DJ Interview - Stevie G

Recently tracked down the influential track-master and freelance writer, Stevie G, for his personal views and perspectives on the highs and lows of surviving in Question.

Question: How would you summarize your background? Influences?

SG: Well, oddly enough I didn't really have a musical upbringing. My parents didn't listen to a lot of music when I was growing up. When I was in high school as a freshman, I hooked up with some friends, and they were punk-rockers. That was kind of my first introduction to live music - after that I was a punk-rocker for a number of years. I went on to play in bands for 12 years, and the bands were pretty successful. They were punk in attitude, but we kind of flipped it. The last band we had was called The Make-Up, and the type of music that we played we termed "Gospel Yea Yea," which was a cross between 60's French pop, the "Yea Yea" sound, like Francoise Hardy, and gospel, which involved a lot of call and response with the audience. We were also influenced a lot by the Detroit sound, MC5, The Stooges, stuff like that, and other Washington D.C. punk bands. The common misconception about punk rock is that punk-rockers only listen to punk music, which isn't true. I think that being a punk-rocker means you are actually open to the world of music at large, so that's how I got started. From punk rock I got into soul music and disco, I got into Jazz, I got into Brazilian music, African music. I had about 15,000 records in my collection before I left the States, and it consisted of everything I mentioned before.

Question: But through being introduced at that age to punk music, you didn't then find these other types of music too mellow?

SG: No, no, not at all. See, I don't believe in this mellow thing, man. If it's good, it's good. The tempo shouldn't matter at all. Punk music opened me up to a lot of things. Traveling and playing with different bands, I met all kinds of different people, and got exposed to different kinds of music and was buying different records all the time. I played bass in the first band, guitar in the second band, and drums in the last band, and then while I was doing that, I also started to DJ, and that was in '88. I started just messing around, we sort of had this elevated group house in D.C. and started these free New Year's Eve parties that became really legendary, you know, rafters being pulled from the doors and sweat on the walls. They weren't college parties, they were house parties for the punk community. But it wasn't a bunch of guys with Mohawks and studded out like that, it was more political. It was just like cool people, but they were from a punk background. They were house parties in a group house just on a home stereo system.

Question: So that was your first DJ set?

SG: First set? You mean, to a crowd? Yeah, that would have been 1843 Irving Street, North-West, D.C. That was my house, on New Years Eve '87. And at the time, there was great music too - the first Public Enemy record, first Eric B & Rakim record, Boogie Down Productions record, Poor Righteous Teachers, and The Native Tongue stuff, you know De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, all of that hip-hop. Also, all the English stuff, Talkin' Loud, Young Disciples, Brand New Heavies, Galliano, and then some James Brown, you know it was really a free-form thing, but it worked great! And we did those parties for three years in row. It got more and more crowded each year, and in between I'd get gigs with my band.

Question: Who would you say your strongest musical influences would be?

SG: Musically? Well, my favourite artist is Stevie Wonder. He's kind of my namesake too, because my given is Steven, my parents call me Steve. But, I kind of reinvented myself as Stevie, 'cause my friends were calling me that, and I was also a big Stevie Wonder fan and it kind of suits me, I guess, so, that's my number one. In terms of DJ's, Michelle and I are really into the underground New York sound. There was only one club that we used to go to, actually two clubs, and those were Shelter and Body&Soul. The Shelter is still going on, it's a 16 year old party, and these were parties that came out of the 70's and 80's disco scene in NY, so it's a lot of the same people and they still listen to a lot of the same music mixed with some of the more modern house music available now. The closest thing here would be The Junction party with DJ Gregory, Samo, etc. Timmy Regisford, he's the DJ at The Shelter, and another, DJ Harvey. He's another one of my favorites too.

Question: Who?

SG: DJ Harvey is English but he lives in Santa Monica now. He was a former Ministry of Sound DJ and became kind of a cult-figure. Not a lot of people have heard of him, but he's got a really great eclectic style. He plays across the board, but his flow is impeccable. Then there's another guy from NY, Antonio Ocasio, and also my peers in D.C., you know, we always had a really strong DJ community and underground scene.

Question: So, you came to Bali for the first time when?

SG: That would have been summer 2002 for Ku De Ta, where I was the second DJ there after K2, who's a good friend of mine from D.C. He came here the first year, and was doing all the sets by himself, was invited back the following year and asked me, nicely enough, to play with him. We met in D.C., and actually started playing together at the same clubs and became good friends. When he needed back up in Bali, he was nice enough to ask me. So we came, did the first year, got along with everyone, and I didn't mess up. Then they asked me back for the next two years, which was really cool. And I never took it for granted, that's why I believe I was always asked back. I always appreciated the position, and the benefits of it. I didn't think I deserved it necessarily, but I was really grateful for the opportunity granted by Ku De Ta, and so I didn't mess it up. You know, at the end of the day, I did my job, was professional about it and so was asked back.

Question: How would you sum up the good and the bad of playing, promoting and writing in Seminyak compared to where you're coming from?

SG: Well, it's new territory for us. Where I come from, it's really kind of particular. I can just first of all say that it's a city, so there's a lot of culture. It's also a primarily black city and we were very influenced by that musically, culturally, etc. So, we've adapted to it but it's been difficult. I mean, but it's also been surprising like in terms of DJ-ing for instance, like the Thursday parties we've been given a chance to try. I've seen it as a chance to play my music in a place where I think there is a lack of good alternative music venues, besides the club norm. So, I was looking for some place to be able to play my music, share my music. I'm not egotistical about it, I just think it's good music, and a lot of people don't know it here, or haven't been exposed to it, but people seem to be open to it and that's really surprised me. A lot of it's pretty deep but I find that people still respond to it. Sometimes I have to play a little more commercially, but I'm still playing old music, so at the end of the day it's still great.

In terms of writing, I didn't really do a lot of writing in the States. I did some stuff for XLR8R magazine in San Francisco, but doing it here has given me a chance to check out a lot of different aspects of life here, so my writing has broadened since I've been in Seminyak. Here, I get to write about architecture, food, art, and events, interview DJ's, all sorts of things. So with each project, I try to find something that interests me, and what I think others may also find interesting. Like if I'm interviewing Lisa Loud or Danny Howells, who are known as progressive DJs, I don't want to have a Q&A session about progressive house music, I would rather find out how they started off, and you then find out that Danny Howells is actually a funk fan, and his first party was a Prince party and he grew up on Motown stuff. That sort of thing interests me and I hope it might interest other people as well. Then I also get to promote these things in a way, like writing about F Lounge or writing about certain parties, I can sort of put my angle on it. Like, writing about The Junction, for instance, I know a lot about that music. I think more than a lot of people out here do, so therefore I'm able to elaborate more on it with a little bit of history, and so on. I started out writing here, because it gave me chance to eke out an existence apart from DJing which has it's ups and downs, especially when playing really particular music that isn't necessarily suited for the masses.

Question: What's your perspective on the current music scene here so far?

SG: I think it's a little limited at the moment but I think it's progressing. I think the weekly parties, such as the Thursday thing at F Lounge, where we're basically playing roots music all night, and the Techno monthly we do [Fade2Black], which is an opposite music style, but both still represent a real underground sound that's been gaining popularity. The first time I played in Paparazzi, during the last 30 minutes, I was able to drop straight classics, not remixes, from Donna Summer and Chaka Khan, and people were still able to dance to it. I know it might sound a little cliché, but it really is about pushing the envelope, you kind of try to force people to listen outside of the box. Folks wouldn't necessarily think that a Donna Summer might actually go well after a club song, but it actually does and you show how by mixing it in at the right time. So you're kind of connecting the musical dots for them. What I think is actually limiting about the scene here, is that the music that dominates the clubs here is not really progressive, in terms of ideas. It doesn't go anywhere, it doesn't take you on journey, which is what I've always grown up understanding music to do when played eclectically. It's a really live environment, it's got ups and downs and it should make you think. When the tempo slows down you take a break and then you're get really excited to get back on dance floor when it comes back fierce. I think there are a growing number of people here that are of the same mind. There's a community that's forming that supports each other and I've been getting hired to play more parties, playing what I play, you know. So, I think some refreshing changes are coming.

Question: Do you think that we're in a reflective stage, right now, with modern dance music looking back or revisiting old tracks?

SG: Yeah, I think that's part of the moment we're in, right now. Like, this whole electro or electro-clash phenomenon. This music utilizes slower break-beats with analog-style production and certain guitar rock elements. These are styles derived from old music, but yet, they're gaining popularity, because the norm was becoming a little bit too…flat. The whole word 'electro' is from the '80's. Kraftwerk was basically the first electro experiment and then hip-hop came out of electro, as well, like Africa Bambaata, so I think this resurgence brings things back full circle and is indicative of a certain desire to return back to basics, in a way.

Question: Any hopes for the future? Things you would like to see happen?

SG: I don't necessarily believe in big changes happening overnight. But I have faith in little revolutions, you know baby steps, I don't really have any complaints, I'm pretty satisfied with the way things are going. Bali is a really amazing place to be and it has a lot of potential, especially considering it's an island. It's not a city like Jakarta , so you also have to take that into account. I think in an island context a few things are going to be limited culturally, but I think Bali 's going in a really good direction. I just hope there might be more musical alternatives in the future. I'd really like to see more Indonesian DJ's pick up that mantle and take up the torch. I'd love to find a local protégé, someone that I would gladly give my old music to, so that they could know it and play it out if they dug it. The sound really needs to be disseminated locally so that there can be local representation for that sound at the clubs. Not just for the new music, but for the old music too, which would be nice. You'd hear different styles, from a local point of view.

Question: Funniest or most memorable gig situation…or are they all funny??

SG: Long pause. I think they're all very serious, as a matter of fact! Well, one time I was asked by a black friend of mine, to play his sister's wedding in D.C. and I had a little trepidation about playing it because weddings are really tricky. You have to be able to appeal to a really broad demographic, age-wise. So, I asked him to give me a list of the exact songs they wanted, and the list contained Prince, Marvin Gaye, Commodores, Earth, Wind & Fire, so I accepted it right away knowing that I had about 85 percent of the tracks. So I show up to the gig, and I'm playing what they had requested, trying to get the crowd going, but no one was really dancing, and then this little old lady came up and asked me if I had "Booty Call." I don't know if you're familiar with the line-dance phenomenon popular in black American culture, but it's not like country music line-dancing. It's a group dance for the young to old where everybody dances together in a line with choreographed steps that everybody knows. "Booty Call" happened to be a hot line-dance song at the time and I didn't have it because it wasn't on the list. So then she said, "Well, do you have 'Electric Boogaloo'?" which is another popular line-dance song by Marcia Griffiths, and I replied that it wasn't on the list either and she walked away disgusted.

After that and within the span of about 20 minutes, two more ladies came up and asked for the line-dance music I couldn't deliver. So, that was a really uncomfortable situation, but at the end of it worked out once they got a little tipsy and got them going to some Go Go, D.C.'s percussion heavy underground indigenous music which seemed to work. But from that point onwards, I've always remembered to have some line-dance music in my case, especially for a wedding. That's not really a funny moment I suppose. It's more of a crap-your-pants moment.

Question: What is that telephone-looking contraption you use instead of the headphones most DJ's use?

SG: It's called a Lollipop, which I designed and made myself from a few simple pieces.

Question: Any personal mantra that you would like to share? One that gets you through the day?

SG: Keep the spear burning.

Question: Favourite club track right now?

SG: "Paranoia" by John Tejada

Question: Favourite tune of all time?

SG: "Do I Do" by Stevie Wonder

Question: Favourite reggae tune right now?

SG: "Talk Love" by Sonya Spence

Question: Favourite footwear?

SG: Beach Walk flip-flops, from The Philippines. I brought six pairs before coming here and I've worn them all out. They crush Havaianas and come in the coolest color combinations. That's what I rock, man.

Question: Lastly, how do you feel about the moniker "Quizzical Mouse?"

SG: I embrace the title.

For further info or bookings email Stevie at: KillaFM@gmail.com