Nick Catchdubs Interview: SXSW 2010

Posted on Mar 11th 2010 4:54PM by Edward Stuart
Comments

As a DJ looking to "kill it in every style," Catchdubs mix "rock, classics, and everything." into his DJ sets. The eclectic turntable hero has already been crowned by one magazine as "taste making royalty who can break an act single-handedly." This kind of attention isn't deterring him from improving on his production skills, working on his music and pushing forward with his label Fools Gold. Catchdubs, who is from Brooklyn, feels, "You can't slack and you can't sleep; you're shoved up against every kind of person in the world and you have to fight to stand out - I think that attitude comes across in everything [I] do." Spinner caught up with Catchdubs before his set at SXSW to discuss everything from his surprise musical influences to his love of chicken McNuggets.

Describe your sound in your own words.

As a DJ I like connecting the dots between different styles and eras, but my main loves are new hip-hop and electronic music.

How did your band form?

I started DJing about 7 years ago. I had played in bands and things like that before, and it never fully congealed. But DJing let me pull together all the different styles of music I enjoyed at once; plus you don't have to argue with your drummer.

What are your musical influences?

I've been a pretty voracious listener for years...I always try to take away a little something good from everything. Whether jumping on the couch to Guns N' Roses and Nirvana and Video Music Box as a kid, to all the different dance music mp3s spilling out every week right now. At the moment my biggest direct influences are definitely my friends, peers, other acts on the label. It's hugely inspiring watching guys like A-Trak and Diplo and Mark Ronson grow as producers, and it certainly pushes me as I work on my own music.

What's your biggest vice?

McDonald's Chicken Nuggets.

What's in your festival survival kit?

An extra laptop charger and as much as I can take from the club rider back to my hotel room.

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

I don't believe in guilty pleasure at all, just pleasure. It's OK for music to be cheesy [because] some of the best pop songs are TOTAL cheese. You just have to go in 110 percent. I can't stand music that hedges its bets. I don't know if that really answers your question, so let me just say that Ke$ha's "Party At A Rich Dudes House" is a solid power pop tune.

What's the craziest thing you've seen or experienced while on tour?

I can't tell if San Francisco or Vancouver has gnarlier junkies. For the most part I save my crazy nights for home. On the road I'm "on the clock."

How does it feel to be referred to as a "taste making royalty who can break an act single-handedly"?

You can refer to me as whatever you want, just spell my name right on the check!

So many DJ's stay focused on just spinning one style of music, yet you've spun many different types of sets (rock to dancehall to hip-hop) at different places. Why?

Everything I play is stuff that I genuinely love and am obsessed with musically. On a career level, sometimes that's made it difficult - people think you play hip hop and won't book you for the dance festival, and vice versa. But I could never be happy limiting myself. I want to play everything. That said, I don't force music on anyone, but its fun to throw in stuff that's "not supposed to be there" and give things a new context wherever possible.

Explain the need to start Fool's Gold?

A-Trak and I simply wanted to put out our friends' music - we saw that we were all influencing music scenes around the world, but there was no label to represent us with real, official releases. We wanted to create something that represented our world as DJs, something to stand as a reflection of our personal tastes. Almost three years later, that's still the governing principle, and we're able to back that up with more ambitious goals and better organization. The label started in my kitchen, now we have an office and employees. Iit feels good.

Any current bands/artists you're listening to that you would love to remix?

The indie and dance world is definitely over-remixed for the most part. I would love to do a remix for someone bigger who's never had any -the most recent Julian Casablanca's album, its puzzling they didn't commission something cool. Them Crooked Vultures, or even something mainstream likeParamore. All excellent chances to mess around; there's no expectations or comparisons.

Seems like Brooklyn has this tremendous amount of music coming form there right now. Does this influence what you do in anyway?

I'm highly skeptical of anyone trying to talk about a Brooklyn "scene". "There's so many separate little pockets of people doing their own thing. Honestly, I wish there was more overlap. But I do think there's an attitude that comes from living in New York in general. You can't slack, you can't sleep, you're shoved up against every kind of person in the world and you have to fight to stand out - I think that attitude comes across in everything we do.

Edward Stuart is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.