Carl Cox

Given that you’ve played practically everywhere, what do you think marks Creamfields out as different?

I remember Cream at Nation when it first became about people traveling to Liverpool for the club. Some of those people were visiting the city for the first time and that was all part of the magic at Cream. To have this audience making that journey demonstrated the quality of its parties. I mean, I don’t think that kind of dedication from a crowd had existed outside of the football fans, but then this was the opportunity to check out some of the biggest international names. The festival has really kept it on the map there. In fact, even more so as the Cream brand – through Creamfields – is now identifiable all over the world. Within the industry, everybody knows that they put the money into production and create these great events. So now it’s not just about going into Liverpool – it’s about buying into this global package.

So you’re a fan then?

Yes – me going in after all these years, I can see the faith that it instills into the music which is what I truly believe in. Obviously, there are a lot of DJs there, but I’m proud that I’m one of the DJs there years ago - that helped it become what it is now. And its legacy continues.

How do these events compare to the first wave of big raves that you played?

The kind of rave parties that I was involved in were different because they were shrouded in mystery. It was a mystery where the party was going to be and it was mystery regarding what the DJs were going to be playing. That was the excitement of it. And then when you got there it would all hit you. Now it’s a whole new generation who have no knowledge of how that scene worked and they want different things. So it’s all about today – the music has moved on.

Are crowds more sophisticated now? I mean, there’s so much information available these days through the power of the internet that an audience will be more knowledgeable about the records.

A lot of clubbers know exactly what they’re into now and go to a big event with an idea of who and what they want to hear. So when, as a DJ, you play at an event for, say, 35,000 people – or, in this case, nearer 50,000 - you’re only be playing one of many arenas. So there are people who never get to hear you play. I can’t reach them. That’s a shame as there are a lot of great DJs who could play happily to a crowd that big. Plus the audience could be missing out on being exposed to somebody who they may actually like. When I played the rave parties, we had one big room where we all played from beginning to end. There were only a few of us on the circuit so we’d really have to represent all the music that was big on the dancefloor back then. So you would hear Todd Terry and Soul II Soul and U2 all being played in the same room. It wasn’t segregated. Everybody was exposed to everything.

Some people might argue that these kind of events are more in tune with the MySpace/iPod Shuffle generation that want to sample different types of music whenever they feel like it, wouldn’t they? In the same way that they can download a track rather than purchase a whole album, they can sample exciting music without needing to invest so much into a particular scene.

Yes, but there are still many that are so educated about what’s going on in specialist scenes that they have no interest in what’s going on outside of it. So you might have someone who loves tough techno, so they’ll see that Dave Clarke is going to be playing something like Creamfields. And then they might see a couple of other techno DJs that they’d want to hear. But they’re not interested in what else is going. And that’s a shame when you’ve got some of the finest names in, say, drum & bass and house music there too. I think you’re right that it’s changing. But that’s more to do with the sounds themselves crossing over. And you look at something like Sonar or nights like Bugged Out and you can really see how attitudes to genres have changed.

Who on the Creamfields line-up are you most keen to hear?

The Chemical Brothers, LCD Soundsystem, Kelis, Erol Alkan, Felix Da Housecat, Simian Mobile Disco, Dave Clarke, Tiga: it’s a really strong line-up this year. I mean, everyone is great in their own right. But I went to hear Erick Morillo play at the Miami Music Conference and he’d really moved his sound on again. He was great. He’s done his funky house thing but now it’s a dirtier kind of underground sound with more energy but still with some of his more soulful and Latin elements in there. I mean, I think he’s pretty much done Creamfields every year while I’ve not been there for six years or so. Yet I still reckon his set will be as much of a surprise.

Do you like to play around with people’s expectations yourself?

Yes. But like I’ve got this club version of Lenny Kravitz’s Are You Gonna Go My Way and I can play it and it brings together those elements of rock and dance music. Even then you can have half an audience going crazy because they weren’t expecting to hear that song while the other half are scratching their head thinking ‘why is he playing this?’ The thing is, I really like to give 110% at my dates, but I can’t really account for everybody’s reaction to every record. So you’re always going to divide opinion in some way. Even if my approach is ‘look, this is the music that’s currently great, this is what I’m all about and this is what you’re here for’. I just hope I can make a difference. And have fun with it.

Are we right in saying that you’ve stuck to your principles a lot in the past? I mean, as the music got harder within the rave scene, you went your own way, for example.

I have to be satisfied with what I do as much as the crowd has to be satisfied. At one point I was rocking up to these events to do a one hour set and just lashing it down as hard as the last DJ. But it wasn’t me. And, anyway, most of these crowds were really just waiting for Fabio & Grooverider. So I had to take a stand and demonstrate what I was about as a DJ. It was a risk but, as soon as I did that, my popularity just went to another level. Don’t get me wrong, I really admire the DJs that stayed faithful to their scene – and I love the drum & bass that’s resulted from that – but it just never felt natural for me to play that music. And I can say now that when people come to hear Carl Cox, they’re genuinely hearing Carl Cox.

Do you try and find time to hear the DJs not playing the same circuit as you?

At these events it’s always great to have the opportunity to tune-in to different music. It’s good to hear the lesser-known DJs. They tend to be more hungry for it. And it’s great to see the energy of these smaller crowds which, you know, is how I started out playing to 250 people in some underground club. I know exactly the thrill that those guys get.

You actually started before acid house as a proper mobile disc jockey though, didn’t you?

About 15 years before rave I was doing discos. Weddings, christenings, all that. It was all just as much about entertaining the crowd. I’d know that there would be a number of people into music from the 60’s and 70’s so I’d play a bit of that and The Beatles always went down well as did Elvis Presley. Plus the new music of the time for the kids like early Madonna, Adam & the Ants – it’s all coming back to me know – and you might get someone request some heavy metal so I wouldn’t mind putting on ‘Ace of Spades’ by Motorhead. At the same time, I loved playing funk and soul music at those parties and, as time went on, I introduced more and more of it and got a reputation for playing those kind of records. I mean, I’d already made a name for myself on the wedding circuit before rave happened. That was my apprenticeship. That was my schooling.

So the jet-setting hardly happened over night?

That’s the thing, a lot of DJs starting out will want to put one record out and get loads of money for gigs. But it takes time. Firstly, you have to stand out in some unique way if you’re truly going to make it. And some of the kids playing in their bedrooms would never dream of playing weddings and christenings because it’s too much like hard work. I am lucky: I do get to fly business class now but I served my apprenticeship and did enough gigs for hardly anything over the years.

What advice would you have for anyone starting out?

Work hard at it. You have to play the free gigs to get your name out there. You should probably create your own night so that you can develop your sound and skills while building that audience. I never sat back and waited for people to come to me, so you have to get out there and make those opportunities. I was always playing piano and drums so I had it in the back of my head that I’d eventually make my own music too. I mean, every time I heard a track, I’d immediately think how I’d remix it to make it better by chopping the intro or extending the break or whatever. So when I moved into that, it really helped get my name more widely known. But making records isn’t everything. Being in the studio means not having the time to be out there playing the events and that’s what I really want to be doing. For me you’re either a studio gimp or you’re actually out there playing to a crowd.