Sometimes overlooked but rarely undervalued, resident DJs are an integral part of a night's success, carefully laying the musical foundations for the headliners that follow them. Ask any headline DJ worth his salt about the importance of who plays before them, and they’ll tell you that a good warm-up DJ is absolutely invaluable.
Here, we hear from one such DJ who performs this task on one of the world's biggest stages at Pacha, Ibiza - Graham Sahara.
What would you say was the starting point in terms of the success of your DJ career?
It depends on how you define success really. But I remember the days I used to ask myself “when’s it going to happen for me”, but I haven’t asked that question since about 2005 so I would probably go for then. That winter I managed to organize a tour for myself travelling all over Europe, north and south America and china, so after that i couldn’t really complain about things not going well for me. Since then it’s got better every year.
How do you prepare for a warm-up set? Given that – to start with at least – there may be not much of a ‘crowd’ to feed off, do you have a few tracks you know you’re going to play before you start?
Looking at who you are going to warm up for would be a good start. For example I wouldn’t play the same warm up set for Tiesto that I would for say Defected. It’s a completely different sound so require different warm ups. Also different people on the Defected nights will require different warm ups. Such as Noir and Solomun to say Copyright or Simon [Dunmore]. So research is the first thing to start off with; mixes on Soundcloud or radio shows are good to check out if you haven’t warmed up for them before to find out what they play. I have quite a few favourite tracks that I find great for warms ups for different nights and have a nice selection of tracks prepared for the warm up before going to the club but can change should I need.
In your opinion what is the most important aspect of delivering a warm up set in one of the world’s most prestigious clubs?
For me there are two important aspects for delivering a good warm up set. One; make sure the dance floor is all systems go when you finish and making sure you haven’t over stepped the boundary of warming up and tried to make yourself the star. Two; don’t play any of the main Djs personal tracks. I have seen people do that before… but not in Pacha I might add!
What set up are you using at the moment? How has that changed over the last 10 years or so?
10 years ago I was still on vinyl and CDs were just coming in. At the moment in Pacha and Km5 they have the CDJ 2000s and coming from CDs I was debating whether to make the change to Tracktor or not, but since the 2000s came in with Rekordbox I have kind of jumped into that full on. I have Traktor and its handy for doing long sessions where you might have to play all kinds of sounds, as you can take everything with you on the laptop but I find for the sessions in Pacha, USB/SD cards are a nice easy way to warm up and not get in the way when the change over happens with the next DJ coming on. You don’t have to start unplugging cables laptops etc…, especially if they are using Tracktor as well. It’s more complicated and no one really wants to see people messing with wires in the DJ box etc for ten minutes before they play.
What are some of your current weapons of choice, either to make the dancefloor really pay attention or to maybe change the direction of your set?
Well for peak time Pirupa ‘Party Non Stop’ is definitely an early front running for tune of the summer. There’s one from Dave Mayer feat’ Louis Hale ‘Sub Spectrum’ which is an old school garage style flavour which is perfect for the Funky Room and has really been working well for me. To make the dancefloor pay attention? Well it depends on the night, but sometimes I find something completely random does that job perfectly, like some classic original track from the mid nineties. Other tracks I personally love include Tuccillos mix of Osunlade ‘Envision’, it always gets people going. In fact there are quite a few special edits that Tucci has done – sometimes on his own or with Willie Graff – that are pure genius and really get them hands going!
What is your prediction for the most popular style of new music to come out of Ibiza over the forthcoming season?
Well I think a classic house/pure house sound reminiscent of say Todd Terry, or the sound Tuccillo is currently championing is the one to watch out for. Deep house was very much in fashion last year but I think whilst it’s deep it’s becoming more ‘real’ house music and at the end of the day not that deep, strictly speaking.
What else are you up to this year, aside from your Pacha residency?
I´m back in Km5 again this year; it’s my 10th year there now and those years have flown by. It’s another venue I love playing at. It’s intimate and sexy and a cool slightly underground vibe. Plus I will be making plenty more music and running my label Seamless
What advice would you give DJs starting out in the industry, searching for residencies and trying to build a name for themselves?
Make music, make more music, be polite and go out and get to know people that are involved in the sound that you like to play and produce. No one is going to ring you up at home and offer you gigs. You gotta be in it to win it!
Mix tracklist:
1. Shonky - Le Velour (Mr. Fingers Club Dub Remix)
2. Guy Robin feat. Amba Shepherd - Heaven Or Hell (Original Mix)
3. Osunlade - Envision (Tuccillo Vocal Vision Mix)
4. Micha Klang & Kuroneko - Anytime You Please (Shonky Remix)
5. Huxley - Box Clever (Original Mix)
6. Franck Roger and Mandel Turner - After All (Original)
7. Toni Moreno & 2Vilas - Eleven (Tucci in Tusho remix)
8. Gooden & Park feat. Byron Stingily - Shady (Michelle Owen Remix)
9. Hector Couto, Cuartero - Juke Box (Original Mix)
10. Rick Sanders - A Man From Chicago (Original Mix)
11. Michelle Owen - Perchance To Dream (Original Mix)
12. UBQ Project - When I Fell N Love (Uberfett Remix)
For more info, head to www.facebook.com/grahamsaharaofficial
Graham Sahara plays Pacha for Defected In The House throughout the season – click for full line-up details
