Exclusive Interview with Roy Green
Bangkok's #1 Drum&Bass club night Phatfunk celebrates its 5 year anniversary with special guest Roy Green from Austria. He has released music on notable records labels such as Dispatch Recordings (by Ant TC1 – label manager at Metalheadz) and DJ Marky’s Innerground Records and he has performed at the prestigious Fabriclive event in London. He plays and produces a diverse mix of Drum&Bass – from jazzy, soulful & funky, to dark & classic.
Siam2nite had the opportunity to have an exclusive interview with Roy Green, shortly before his performance at Glow Nightclub on July 3.
You are an Austrian DJ & Producer with a focus on Drum& Bass. In 2009 you formed a duo with fellow countryman “Protone”. You have released music on notable records labels such as Dispatch Recordings (by Ant TC1 – label manager at Metalheadz) and DJ Marky’s Innerground Records and you have performed at the prestigious Fabriclive event in London. How did you get in touch with Drum & Bass in the first place, and how did you get into DJing and music production?
Well it all started when I was around 14 years old and I had quite a few friends with turntables. They were mixing D&B mostly but back in the days I was not a really big fan of the music. When I was 16 I started to DJ myself with a pair of Pioneer CDJ 100S and Psytrance music. After some time I got bored with it though because it was very repetitive, non organic and the sound was sounding very digital. So I was looking for a change and got into Drum and Bass after listening to some of the Hospital Releases back in the days, which I enjoyed very much. Also the craft of mixing with Vinyl was very interesting for me and I bought myself some turntables. A few years later I started to get into music production with “Logic”, this must be around 5 years ago now and I am still enjoying it!
You play and produce a diverse mix of Drum&Bass – from jazzy, soulful & funky, to dark & classic. How would you describe your own music in a few words?
We try to surprise our listeners with our music and therefore we also try to produce some quite diverse sounds to keep it interesting. I would say our music can be quite simple but funky on the other hand so it doesn’t get too boring!!
DJ Marky played your track “The Storm” in his Boiler Room set. For the track you used samples of “Riders On The Storm” by the legendary rock band The Doors. What other tracks, remixes or mix-sets would you recommend to someone that is not yet familiar with your music?
I think there are a few tracks which I personally really like, for example: “Break”, “Illusion”, “Guidance”, “Wake Up”, “Watch Me”, “Monkey Chaos” and more but I think it’s very individual so just check out our SoundCloud and I am pretty sure people will find something they like.
What’s on your agenda for the near future and what are you currently working and focusing working on?
At the moment we are working on a collab with TRAC and David Boomah and another one with Ben Soundscape. Further there will be a track coming out on Demand Records, which we did with the one, and only BigBud and another collaboration with Electrosoul System just has been released on MedSchool called “Fake Snake”. There will be some more bits and pieces here and there which will be announced in time!
What was the best and the worst gigs you ever played and what were the funniest things that occurred during any of your performances?
I think that’s hard to say, there have been many wonderful gigs all around the globe and a few horrible ones, it is often dependent on our mood, the crowd, weather, promoter, club etc. Once Protone unplugged a USB Stick while a track was running from it, I once got hit by a plastic cup on the head (I guess they didn’t like my set at all), CD’s stopped working, people dancing into the DJ booth leading to the needle skipping, things like that happen and usually they take a happy ending.
You live in Vienna - the capital and largest city of Austria. What can you tell us about clubbing and nightlife there? Do you have any nightlife related suggestions for first-time visitors?
The Drum and Bass scene in Vienna is very vibrant at the moment, lots of promoters offer interesting artists every month. Definitely recommendable are the Vollkontakt or the Contrast parties, but there are many more for example at the legendary Flex Club called “Beat It” every Thursday!
On 3rd July you will perform live here in Bangkok at Glow Nightclub, alongside the PHATFUNK crew. Have you visited Thailand before? Will it be your Bangkok debut? What can Bangkok expect of your upcoming performance?
It actually is my first time in Thailand and in Bangkok so I am very excited to be there and play some of my favorite tunes at the moment to the people. I usually try to play a more laid-back kind of vibe in my sets which doesn’t necessarily mean that I won’t play rollers or harder stuff as well. Looking forward to see you on the dancefloor!