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Nick Sentience: Keeping it in the Family

Author: Jonty Adderley
Saturday, November 30, 2002
With his future father-in-law celebrating his 60th birthday in Sydney, Australia on New Year's Eve it was an easy decision for hard dance hero Nick Sentience to accept a gig in the same city. Headlining Nukleuz Record's end of year bash, he's also expecting to be meeting more than a few familiar faces, he told Skrufff's Jonty Adderley this week.

"The clubs which go off the most are part of the traveller scene which is a mixture of Ozzies, South Africans, Kiwis (New Zealanders) and a few Brits thrown in for big measure," said Nick.

"So the last time I was in Australia, playing for Frantic in Sydney, there were so many familiar people who'd flown home it felt like I was in London again."

At 23 years old, he's one of the most successful players amongst the new breed of hard dance producer/ DJs, to the considerable relief of his parents, he revealed.

"I remember a few occasions when I'd be banging out the tunes in my bedroom and they'd be like 'Can't you turn that down-' he recalled.

"I'd be like 'No, I'm gonna be a DJ' and they'd say 'don't be stupid, you've got to get a proper job and earn some money'. They're chuffed to bits at the moment. I've got a camcorder and I take it to all the big gigs I play at. I play them all the videos, such as me playing to 10,000 people in Rotterdam and they're like 'Oh, that's very good.'"


Skrufff: Was playing in Australia this New Year's Eve an easy choice to make-

Nick Sentience: "My fiance is Australian and her parents live out there and it's also happens to be her Dad's 60th birthday on New Year's Eve so it seemed like a good idea to tie everything in with her family stuff and my gigs. I also really love Australia as a country, because of the climate and people and especially at that time of year it's going to be fun, fun, fun. It was a very quick 'Yes' when the offer came up."

Skrufff: Your label-mate BK was talking about doing 8 gigs on New Years Eve, including a helicopter ride at one stage, are you doing something similar in Oz-

Nick Sentience: "I'm not completely sure but as far as I know I'm playing Melbourne and Sydney on the same night, which involves a Lear jet in between the two, which will be pretty hectic."

Skrufff: Are you quite used to Lear jets these days-

Nick Sentience: "It will actually be my first time so I'm quite chuffed to be up to Lear jet status (chuckling)."

Skrufff: Are you generally getting this kind of superstar treatment these days-

Nick Sentience: "Not superstar treatment, though we do have a good solid set of contacts and it's more about everything going smoothly. I'm going out to Oz for the next couple of weeks and I've actually opted to pay a little bit extra of my own money to stay at a better hotel in Melbourne. The tour has their own budget for my accommodation but I personally like to have somewhere with everything on hand 24/7. Mostly, we have a reasonable level of treatment just to get by- you're working nights, travelling from airport to airport all the time and it can get tiring. This weekend, for example, I'm doing Auckland and Brisbane, then after Brisbane I'm flying to Melbourne for a morning set. Things can get hectic."

Skrufff: did you meet you're girlfriend here in London-

Nick Sentience: "Yeah, here, she was travelling here and I bumped into her one night then we were friends for a long time before getting together. We met at a club called Solid Sunday. We now share a flat together and she runs a club called Endorphin as well as helping BK and Andy Farley run their club, Release. It's all good."

Skrufff: You toured with Judge Jules last year in Japan, are you very ambitious to step into the shoes of the likes of Jules-

Nick Sentience: "Erm, no not really, fame and fortune always have their downside, I just try and do what I do best and enjoy it. I've hooked up with some really good, solid, reliable people that I can vibe off, I'm always up for meeting new people and seeing where that takes me
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