Alan Thompson In Australia- I've Started Keeping Beers In My Fridge
Author: Jonty Skrufff
Monday, February 21, 2005
"We had our first DTPM party on January 2, on the first Sunday after New Year's Eve, tt was amazing and blew me away," he says "I'd been searching out the right venue since arriving here and believe that Tank is the perfect spot, like a mini Fabric, being underground with bare brick walls and an amazing sound system. It also has 2 rooms so we can play alternative in the second room, which for Sydney means Electro. The crowd we got were similar to the crowd at DTPM in London."
As well as sorting out his career, he's also adopted local habits including beer drinking, he admits.
"I keep beers in my fridge now and once 5 o'clock comes it's time for a drink," he laughs. "When people come to your house here you don't ask if they want tea, you ask if they want beer, and it has to be cold. The pace of life is very different, it's much slower and much easier," he explains.
"I'm much more chilled out since living in Australia and certainly don't get as stressed as I did in London. Simple things like driving around the city are so much more pleasurable and people in general are more accommodating and helpful. If I have free time I tend to go to the beach, which is fantastic. Sydney is very small compared to London so it's much easier to pop out to see friends or them just drop by for a beer in the garden," he adds.
Clearly ecstatic with his new life, his only regret appears to be not emigrating sooner.
"I first thought about making the move about 7 years ago. I had been to Australia in 1992 on holiday and fell in love with the country and knew then that this is where I wanted to end up. It took so long because my DJ career in London was doing so well," he says.
"In 2002 I made the decision to move regardless as I thought that if I didn't do it now then I would never do it, then I finally told everyone in London including my club residencies in September 2003 that I would be moving in March 2004. Everyone was surprised as I'd been talking about it for years and I think most people thought I would never do it. They also thought I was crazy giving up so much in London, especially my DJ residencies. The move to Australia was first and foremost a lifestyle choice; I knew that I wouldn't be moving to further my career as I was already well established in London and throughout Europe. The move itself was pretty easy, just a lot of organizing. Shipping all my belongings out was probably the most difficult task as it took 13 weeks and I was living in Sydney without anything for 2 months. I also had to ship over my 2 pet cats; they had to stay in quarantine in Sydney for 30 days."
Skrufff (Jonty Skruff): What's the coup with your new Ministry compilation, is it available outside Australia-
Alan Thompson: "The album was released at the end of January and unfortunately is only available in Australia though I'm sure its available on the web. My mix is a true representation of what I do as a DJ in the clubs. It's in my funky house style and was mixed live with two decks and a mixer. I've included some big tracks from late last year like Gadjo "So Many Times' and M-Gee "Bodyswerve' as well as a few tracks I thought were going to be big in Australia in the next few months like Soul Central's "Strings Of Life' and Richard F's "Let The Sunshine Through'. I'm currently on a national tour to promote the album."
Skrufff: How much does being based in Australia affect the music you're exposed to-
Alan Thompson: "It doesn't really, I still get most of my music from London. I still get mailed tracks from labels and producers and I shop online at the same stores I bought music from when I lived in London. Sydney also has a few good record stores like Spank< Tags