“I’ve been touring my Four Seasons release and concentrating on Las Vegas which has been my residency for a few years now, and working on my artist album which is coming out next year. So yeah I’ve been very busy.” I suggest that it seems he’s been “very busy” for about 30 years, which invokes a hearty chuckle. “Yeah you could say that, but that’s what’s wonderful about the electronic world, you progress, you develop. I mean, years ago I never thought I’d be scoring movies and from there having a residency in Las Vegas.”
Despite spending many of his formative years in the UK, he’s currently based in LA, where he relocated around 10 years ago to try and crack the US market and focus on producing movie soundtracks. Since then he’s worked on the soundtracks for Swordfish, Matrix Reloaded, The Bourne Identity and Collateral, and he also gives us a scoop that he is starring as himself in an upcoming Christian Bale film.
Oakenfold was instrumental in breaking dance music in America, starting a wave that has now built to epic proportions. As well as having an extensive knowledge of music, he works hard and is an astute businessman. Oakey, as he’s affectionately known, has always been in the right place at the right time. Since his early years, his story is tightly woven into the fabric and evolution of dance music, taking DJs out of the underground clubs and onto the worldwide stage.
Travelling to NYC in the ‘80s, young Paul witnessed the birth of hip hop, which profoundly affected him, consolidating his passion for music and inspiring him to dive headlong into the music industry. Very soon he was back in London working as an A&R rep for Champion Records and was in fact responsible for signing Salt-n-Pepa, as well as a little known hip hop act by the name of DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince, aka Will Smith – who went on to do alright for himself.
Later on he travelled to Ibiza and was responsible for bringing the Balearic House style to the UK, pivotal in the rise of the Manchester scene alongside The Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses. He toured with acts like U2 and Madonna back then, was nominated for Grammys and became the first DJ to ever play the main stage at Glastonbury. But enough about his past. As Oakey himself says, he’s always focussed on the future, and right now he’s focussed on his residency in Las Vegas, which he calls the Ibiza of America.
“My residency was at The Palms, but now I’ve moved to playing pool parties at The Hard Rock. Three years ago I started playing Vegas – they weren’t even into electronic music then. But I really worked at it and now it’s become what Ibiza is to Europe – it’s the focus point for electronic music now. Especially in the last year, it’s become really big. America has finally caught up with the rest of the world,” he wryly comments.
His current Full On Fluoro club tour is on the back of his mix series Four Seasons. Each of the four mixes is based on the seasons in terms of tone and sound. “The whole idea of this tour is to go back to the roots of what electronic music is all about and play some familiar songs with a different touch, as well as cutting edge new music – and it’s accompanied by a minimal, but very compelling visual show.”
While he may be going back to his roots for this tour, one thing that will be different to 20 years ago is he won’t be playing vinyl – though having this as a foundation for his mixing skills like many of veteran DJs gives him an intangible edge lacking in many of the new generation. While technology has definitely done amazing things for dance music, DJs don’t have to practice for hours on end on their 1200s to develop vinyl mixing skills.
“It’s a lot easier now,” he says matter-of-factly. “Technology has made it much easier for people to DJ and make music. The production levels, the sounds that you use need to be original and a lot of people are copying everyone else at the moment, which is a shame ‘cause it’s getting very repetitive out there – everyone just seems to be playing the same music.”
His new artist album, tentatively titled Pop Killer, is coming out next year and features some big name collaborations, including the likes of Infected Mushroom and Red Hot Chili Peppers, as well as a range of international vocalists singing in different languages – but for now he’s back doing what he loves most, with a total of 200 gigs scheduled in 2012. “I wanted to focus on playing more underground music this year. I’ve really gotten back into DJing of late and am really enjoying it!”
BY ALFRED GORMAN
