As an expat living in England, Pappa is back in Australia later this month for Darkbeat’s tenth anniversary. Part of the occasion is also the launch of a three-CD anniversary mix package. “Basically, it’s the tenth anniversary [of Darkbeat],” says Pappa, “and [owner] Dan [Banko] wanted to release a CD. He asked myself and Phil K to get involved — we’re both DJs who’ve have been working with him for a long time and we’re also all close friends. Dan came up with the idea of doing a triple cd, one disc for himself, one for me and one for Phil and that’s basically the idea behind the CD. We just went ahead and did what we do.”
Pappa took this opportunity to showcase tunes of a slower BPM than he might normally play headlining a club night. “The music that I’m more into is the groovier, slower kinda stuff,” he explains. “Even though when I play out, people have me playing main sets time and I have to play a lot harder than that, but personally, that’s what I like. When you do a good mix CD, it’s something for a home listening experience, rather than going out for a clubbing set kinda thing. You listen to the sound differently to how you would at a club.
“Besides, I knew the second disc with Dan would take it up a notch and I knew Phil K was doing a more alternative disc. I think with the overall effect of the three discs together, you get the full spectrum of a start, middle and end.”
Despite being a long-time resident of the UK, Pappa has finally had enough with the crappy weather and has decided to move back to our sunny shores. “I’ve been in the UK since ’95,” he reveals, “so 18 years. Basically I’m getting married in November, to an Australian girl who’s been living with me over here, and we’re both going to come back. I’ve lived here long enough. Everywhere I go to DJ involves me getting on an aeroplane and I can do that from Australia. It’s time to come back. Time to come back and be with friends and family and move onto some other things as well as DJing, you know?”
While the UK is a fertile ground indeed for innovation in electronic music, Pappa says the proliferation of music over the internet means that the localised aspects of a music scene are less of a factor today. “It was more inspiring for me to live there at first,” admits Pappa, “when I moved over in the mid ‘90s. At that time, the UK was dominating the scene for the sort of music I was into, so that’s why I chose to move here in the first place. But now the scene is such a global thing that it comes from all directions. The way things are with the internet, how new music moves and the way things are spread out and distributed, it’s a such a global market. You can be anywhere, as long as you can get online. Music comes from all over the place.”
Although he still prefers to work with CDJs, Pappa also has a lot to say on the subject of technology available to DJs today. “There’s good and bad points about it. It’s amazing what’s available on the market in terms of people performing and the different options available. Years ago, it was all records and turntables and there was only one way to do it. Now you’ve got laptops, CD players, record players and everything else — there’s so many different ways of performing.
“The problem I see with the younger generation is that they’re so into the technology they’re using. That’s cool, that’s where they’re at, but sometimes they forget the art and the skill of DJing: actually being in the room. It’s important to know how to work a dance floor and program the music to make the night work. Sometimes they’ve got their heads so far into what they’re doing they don’t seem to look up and look at the floor and play to the room.”
BY MG
