He is about to head out for lunch and the line I am reaching him on belongs to a friend, who all of ten minutes later he will not be with. With his visit to Australia a mixture of business and pleasure, he is clearly taking things easy before gigs and using his time ‘down under’ to take in some sites as well as spending time with his feet up doing nothing. Of the trip he says, “I am doing a full month, so I have been here nearly two weeks. I played the Winterbeats gig last Friday and I just got back to Melbourne. I have been up in Byron Bay for five days, enjoying some sun. I got back from that yesterday to the rain, so I wish I was up there again for a few days.” While he may not be enjoying the Melbourne rain, he reveals that it was far from unexpected, “I was warned before I got here,” before adding, “But I have seen it much worse in England, that’s for sure. I’d like to open some doors over here, make it a little bit more of a regular visit. I am enjoying it immensely so far. Very much like I do in America, I go over there once a year and play several gigs and make sure I do good job, so they will invite me back the year after. Something regular over here would be superb.”
Though he has been working solidly in the UK for nearly two decades, Watson is a relatively unknown presence in Australia, with his month long visit marking his debut shows on these shores. Having made his presence felt at Winterbeats Soundsystem, Watson is following up with a series of dates in and around Melbourne, notably this coming Friday’s set at Lounge. Having been finally offered a chance to get his foot in the door over here, Watson says that while he is focused on finding new fans, he won’t just say yes to opportunities without proper forethought. “Within reason, you can’t be chasing everything obviously, but if there are opportunities there you have got to take them. There are 100 people, or probably more, waiting behind you in the queue to take those opportunities. It is very important.”
With Winter Beats having given Watson his first taste of the Australian crowds, did he notice any marked difference between the Antipodeans and his home crowd? Almost surprised at the suggestion that there might have been a noticeable divergence between the two, he responds, “There didn’t seem to be too much difference to be honest at the first gig I did. Winterbeats had a very festival type crowd there. If anything that crowd could have been a little bit older than I am used to playing to in the UK. They seemed to be enjoying themselves.”
While there may not have been a difference in audience reaction or response, he did notice that in terms of musical knowledge, his home crowd differs to this away audience. “Within literally two minutes of my first mix, I had somebody coming up and saying ‘what the hell is this tune?’ It was just constantly like that. Even though I am playing records that are available internationally, it seemed to be that a lot of people hadn’t heard the music I was playing.”
While he admits that he had not ever purposely sat down to plan a set that would be jam-packed full of tracks that everyone would know, he did take time to ensure that each of his sets during his stay are suitable for the venue at which he is playing. “I am a long-term resident at Stealth in Nottingham and you have to adapt. I am used to playing either side of someone like Erol Alkan or Adam Freeland or somebody much more techno. I have to be quite eclectic and available to do all those kinds of sets.”
While he may be more than open to an array of sounds, he is equally aware that this trip is on the whole an Australian introduction to DJ Hal, as a result he is ensuring that as well as matching his sound to a venue, he is keeping his core values intact. “Primarily before I came out here I recorded a mix of what I would be playing when I am doing what I want to do, this is the kind of sound I am trying to push. The guys I am playing for were delighted and just said ‘please come and play that.’ Then the line-up at Winterbeats fitted in perfectly to what I was going to do. It is almost as if the promoters here are adapting their line-ups to fit into what they are expecting me to play.”
