DJ A-LUV – VMM INTERVIEW
It’s official! The readers of DJ Mag’s Top 100 Clubs poll have voted resoundingly and placed the legendary SANKEYS in Manchester as the #1 best club in the world! This is a huge and impressive accomplishment, considering the high caliber of clubs in-the-running. SANKEYS’ Manchester brainchild, David Vincent, is now expanding his clubbing universe to include like-minded music paradises around the world; the first and most anticipated addition to the SANKEYS empire is the new SANKEYS NYC opening in early-2011 on New York’s west side. To help baptize SANKEY Manchester’s “I Love New York” parties, established veteran New Yorker, DJ A-LUV, joins a cast of outstanding New York-based jocks including The Martinez Brothers. American and international clubbing cognoscenti are looking forward to A-LUV’s residencies at both the SANKEYS Manchester and NYC locations and the magic that the SANKEYS philosophy brings to New York, “the city that never sleeps!”
The VMM spoke with A-LUV as he wrapped his first night playing in Manchester, before hopping a flight back to New York.
Q: I hear this was your first time to Manchester. Is that so?
A-LUV: Yes, if you can believe it! This was my first time to Manchester and the first time to the UK, actually. I’ve traveled all over; I’ve been to Mexico for the BPM festival, Amsterdam, the Philippines, all around Italy, and of course, I’ve been to Ibiza. A friend of mine introduced me to [SANKEYS Manchester owner] David Vincent and I think we were brothers in another life, because we are the same, mad guys! [laughs] We just get along really, really well.
Q: Can you tell the VMM what is your background, and especially your history as it pertains to the storied legend that is New York clubland?
A-LUV: Well, consider that I’ve been working in the nightclub business – and remember, it is a business – since 1988, since I was 14-years-old. I’ve collected some crazy stories in my time! [laughs] I’ve worked at and been involved with every important club in New York since then, in the last 20 years. I was either a resident DJ or a promotions director. New York is the greatest city and I absolutely would not want to live or work anywhere else in the world. New York is also the toughest city, so if you can succeed here, then you can be a success anywhere you go.
Q: What were the names of some of those famous New York clubs you were involved with?
A-LUV: I’ve been a DJ or run promotions at Limelight, Palladium, Sound Factory, Tunnel, Roxy, all the important clubs in New York’s heyday. I have a core group of people who always come out to my parties, and I consider them my essential group. I really appreciate these people who come to see me. More recently, I’ve played at Pacha and Mansion in New York. On a weekend night, I can draw…3,000 people anywhere in New York where I’d be throwing a party. I just want people to come out, hear some great music, and have a good time. I’m not full of ego. Before September 11th, clubs were all I did. But after 9/11, the whole clubbing scene in New York just kind of died for a while. That’s when I took a few years off from the club business and I actually established what’s now a multi-million dollar business that has absolutely nothing to do with clubs or the entertainment industry. I have a team of attorneys working for me full-time, and I have always been a very entrepreneurial type of person. But after a few years off, I was really missing the energy of DJing and playing great electronic music and the whole collective vibe of going out to a club and feeling like you’re one with a roomful of strangers. It’s hard to explain unless you’ve been to some of these clubs I mentioned.
Q: You came back to dance music, even though you were making so much money outside of the club business. Wasn’t it risky to go back into clubland after being gone for a few years?
A-LUV: The club business is in my blood. I DJ because I love this music so much and I can’t imagine my life without it! I’m not doing it to be famous or get lots of girls, or to get rich. DJing is just something I do that truly makes me happy. My team and I also throw a lot of parties at spaces that are more like special events. We put a lot of thought and consideration into a night before we announce a party.
Q: It’s very exciting that you’re involved as a resident DJ and have a creative influence on the new SANKEYS NYC club opening in early-2011! How is it different DJing for the crowds in Manchester, as opposed to DJing in New York your home town?
A-LUV: My theory is that, over in the UK, club goers just understand and feel the electronic music a lot more. It seems to me that, like, 80% of people in the UK go out clubbing because they like the music, and the remaining 20% of people go because they’re following their friends or because they heard some venue is a cool place to go and be seen. On the flip side, in the U.S., I feel as though it’s reversed; 80% of the people go out because they think it’s fashionable to go to this place or that club, whereas only maybe 20% of the people are there to hear the music! It’s almost completely the exact opposite. David [Vincent] and his team are just really amazing and the best at what they do. They could not have been more welcoming, and I really feel at home at SANKEYS in Manchester. My goal is to recreate that savvy music-lover’s vibe at the SANKEYS NYC when it opens. I can’t wait!
Q: How else will you be involved in the SANKEYS NYC?
A-LUV: I’ll be resident DJ, as I said, but I will also have a very hands-on role as to the music programming, vibe, mix of the crowd, and so on. We are doing some things at the SANKEYS NYC that have never been done before in a club in the U.S. That’s very exciting. Ever since Sound Factory closed and since September 11th, there have really been no clubs in New York that have been a serious place where people go just to hear the music. There’s plenty of clubs where people go because they read a celebrity was seen there, or because they feel like they have to spend a ton of money on bottle service and that that automatically makes them cool, but they’re not going because of the music. And that’s sad, to me. SANKEYS NYC is exactly what New York has been needing, and the reaction we’ve been hearing on the Internet and in club circles is that everyone is really ready for a SANKEYS NYC right now. The SANKEYS NYC will have the sickest soundsystem of any other club in the city, just wait and see. People will be scraping together every last dime they have to come to the SANKEYS NYC because they know that we’ll deliver an unrivaled musical experience. We want that crowd who really knows their music and has been to and can appreciate the best clubs in the world.
Q: Coming of age as a DJ and promoter in New York, who were some of the DJs/producers who influenced you?
A-LUV: In the late-‘80’s and early-’90’s, the guys who influenced me were Carl Cox – and he is today still one of my hands-down favorites – Danny Tenaglia, Victor Calderone, Todd Terry and Jonathan Peters. That was back then, although Tenaglia and Cox are still amazing today. There are many more names, if I sit and think about it for a while…
Q: The VMM readers of course know all about the infamous Sound Factory club. Were those days special to you, more so than any other club?
A-LUV: Oh, yeah. You bet! [laughs] Maybe not more than any other club, because they were all different in their own way. Most of my memories of Factory are not suitable for children to read, though. [laughs] But seriously, Richard Grant [the owner] was a great mentor and we had a lot of good times. Sound Factory was one of the best clubs ever to exist.
Q: What’s your style of music?
A-LUV: I’m not really a trance guy, although Richard [Grant] used to want me to play trance at Sound Factory. I’m more of a tech, tech-house, house kind of guy. In New York, we love that really driving, bass heavy, tribal, percussive sound. Very hard. Bangin’. It definitely is a sound that makes you move. But I do veer into progressive, and even prog-trance. It just depends. It’s a matter of selecting records that are high-quality productions, no matter what the genre is. It also depends on the moment in the night when you play a certain record.
Q: What was the craziest gig you ever played?
A-LUV: This past January in New York during an intense snow storm, I played for 36 hours nonstop! There were about 600 or 700 people in the place that had come out to see me, despite the snow storm, and that party was completely mental. I think I only took an hour break the whole time. [laughs] It was definitely “a moment,” as they say.
Q: What are some A-LUV tunes the VMM’s readers should listen to?
A-LUV: One of my most successful tracks is called, “Formosa.” John Digweed was a big supporter of that track and he still is. I did “Formosa” with my production partner, Dave Rosario, and Mulattos. My remix of “Intimacy” has also gotten a lot of support from global DJs, especially Matt Darey, who’s been hammering it on his Nocturnal radio show for weeks or months! He is an amazing DJ with a superb ear. Another tune of mine is “Saudade,” also with Dave Rosario. I have some really big news to announce regarding my newest track featuring Tamara Wallace called, “Show You A Life.” That one will be released in the fall. I played it for David [Vincent] and he loved it; we’re releasing a remix package including edits by some of the world’s biggest DJs. There is a lot more in store on the production, event, and of course, club front. I’ll be at the BPM Festival in Mexico in January, and we’re already planning for WMC (Winter Music Conference) in Miami in 2011, already. I’ll be back to SANKEYS Manchester in November and for New Year’s Eve, and of course we have the SANKEYS NYC opening in early-2011 in New York. Watch this space!
For more information, visit www.sankeysnyc.com
