Interview: Spooky DJ

Our newest contributor DJ Lubertz interviews one of the underground grime scene’s top producer DJs...

DJ Lubertz: You’re a DJ/producer and also have played at countless dances, radio stations, provided guest mixes and now your name has started getting a bigger buzz within the scene. How did you get involved with music production and DJing?

Spooky: I got involved from a young age, something like thirteen, but even before then I wanted to be a DJ so practising via one turntable, one tape deck and one CD was nuts. Then a DJ friend of mine brought me onto Mystic FM and the rest was history. As for the production side of things, I started off using Fruity Loops re-fixing the biggest grime tunes at the time i.e. Eskimo, Hoe, Pulse X, DPM etc. Then I used to watch others using Reason so tried my hand at that and stuck with it ever since.

DJ L: What’s your studio set up and how do you go about to making tracks?
S: I am a ‘Reason’ head. I have used ‘Logic’ before but now I got to get to grips with Rewire to give them the ultimate POWER! As for my studio set up, it's just me and a Mac. It would mainly start with a melody then build around it with subs, synths, basslines, strings, drum kits and so forth.

DJ L: How do you come to terms with dealing with bookings, and what are your thoughts on the current promoters and grime nights?

S: WE NEED MORE GRIME RAVES!!!!! The gap between each grime rave is too long and the fact that the funky house scene dominates the majority of the West End, most of East London comes like the West End for grime in a sense. Plus the fact that there's about ten to fifteen funky raves - week in week out. But one to two grime raves a month is not right when there's an audience in grime consisting of fans, DJs, MCs, bloggers, journalists, camera operators, photographers and producers who all want to experience the live element of grime. I am sure there are even a majority of funky house ravers and promoters who are getting fed up with the same old line up of DJs and MCs at the same raves week in week out.

DJ L: Which five producers would you like to work with?

S: Five producers I would like to collaborate with would have to be Swindle, Terror Danjah, Spyro, Darq E Freaker & Exo Remedy.

DJ L: With regards to Logan Sama's (Kiss 100) show being cut down to one hour a week, do you think there should be more platforms for grime on commercial radio?

S: I feel there should be more specialist grime DJs on mainstream radio like Kiss, 1Xtra, Choice, Capital FM, BBC London etc because Logan's show being cut to an hour ain't right. Nothing against Logan but you will not hear the best of grime in just one hour when there are producers and MCs who make more than an hour's worth of music a week. Plus I think its time most of the dead weight on most of these stations need to be dropped to make room for guys like me who will supply the best in grime.

DJ L: Has the grime scene become better or worse since 2006?, and what is your opinion about people going commercial and not supporting the scene they came from? (no indirect, *cough* cough*)

S: Many people tried to say grime died years ago, so why the fuck is it still going on? Even since 2006, its because nobody wanted to bring nothing new to the table or do anything different. That's why they tried to say it was dead. But as long as I'm about giving the people tunes like ''Spartan'' then the future's bright. As for all the commercial goon bags, let them stay over there. Just know the underground won’t keep your spot nice and warm for you, because we’ve got a bag of hungry guys out here taking your spots anyway.
Hahahahahahahahahaha.

Follow Spooky on Twitter: http://twitter.com/spookybizzle