Warm house sounds from across the Pennines courtesy of Sheffield party starter DV8. DV8, real name Adam Dickens has been throwing it down in Sheffield for just over a year. In that short time he has carved himself out a budding career playing at some of Sheffields hottest venues.
His mix for AMF is a reflection on his sound and ethos, classic house tunes with some emotional clout and a killer bass line. Check out our writer Sean‘s below for more details on the steel cities newest sound.
Hi Adam thanks for coming on the blog. Can you give us a brief overview of your DJ career upto this point? When did you first get into mixing and why. Where are you hoping to get to with your music?
Thanks for having me first of all! My career has been somewhat short as of yet, i first started playing sets when i came to university at Sheffield and its approaching a year since my first set out at a local club here for a night that my friend started running ,which i then went on to be a resident for them throughout the year!
So far it’s had its up’s and downs as most people could relate to , especially going through so many phases of reaching the stage where it all comes together and you start to be able to mix and feel comfortable within yourself. I recently played at the 02 Academy main room in Sheffield within my first year of playing out which i see as a good achievement to say a year or so ago i was on the other side of the DJ booth on the dance floor for an event that was going on. I’ve spent lots of time trying to network with people and visit as many events as possible and so far i have met some great people that have given me a lot of solid advice, which i try to relay onto other people if possible as its such a hard industry and trade to get into.
I have only really been mixing for about a year and a couple of months so it was only a few months from starting to mix to my first set which was a bit daunting! It was mainly an impulsive thing as i used to spend most weekends at different events and just used to get a buzz off them so much and also loved the music, so just felt right to give it a try and i’ve not looked back since.
I am hoping to try play out more and set myself small short term targets just like i did in my first year. It would be great to start my own night at some point in the future but the main aims for the coming year is production and getting the ideas i have down and try create some music for people!
Your mix is a medley of classic house tunes with elements of disco. Have you spent a long time curating your sound? Is it something that came naturally to you or did you look at DJ’s you admire and club nights for inspiration?
I tend to switch up my styles quite often and i try not to bound myself to a genre but this is sort of the sound i am enjoying the most at the moment so i guess it depends really on the day how i’m feeling. I can go from playing downtempo beats or even heavy techno sometimes , but the music i love the most are definitely with tasty vocals in it and heavy bass lines, i think the majority of the tracks i play in my mix have some nice vocals to it so i guess the mix reflects on my true music love.
I’ve spent days and days before collecting lots of music that i think i like but when it comes to mixing i’ve absolutely hated it so i try play music i feel is good in a mix and not just a song i’d listen to say on Spotify. Some older Mall Grab performances inspired me into the sound i wanted to focus on and there are some incredible disco / house performances being pumped out currently.
For inspiration i’ve found sometimes i’ve been to a festival or something and came home suddenly with a better understanding of mixing and could have not played in weeks and i would be better than before which i find weird, especially when i was in Ibiza i came home on a totally different level. Solid Grooves especially being one of my favourite labels/club nights changed the game for me as i love the sound of the majority of stuff thats released on that label.
Moving onto your mix how did you approach the hour? Was it a case of planning out every track or did you just rock up to your turntables with a few tracks and figure it out from their?
I pretty much just woke up one day and had a few drinks and turned up to my decks and played what i felt was right in the moment, not the usual way i’d go about things but i feel like the track selection really did reflect on what i am all about at the minute. Pardon the pun but i have a small playlist called “Feel Good House” with a lot of similar tracks that have nice vocals in them for them hangover cure vibes. I don’t tend to plan mixes but i do spend a lot of time searching for music and constantly listening to it almost to the point of completely hating it. If i plan a set out too much it usually sounds forced when i listen back and end up listening to it a few times and just delete it.
In terms of mixing the set i feel it could’ve been a bit cleaner and it’s definitely a little rough around the edges at some points but that’s how i feel house should be mixed sometimes. But the track selection i am quite happy with so pleased with the outcome!
Are there any standout tracks in the mix you wouldn’t mind sharing with us?
Alicia Myers – I want to thank you (Earl Jeffers Edit) got to be the stand out song for me and one of my favourites at the moment, played it a little too slow, its even better pitched up slightly!
You’re currently the junior events manager at Voodoo events. Has working in the promotions industry helped your DJ career?
It has helped me a great deal as the company i am now working for is with my friend who first gave me the residency, so we are now running an event once a month along side the running of a student night every Friday in Sheffield. I have learnt a lot in such a short space of time in terms of event management and also met a lot of people with so much valuable knowledge. Also its great for networking as in the nightclub industry you just don’t know who you’re going to meet!
In our monthly event we also promote local talent and have given a fair few of young like minded people some sets throughout the year and even given a few residencies to play more often with us.
What’s the club scene like in Sheffield at the moment? I’ve only been out once in Sheffield 7 years ago and I went to corporation (The horror!). Do you feel the city has a vibrant scene or is it, like many other cities in the UK, struggling with aggressive councils and a lack of club spaces?
The whole club scene and the events being run in Sheffield right now is amazing and many people tout it to be one of the liveliest places at the moment for booking and diversity of bookings. Hope work’s always pull through with some ridiculous lineups and nights and the venue is just as good. The Harley also has some amazing bookings alongside a lot of local up and coming talent.
There is a great mixture in things to do in terms of clubs/raves in Sheffield, lots of popular student club nights , there are clubs that have more mainstream bookings and there also events that have a very underground feeling to them. In terms of club spaces there are plenty to go at, luckily i haven’t encountered any issues in terms of councils like a lot of places and some nights at Hopework’s usually go on until 7AM.
There tends to be a night out on every single day of the week in Sheffield and a fair few of them are based around “rave music” of some sort, especially how huge Bassline and Drum and Bass is here.
What i love the most about Sheffield is there are so many different event organizers and the majority of them tend to be close knit and share out each others events so there isn’t as much hostility , at the moment i feel it’s a healthy place to be and there are so many great people out there that have a lot of time for you.
I have found there are a lot of student house parties always going off which i think is good for the scene. A lot of local DJ’s tend to show up and it’s quite a good way for people to showcase their talents and also practice. You will find there are so many people in Sheffield into the similar sort of thing so it’s good to be surrounded by like minded people with similar interests as you.
Finally, what’s coming up in the near future for you? Do you have any gigs in the pipeline you can tell us about or projects you’re working on?
We are running our club night at the start of December which hopefully will be one of our biggest nights. We are working on some stuff for our event though so hopefully be able to start going bigger and better in 2019!
Currently have a few things that could potentially come but not finalised yet so don’t want to jinx myself. I am hoping to start moving out of Sheffield and go to some neighbouring cities if possible!
Short term goals? Basically just keep playing out at almost any opportunity i get and pumping out my mixes. Production is also something i am working on sporadically so hopefully some things to release in 2019.
Thanks for having me and i do hope the mix is enjoyed
If you haven’t had you fill of classic house music check out Downunder Disco’s mix.
