Interview with Deja Vu and April (UK)

Hi April - hope your journey has been smooth back to kiwi land - good to have you back....

Now how long have you been living and djing in London for now and whereabouts are you playing these days?

I've been living in London for 4 years and have played pretty much everywhere! I've been lucky enough to score gigs at some legendary clubs - Turnmills, The Fridge, Camden Palace (now Koko), Heaven and Brixton Academy. And I play quite regularly for Frantic at Hidden, which is a wicked club.


2. So do you feel the hard dance genre is getting stronger in UK and rest of the world?

After a bit of a slump I can definitely see numbers returning to the clubs in the UK which is very encouraging. The smoking ban had a negative impact on numbers, as did the rise in popularity of hardstyle. But a core element of promoters, DJ's and clubbers who totally believe in hard dance kept going strong and didn't give up. If you love something, you won't swap it for anything else. I know I couldn't! I'm keen to see how the scene in NZ is going, it's been 4 years since I partied here, so it will be exciting to see what changes there have been, and what the clubbers are into now.


3. What has really inspired to you to start producing? What are you writting with program wise and what equipment do you use?

It came out of the blue really, I never thought production would be something I would get into as DJing kept me happy and busy, but I got the opportunity to work with Greg Brookman and I really couldn't pass that up! Once I got into the studio I discovered that I really loved creating my own tracks from scratch. To start with nothing and then come out at the end with a complete tune is a real buzz. Program-wise I mostly use Cubase, but it depends on what set-up the engineer has in the studio, a couple of them use Logic, but I prefer Cubase. For riffs we might get out the keyboard, but everything else is done using software. I'm totally addicted to the Nexus plug-in. It's wicked for making epic trance sounds.


4. Whom has been you all time favourite to write a tune with?

Definitely Greg Brookman! He's hilarous! We've made quite a few tracks together now and it's always a huge amount of fun. I also really enjoy working with SQ because we are totally on the same wavelength when it comes to hard dance. I've been lucky to have worked with some really talented and genuine people.

5. Where can we find more of Aprils tunes beign released?

My next tune out will be 'You're Something Else' on the almighty Impact Recordings. It should be out very soon I think. And then I have a track called 'Like It' that I produced with SQ, which is being released on Electrik Shandy.

6. Favourite dance party you been to or played at in UK?

That would have to be Hard House Academy at Brixton Academy. It was immense! I played in the filth foyer and it was a career highlight! The line-up in that room was just huge. Brixton Academy is an amazing venue and Hard House Academy is famous for its atmosphere. I'm still smiling just thinking about it.

7. I see you have made a hardhouse cd for people to listen to - are you feeling you will move down this line of music with production and your sets?

I've always played both hard house and hard dance. I couldn't really say which style was my favourite. Sometimes I'm in a fierce mood and just bang out fast and dirty hard house, and other times I'm loving the hard dance with its big trance sounds and happy vibes. When I get booked for a gig in the UK the promoter will want me to play one specific genre. Production-wise I prefer making hard dance, as it's more complicated and you can create some really beautiful sounds.

8. Which HH producer would you like to work with the most?

There are so many! If I could make a hard house track with Andy Farley I'd be really chuffed.

9. Do you prefer cats or dogs?

Both! Dogs are great fun and cats are for cosy times.

10. Fav drink?

I'm addicted to Lift Plus, but I can't get it in the UK. And I drink too much coke-cola but I love the stuff.

11. Fav website?

Facebook. It's an addiction.

12. You're playing Deja Vu in your local hometown - what do we expect to hear from you?

I'll be playing all my best stuff, uplifting hard dance, with big epic trance sounds, all slammed down with a huge amount of energy. I've also got some original yet-to-be released tracks that I'm looking forward to playing.


13. Have you got any other gigs in NZ people should be aware of?

I'm also playing for Crank on NYE in Wellington so I hope to see you all there as well!


Well thanks for your time love - I definatly look forward to catching up and hearing your sounds at Double Happy on Dec 5th...

xx