Exclusive Interview With Carl Cox: What To Expect At ‘Pure’ 2016

We recently had a long chat with the ever so lovely Carl Cox, who’s pumped for ‘Pure’ in April this year. He will present the first installment of his own unique festival in Oz. Taking place in Melbourne and Sydney, ‘Pure’ will showcase players from the global techno and house movements and will feature Carl’s favourite peers, as selected and programmed by him and Eric Powell of Bush Records. Carl Cox is definitely one of the most charming DJs in the business. He’s a world musical ambassador, a champion of techno, a dance music pioneer, label owner, ‘Rev head’ and he proudly calls Australia home. We talked about his exciting past, about the even more ambitious current, and about future plans within the music industry. Here’s the interview lowdown.

Hey Carl Cox, thanks for chatting to us! How are you this morning?

No problem! I’m great thanks.

How has 2016 been for you so far? Do you miss Space Ibiza at all or is this the start of a new chapter?

I’ve done a few parties in Australia already that I’ve enjoyed this year so far, and at New Years I played a festival in New Zealand, called Rhythm & Alps which was just fantastic. On New Years Day I came back to Melbourne to play Alumbra, which was great too, and they had a great response to my house and techno music. All the parties have been amazing and I’ve been enjoying the summer here! I’m looking forward to Pure, but meanwhile its something that I have to do before getting back over to Europe, and of course this being my last season at Space Ibiza for me, once it finishes this year I will miss it a lot. Every year on the island since 1989 I’ve done nothing but play at Space Ibiza, so as you can imagine 27 years is a large part of your life. I’ve really enjoyed it but yeah I’m going to miss it terribly.

We’re really excited you’re playing at Pure 2016 on the Anzac Weekend! Will your set have any surprises?

The thing is about Pure, I have really no idea what to expect until I actually get there. The DJ’s we’ve chosen for this one are really amazing! I love that we were able to get in contact with Joseph Capriati, he’s one of the very busiest DJ’s right now and the hottest around, as well as Format:B, the artist who had one of the biggest records that came out in 2015, called Chunky. From one side where we have us playing music, we really are looking for a good solid crowd to come and enjoy the ideals of what I’m bringing to the table, here in Australia. So I can be very happy knowing that in the end, we can enjoy this festival and develop on it, especially as it’s our first event.

Yeah it should be exciting! So what are your ambitions with the Pure event? If its successful, do you aim to turn it into an annual bespoke Carl Cox event or create a brand with it?

Absolutely. I think its something people can believe in and understand. I mean I live here myself and I’ve been living here for the last 11 years, so I’m dedicated to the cause of music been played here and supported. This music has been around for a long, long time, its not a phase, its here to stay. All we need to do now is nurture it and enjoy what we have, for years to come. Now for me to be able to create something here in Australia, I feel very passionate about and also proud at the fact I’m able to put something out on the doorstep where I actually live. With that, I can feel that I’m always coming home or I that I can feel a good part in the development of house and techno music in Australia. With Pure, I think it can open doors for quite a lot of creativity to happen here, so it’s not just like another event, its something I feel very close to.

So have you had a good reaction from the public towards pure 2016? 

I think people are definitely excited about it. I mean I went out to a comedy club last night and the guy that was serving me had just bought his ticket two hours before I turned up, and he didn’t even know I was going to be there! So you can imagine the smile on his face when he randomly got to see me on downtime, but he was very happy and pleased that he bought a ticket, he’s really looking forward to it and I’m sure that many others that have got tickets are also feeling the same. It’s not like any festival where you’re swamped by 50,000 people in a middle of a field somewhere, this is somewhere where you can feel much more close with, and the idea is that you’ll always feel comfortable each time we create these events.

You’re playing at Melbourne’s Shed 14 and Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion. So what made you choose Australia to hold Pure there?

Well we felt that we’d keep it relatively small, something that we can really handle, and create a good initial buzz in what we believe in. What I would like is for people to come for the music, because of the DJ’s and for the ideals of why you go out in the evening. I’m trying to get back to the ideals of why people really buy tickets, and with that it shouldn’t really matter what DJ’s are playing, because if I’m booking them, they’re chosen because they have a certain talent, a certain je ne sais quoi and are top quality. My ideals is to start something which is Pure, which is organic, something that can grow organically and that you can feel part of. For me I feel very honoured that I’m able to host this in Australia, because I’ve been coming here every year since 1989, so I feel kind of compelled to do something in Oz.

You said your aim was to support the techno and house community in Australia, does this mean you want to encourage up and coming artists in the genre?

Well the thing is, its really hard for any DJ to break out with their music in Australia. So what happens here is that the only way you can basically be seen, earn money, cross the waters to play in Europe and beyond, is to be commercial. It’s the only way. And the biggest problem with that, is anyone who wants to be successful has to become commercial to be successful. So therefore you miss out all the beautiful, most amazing records ever made from an underground point of view. Anything that’s No. 1 or the biggest, always falls back down to earth. So if you become the biggest commercial orientated DJ in Australia, your only direction to go once at the top, is back down again. The ideals of Pure festival is to play the best music, and have people listen the best music possible. I don’t want to create a festival where commercially, I have to put bums on seats just to make money. The idea is if a record you don’t know comes on, you haven’t heard before, and a DJ’s plays that record, you will get absolutely taken aback by its purity. That’s probably one of the sole reasons why I’m still here doing what I do. I feel more compelled to play a track people don’t know, yet are still dancing to it.

Do you enjoy living in Melbourne, or being based there as I assume you’re always travelling?

Once I get to Australia, there is no-where else I’d rather be. It’s so far from the rest of the world, there’s so much to offer here in Australia in a sense of the beauty of it- its wineries, its mountain ranges, the lakes, just everything. I live on the Peninsula and there’s water everywhere, I just enjoy it. I find myself to be able to be the person I am. If I want to walk away from everything, I can quite easily; I can get to Tasmania quite well, New Zealand if I want to. I love it here, I think it suits what I need perfectly.

What do you reckon the most amazing location is you’ve ever played?

As you can imagine, I have played in some amazing places. I’ve played in Barbados and as it’s a tiny Caribbean island, its beautiful. Playing on the beach there is probably one of the nicest places I can think of!

Do you get to enjoy chill time or is most of it spent working?

When I get back from Europe to Melbourne between November to March, I’m kind of able to do what I want to do, in terms of chilling and relaxing, and just live a little! For the rest of the time, all the other months are full with my tour schedule. And I appear everywhere, Germany, France, Spain, literally all around. But as soon as I’m back in Oz, I’m right in my hammock watching the sun go down.

Sounds Perfect! Although it has been around a long time, we feel that house and techno music has really exploded onto the mainstream global scene over the last year, where do you see the future of house music?

Well I think house and techno music has just got more understood, as a genre of sound. And the thing is, the sound of this music in the late 80s and the people who were into house at that time are over 50 now, so probably don’t go out anymore. So you have a whole new genre of people who are into techno now and feel as if its fresh. If I played a track from 1989 and played it to the new generation of people today, they would think it’s a brand new record. For me, that record was always very well produced and very well executed- it’s the perfect example of a house record. If I played that today, they will think it’s Disclosure! I don’t think much has changed in a sense of what the genre stands for, I just think time has moved on and now people get to understand the true meaning of what house music, deep house or future house is. At the end of the day, you have to feel it and it has to feel you, you have to understand the reason behind why it makes you move and where it takes you. So for me its fantastic, as you can always mix the old and the new and it still sounds fresh today, and I’m having a lot of fun doing just that. You’ve got at least another thirty years of house to come. People are now believing its part of their life-culture. I guess house is that soundtrack to your weekend, so it’s not going anywhere!

And finally, After Pure festival, whats the next step for your career?

To be honest, I am going to be stepping down a little bit, from what I’ve been doing for many years. I do want to still become an ambassador and work on my record label. You know, where I’ve been on the front line, on the decks for so many years, I believe my time has come where I feel I should take more of a back seat, which suits me fine as the travelling aspect is probably the hardest thing I do. In a sense with saying all that, it’s going to be hard stepping back as it’s something which I love to do so much. For now, I’m not focusing on albums and instead making some remixes which I’m enjoying. This year should go pretty quickly and then from next year you should see a step back from my career.

Thanks so much for talking to us and good luck with Pure 2016! 

By Suanne Cunningham

PURE 2016: ANZAC Day Long Weekend:

Saturday 23 April – Hordern Pavilion, Sydney
Time: 4pm – 1am
18+ ID Required
Tickets: https://www.ticketek.com.au

Sunday 24 April – Shed 14, Melbourne
Time: 4pm – 1am
18+ ID Required
Tickets: https://moshtix.com.au

LINE-UP:
Carl Cox, Joseph Capriati,Format:B,DJHMC and Eric Powell

Supports:
Murat Kilic + Mantra Collective (Sydney)
Mike Callander + Scott Freedman (Melbourne)