Interview with Dj Hell, by Jonty Skrufff (Skrufff.com) Einstellungen

[Dames Jean]

DJ Hell- I Expect To Go To Heaven

While his international playboy persona suggests a daily diet of non-stop sex, drugs and rock & roll, DJ Hell’s reality is markedly different, or so he told Skrufff this week, in his latest interview about his new album NY Muscle.

“I’m so interested in music that I prefer not to drink, to smoke or to do drugs. I’ve tried different things, sure why not, but drugs, for example, just didn’t seem to work for me,” he insisted.

“When I was young and a kid I used to look forward to getting wasted at the weekend, even to getting fucked up, but I think when you’re 42 you see things differently- Maybe I’m too much of a straight guy, these days.”

As well as being teetotal and drug free, he also admitted to pining for the love of a good woman, presumably unimpressed by the supermodels he’s often snapped hanging out with.

“One thing I still want to experience is having kids and taking care of a family- that’s something to look forward to when you’re over 40,” he confesses.

“When you’re 30 you don’t think about it but at my age it becomes a bigger issue. I don’t have children yet, I don’t even have a wife.”

And looking beyond his old age, he even admits he expects to go to Heaven.

“I think I’ve been a good guy on this planet, and do I believe in the afterlife, yeah, I think there is something. I don’t know what’s coming afterwards but I guess we’ll find out, but I also think they have a great time in Hell.”

With sex, drugs and sin so firmly pushed aside, what remains for the German dance pioneer is rock & roll, a concept he remains actively committed to. Or rather techno- the dance music he’s always come back to.

“50% of everything I’m doing is still techno, with Gigolo (Records) and when I play in a club,” he explains.

“I also see my new album NY Muscle as still being a techno album.”


Skrufff (Jonty Skrufff): NY Muscle features collaborators including Erlend Oye, Suicide’s Alan Vega and Billie Ray Martin, how did you select them?

DJ Hell: “I started with a long list of people I wanted, for example, I tried to get David Bowie and Grace Jones, via talks with their managers, but it wasn’t possible at that point. My concept for the album was to move forwards by using more singers and having a greater emphasis on song writing. In the past I used a lot of samples and never worked with real singers, so I thought that was the next step for me as a producer. With Billie Ray Martin and Alan Vega (Suicide) I just asked them and they said yes. Erlend was more accidental, I didn’t even know he was a singer then I happened to meet him at a party in New York and he told me he was the singer of Kings Of Convenience. To tell you the truth I didn’t even know the band, I knew their name from the press but I’d never heard his voice. He came into the studio the next day and we did a track.”

Skrufff: You name checked classic new films like Taxi Driver, Liquid Sky and Cruising on the album’s press release, all films which portrayed New York’s legendary underbelly of the 70s and 80s, how much did you find that vibe last year?

DJ Hell: “Speaking in music terms, I think one of the main tracks from that era was Dominatrix and I connected with that guy who produced it and we re-released it on Gigolo not long ago. I’m still seeking music from that era coming through, because it’s a really magical period. Junior Vasquez also did that track ‘Work It To The Bone’ at that time, though released it under the name LNR, and I only found out that it was him recently. I remember ‘Work It To The Bone’ being one of the key hits at Danceteria during those pre-house days of the 80s. Danceteria was a good example of where you went for a great time in New York in those days but there was always great power coming from New York then in musical terms, real muscle.”

Skrufff: Did you find many really edgy places in the City this time round?

DJ Hell: “Well you can still go to CBGBs and nothing has changed there (laughing). Though New York’s entire night life has completely changed because of all the regulations they’ve imposed, such as the no smoking laws, even the no dancing laws. I had a lot of weird moments where everything was limited, you’d find yourself stopped from dancing and smoking inside buildings. I was there the first weekend the smoking ban started and it seemed crazy to me, as a European to not smoke inside a club. This would never be possible in Berlin or Germany. Some things should be changed in New York, for sure, but I went to some underground parties in China Town, illegal parties, where there was a good vibe. That was one of the reasons I went to New York, I felt there was a clear impulse coming, music-wise. Culture-wise you can still get anything you want in New York, everyday life is a big inspiration. It gave me the power to go back to the studio every day, I was going in every night even if it was cold or raining. I’d take the subway to the studio every single night to work, which I’d never do here in Berlin. Even seeing the people on the trains inspired me.”

Skrufff: Did you ever have any scary moments on the subway, such as being harassed by anyone or bumping into any crazies?

DJ Hell: “Never! It depends on how you project yourself, there wasn’t one moment when I felt afraid from those kind of people, though there were a few scary moments connected to the Iraq War. You’d always see military guys protecting people in the subway, standing everywhere. Sometimes there were so many you’d think ‘what’s happened in the news?’ The Iraq war was a strange time, being there, you’d see soldiers with machine guns, everywhere.”

Skrufff: Jockey Slut wrote a slightly mixed feature on you in their latest issue and said ‘he presented himself as a techno DJ only to betray it for electroclash’, what did you make of that?

DJ Hell: “What does ‘betray’ mean?”

Skrufff: “It means to let down, or turn your back on?

DJ Hell: “Turn my back on techno? I’ve never turned my back on anything, not even on electroclash and definitely not on techno because I am still a techno DJ. Maybe the guy made a wrong interpretation. 50% of everything I’m doing is still techno, with Gigolo and when I play in a club. I see NY Muscle as still being a techno album. If you listen carefully it’s all straight down four to the floor music. I think that’s the magic. Also with electroclash I’d never turn my back on that either. With Gigolo we had the biggest influence on that via releases with Fischerspooner, Miss Kittin and Tiga and all these other great releases we pushed. I’ve been a techno DJ for 15 years, why should I turn my back on something I really love. I also have three or four techno albums coming out soon on Gigolo and I’m still really into it, they’re four really old school Chicago style records, really hardcore stuff.”

Skrufff: You’re wearing a rubber fetish head mask in the Jockey Slut feature, and you\re Gigolo icon is the New York transsexual Amanda Lapore, are you ever tempted to drag up?

DJ Hell: “To be a drag queen? I wouldn’t call Amanda a drag queen, she’s a transsexual and she’s such a great person, I’ve been really inspired be her and what she’s doing. Her look isn’t even an image, what she did with her body is the ultimate change, what’s possible in this world today. I think she looks great and sometimes scary, in a way, she’s perfect, you can’t change anything. And she will always look the same. I’m more inspired by what she’s doing.”

Skrufff: Would you get cosmetic surgery?

DJ Hell: “Not so far. Sometimes I think about it but I wouldn’t go as far as Amanda did. It seems like it’s becoming more and more normal for men, though I don’t know if any DJs have had cosmetic surgery. I don’t want to be in the forefront and show what’s possible, Amanda did that and she’s an icon. I think she’s really futuristic and glamorous. She’s the ultimate future lady. She really represents Gigolo in the best way. She’s signed a contract with us for four years and we’re in the second year. I think more and more people will understand why she became the label figurehead after Sid Vicious and Arnold Schwarzenegger.”

Skrufff: Changing tack, given that you’re called DJ Hell, have you encountered any Christian extremists on your travels?

DJ Hell: “No not so far. Once somebody at a party was talking to me about these topics but I’ve never had a problem with extreme Christians being against me or my evil music. I had trouble with Arnold Schwarzenegger though. Because we used him as a logo and that was not allowed, so he took me to court and I lost. That was big trouble because I lost a lot of money but I’ve never had trouble with my name. There’s a lot of misunderstandings about my name, Hell in Germany means shiny and bright, when the lights go on.”

DJ Hell’s new album NY Muscle is out now on Gigolo Records (as is the first single from then album- Keep On Waiting (featuring Erlend Oye on vocals).

http://www.gigolo-records.de

Jonty Skrufff (Skrufff.com)