Dom Servini: Shoreditch crowds Are Particularly Difficult

Ever since he started DJing in 1989, leftfield acid jazz DJ Dom Servini has been a man on a musical mission, whether setting up clubs, running labels or writing jazz reviews for Straight No Chaser. These days best known for his Shoreditch monthly Mouse Organ (at Herbal), he recently spun at Danny Krivit's End gig though rarely ventures south of the Thames.

"I don't go to South London. Why would I need to go there for-" he told Skrufff's Benedetta Ferraro this week.

Skrufff: Dom Servini: 'DJ, label owner, club promoter and all round man about town' are the first words on your biography, is that how you see yourself-

Dom Servini: (chuckling)"Quite modest, aren't I- I'd describe myself as a 'pie fingered extraordinaire'… I get bored quite easily and I like to keep myself very busy; I'm a sound engineer, I run my record label, work in a record shop, DJ and try to keep the taxman off my back. I mean it all stimulates me in different ways."

Skrufff: A bit of a jack of all trades, but what couldn't you live without-

Dom Servini: "Definitely DJing. Without sounding tacky, the best feeling I've ever experienced is seeing people excited about a record that I'm playing, especially if it happens to be something a bit different, exotic, or something that they've never heard before. That to me is the best feeling. I love to watch the crowd's reactions, I dance, I shout at them, I'm there to enjoy the party, I'd hate to be on a podium. At the end of the day, I'm only playing records."

Skrufff: You're quite a seasoned pro, in fact you started your career in 1989…

Dom Servini: "Around that time, yes. I was at Sussex University in Brighton, studying Economics for some strange reason. In those days I was more into soul, stuff like Luther Vandross, Roy Ayers, also ska, which started my interest in black music. I started playing at free parties, just before the whole acid jazz trend kicked off, then trip hop came along and I loved that too. To me good music is good music, it could be house, jazz, funk, latin. Although I'm not into trance or death metal, I can find good rock music if I set my mind to it. I'm not a purist."

Skrufff: You mostly play in London and Londoners are notoriously a hard crowd to please…

Dom Servini: "I think the Shoreditch crowd is particularly difficult. There is a huge difference between the East and West End crowds. The first are the kind who stand there scratching their chins marvelling about the tunes you're playing or the trainers they're wearing. They will never put their hands in the air and go mad. Although we have a very nice crowd who follow us in the East End, it can be quite a frustrating experience to play there. In the West End I might get more 'piss heads', more tourists, but I can be sure there's always going to be a very up for it crowd to entertain."

Skrufff: Do you ever play in South London-

Dom Servini: "I don't go to South London. Why would I need to go there for-"

Skrufff: How easy would it be for a young entrepreneur to break into the scene and start to organise parties today-

Dom Servini: "Not easy at all. There's always been a kind of 'London jazz mafia' if you like, and they know who they are…I might have become one of them as well by now, who knows- I'm 31 years old, and I'm at the stage where I feel I'm making some sort of progress. It's been a long slog though. Many of my peers who are doing well, are in their 40's, which is normal. You have to pay your dues and be very dedicated in order to make it."

Skrufff: Is this London jazz mafia a 'cosa nostra' type of scenario-

Dom Servini: "No one gets their fingers chopped off, if that's what you mean, and no one gets threatened, but the market is so cornered and there's so much going on, that it actually becomes impossible to get your name about and play in the right venues. It's very hard. It's nearly impossible. My first lucky break came in the last couple of years of the Blue Note, where I became a mi Tags

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