Episode 36 is coming straight at you from Canada courtesy of Vancouver based DJ, Frig FM radio host, and garden party aficionado Roman Kandle. We caught up with Roman to talk about Vancouver’s music scene, garden parties and radio shows. Catch the interview below
Hey Roman greetings from the UK, thanks for coming on the blog. Let’s kick off the interview with a bit of background. Can you tell us when you started DJ’ing? What has your journey looked like from the first time you touched a pair of decks to now?
When I was about 21 (about 10 years ago) I would always hang out at a tiny dive called the Baby Bar in Spokane WA. Everyone once in a while this guy named DJ James Pants would place, some diverse dance music, and my favorite song he played was The Bomb 1995. As soon as I heard those horns I knew I loved disco, but I wasn’t really into all the music he played and that’s when I knew I wanted to play a sound of my own.
But I didn’t have any friends who were DJ’s or were in that scene, let alone knew what a pair of CDJ’s were. It wasn’t until a few years later I moved to Olympia WA and decided to get some DJ gear. It all started with a Google search on “how to DJ” and I ended up buying a beginner mixer by American Audio with Virtual DJ.
One of my buddies came over, we set everything up, and as you can imagine it all sounded really really bad. I was really into Blog House during that time and the BPM’s for tracks were all over the place. Now I really feel confident playing vinyl.
Can you cite any club nights, DJ’s or collectives that have influenced and informed your DJ style?
While in Olympia WA, there was a really cool monthly called Dark Disko. The venue was this creepy bar called the Crypt and it was my first experience with some real underground techno and dance music. I met made lots of friends who were DJ’s, producers and musicians.
This was around ’12-’14 and I was listening to Anjuna, Dusky, Ejeca, Foamo, Diplo, Disclosure, Skream, Dirtybird, AC Slater, Reset Safari, and pretty much all the bassy house music most people start getting into. Even though I don’t play too much bass music these days, it’s where I get my high energy style.
For the benefit of our UK listenership is there any local talent from Vancouver or Canada that you really think is worth keeping an eye on?
Oh fuck yea! My homie Overland is making huge waves in the acid techno scene, keep an eye on her. My homie Nick Garneau, badass dude who makes so much music, he’s always keeping my inbox full of new tracks. One of my other friends Ryan Wells just moved to London, he always hustling, and he helped me make lots of friends when I first moved to Vancouver four years ago.
How would you describe Vancouver’s music scene? Do you feel you have an abundance of clubs and creative spaces in the city or is there a lot of friction with the authorities when it comes to throwing parties?
I wouldn’t say there’s really any friction with authorities, the friction is all with landowners. For many reasons he real estate in Vancouver is expensive as fuck, and rent is through the roof. Lots of artist studios get renovicted, or just see their rent go up 2 or 3 times. There aren’t many venues, but the ones we have get used as often as possible so it creates a close community.
You’ve been hosting some really interesting annual day time parties in a friends backyard involving a pirate ship and a half pipe! Can you tell us a bit more about these events, how they began and what’s the goal behind them?
Some of my Irish friends live in this house that came with a derelict half pipe in their backyard, so we decided to jazz it up and turn it into a mini stage festival. We wanted to create a bush party, but close to home. The party was so huge the police shows up like 5 times until they finally shut it down at 8pm.
I think when they came they were actually impressed with our entire getup but apparently you could hear the bass blocks away. The next one we rented a smaller system, but pretty much they all end the same way with the police making their presence known. Luckily the cops in Vancouver seem pretty chill and they’ve never fined us or anything like that.
You also run a radio show called Frig FM. How did that show come about? Is there a big underground radio scene in Canada?
Frig FM comes from the name we have for our group of friends; Frig Fam. It came about from a few summers after a bunch of spent a weekend in a mansion on Pender Island. A couple crazy nights of partying, Djing, making each other food and getting super silly.
We created group chat of like 50 people and called it the Frig Fam. With so many people in a group chat it was hard not to hang out with the friends every single day that summer. I can’t really comment on the state of underground radio, but you should check out www.n10.as radio!
Let’s move on to the music you put together for the blog. What does your DJ set up look like and how did you approach the mix?
Right now I have 2 black Technic MK2’s, a Traktor S8 and a couple of Rokit 8’s to make it all bump. I know Traktor is not a club favourite, but at home I really like the option of being able to record my mixes using just my mixer and laptop. Also the extra pad banks really help out when I play samples during the radio show.
I like to approach my mixes similar to writing a paper. Making a first rough draft with about 20 tracks and just playing it live and recording it from the get go. After that I’ll listen to it a couple times and looks for holes or ideas that just don’t work.
I’ll refine the track selection and order then record another mix. Most of the time I’m pretty happy after 2 or 3 recordings, but I’ve done a lot more in the past.
The mood for this mix is mostly playing chill groovers, I recently got back from Basscoast festival, so my energy was a bit faded out and I just wanted to make a mix I can listen to while working or relaxing from home.
Are there any stand out tracks from the mix that you would like to share with our listeners?
Yes! Toward the end of the mix comes Mall Grab – The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter (Overland Remix). This psychedelic acid worker is exactly how I felt coming home from Basscoast. Also towards the end Garneau – What Work?.
Finally, what’s on the horizon for you DJ wise? Have you got any other mixes coming up or any parties you’re playing at?
August 24th I’ll be playing a daytime party at The Waldorf in Vancouver, and I have a special episode of Frig FM in the works where I’ll be mixing vinyl that I got from a recent trip to Tokyo with an accompanying video.
