a few words within sentences with legendary DJ and all-round dude...
DJ TREV!!!
1. HEY TREV, HOW GO?
Perhaps you mean "how's it going" or "how do you go"?
In each case, very well thanks....
2. SO, YOU ARE A SUPERSTAR DJ?...
Hardly. Sometimes I don't even remember who I am.
3. YOU PLAY CLUB NIGHTS IN BOTH HARROGATE AND DRIFFIELD? WHICH TOWN'S CROWDS DO YOU PREFER PLAYING TO?
Sometimes it's Driffield, but generally I prefer Harrogate to anywhere I've ever played (Blackpool, Preston, Halifax and tonnes of other places)... There's hardly any trouble, and of course the crowds are bigger. Driffield's charm comes from the close knit manner of the community, so I guess both towns have their own appeal.
4. YOU PLAY ALL GENRES OF MUSIC... BUT IF YOU WERE STUCK IN 'DRIFF HOOTERS' (as opposed to a desert island), WHICH 3 ALBUMS WOULD MAKE THE GRADE?
It varies every year, but generally Bomb the Bass "into the Dragon" or Beastie boys "Lisence to kill" as they made me want to be a DJ, something from Yes, maybe "Fragile" but probably a greatest hits, as I need to hear them over the decades, and then for something fairly recent I'd go for Katatonia's "Viva Emptiness". And if we are playing desert islands, can I have for my luxury Avril Lavigne's head in a box.
5. HOW DID YOU FIRST GET INTO DJ-ing?
I was a glass collector at Jimmys nightclub and the DJ playing had a mix cd on whilst he had a beer, I asked if instead I could come in and play some tracks and it went from there. I'd been a bedroom DJ for a few years, and had been mainly playing techno and gabber, so it was quite a change to be warming up a commercial club with pop dance and r'n'b. Karl King the dj in question taught me a great deal.
6. IF YOU WEREN'T A DJ, WHAT WOULD YOU BE?
A rock star in a jaccuzzi.
7. WHAT ARE THE BEST AND WORST THINGS ABOUT BEING A DJ?
When I was single it was definetely the girls; now it's the fact that I can put on nights like Bottom of the Bottle and actually play the music that I want to play. The worst is the fact that so many people don't want what I'm into. On Saturdays at Driff I often get a couple of people asking why I play so much cheese. That's really annoying because whilst I'll get 2 people asking for stuff I like, I'll always get at least 50 people asking for very obvious stuff (Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean' etc) and yet more asking for things like Abba and Steps. I've got to make a compromise, and lots of people don't get that and just give me shit. You get similar stuff on Rock nights, people ask for great album tracks that I love, but can't play because only one or two of us actually have, say, the new album by Society 1, however everyone knows Rammstein's "Du Haste", and I'll still get asked for that 50 times......
8. HOW MUCH DOES AN AMATEUR DJ JUST STARTING OUT REALLY NEED TO SPEND ON GEAR TO GET UP AND RUNNING?
As much as they can afford. It really is a case of the more you spend the better the gear. Vinyl DJ's for example really should try to get Direct drive turntables, as the style of mixing on them is totally different to cheaper belt drives, and if you learn on those, you then end up in a nightclub having to re-learn mixing live with people who are not your mates watching and tutting. Trust me, I've been there.
9. CAN YOU ADEQUATELY MAKE A LIVING OUT OF DJ-ing?
Yes.
10 AND IS DJ-ing 'AN ART'?
It's a skill, and some people do not have that skill in them. The hardest part for someone coming into DJ'ing, is talking over the mic. And it's hard because there are lots of people who do not like you purely on the basis that "you are the dj". Really cool guys assume that because on a Saturday night I play Justin Timberlake they can come smirking up to the dj stand and ask for 'Poison The Well,' and I'll not have a clue what they are talking about. But then usually when you tell them that you run a night playing that kind of music, they can't be arsed to go out on a Thursday, because there won't be as many young drunk girls out. Speaking of which Juxta, where were you at the last Bottom of the Bottle??? (Juxta: 'Er... i was skint!')
www.djtrev.co.uk
www.bottomofthebottle.com