There is very few people in the world that can say they have performed to over 8,000 people at the age of 15. Even less at one of dance musics most prestigious events. Ilario Alicante is one dance musics hardest workers and a dedicated purveyor of all things techno. He has spent the last 15 years traversing the globe in order to move crowds, create stories and share his passion for dance music. This week he will head to one of dance musics most prestigious venues, Printworks London. Ahead of the show we spoke to the buoyant Italian about life behind the head phones.
You currently hold the record for the youngest person to perform at Time Warp Festival having been booked to perform at the tender age of 15. To have the ability to perform on arguably one of dance music’s biggest stages at such a young age is very impressive. How did it all begin and tell us what it was like to be that age playing at Time War? What can you remember form that night?
I think it’s definitely a night that I won’t ever forget. I played there thanks to a good friend of mine. Dave Ellesmere, listened to me at a gig in Leiden that was organised from an old friend Fokko Versloot. Fokko Versloot had organised a gig in Leiden and Dave Ellesmere saw the show. After that he suggested me to the Time Warp crew and made it happen. I ended up playing a live set in the main room after Marco Carola and before Ben Sims. You can imagine the sort of emotions I was feeling playing between two titans like them, especially at a festival like Time Warp.
You have always considered yourself a clubber first and foremost. Do you think this approach has been pivotal to your success as an artist?
There is an argument that places like Ibiza have become to focused on the visuals with LED screens, lights, lasers or about too much money. What is your opinion on the changing nature of club land?
Everything is changing, developing and mutating. Constantly. It’s normal and natural. Our electronic scene became much more mainstream over the last 5 years. The range of people listening to techno is much wider than before and it’s natural that things change. I’m not against this mutation, because if more people are listening to our music, I’m happy.
The important thing is to maintain the spirit of what we are doing and sharing our core principals with the new listeners. It does not matter if there are more led screens or lasers, the music experience is the focal point. Normally, if someone is using these techniques to catch the attention of the listener it means that there is a lack of something else, music wise.
It’s true that places like Ibiza have changed a bit, but I think that there is still that magical feeling which will never vanish.
Music and the lifestyle it brings can have a hugely psychological effect on the artist. The recent death of Keith Flint has struck a chord with people across the world. How do you deal with the psychological challenges of DJing is this something you have faced in the past?
Lots of people think that the artist’s life is exclusively fun, sex, money and going wild. There are a lot of up and downs in our life. We go from being in front of thousands of people, under constant pressure, to being alone in an hotel room far from the people you love. I never complain about this. Instead I say thanks to God every morning because I get to do what I love.
The stress of traveling without sleep, doing 2 – 3 gigs a day, especially during summer, it’s hard sometimes. I think I am lucky that I never used drugs. I have some friends which are addicted and I truly don’t understand how they can carry on with all that stress plus the drugs on top. Those “ups and down” must become heavier and heavier. It’s easy to fall into a depressed mood when the show finishes.
It is not an easy life being a DJ and to get to the position you have as an artist takes a lot of work and a lot of setbacks. What would you say has been the most important life lesson you have learned since you began DJing?
There are too many people attempting to get close to a DJ because of what the DJ represents. They use their friendship to benefit themselves. I learnt that I have to be careful of opening myself up to some people. I have been hurt in the past with some of my colleagues that I helped with my heart, because I thought that we had a pure friendship. It’s painful to discover that they just used you.
You have an upcoming show at Printworks for Amnesia Presents Pyramid alongside Kolsch, Matador, Tiga, Mathias Kaden and host of other big room names. How much research do you do before you play a club in terms of who is on before and after, what the sound is like, the size of the room and so on, or is it your job to adapt to all those things on the night?
I usually check the lineups and timetables before my gigs. Especially when i play at festivals or events with more DJs playing. It’s challenging sometimes to adapt my sound, depending on the venue where I am playing. There are some places where you have to choose a different path in order to get people where you want. It’s a challenge and I like it.
I like to do all night long sets the most though. I am able to tell my story from the first track to the last. In those occasions you will see my full expression of who I am and all the hours I have spent digging come to fruition.
You have an impressive discography of releases. Tenax Recordings, Cocoon, Cecille Records are but just a few. How hard is it not to repeat yourself in the studio and evolve with each release, but at the same time stay true to your own sound? Do you wrestle with this?
I never sit in my studio thinking, ‘Ok now I will do a track for Drumcode or anyone else for that matter.’ Normally I sit and go with the flow. With my mood and sensations. I don’t like to plan things, the studio can not be a routine, it’s a place where I try and escape from that.
We know a lot of DJs no longer listen to demos just because of the sheer volume that they have to trawl through to find the right one. Where do you find the music for your upcoming sets?
I have a lot of exchanges with other colleagues. Promos from their labels or demos, that’s the core of my sets together with my label releases and my productions.
Regarding the promo mails I get; I have a tour manager that is doing a pre-filter of all the promos, deleting anything that is not my sound. It’s impossible to listen to every mail that I get. I trust him because we have worked together for a long long time and he knows me 100%.
Quick fire questions…
If you could go back to any dance floor in the world for one night where would it be?
My first time ever at Tenax as a customer. There is where i thought “I want to be there, behind the decks. ”
Best set you have ever seen?
Laurent Garnier, Ben Klock, Sven vath.
The artist on your I-pod that is your guilty secret?
Calcutta
