Interview with Carl Cox

COX: For me, it was because I was around in the '70's, and they weren't. What was being created as the "UK breakbeat sound" and went into the jungle scene was their primary sound. This was always a London sound, wheras I get my sound from Europe and America. The sound of the UK has always been to insular for me, because I've always played beats from all over the world, wheras people like Fabio and Grooverider have become what they are: jungle masters. I did play some of the earleir breakbeat records, when it was part of raving in the UK [which has now evolved into the 'happy hardcore scene] and I played that sound until I saw that the punters weren't dancing anymore, and standing around. Jungle is about crews and stuff like that, like hip hop, and I want to get people to come together, and I realised that scene wasn't for me. I only play what I truly believe in, and that is techno and house music.

DMA: With the F.A.C.T. mix-CD series, you're essentially playing in a field which is more crowded than some of those rave parties you spun back in '88...How do you inform the public that your CD is different than your average Ministry of Sound mix disc?
COX: One of the biggest problems really is that on the Minstry CDs, you got only hit records. The DJs who mixed the albums didn't choose the records. Then again, they might not have even mixed the album, but got an engineer proficient in Pro-Tools to mix it for them, thus those disc don't really represent what they're about as DJs. When you buy a Carl Cox CD, it's from me, I picked all the songs, they represent what I'm about musically. People buy them on that basis. I could have gotten on that wagon where somebody hands me a bunch of records and tells me what to, but that's just not me, and I won't have any part of that.

DMA: I noticed on the F.A.C.T. II CD, that you included Death In Vegas' "Rocco." If someone were to tell me that were a Carl Cox record, never in a million years would I have agreed with them. Is that just an oddity that you really liked?
COX: Yes, but it's not all that strange for me. It's breakbeat orientated and it's kind of moody and dark...it's just one of those tracks that blows you on when you hear it. It is very much a Carl Cox record.

DMA: Apart from myself, that particular record got dissed almost everywhere I read about it (It was listed in my top-10 of '96 right here in DMA).
COX: It sure did. But the thing is, that's what I wanted for this album: to try and create the best vibe possible with different types of records -- the same way I play live [the CD was recorded live in Los Angeles at a warehouse party last October]. Death in Vegas is the first track on disc two, and then I mixed into a Chicago house track right out of it. I want to take people on a journey through sound, where they'll never be able to predict what might come next.

DMA: You've been rated #1 in readers' polls in every single DJ magazine in England. How come then, there's not as much hype on you as there is on say Paul Oakenfold or Sasha and John Digweed?
COX: That's just the way it goes, I guess. I'm not a media junkie, I always go straight to the people. If I go to a club, and there's paparazzi on one side and the people on the other. I'll always go straight to the people. The paparazzi at the end of the day can make you or break you, but the people will always be there -- no matter what the media does to you, these people will always be behind you 100%. It's not a conscious thing, I don't look for it or in fact what I want to do, of course it's gonna come up because these people put me where I am and people want to know why I'm here; well, the reason is that I truly enjoy what I do. I love the music -- I've been involved in music since I can remember, I love progression, I'm into people having a really good time, it keeps me young and enthusiastic about it. With that, I can carry on, and be happy by it. I just want to keep what I do true to the people and true to the sound.