We managed to catch up with superstar DJ, Nick Curly just before his blow-away set at Sonus Festival in Croatia. Check out what he had to say to us below!
Soundpalate: Hi Nick, thanks for taking the time to chat to Soundplate!
Nick Curly: Very welcome. Always ready to answer some good questions…
You were born in Mannheim: how did being raised in Germany impact on your passion for DJing and Electronic music?
I was born in Heidelberg, which is the city next to Mannheim. I moved to Mannheim in the age of 17. Mannheim was very important for my musical influences. We had a relatively famous club called “Milk” in Mannheim where they used to play house and breakbeat. These where my first steps into electronic music.
Are there any particular artists and DJs that really influenced you and your music selection?
Of course. Manhheim is also not far from Frankfurt, so after Milk closed, me and a friend always went to Frankfurt to see Sven Väth at his club “Omen”. This was totally a new experience for us as the Frankfurt sound was very much geared towards Techno than the house we were used to listening to at “Milk”. Sven has had a big influence on my career. I also hold a very special place “Cruze and Vuish”, from Liverpool / Manchester called who used to play every Saturday at my first resident club called ‘Vibration’ near Karlsruhe.
So, you’ve had a pretty relentless touring schedule throughout the summer, are there any gigs that have particularly stuck out for you so far?
Oh yes, definitely! I have had a lot of great gigs already over the summer. Some of the festivals like Eastern Electrics or We Are FSTVL were definitely something special. Also it´s the first year that I did not play exclusive for Space in Ibiza, so I was able to enjoy playing at other great nights such as Pacha with Solomun or with Sasha and Luciano at the Ushuaia.
You’re here at Sonus Festival; it’s a pretty incredible line-up. Surely this will be one of the highlights of a pretty magical summer of dance music?
This is also a big highlight of my summer. I´ve only been once to Croatia for the Garden Festival 3 years ago, which was great. The Sonus line up looks really cool and the spot is amazing. Also lots of my friend are coming too, so I think it´s gonna be a really fun week.
Are there any particular artists or producers that are doing it for you at the moment?
There are so many good artists and producer out there. I don´t wanna name a single one. We just signed some really cool EP´s on my 8Bit Label from new guys like Carlos Sanchez, Junior Gee or Sidney Charles. All these names are really doing it for me at the moment. Really feeling all of their latest stuff.
And are there any specific tracks that keep finding their way into your recent sets?
There is def one track from Carlos Sanchez called “Put Your Soul In Front” which is the number 1 summer track for me this year.
Cecille Records has had a very quiet year so far in terms of releases in comparison to last year, is there any particular reason for this?
We decided to keep it a bit lower after releasing so much last year,also we just finished our 6 year Cecille compilation box which comes out by end of the year. This is where we have our main focus on at the moment.
You’ve personally had releases on several labels this year, including Voltaire Music, Recovery Tech and Circus, is there anything else in the pipeline we should know about?
Yes! I have a lot coming. Next I’ve got a remix for Dennis Ferrer on his Objektivity Label. Then a track on Cocoon 100 release and also I´ve just finished my next EP on 8Bit records which should come out in the next 2 month plus Matthias Kaden and Johnny D remixed 2 tracks from me for a remix EP which we release on Cecille later this year as well.
There’s been a significant swing in the popularity of House and Techno in the UK in recent years, have you noticed this change when playing out in the UK?
It certainly feels like dance music is at the top of its game right now… Playing in the UK has been great for me the last years. I think UK people are generell more open for good sound then maybe people in other countries. The radio culture in the UK has a lot influence in that I think. You can listen to really cool house, drum n bass shows on some of the biggest radio stations in the UK. That would never work in Germany for example. I really love playing in the UK and I will come back for a few more gigs this year.
If you could choose any artist to collaborate with (dead or alive), who would you choose and why?
Pharell Williams. Why? I just wanna meet him and talk about music. He is a genius.
Interview by: Charlie Burley (@Ledesko)