ve always been into electronic music.
Daniela: Lately, there’s been a few articles in newspapers about the demise of superclubs and the future of clubbing. What do you think will be in store for the future clubbers and the future of dance music?
AJ: The superclubs—they’ll all still be there. They’ll probably do bigger events and stuff like that but I think it’s going to go back into the smaller clubs. I certainly do think that…The superclubs have done so much for the industry and they have dominated over the past few years. Other than that, I think there’s a lot of people panicking at the moment for no reason. There’s a lot of festivals over the summer and they just knock the numbers in clubs…But dance music will always be around cos people always want to dance, don’t they? [smiles widely]
Trance.nu would like to thank AJ Gibson and Matt Mancini for their kindness and courtesies!
Written by:
LuNaSeA
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