The alter ego of William Bensussen’s, Gaslamp Killer is a perfect extension of his personality. Bensussen grew up in San Diego where he started DJing as a teenager. After moving to Los Angeles in 2006, he helped start the influential club night Low End Theory, a place that Bensussen has described as a laboratory to try things out. Low End Theory celebrated six years in October and they have spread out to San Francisco as a monthly event and to Japan quarterly. Their influence has been felt across the world with artists including Flying Lotus, The Glitch Mob, Daedelus and Nosaj Thing all citing the night as helping them.
Bensussen’s released his debut album this year, Breakthrough, on Flying Lotus’ label Brainfeeder. The sounds are a melting pot of genres and styles that are uniquely his. When I reach him on the phone he has just finished a late lunch and is in a great mood. He’s excited about his BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix that is about to air on the weekend.
“My BBC Essential mix is a big deal for me; it’s one of my favourite DJ mixes that I have ever done.” 2012 been a big year for Bensussen and things aren’t slowing down. “My album has done it’s thing and the music video came out for Seven Years Of Bad Luck For Fun last week which is pretty cool. I have my Essential mix coming out Saturday. Doing Low End Theory and my Coachella cruise. Then I’m getting ready for my New Zealand and Australia tour.”
He is really excited about coming back to Australia. “It’s amazing and the people there are super grateful! From what I understand, Kiwis and Aussies are super up-to-date with the music that’s coming out. Melbourne is the most cutting edge city in Australia in my opinion.”
So does he like to be on tour? “I like to be at home but when I find new mixes and new songs, and new ideas about how to present what I’m doing to the world, I get really excited to go out!
“Like, I’m really excited to go to Australia because it has been a year. Hopefully what I’m doing there will be kind of new for them, whereas the rest of the world has heard this set already.”
Bensussen is constantly tweaking his live set. “I made a few modifications to it because I just get bored really quickly. I’m excited when I get to go as far as Australia because the songs I’m playing haven’t been played out yet and the kids haven’t seen me play, whereas the guys at Low End Theory have seen me play every damn week.”
When he performs as The Gaslamp Killer, Bensussen has a rare energy that gets the whole crowd involved. It’s almost like watching a band’s performance – he is constantly moving behind the decks and he genuinely seems happy about his profession. “I appreciate you saying that,” he says reflectively. “It’s hard sometimes. It’s not always fun and sometimes it feels like work then I just have to push through my whatever it is. It’s not always fun but I appreciate that. I try to play music that has a certain type of energy that will keep me pumped up. I grew up DJing for dancers – break dancers, freestyle dancers and serious music people that were into being taken on a journey. I had to keep the energy levels high.”
That experience has influenced the way Bensussen approaches his sets now. “I think a lot of DJs are self serving and a lot of producers too. They just want to play whatever tracks they think are hot right now. Like, I’ll play the same song in every single set because I know that it will carry me to where I need to go and it will keep the people moving. It will keep the real music heads nodding their heads and keep the people dancing.
“Not like cute girls dancing but people who are really into getting down. You know what I mean? So I try to play music that will get me really inspired to move and hopefully it will get other people inspired to move as well.”
Bensussen tries to tap into the Earth and feel the energy. “Yeah but you can’t always tap into it. Sometimes all it takes is one idiot in the audience to give you bad vibes and it can totally throw you off from your frequency. I’m not always tapped in. Sometimes I’m forcing it. It’s the job of a performer. Once you set a certain standard you have to keep it moving, you know. You have to keep it going and keep it exciting. I’m not always natural and ever flowing. It’s not the way it is. God, I wish it was!
“You can use the energy of the people but sometimes you just have to use the energy within you because the people are checked out and they don’t know what they are witnessing. You just have to tap into something elsewhere. Other times the people are just in a frenzy and it makes you get crazy. You know, it can go either way.”
Bensussen throws in a healthy dose of experimentation in his sets. “Basically, the better the vibe that I get from an audience then the more I will try things out. Like, if they seem like they’re there for me and they’re real Gaslamp Killer fans then I’ll just go all over the place and I’ll try new shit out. If I feel like I’m in a club with a bunch of teenagers who have no idea who I am or what I’m trying to get across then I might play it a little more safe than normal.
“If I see that people are there for me as an artist and they believe in what I’m trying to do then I will go all over the place and play anything. Also, if I’m in a club that’s not too crowded then I don’t feel that much pressure because it’s not packed then I’ll experiment more on the few people who showed up. If it’s a packed club with people who are there for the hype then it’s a different story. I can tell the difference between those crowds.”
Bensussen wants to spend more time writing music next year. “Basically, the goal for 2013 is to do less shows. I want to do shows that are more focused on what I’m about so less festivals and random gigs. More headline Gaslamp Killer shows and just trying to work on music as much as possible.
“I have a seven inch release in April with the band Jungle By Night from Amsterdam, the Dutch African band who play really heavy Afro Beat stuff. So I have a release coming up with them. That’s the main thing and whilst that’s getting mastered I’m working on new music. I wish I could talk about some other stuff too but it’s under wraps right now.”
Any ideal collaborations? “Oh man! My go-to answer for that would be Beth Gibbons and Thom Yorke.”
Music has to be fun though for him. “When it happens, it happens. When I’m feeling it – that’s when the music gets made. That’s how it usually happens – in the moment. I’m pretty happy and excited and feeling blessed right now.”
BY SIMON HAMPSON
