Sian gets back to his roots: “Remember why we got into this, or what’s the point?”

I saw something you said recently which resonated: “Its so important to be on the other side of the decks sometimes”. Can you elaborate on that?

I went to see a friend who plays a very wide range of music DJ. He’s from a rock band and plays a bizarre selection and, to be honest, it was one of the first times my friends and I were out on the dance floor dancing like how we used to do before we worked in the industry. Sometimes at my own gigs you can’t really just let go and get lost out there, but that teaches me a lot about DJing. I was re-acquainted with what it’s like listening to people build up a set through a whole night as a normal person, dancing away on the other side of the decks. I think a lot of people forget that. I know a couple of DJs that will do that, go out in a different city with their friends and be a clubber, which is really lost on a lot of people. They’re too busy bustling their way into a backstage or looking for wristbands. They just don’t really enjoy that feeling of going out and letting go.

People don’t realize that life as a DJ is kind of a weird and lonely lifestyle. You run around in the airport all day, you get to the hotel, you rush out with the promoter, you go and do the gig. Everyone else is having a great night, which is probably their once-a-month big night out and you’re behind this glass and then you head off to the hotel when all of them are going and having adventures. Then you’re off to the airport again. It’s weird - really weird.

You miss that adventure of being a club kid?

Absolutely! There’s nights where I don’t want to be on the other side of the decks. I’ve had some nights out in Ibiza where it was myself, Dubfire, Villalobos, Sven Väth and a whole lot of other people and none of us ended up backstage. All of us were out in the front, in a row dancing and no one was coming over to the bigger guys to bother them. Everyone was just letting loose. Those nights make me think , "Wow, you have to remember why we got into this, or what’s the point?"

Right now techno in the US is pretty strong. Movement is continuing to make waves, kind of carrying the torch for it. New York has a really strong techno scene. What are your thoughts about where the culture is heading? It seems like a tech house vibe is taking over.

One great thing that I always keep in mind is how the EDM net has brought all of these kids into electronic music in general. Maybe they start with Steve Angelo and deadmau5, but then they start to go a little bit deeper and once that big net pulls them in, maybe 30 per cent are going to discover DJs like Dubfire, Richie Hawtin, Adam Beyer and ourselves. Then some will go further and find out about the Romanian guys and the secretsundaze guys and go deeper and deeper. All of a sudden you have these kids who, two years ago, were dancing their ass off to Axwell are now going to Circoloco and bringing some of that home with them. If you get into food or cinema, you start with the most successful point and then if you’re intelligent enough to scratch the surface a bit more, you get more out of it. That’s the beauty. A lot of DJs in my field and techno are so anti-EDM. But they have to look at it in perspective - everyone starts with an entry point. It’s a gateway drug, so to speak.