"One day people will understand me!": Doorly explains his genreless ideology

Having emerged from a small and local Yorkshire scene a few years ago, DJ, producer, promoter, presenter and label boss Doorly had a great year in 2011. 

Not only did he undertake a nine-month tour of the planet, but so too did he play almost every club on the island of Ibiza (his summer home for the last five years), act as tour DJ for R&B megastar Usher and continue his close relationship as resident, host and frontman with the illustrious Ibiza Rocks.

It’s clear to see, then, that what separates this man from the crowd is his ability to play – and fit in with – any line-up of talent no matter the style of music.

Ahead of a busy summer ahead, we caught up with the DJ, producer, label head and radio presenter.

How are you, what you been up to?
I'm great, just got back from another big USA tour and I've got a couple of weeks of solid studio time polishing up some collabs I’ve been working on with Grandmaster Flash, Beardyman, Reverend & The Makers and Jake Shears, plus a load of deeper original stuff.
 
How different is life now than just before you broke through?
A hell of a lot busier and much more exciting. These days I get crazy offers to go and play in the most beautiful places in the world. In the last two weeks I've played on the beach in Los Angeles, in the snowy mountains in Austria and at 4am in a packed Fabric in London to name but a few!
 
What’s your favourite part of your job?
The gigs. I still get really excited about every show. I'm a DJ first and foremost so every other aspect of what I do is to feed my gigs and make them better.
 
Tell us about your new Rinse Show?

Yep I did a few one offs and they went really well, so I’m excited that my show will now go monthly on rotation with Zinc & Redlight. I cant wait to get stuck into this, it's so much fun being on air with a live worldwide audience and the Rinse Collective of DJs is an absolute statement of cool and forward thinking, boundary pushing music.

Why are you so keen on playing all genres?
Because music changes so quickly and I don’t want to be stuck in one place as a DJ or a Producer. I get bored too easily and I like to play a bit of everything in my sets and constantly challenge myself as a producer to hopefully keep finding new sounds
 
Does it ever present any problems?
Yep definitely, I sometimes divide my fans as the ones who are into the dubstep I make, will find a deep house track that I have made boring and likewise the other way round, but hopefully there’s a vein running through all of my music - and definitely my DJ sets that brings it all together. One day people will understand me!
 
What’s been the most important lesson you've learnt?
Be nice to everyone you meet, nobody likes a dick!
 
Tell us about your label…
It's based around my genreless ideology. its called "Pigeonhole This!" and my aim is to create a totally boundaryless stable of artists, the first of which will be a band called Extra Curricular whose EP should be out in May.
 
How different are gigs across the world in terms of reactions?
America is crazy right now, the dance music scene over there has exploded and the kids have insane energy, although you do have to water down your sets a little and play more obvious bangers.  In the UK we seem to be less inclined to totally lose our inhibitions and it's a lot cooler head bopping stuff going on inside our dancefloors, but musically we're streets ahead and always onto the next new sound which is great and feeds the rest of the world.
 
Why is Ibiza so special for you?
Yeah definitely, it has been my summer home for the last five years and the whole energy there is incredible because everyone is on holiday so instantly you're winning there. Then add to that some of the most amazing line ups in the world... every night of the week!
 
What are you most looking forward to this year?
Hideout Festival was so good last year, so I’m staying for four days this year to make the most of it! But I cant wait for the Ibiza season to start as well, some of the line ups this year at our Ibiza Rocks shows are crazy. Also I’ve just signed with a new Agent in America who I know is going to book me onto some huge stuff, so I can’t wait for that as well!

Find out more about Doorly

Catch Doorly at the following events this Summer:

May 27th: Ushuaia opening party, Ibiza,

2nd June: Big Beach Bootique 5, Brighton

27th June - 1st July: Hideout Festival, Croatia