Danny Rampling's 15 Years of Clubbing- It's Been Marvellous and it Still Is
Author: Angie NG / Jonty Adderley
Sunday, January 27, 2002
Ever since returning from Ibiza to set up London's first acid house club Shoom in 1987, superstar DJ Danny Rampling has remained firmly at the top of the DJ tree, taking in more musical styles than virtually any of his peers. These days known as a soulful garage and house aficionado, he also spent years pioneering the hard slamming techno that later spawned hard house and trance and has continued to innovate musically throughout his 15 year career. One of Ibiza's famous four (alongside Oakenfold, Nicky Holloway and Johnny Walker) he truly helped launch Britain's acid house explosion, becoming recognised as both a pioneer and a figurehead for today's worldwide dance scene.
Still down-to-Earth and genuinely friendly, he met up with Skrufff's Angie Ng just before New Year's Eve in Singapore, as he passed through the island state on a flying visit.
Skrufff: You've just played at Centro here in Singapore and you'll be playing in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) on New Year's Eve, I guess you could have played anywhere - why choose here particularly-
Danny Rampling: "I was also offered to play in Brazil but I've chosen Asia over South America as I love Asia and I haven't been here for three years. So, it's good to return here and that's also why I chose to play Kuala Lumpur on New Year's Eve since I've never played there before. In fact, I haven't even been there before, so it's a new adventure; I like to explore new places and visit new territories."
Skrufff: There are only 52 Saturdays a year; looking into 2002, how many of yours are already booked up-
Danny Rampling: "I request my management never to book me too far in advance. There are probably three months of the New Year booked; the diary's full until March."
Skrufff: Which country is the hottest in terms of interest right now-
Danny Rampling: "I play a lot in Italy. I think it's my personal taste, I play there once a month and I've really enjoyed playing there over the last couple of years. I play in The States too; I think you've got to have a lot of time on your hands to cover the amount of territories that exist in the United States. It's an OK place to play but I prefer Italy, that's where I really enjoy playing."
Skrufff: How likely is it that house music will end up as popular worldwide as it is in the UK in your view-
Danny Rampling: "I think it already is popular worldwide, definitely so. Anywhere you go in the world, people embrace the music. However, I think it's in danger of becoming too commercialised. It's on the way there now with the interest it attracts from multi-national corporate companies. It really has in some respects become very commercialised compared to how it was in the beginning, definitely so."
Skrufff: There's loads of media interest in retro, old skool music right now, how likely are we to see you suddenly dropping total old skool sets-
Danny Rampling: "You won't. I don't look back and I don't have an interest in nostalgia. I like to think about today and moving forwards. I couldn't play a set of old music because I get behind (support) records and play them relentlessly because I love them and then that's it, I shelve them and rarely go back to them. I'll play a record for months on end and some of those records become hits or classic records but I find that I could not put together a two hour set of classic music. It just doesn't feel right to me. I'm not into this retro business, why do we need to keep looking back- Is this a sign that there's nothing around that's interesting now, in the present- That's something that concerns me."
Skrufff: You've played hugely different styles from acid house to techno Tags