A Minute With Justin Sloe

Recently Droog headed across the pond to England to play the Lo*Kee party in London and Treehouse in Manchester.  Nottingham DJ/writer Santero caught up with Droog's Justin Sloe to chat a bit about things going here at home with Culprit, his dog, and twins.

Santero: What's the first thing you do in the morning?
Justin Sloe: Say hello to my dog. I usually ask him to make me breakfast. He doesn’t.

S: When was the first time a song made you stop and go 'wow'?
JS: Not sure my mother knew what she was getting into – but she let me buy my first 12” as a youth: Doug E Fresh – The Show. The flipside, of course is La Di Da Di which introduced the world, and my impressionable ears, to Slick Rick. Little did my mother know she’d soon be fielding questions like, “What’s a wrinkled pussy?” The storytelling and flow amazed me. I still have that same copy and treasure it dearly.

S: How did you get in on the party-throwing scene?
JS: I’d say, quite seriously that we wanted to bring a sound that wasn’t being heard in the LA clubs. The truth is though: no one else would book us.

S: Tell us a bit about your label, Culprit?
JS: As DJs and party pushers – a label seemed like a natural extension of what we were doing. We wanted a label to represent the sound of our Los Angeles. We had likeminded DJs and producers that either lived here or spent chunks of time in the city. We started with releases from Lee Foss (both solo and as Hot Natured with Jamie Jones) and Kenneth James Gibson aka [a]pendics.shuffle. The first 3 releases were all made in Los Angeles. As it grew, we opened up the definition so it everything didn’t have to be made within the city limits, but the ethos remains.

S: Who would be on your dream dj line-up (old or new, dead or alive...)?
JS: Larry Levan, Francois K, Danny Tenaglia, Grandmaster Flash, Andy Smith and Coldcut. They could make it work, right?

S: Which city has the best crowds?
JS: It’s hard to beat London with the size, scope and history of it all. Always love it there. With our proximity, we’ve been playing in Mexico quite a bit lately. The crowds there are young, enthusiastic and very open to different sounds. Border cities – Mexicali and Tijuana have some parties that are popping off and only seeming to get better.

S: What's been your maddest music moment to date?
JS: A couple years ago, closing the Hot Natured party at DEMF, this, in many ways, also closed the weekend. I took a chance and closed with Danny Krivit’s edit of Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On. It takes about 30 seconds for the identifiable hook to come in, but when it did the whole place went mental. I honestly, didn’t know how people would react, I REALLY didn’t want to be the disrespectful dbag from LA that comes in and closes with a Motown classic. Thankfully, it worked. There were a couple people crying. I’d like to think it was because of the music, but more than likely was because of Andrei’s cologne.

S: Techno in pop - good or bad?
JS: I remember when “pop” music was good, but barely. It could still happen, couldn’t it?

S: Which artists are on your ones-to-watch list?
JS: I love everything Night Plane is doing; Ghostly minister of sound, Photocall; Wildkats from London; Plastic Co in Manchester; Lula Circus from Italy and Miguel Puente: a talented Mexican Living in Spain and his friends send me roughly 10 tracks a week, most of which I quite like. And of course, my LA brothers in arms: Bas, Clovis and Jimmy Maheras.

S: What's the most rewarding part of your job?
JS: Reaching into my coat pocket, finding an unused drink ticket from the last party and seeing it’s the same type as the place I am now.

S: What do you do to relax?
JS: Twins ;)

S: Complete this sentence: There's no way in the world that I could live without...
JS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SavVH4W1lxc

Justin Sloe and Jimmy Maheras will be DJing alongside Matthew Dear tomorrow night, April 16, at Avalon.  Click here to RSVP.