DJ Yousef's Circus Rules: House Not Trance

"We welcome all Cream's house music enthusiasts, but I don't think there's any point in hard trance fans coming down, as they'll never going to hear that music."

Stepping into the breach left by Cream's departure from their home town of Liverpool with his new monthly club Circus, DJ Yousef is clear about his plans.

"It's a club for an open minded, educated crowd. Our main concern is to play good music and ensuring that those who come down to the club will feel welcome. Also, as promoters, it's important for us to stay in tune with what's happening on the dance floor, because that's where the action is, not in the VIP area."

Playing good music at his next event will be Darren Emerson and Time Deluxe, who travel up from London for the November 15 night, a return trip Yousef's unlikely to embrace too enthusiastically.

It seems to me that clubbing in London isn't much fun," he told Skrufff's Benedetta Ferraro this week. "It's not that people don't listen to the music, but they do seem absorbed in the fashion aspect of clubbing or who's looking at them."


Skrufff (Benedetta Ferraro): You've just recently opened your new club Circus' in Liverpool, what's the state of club culture in the city now that Cream has actually closed-

DJ Yousef: "Cream's closure has certainly had a big effect on the Liverpool clubbing crowd, because it was a very reliable club, that was always packed, and you knew you would have had a good time going there. Then suddenly it closed down. People were in shock, even myself, but at the same time… life goes on. It taught me so much, because if it wasn't for Cream, I wouldn't be doing Circus."

Skrufff: Which elements of Cream are you're trying to bring to Circus-

DJ Yousef: "I don't want to recreate Cream and that's why I'm not getting involved in promoting a weekly club, but I did love the sound Cream had, so I'd love Circus to be on that level in terms of music."

Skrufff: Are many old Cream regulars coming to Circus so far-

DJ Yousef: "Yes we do get all the punters that used to come to see me playing at Cream, even though people don't expect me to jump on the Cream band wagon. We welcome all of Cream's house music enthusiasts, but I don't think there's any point in hard trance fans coming down, as they'll never going to hear that style of music. Circus is a club for an open minded, educated crowd. Our main concern is to play good music and ensuring that those who come down to the club will feel welcome. Also, as promoters, it's important for us to stay in tune with what's happening on the dance floor, because that's where the action is, not in the VIP area."

Skrufff: Your biog refers to you "providing an antidote of US/UK house music to the main room of trance": that word 'antidote' sounds interesting; does that mean you loathe trance-

DJ Yousef: "I certainly can't say that I like it. I'm not being nasty, it just that I don't like that style of music, in the same way that I don't like rock music… and it seems to me that rock music fans also like trance."

Skrufff: Did you never listen to rock music when you were growing up-

DJ Yousef: "No, I just listened to other forms of music. I don't mean that I didn't like bands like The Rolling Stones or The Who, it's more stuff like Limp Bizkit that I can't stand. It's just not me. Music is about opinions."

Skrufff: How much does the clubbing vibe in Liverpool differ from London-

DJ Yousef: "It seems to me that clubbing in London isn't much fun. It's not that people don't listen to the music, but they do seem absorbed in the fashion aspect of clubbing or who's looking at them… it's full of music business people who hop from one venue to the other without paying much attention to what's going on around them, or listening to the music or getting into the vibe. I play in London occasionally, usually at The End, which is a wicked club, because I have a feeling they get real music enthusiasts down there, but I haven't got a cl Tags

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