Changes are afoot at Puzzle Project HQ – not only has one of London's best loved underground parties moved to Saturday nights from their long held Friday night slot at Club 414, they've also named three brand new residents! LK caught up with his fellow new addition to the team Ali Cantor to find out a bit more about this elusive mystery man and what he's bringing to the party.
LK :: Where did you discover your passion for dance music and Djing?
AC :: I first discovered my passion for dance music when I was 18 or so. I think I popped my cherry at Peach (like many others I'm sure) and in my gap year started coming up to London every weekend to stuff like Pendragon, Logic and Frantic. I was hooked!
LK ::How long have you been Djing?
AC :: After a couple of years of clubbing I decided I wanted to get into DJing – I must have been about 21 when I bought my first pair of 1210s and have been going strong ever since.
LK :: What style's do you play?
AC :: I would describe my main style as trance but I don't regard that as a narrow pigeon hole to be stuck in. I think the beauty of the genre is that it can encompass influences from so many other styles of dance music. In recent years I've started ranging a lot wider when looking for tunes, so I try to listen to techno, house, tech house and various other genres to find those hidden gems I think will fit into one of my sets. To sum up I'd say my sound is "full spectrum trance" – encompassing trance in all its many forms, from housey, progressive type stuff at one end of the scale, through driving euphoria to pretty vicious tech trance at the other and everything in between!
LK :: What influences have helped shape your sound?
AC :: Good question! I think there've been different influences at different points in my life – when I first started Djing I suppose the style I played was very much influenced by the parties I went to, for example Pendragon and Samsara for trance and parties like Logic and Frantic for the harder stuff. Recently I suppose it's been other friends involved in the scene through DJing and production who've introduced me to new types of music and new clubbing experiences which have in turn influenced the type of music I play.
LK :: Tell us a bit about your involvement with Puzzle and how it came about.
AC :: I started coming to Puzzle a few years ago as a regular clubber. At one I got chatting to Matt Church, we found out he lived about 5 doors away from one of my best mates so we arranged to meet up for a few beers and the rest is history. I got to know and love the rest of the crew over time as I regularly came along to the night and often handed in demos as well. A couple of months ago they asked me to join the team as a resident DJ and also help with the promotion side of things. I'm dead chuffed to be a part of it – it's the best small party in London in my opinion, and it's a huge honour to be made a resident given the standard of the other ressies. I'm sure it's also going to be a lot of fun – I see interesting times ahead!
LK :: Who would you like to play back-to-back with?
Too many to mention! If I could pick anyone it would probably someone a bit ridiculous like Markus Schulz or Armin for the kudos! Apart from that I know I'd have a good time playing b2b with Matt Church or Martin Begley – both good guys who play very similar styles to me.
LK :: Tell us one funny story about something that has happened at a gig, or a point of interest about yourself.
AC :: Ok, I'll stick with points of interest. I once participated in a televised fish finger eating contest on Channel 4. I came third. I'd eaten a lot of fish fingers and it came down to a choice between carrying on and vomiting on national TV. I'm sorry to say I chose the shame of defeat!
And now a few silly questions to round things off:
What is your favourite Haribo sweet?
I'm quite partial to a fried egg or two.
What is your favourite swear word?
Dropping the C-bomb satisfies in a way no other four letter word does. Only when called for though.
If aliens landed in front of you and, in exchange for anything you desire, offered you any position on their planet, what would you want and why?
Why fuck about? Top dog with absolute power over everyone. I'm relatively vertically challenged so maybe that's a bit of short guy syndrome for you.
If Hollywood made a movie about your life, whom would you like to see play the lead role as you and why?
Probably your classic A-list movie star, possibly Russell Crowe who might be able to capture the raw, brooding masculinity. Although if I had no say in the matter they'd probably go for Jonny Vegas!
If you were a salad, what kind of dressing would you have?
Something a little sweet, a little sour and a little bit punchy. Bit like me!
Interview by L.K
