Nick Curly: Northerners love a party

Image:Nick Curly

Mannheim is a small city in Germany of around 300,000 people, just a minor speck in comparison to the techno heartland of Berlin, yet it still boasts Timewarp - one of the most celebrated, longstanding techno extravangazas in the world, that thousands flock to each year and is renowned for its so called 'Mannheim Sound'.

Nick, who grew up in the city, is very much a vanguard of that, having been shaped by the city's club culture. It could be said that he's outgrown it's borders, having conquered Ibiza with a residency at Space, championed two successful labels and been invited to mix Nick Curly In The House with Defected amongst other impressive feats.

His latest venture, Trust, made its inaugural bow at this years BPM festival before taking the world by storm this summer. In September it permeates UK borders making its first appearance in the north at notorious Leeds' haunt, Mint Club. With that in mind, we had a quick chat about his latest project, his flourishing label 8bit and a whole load of other stuff ahead of his appearance on Saturday 26th September. 

Hi Nick, this is the first time Trust hits the North of England, are you looking forward to bringing it to Leeds? Have you played there before?

Oh yes, I'm really looking forward to bringing Trust to the North of England, I know Leeds from my past gigs at Mint and Mono_cult. I have been playing over in Manchester regularly, but for one reason or another not made it to Leeds for a while. There's always been a great vibe there and I have wanted to come back for a long time.

What have you got in store for the night?

On that night I'm bringing my friends Matt Tolfrey, Jordan Peak and Randall M to Mint, a party proofed team of DJs . We’re bringing a family feeling and our best music to Leeds that night, expect great things and a late finish!

Tell us about the idea behind Trust. And what future plans do you have for it?

The idea behind Trust is that we try and add as much personality to the parties as possible. There is a lot of choice for the club crowd these days but I still would like to see more promoters putting efforts in the small details that people remember, whether it is production in the club or making sure that club entry is being run efficiently.

Great music is gonna come as standard – whether I am inviting friends like Guti, Shaun Reeves or Tobi Neumann, or introducing great newcomers like Randall M or Jordan Peak.

The Barcelona party was a big highlight – we found a great open air space, spent a lot of time and money making sure everything was perfect. Even the weather was on our side on that day! In future it would be cool that we get such a level of trust from our crowd that we don't even announce the venue or line up. That would be cool. 

You've taken it all over the world to the likes of BPM and OFF sonar etc etc, how has the experience been?

Experience has been great so far. Most important is to work with promoters that put quality first. This is a must. BPM festival was cool, Miami was our first own production and was good and Barcelona was awesome.

In the next three months we do five parties in the UK and go back to the USA. I look ahead and see the locations and promoters we collaborate with and it makes me really happy that we can give people what I can see in my mind. If we do that, everyone is gonna have a lot of fun.

How would you compare playing at those sorts of festivals to more club oriented gigs like this one? And how do you rate the UK’s club scene in general?

Club gigs are always more personal, which I like. Especially in Mint you have a perfect club feeling - a DJ booth which is close to the crowd and a very good sound-system which helps people understand the idea of the the DJs.

At most festivals I play in a big stage too far away from the audience. Festivals are cool but I am a DJ a long time before I made music and clubs like Mint are pretty much perfect for me to really let go.

The clubscene in the UK I rate very highly. As you can see from my calendar, it is a home from home from me. A lot of German promoters think I’m British! I think the UK crowd have always been forward-thinking and open minded in music, which is why the scene there is so healthy. And northerners love a party! 

There’s been an awful lot of activity on the 8bit imprint recently - what’s the idea behind that, and how does your vision for the label compare to that of Cecille?

As we decided to closed down Cecille Records at the end of 2014, I wanted to focus just on 8bit and create one strong label.

We signed good new acts like Tania Vulcano, Junior Gee and also a great release of Steve Lawler, which will come out early 2015.

The feedback we got on our latest records is great and I think we are doing the right thing with the music at the moment. This is key. 

What can we expect from 8bit in the near future?

As I already said, we're trying to build up the quality of the label. Great team of new acts like Junior Gee, Tania Vulcano and Christian Nilsen, but also long terms acts like Johnny D, Gorge and myself are working on tracks for the label.

You’re known to play more techno oriented sets in clubs and your recent productions are perhaps heavier, although you still have got your ties with Defected from Nick Curly In The House. But where would you say your biggest musical love lies?

As I love music so much in general, I would never say that I love House more than Techno . I'm very open minded for any kind of music.

I buy music that I feel, doesn't matter which genre it is.

I also play the tracks that I think they fit best on my sets to the vibe in a club. I can remember that I played twice a tech house/techno set when I played on a Defected party. The crowd was ready for that music that night 

Taking people on a journey, that's our job, doesn't matter if House, Techno or anything else.

What are your thoughts on the ever changing landscape of house music and the current state it is in at the moment? Are there any producers that you’re particularly excited about?

I'm quite happy where the house music goes at the moment, I think the big "80's bassline" hype is over now and people are ready for some good tech house. I just signed new acts like Junior Gee and Christian Nilsen, definitely two guys to watch out for. 

With all this hectic touring surely you’ll be looking to have a break sooner enough, what do you plan to do with that time and ideally where would you spend it?

That's true, my well needed holiday is in October where I take two weekends off. That time I will move back to my house in Turkey for a few months. This is the perfect place for me to come down after the crazy festival and Ibiza summer.

Pure nature, good weather and a lot of swimming in the sea that makes me get ready for 2015

Finally, hypothetical question. You can throw the ultimate Trust party. You can have on the bill any DJs from past or present, alive or dead. Where would you have the it, who would play alongside you, and what record would you play to define the evening?

I would invite Frankie Knuckles to this event as he is still the DJ that has blown me aways most back in the days with a set on the old Space Terrace in Ibiza where he played 6 hours tracks I never heard before. Me and Frankie all night.

My last record would be "Orion" from Onur Özer. I just played it last night and it's a masterpiece.

Head here for tickets to catch Nick Curly and Trust at Mint Club on Friday 26th September.

Tickets are no longer available for this event