Interview with Swap ahead of Puzzle Project on Sat 26th June!
Ahead of Trance's Midlands Maestro SWAP's debut set at Puzzle Project, Puzzle resident Ali Cantor caught up with the man himself to talk podcasts, Passion and Mahatma Gandhi!
Interview by Ali Cantor
Hi SWAP – how’s tricks?
Hi Ali. Yeah very well, thanks mate, keeping myself busy with my day job!
To kick things off, can you tell us a little bit about yourself, where you’re from and how you got into clubbing and DJing?
I’m originally from India, I grew up in Saudi Arabia for 9 years and then came here when I was 10. I got into the dance music scene when I was about 14 - the magical era of trance in around 1997. I got introduced to the old Judge Jules radio shows by a good friend of mine and got hooked onto the music. I was also really into my hip hop then but after a year or so I ended up at Passion (at the Emporium, Coalville) and was just amazed with the emotion of trance and what clubbing was all about. Back then it was all about cyber outfits and basically having it all night long! Passion was weekly back then, and I went to the night a lot! After learning more about the scene I made a trip to Gatecrasher @ The Republic in Sheffield. I will never forget that night as it was probably one of the best nights I’ve ever had, trance heaven! Years went by and my love for trance just grew more and more. I went to university in Nottingham and after I graduated I got my set of 1210s turntables and just started practicing. I picked it up very quickly, and started to get a few gigs around Nottingham. I then managed to save some cash for some CDJs and after that everything took off for me.
You hail from the Midlands, and whilst it’s rare to see you playing down south, you’re often gigging and out and about up north. What’s the trance scene like up there? Healthy?
Midlands and North is probably the place to be for Trance at the mo. You’ve got the super clubs like Godskitchen, Passion and the occasional big trance lineups at Crasher, but there have been some wicked new nights that have grown quite a lot and having a massive following, like Digital Society in Leeds, Amplified in Derby and Off the Rails in Sheffield. There’s quite a few cropping up in the North and the scene here is growing really well. For a good trance night I would definitely recommend coming to the North.
Passion is my favourite club in the UK, as it holds so many memories for me, so to get my opportunity to play here was a very big deal for me and I was so grateful when I did. I used to do a lot on the clubbing website called dontstayin.com and had my own group on there which is where I created my following. I used to do a quite a lot of demos, a friend of mine passed them onto Genix and JFK. Then Genix rang me one day to ask me if I wanted to play at passion in the Redroom (back room) - the main room had Armin headlining! I couldn’t believe it, it was an unreal feeling. The night was big success, and the back room was very busy when I played so I was very, very happy man. After this the Passion crew were impressed and from there I managed to get my other gigs at Passion and became part of NuPassion.
You’ve also played for a lot of the other big nights up north including Off The Rails and Digital Society, and shared line ups with some pretty big names such as Armin and Ferry Corsten. What’s the best gig you’ve ever played?
Well this is a tough one, as each gig has been a bit different and I’ve enjoyed all of them. A lot of my gigs have been back to back sets. My first set at Passion was a very special one and I think the one that tops it all off is probably my gig at Passion again but in the main room at a peak time for the first Nupassion night. The club was busy and the view from that DJ box was incredible, hard to put into words! I was speechless - this is the same booth legends like Tiesto, Armin, Ferry etc all have played. Such a very special gig! Ohh, also I got to warm up for one of my fave DJs, Matt Hardwick at Amplified, that was a gig I will never forget as well.
Dream gig?
Playing at Trance Energy in Holland.
And your favourite DJ? Anyone ever blown you away with a truly special set?
It’s hard to narrow down my fave as I love so many genres. I’m a fan of the big four - Paul Van Dyk, Tiesto, Armin and Ferry Corsten. Also Eddie Halliwell during his ‘BOSH’ days - now that was a set that blew me away!
Right now I would say John Askew is probably another one of my favourites.
You also have a series of popular radio shows and produce regular ‘SWAPcasts’ – what’s the idea and thinking behind this?
I have a monthly show called Spinning With A Passion; that goes out every third Friday afternoon on afterhours.fm which I’m proud of as a lot of big DJs are on this radio station.
My podcast called SWAPcast has grown tremendously, I have a Facebook group which is close to 1500 listeners which I’m very happy about. It also goes through I-tunes which has a fair few listeners. This started of as group for me to get out info about myself and now coming close to my second year of doing the podcast it has grown a lot.
The idea of this podcast is the first hour is a warm up going through the progressive sounds and the second hour delving into the uplifting and harder sounds of trance. I try to mix it around as much as possible so I can provide listeners with varied musical journeys. I have regular guest DJs on the podcast from upcoming DJs to big name DJs and I’m grateful to those who have guested. We’ve had some pretty big names such as Jon O’Bir, Aly and Fila, Manuel Le Saux, Ben Gold, Jordan Suckley. Future episodes I have the likes of Sean Tyas, Simon Patterson and many more.
Production wise which producers/labels are really doing the business for you at the moment?
Discover is probably the main one as they have had a lot of amazing releases. At the mo, I couldn’t pinpoint one label as I like such a broad spectrum of music, so labels such as Anjunabeats, Vandit, Spinnin, Unearthed, Enhanced, Garuda, Doorn, Tone Diary, Armada (which has a lot of sub labels like Subculture, FSOE, AVA and many more). Am also really liking the stuff that’s coming out of Matt Church’s label Red Sky. Ohh also really liking the techno label – Subcult.
Producer wise,- loving Simon Patterson, Bryan Kearney, John Askew, Sean Tyas, Sunny Lax, Nitrous Oxide, Super 8 & Tab, Activa, Aly & Fila, Indecent Noise, Gary Proud, Mark Sherry, Marcus Schossow, Sander Van Doorn, Ben Gold, Jordan Suckley and there are loads more…. too many to mention! I could go on all night haha.
The Puzzle crowd are used to a fairly good range of music, with our parties showcasing a diverse range of underground dance music from house and tech through to psy and banging tech trance. You’re known for having pretty eclectic musical tastes so should fit right in! Can you tell everyone a little about your musical style and what sort of tracks you go for?
My music style is very varied, depending on what time I play. I love my progressive sounds and also love techy stuff too. Uplifting trance and tech trance is my fave. I like to mix my sets up with new releases and a lot of classic tunes especially ones that people don’t play as much nowadays. The Puzzle crowd can expect a very energetic set from me with a few classics chucked in for good measure.
What do you do to unwind/relax when not DJing?
I love listening to all genres of music, most of my time goes away at work, so I just download all the latest live sets from djs and have that on while playing on the playstation. Apart from that just the general stuff like going out with friends, watching football and getting a tad drunk now and then haha. Ive just started to learn how to produce tunes, so hopefully ill get some tunes out later this year.
Looking forward to seeing you in action! To close things out we have a few quick fire questions:
Favourite food?
Being Indian it has to be the curry lol.
The chicken or the egg?
Chicken
Got any good party tricks?
I used to dance a lot when I was younger like breakdancing, as getting a bit older now prob cant do all the moves now haha.
Wer’re not letting you leave the 414 till you’ve spun on your head at least once now! Superhero power of choice?
Being able to fly, would be so much easier getting to my gigs and not getting stuck in traffic or on the train which has happened loads to me.
All time hero?
Mahatma Gandhi
All time villain?
Freddy Kruger
All time classic track?
Café Del Mar
Top three weapons in your CD wallet right now?
Simon Patterson – Taxi
Oliver P pres. Stonevalley - Winter
John Askew – Fade to Black
