interview: DJ Elroy
image: Mike Kamp

Any clubber worth his margarita salt will recognize the name Lee Burridge. After all, Lee holds a residency at what is arguably Denver's hottest nightlife spot: Club Vinyl. His 365 Tour brings him through the Mile High City several times a year, and each time his performance is better than the last.

Just what you'll hear exactly is hard to say - his ecclectic style mixes a lot of unlikely sounds into one harmonious dancefloor experience. Techno, house, minimal; add some ambiance, glitchy tweeks, hypnotizing drums, dirty bass; drop in some underground flavor; mix, remix, and you've got yourself a first-class performance.

Image caught up with Lee between shows and to talk about a few of his favorite things: music and performing it.

THE BASICS:

So let's start with the easy stuff first... How long have you been spinning?

I’ve been DJ’ing now for 24 years and it’s just as much fun as ever. I’ve always said that when it becomes a ‘job’ I’ll give it up as I think being passionate about playing music is a really important factor in making a night enjoyable for people who attend the gigs. It’s still a fantastic feeling to play amazing music to people and get a response from music they might not have heard before.

And how about producing?

I’ve been a bit slack due to the mix CD commitments but have a few things I’d like to try and put out before the end of the year including the Exercise One remixes of “Treat ‘em Mean Keep ‘em Keen” that Ewan Pearson used on his Fabric 35 mix CD.

Who did you look up to in music when you first got into the scene?

Beethoven, Sister Sledge, Mike Oldfield, Barry Gibb, Spagna, Madness, Andy Page, Poison, Harlod Faltemier, Dire Straights, The Wombles and the Theme to Ski Sunday.

Wow, quite an eclectic mix of sounds and sytles! Who or what keeps you motivated nowadays?

Twenty-five red bulls are always at my bedside. But really, I’m honestly excited to play so getting up or staying up has never been a problem. Tuesdays are the problem. St John’s Wort anyone?

I know you've played everything from trance to breaks to techno in your career, so instead of labeling yourself by genre, describe your style and sound in 20 words or less.

Wonky, wobbly, weird, thumping, trippy, naughty, nasty, sweet, lovely, melancholic, hot, cold, randy, tight, rasping, deep, contradictory house music.
Sounds like a night at the brothel...

THE DJ BOOTH:

What medium do you prefer (Turntables/CDJ/Laptop/Hardware/Other)?

Two turntables and a mixer maybe with two CDJ players for unreleased tracks.

What do you put into your live sets that has made you a dancefloor favorite for the past decade?

I’m a dance floor favorite? Great! I would say the passion that I feel for the music I buy and the honesty with how I play it. I play the records I love not the ones that simply work. I’ve never taken the easy music option (which would make me a lot more money by the way) but chosen to push people a little. I try to draw people in a new direction slightly (obviously not the cool ones who always get it right away!) and expand their taste a little more than other DJ’s.

Well you certainly do have something that a lot of other DJs are missing... How has your style evolved since you first stepped behind the decks?  Put the progession in a nutshell (if you can)...

I came from a time before house music so musically I’ve evolved, unevolved and revolved from really bad 80’s music (including my friends and I thinking we were super sick break dancers ((we weren’t)) to early house to everything else that came since including trance in the early 90’s to prog to electro to breakbeat to techno to tech house to whatever the fuck it is I play now. Everything went THUD THUD THUD, though.

What are the new generation of DJs today lacking? What do you think they excel in?

We needed a generation of people who went back to listening to bands in clubs and bars. This pushes the music back underground to be rediscovered by kids who are cool and on the cutting edge and looking for something less obvious. Dance music became very, very commercial and I think this, while benefiting the cheesier end of the DJ spectrum, has a negative effect and pushed other people away.

Is it possible to make it as a DJ without producing nowadays?

There has always been so much luck involved in getting a break. Obviously you have to have some sort of talent (or just choose to play obvious records and use Ableton if you don’t) if you want to make it but being in the right place at the right time has helped a lot of people. Producing simply increases your chances of being in the right place at the right time. It puts you on the radar much further afield than just playing in a club somewhere. Do as much as you can to get noticed.

THE STUDIO:

What hardware/software do you work with?

I actually don't have a studio at present. My house is all packed up and I had a flood in my basement a while back. I usually work with other producers so all I have right now is Logic and Ableton on my laptop -- which are great for pre-production if you know how they work.

What gives a track the staying power to still have appeal several years after the initial release?

It’s always in transition. I’m glad things are evolving again. A dominant sound is great for a while but without room to expand and evolve the whole thing would have been finished in 1992. There’s so much great music out there but it’s unusual that a club crowd en mass will evolve with it. Lots of people find what they like and then stick with it as they continue to go out. This eventually leads to those terrible words spoken by people whose clubbing days are coming to an end: ”it’s not like it used to be.”

Has the increase in bedroom producers helped the scene or simply flooded it with mediocre (or worse) music?

It has helped and hindered. I feel people are getting used to hearing MP3's in clubs and after hearing a lot of digital music it doesn't have the warmth of vinyl. There's been much debate [about it] but sorry; it doesn't.

THE TOUR:

How did Denver get on your list of cities for the 365 tour?

Because it’s awesome and has passionate people who love and understand dance music. Hadn’t you noticed? I also planned to do some snowboarding but the studio work took over... balls!

You must spend more time sitting at airports and on planes than can be good for anyone. What do you do to keep yourself entertained (and sane!)?

Masturbation is always a challenge while seated on a plane, so that kills an hour or so. I also get to catch up with emails (although actually being connected while flying would be amazing!!) and sometimes get into watching series like Arrested Development and the Sopranos. I try to listen through all the music I get sent although after being in a club all night then not sleeping then trying to listen to music before going to play more can be a little too much sometimes.

Where do you see the dance music scene in 5 years?

I don’t see me living that long, so who cares! OK, if I do then I will be the King and you will all bow down and dance to underground music whether you like it or not.

What's on your iPod?

I have a Sony Walkman and it has a Men At Work cassette in there right now. “I come from a land down under....”

What's a cassette? Anyway, as someone whose job takes him around the world, what do you do or where do you go when you want a vacation?

The mountains in Canada, especially Whistler and in the US at Lake Tahoe, Patagonia, Yosemite National Park and Wormwood Scrubs when in London.

Any shout-outs? Crews, producers, DJs, family, friends, etc...

Ty, Tara, Brad, Katie, Larry, Horseface, Louisa, you [and Image] magazine, Vinyl, Foley and everyone who always shows up to dance when I play. I love you all.

What's a good philosophy to live life by?

BurningMan.com

Any parting words for the new DJs and producers just getting into the biz?

Don't give DJ's a CD with 10 tracks on. Give them your best track. If it's that good they will come to you for more. Also, don't use one idea in each track and then make ten tracks. Use lots of ideas in a single track, give it layers and different directions. You can always strip it back later on. DJ's should be themselves and just play what they love. Don't try to be your idol. Have confidence in your music.

And finally, let's talk about the new mix set: It certainly is "Wonky, wobbly, weird, thumping, trippy, naughty, nasty, sweet...contradictory house music;" Comment on the process of picking the tracks for the Balance 012s. What direction were you trying to take?

It really was a labor of love. I approached a lot of different labels for new music, but labels for some reason were really tough to get music out of this time around (or even older music that I was using on the mix). I think there's a paranoia that tracks will make their way onto the internet before the release date and mess with sales. Either that or people who run labels are just lazy! I ended up going to the record shop every week but again it was a quiet time for music so I went through my record box and collection.

My idea was to try and put together a mix over three discs that worked as a long piece of music and would reflect me as a live DJ when played back to back but I also wanted to make each individual CD stand alone as an interesting mix in its own right.

For CD1 I put together a collection of music that emotes feelings of warmth, emotion, distance, and dreaminess but with an underlying feeling of melancholy. This is a mix of music by producers who have put a lot of feeling into their tracks.

CD2 was always supposed to reflect the part of the night that you get lost in. A journey with different peaks and valleys. Druggy and hypnotic with lots of little sounds that open up to you every time you listen and is a different mix the sixth time you listen to it than it was the first time.

I wanted CD3 to be drummy (my new word to describe it!) but to shift gears a few times and not to start out slow and grow to a peak like most mixes but to grab you instantly and still have room to pound you into the ground at certain points. Apart from that I had no idea what I was doing.

Thanks again, and we'll be waiting for your next Denver show!

October 6th @ Vinyl

myspace.com/LeeBurridge