Skol

Unless you’ve been chilling out in the Tibetan Mountains for the last four years or so DJ Skol will mean something to you. Whether he is ripping up the dance floor and inadvertently shitting up the next DJ who has got to follow or putting together beats, grooves and rhythms for a track, Skol knows exactly what he is doing and why he’s doing it. Today he is one of the most sought after underground hard house DJ’s in the country and his spirit and enthusiasm remains instrumental in the sustained growth of the underground house scene.     He’s already making his mark in the DJ archives. Skol is one of the hardest working, enthusiastic and ambitious DJ’s you are likely to find. In the current musical climate his attitude is very refreshing. It embraces " we got something really special here the underground is where it all began, the roots of all music culture. In 88 it was all very new and the attitude was we want this and more- what’s the difference today it still the same music just a new crowd. The underground is about attitude- it’s all in your attitude" at least that is the way he puts it anyway.

Sitting in his South London home Skol is talking non- stop about his life, music, the scene, travelling abroad and producing music. I get the impression that he is having trouble trying to get everything out he wants to say so I reassure him I’ve got a few hours to spare. I realize it really isn’t hard to like him either- he is relaxed, easy-going, genuine and quite charming. What’s more he is really passionate about the underground and music. He tells me "I really want to do this- I mean I have found something in life I really want to do. I have tried all the drugs there are and believe me there is no better buzz than when you play and the crowd goes off". It is hard to believe those words have come from one of the fastest rising DJ’s in the UK who stands way over 6ft 3" tall and resembles a kind of rugged Adonis’s- but I can tell by the look in his eyes that he really does mean it.

Skol’s DJ career began just over eight and a half years ago. At the time he was working on building sites- but one day a week he worked security at London’s Chunnel Club. It was here that he decided to turn his life around and harness his life long affinity with music. Whether it was coincidence or fate- he was asked to mind a friends decks for two months. That spring he spent 12 hours a day, seven days a week for two months solid and taught himself how to mix. Just one month later he played his first gig at Freshly Squeezed at Club 414 in Brixton, then a few weeks on his first big gig at Sunnyside Up. In the next twelve months he established himself as a promising new talent and his mushrooming popularity made him a favourite in the capital’s underground party circuit. From there the rest is history.

The quick road of success stemming from these early days has all been the result of one contributing factor- his attitude. He’s persistent, he’s ambitious and he is not afraid to show it. "Establishing yourself as a DJ really requires the right attitude- three years ago a pretty well known DJ told me to stick to scaffolding and security- things like that just make me want it more. A lot of people have the misconception that Djing is just so cool- but it’s a lot hard work. You got to be out there promoting yourself all the time- you know out of sight out of mind. I was a punter before I was a DJ and I always keep in mind what is important and that is the people. They are what make the scene- I will always remain in touch with the punters, I will never get stuck up my own ass because the people that come to see me play is why I am where I am. Today I have got the opportunity to play in Ibiza, South Africa and throughout Europe, and that’s great but what I always remember is what I like best and where it all started is playing right here in London. The big clubs I play like Heaven, Hanover Grand or Camden Palace are great, but I always feel most it home when I’m playing at a dirty underground venue when the crowd are just so up for it and the vibe is just unbelievable. It is just so real and magical- it is what it really is all about."

Skol has earned his name as one of the hardest working DJ's. In last six months- he has played gigs in South Africa (returning to both Durban Cape town twice), played two weeks in Ibiza, enlightened Portugal for three days and also travelled to Scotland and Ireland for many guest DJ sets. He has also kept high profile in London and the south-east playing at all the finest underground events and still maintained all his London residencies- Rude not too @ Trenz, Just Groove @ Club 414, Tickle @ the Hanover Grand, Embrace @ The Chunnel Club, Sunnyside Up @ SW1 and the Sanctuary @ Grays. He is one of the DJ’s who burns the candle at both ends to make our weekends worthwhile. In the next three months he’s playing two days in Norway, a week in Ibiza, a huge gig in Israel alongside Taucher and returning once again to Durban (303 club) and Cape town. As a DJ he is well on the way to establishing himself on a global scale- playing regularly alongside premier league DJ’s including Steve Thomas, Pete Wardman, Ian M, John OO Fleming, Lab4and last year his most memorable sets with the revolutionary Tony De Vit. Irrelevant of how busy he gets he always gives punters 100%. He explains to me " you got to always remember what is important when your playing- that’s the people. It is the people who make a DJ it doesn’t matter how good you are if you don’t play exclusively for the crowd then your not really fulfilling the obligation you have to the punters".

Like most, his move into production has been the next step on from Djing. Skol has spent the last four years really getting in form with music and his own style. So now it is only a natural progression to start making his own music. "I really want forward motion with my production, but in the same breath I’m not rushing to get my tunes out. I want to make quality tunes, with my own sound. I don’t want to jump on the bandwagon just so I can have records with my name on, so I can say -hey I’ve made some tunes. A lot of people think I just play hard house and that is all that I’m into, but I have got a lot of different influences. I’m not the kind of person that just plays hard house- I get a lot of work playing that in clubs and a lot of people may think that’s all that I’m into but that is just the way some people are. It doesn’t bother me- but just cause people are booking me to play hard house doesn’t mean that is all I like. The thing is that is a promoter books me to play a set and the music policy is hard house then that’s what I’ll play. At the end of the day the punters have paid money to see me play hard house so I am not going to go and play a drum and bass set. I play for the crowd and I’m not some ego-tripper that wants to educate and show that I’m versatile. People have paid to come to a hard house party not to be educated. The industry just likes to pigeonhole DJ’s and it’s nobody’s fault it is just the way it is. But still it is wrong to assume that just cause I play hard house that is all I know.

My father, Sam Kelly is a Jazz & Blues musician- so I have been brought up with jazz and blues, R/B, reggae, hip hop- there are loads of musical influences in there. I am really into techno, drum and bass, trance, break beat- just cause I’m not playing it out doesn’t mean I’m not into it. It’s all music and when the time comes I want to play out at more eclectic clubs and techno clubs- it is just now I’m booked solid with hard house clubs. I think a lot of people will be surprised with my own music production. For the last year I’ve been concentrating on my studies and getting in form with the equipment and the studio. Whilst I have been studying production and producing now for a year it has just been recently that I have developed a sound that is really me. I mean my early releases on Sunnyside Up’s "As it is" were made for my compilation on the CD. It was my first time in a studio and looking back now I’m glad I didn’t approach a label at the time. I know I am really in form with the music now, I don’t sound like I am following other producer’s formulas- it sounds like Skol. I have got this sound that has come around from loads of different influences and now I am ready to hone in on it and develop it cause it’s fresh and I feel really comfortable with it. I think the problem today is that so many people will see a formula working and jump on it and pump out tunes that really just satisfy two minutes of a DJ set and that’s it. I don’t want people to think my music sounds like someone else or a particular label. I want to keep working on my tracks and it won’t be necessary to get them out straight away- cause they will stand the test of time. If a track must be released within a certain time- then it really must be following the current formulas- if it can be released in a year then you know you’ll make a good producer. Now I have completed my Sound Engineering course at college I have the time to concentrate on releasing my own tunes. Time isn’t really a factor cause I am still quite new into the scene. I’ve got working now with a few established producers including Trebleate Recordings, Oberon and Paul Harding and Mark L’Hat & Mickey Smiles from On 1 Records. So I want to learn as much as I can from them. Most of my projects will be released on On 1 Records, although some are made exclusively for the CD. I’m not at liberty to say too much at this stage but the album samplers come out in late July and the CD- a double pack with DJ Roosta should be out at the end of summer if we don’t encounter many of the musical industry hiccups. It’s a club mix in association with a very established Record label so at the moment I’m concentrating on that. I’m testing them out on dub-plate- seeing the crowd reactions, cause it is one thing a track being DJ friendly but another thing for it to also be dance floor friendly. At this stage it is not important for me to rush in and set up my own label cause a have a lot of friends with labels and I would prefer to go about it that way. I would rather just produce a track and then use my contacts and find homes for them. If it takes six months or so I am not to worried cause all the time I will be learning from people who know. What’s more I will stay in touch with the people- right now nothing beats playing out. I mean it makes me buzz when I test out a tune I have written myself and the crowd goes off. But at the moment there’s some wicked tunes coming out that I really want to play and when I play them the feeling is the same when the crowd goes wild. There are some talented producers out there who are taking music further all the time. If it is an up-in-coming producer that’s given me a dub-plate to play for them- and the crowd goes off, I really do get a great feeling from that to. I play for the crowd and I know it’s a cliché now but I really do. Whether I am playing or not it’s like let’s fuckin av it- and they do".

Sometimes we tend to forget the people that keep dance culture alive and fresh, DJ Skol is one of these activists. Through his music, his attitude, his actions, his spirit and his enthusiasm  he continues to remind us just why we lived clubbing in the first place. He's keeping the juices flowing as the clock moves closer to 2000. DJ Skol- he's as smooth as clockwork and dance culture to a "D".