Adam Mills is legendary in the breaks scene. The UK DJ and producer is known for his unique mixing and scratching, fierce productions skills and ability to fuse funk, hip hop and breaks into his party-rocking, reputable sets. Now, punters will get another opportunity to see Mills smash out another epic set alongside UK DJ and producer and long time collaborator Krafty Kuts at Tribe NYD.
“I’m so happy I get to come back again because I was not expecting to, it’s only the fact that we’re [Krafty Kuts and A.Skillz] doing it together that it sort of gave me the opportunity to come back. It’s a real privilege to be invited back,” Mills says down the line from the UK, having just got up for the day.
Mills is in the midst of putting together a DJ mix with Krafty Kuts in the studio and preparing edits for their forthcoming tour Down Under. However, punters shouldn’t expect to hear a strictly TrickaTechnology set when the lads play Tribe.
“We got booked for this gig last year and someone decided to put on the flyer that it was a TrickaTechnology show; we didn’t decide to start touring it [TrickaTechnology], we just did a gig together and went about playing it at the same time and then other people saw the way they presented that name and they just started using it and then people started calling it the ‘TrickaTechnology sound-system’ or whatever.
“So it’s not like we’ve been working on an album together or anything like that. We’ve put together a few tracks together for an EP which hopefully we’re going to drop before we come out to Australia. We actually just remixed TrickaTechnology – just a track – we thought it’d be a thing worth doing so we’re just finishing that up at the moment.”
Krafty Kuts and Mills recently made a 50 Years Of Bond mini mix and Mills says there may even be some Bond edits running through their set at Tribe. But first, Mills needs to actually see Skyfall to maintain credibility. “It’s unbelievable that I haven’t actually seen it [Skyfall] which is so bad because I feel like I put all of that work into that Bond mix!” he says, chuckling. “And the crazy thing is, I live right opposite the cinema and it’s on ever single night. It just seems to me that I don’t quite get around to doing it. When something’s on your doorstep, you always go ‘I’ll go next week’… maybe if I’m lucky I’ll get to see it on the flight over to Australia. I’m actually desperate to see it. I know Krafty has seen it and he loved it. To be honest, I do like the more recent ones, I like them all but I think Daniel Craig is the absolute man; I think Casino Royale is a brilliant film. We’ve been starting our shows with a couple of little Bond things actually. We’re working on our intro today and what exactly we’re going to do but there will be a few little Bond moments in there.”
But, even if Mills doesn’t get to see Skyfall on the flight over to Australia, it won’t be able to dent his tour experience Down Under; after all, Australia is one of his favourite places to tour. “Honestly, I think some of my most fondest memories – and I’m not just saying this – are actually in Australia when we [Krafty Kuts and A.Skillz] first came over together the first time,” he says. “That, for me, was a massive jump from not doing loads of gigs to my first [big] show. It probably would’ve been Breakfest actually back sort of ten years ago and that was probably one of first times coming out doing a really big show with Krafty together. That was actually one of the most bizarre shows because it’s so hot and there were bugs everywhere and they were going crazy all over the decks. I’ve never seen anything like it and it was like 40 degrees. I know it’s totally normal for you guys but for us, it was bizarre and you know, the first time there at the amphitheatre and it was absolutely insane.”
Aside from Tribe, Mills is currently working on an EP to be released early next year and is hoping to really get his label Jam City off the ground too. “I’ve been working with a few people to put out an EP – not really big names – much more people that I’ve found through my travels and I have got another track coming out with Nick Thayer which is going to be on the label that he’s signed to, OWSLA, as part of his EP on that. Because I’ve got Jam City, I’m probably going to put my own EP out on that,” he says before chatter about a forthcoming Canadian tour and several remixes which are on the agenda. “It’s just prioritising what’s important.”
BY ANNABEL MACLEAN
