Anthony Pappa- Persistence & Passion Pays Off

"If you give 200 per cent day in, day out, then maybe at some point something is going to click somewhere, due to the fact that you've been working so hard and deserve a break. Sometimes you can create fate by keeping on knocking until someone eventually opens that door. You certainly can't sit back doing nothing and expecting things to come to you, life doesn't work that way."

Ever since he won Australia's DMC Mixing championships aged 15, Anthony Pappa has poured his energy into his DJ career, first around his home town of Melbourne, then later England, where he relocated in 1994. Starting from scratch again, he hooked up with David Seaman, and began carving a name for himself in the then new niche marked progressive. 5 years on, his relentless hard work and growing reputation prompted Global Underground to offer him one of their Nu Breed CD, an offer he embraced, to become one of the world's best known DJs. Not that his journey was entirely plain sailing, he insists.

"I used to look down on England quite a lot, I wasn't used to it," he recalls, "it was expensive, and it was cold, and when I first got here I thought 'This is crap'."

10 years later ('nine to be precise', he corrects) he's less down on the Brits, though equally committed to his DJing whether with vinyl, CDs or MP3s.

"It's absolutely necessary to move with technology if you want to stay ahead of the game," he continues.

"Every time I work on a new mixed CD, I try to figure out the best way of approaching it and for this new album, I've used a new software programme which I don't even want to name, because I'll give too much away. It was perfect for what I wanted to do; I sussed it, got on the case, and completed it."

The new album he's referring to is Balance 006, his first for the Australian label though 8th in his career. Chatting to Benedetta Skrufff this week, he's both enthusiastic about the compilation and the state of club culture in general.


Skrufff (Benedetta Skrufff): You took a two year break from compilations between the new Balance one and Resolutions, why the relatively big gap-

Anthony Pappa: "I took a break simply because I haven't felt there was anything really worth doing or to apply myself to in those two years. The market was saturated with mix compilations: there were too many CDs out there and too many DJs doing them, so I waited until I thought the time was right. I wanted to be involved in a project rather than just some isolated compilation done just for the sake of it, every six months or so. This album is different, mainly because it's an Australian CD from a company based in Melbourne, which is where I come from, and I believe it's good to give something back to the place where I started."

Skrufff: It's quite different from your previous compilations, did you make it to reflect a set or purely for home listening-

Anthony Pappa: "It is quite different, yes, and I thought very carefully about the musical direction I wanted it to take. I wanted CD 1 to be home listening, but not chill-out or ambient, so I tried to find a direction in the middle that would be pleasant to listen to and would build up without getting too hard. For the second one I wanted a funkier feel that would complement CD 1 at the same time. Sometimes when you're at home, you don't want to hear banging music, in my opinion, it can be a bit intrusive to hear club music in your living room unless you really want to."

Skrufff: The last two years have been quite turbulent for club culture: how much have your life and career changed, over this period-

Anthony Pappa: "I'm still doing exactly what I've always done, still loving it and enjoying it. The industry has certainly changed but I've adapted, though I've not necessarily changed my basic attitude to my job in the way that I always do what I do and I believe in. It's a challenge; in my experience nothing ever falls on your plate, b Tags

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