Outside of UK, where have been some locations that have really embraced the concept of CIRCUS? Did any of these places come as a particular surprise? On the same regard as the lineup question, where would you like to bring CIRCUS that you have not yet?
I’ve brought Circus to New York, Miami, Serbia, Barcelona and Ibiza but I have to say it’s our Barcelona ‘Off Sonar’ parties that really excelled the most. Last summer we did Saturday night at Razamatazz in Barcelona and it was considered one of the Sonar highlights for sure, sold out and going off midnight to past 7am, it was epic.
I’d like to finally do a Circus tour in my beloved South America, I love touring down there, all the gigs are unreal, I’m just back from a 6 date DJ tour, so maybe next time Circus can come with me!
What is the place of the venue – EGG London in the spectrum of London nightlife? What sorts of characteristics make it distinct as a venue? Also, why is it the right venue for CIRCUS?
I love the organic nature of EGG. As in they work hard all week to generate money to improve the venue and to give the clubber the best experience possible, like Circus, it’s authentic. The parties we have hosted there have been immense and I have to say the staff and owners and super passionate and I hugely respect that.
How would you compare audiences in Liverpool vs London?
Normally I’d say Liverpool is more up for it, but at EGG it’s almost the same, the crowd are not as energetic as anywhere, I love playing at EGG.
Having your hand in so many aspects of the industry (DJ, curator, brand ambassador, producer, radio host), do you ever find yourself privileging one role over any others? If so, which is it and how do you manage to keep the even balance of responsibilities?
I’m pretty busy always doing my best to contribute to the scene in some way but nothing will ever exceed my love and passion for DJing, that’s what I do and what I’m best at for sure. All my other attributes support my DJing and support each other I suppose. I enjoy developing ideas so having the range of roles is exciting in some ways. But nothing beats the feeling of rocking the shit out of a club.
A prominent theme in your philosophy as an artist is the idea of the “21st Century”. In your words, can you describe a 21st Century artist? How does this compare to the artist of the 20th century?
These days its important to be skilled in range of electronic music’s attributes and to even understand them all. I’m not a person that likes to be baby sat too much and I’ve learned to DJ, produce, run a label, do my radio show, mentor all myself. I do have an amazing team at circus and help with circus recordings, and of course an amazing team at Safehouse for my management and bookings, but my point is, the days of just being a DJ, no matter how good you are long gone, even being a producer DJ is getting harder. You need to really contribute to the scene and be self sufficient to cut through in 2015 in my opinion, and be very good at all the attributes too. It’s tough out there but it’s such a fun privilege that the commitment part is easy for me
14 November | Yousef presents…Circus | Tickets | Egg London
