We sit down with Australian DJ and producer Sir Winston ahead of his ‘Perfectly Numb Remix’ release on Playup. We talk about the variables behind his sound, his favourite equipment, what music means to him and more.
How has summer been? What have been your highlights?
It’s been busy. Working on remixes, videos and DJing. I played a super fun party in the French Alps the other night that went off, that was a highlight.
What factors affect the music you make and play?
I like to have a theme when I’m working on new music. The new EP is called Démons à Combattre which means Demons to Fight in French and I wrote most of it whilst living in Paris last year, so there is a French theme to it. I also explored the theme of temptation, forbidden fruits and inner battles. I write about personal experiences. With DJing I like a dark dirty sexy set. I like finding obscure tracks that work to that theme. I stay away from anything commercial.
What inspires you and where does that come from?
I like to walk the streets at night, reflect and record ideas into my iphone. Whilst the music is heavily electronic and dance inspired, I still want them to be songs, I have a message to get across. I get inspired by other great artists. I might hear a new track and be blown away and it will motivate me to write that night, but mainly it’s emotional. I have an emotional need to be creative. I need to make music to survive life.
What are the key bits of gear in your studio?
For the last 8 years all the music I’ve released has been made at Transmitter Studios in Greenpoint Brooklyn. It’s a studio owned and run by Abe Seiferth who has co-produced and mixed it all with me. It’s a fuckin dope set up and I love it. There is a huge collection of vintage synths including the Roland SH 101 and Juno 106. We record real bass and guitars directly through The Culture Vulture pre amp compressor. We use the Moog Matriarch for a lot of bass synth sound. My favourite toy on the latest EP was the Make Noise Strega made by Alessandro Cortini from Nine Inch Nails – really cool for super weird eerie shit.
What are the key bits of a tune to get right, whats most important for you?
Well the vocals and vocal hook is an obvious thing to get right. But we seem to start everything from a real bass line. I’ll have the song written but musically I like to pick up the bass and groove some bass lines whilst I’m singing the top line over it. When we find one that works the rest of the track grows from there. Even if we replace that bass line later it all grew from me originally playing it organically on a real bass.
What got you making the new one on playup? What was the vibe you are going for?
The version on the EP is a real throwback to the bloghouse era of the early 2010’s. But with the remix we wanted it to be very bouncy and fresh but still have some sniffs of that era. I also like my remixes to stand alone – I don’t want to sound like anyone else.
What is the art of the dj to you? What makes a good one?
Straight up I fucking love to DJ – for me it’s a total rush. It’s about creating a truly memorable experience. A moment in time that gives people some proper escapism. I personally can’t stand anything too commercial or done to death. Average is the enemy. I understand the whole journey thing and I guess I’m into that. But it’s more about turning people on and seeing how high you can take them in that moment. I also like some cerebral stimulation but in a dark and sexy way.
How do you judge your own success? Do you care about chart positions of tunes etc?
That’s a good question. I want my music to get out there for sure. I love it if a car passes me by and I hear my track playing loud. But I’m aware that music is art and everyone interprets it differently. If someone doesn’t like it or it doesn’t stream well I’m not super bummed. I’m in this as a way through life. I feel like I communicate better with music than I can in person. I like writing about personal experiences, and I love it when someone gets it, and they tell me that they totally relate. That feels like success. A room bouncing to my mix – that feels like success.
What else are you working on?
Constantly working on my DJ set. I really want to take it as far as I can. I want it to be as different and unique as I can possibly make it. The new mixes we’ve been working on have a big festival vibe to them. I’m really pumped to play some big sweaty festival sets. Some chaos and proper fun.
Sir Winston “Perfectly Numb Remix” is out now on Playup
Grab it here
Follow:
IG – https://www.instagram.com/sirwinston.official/?hl=en-gb