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Wax On - Nik Off
One of Australia’s most well known and popular DJ’s, especially in hard dance circles, is Sydney based Nik Fish. He performs at one of Australia’s most well established and successful club nights Sublime as a Resident, rocking the main room every week to much acclaim, but can also be found on the road in other Australian cities taking his Harbour city influenced sound to parties throughout our big brown land.
RA caught up with Nik, before his forthcoming ‘Wax On’ release on his own label Venom Music and discussed everything from his music, fashion and what those on the dance floor can expect to hear from him in 2004.
Your bio describes you as “The king of Re-Invention”. Do you think you have had to consistently keep reinventing yourself to remain on top of the Australian hard dance scene or is Nik fish ‘maturing’ as a dj and thus staying a head of the pack with a sound that more people are warming to?
I didn’t write my own bio so I don’t think I’m re-inventing myself. Musically I do my own thing and always have, I simply hunger for new records and styles because dance music especially more so than any other genre is one that’s always developing, changing and progressing. In regards to my appearance, I dress up when I play as I feel its important to look good behind the decks. I love the fashion and style that goes with dance culture. I’ve got as many clothes as I do records and that’s a shitload. I change my look all the time to suit my mood or to portray whatever I’m immersed in at that moment. I even have what I call ‘DJ wear’, stuff I’d only wear while playing and never outside the house during the day. Music and fashion are all disposable commodities, after all you can’t take it with you. I’m always hunting for new tunes, threads, anything and everything.
Has a typical Nik fish fan changed over the last 5 years? If so could you pigeon hole them?
As they say “back in the day”, I remember seeing the same faces year in, year out, dedicated clubbers, you know the type, the headstrong crew, the ones that always stayed until the last song played right out. Nowadays people come and go a lot quicker in the dance scene on the whole. I guess like anything, over time trends shift and change. I’m lucky enough to have a lot of new faces appearing all the time where I play and they love what I play as much as I do. These people aren’t so hardcore in comparison to when the club and rave scene took off nearly 15 years ago. Perhaps growing up on dance music culture for some means its just another normal thing to do where back then it was new and mysterious and at times illegal. I boil it all down to consistently giving people who seek it a good serve of Hard-edged dance music most times I hit the decks.
Your one of Australia’s most talked about DJ’s on internet forums, with opinions ranging from praise to personal insults – How much notice do you take of these?
I appreciate constructive criticism as much as appraisals as my job puts me out there. I use my computer to email and keep track of my business and I spend that much time on the road or in the air I’ve never bothered to spend time reading about me. Occasionally someone will tell me that there’s a thread going about me doing this or that. Apparently I’ve done it all, after all I’m in the public eye so why not the public domain.
Your own label Venom Music recently released ‘HARDSTYLE GENERATION’, mixed by yourself and Amber Savage. How did you come up with the idea to team up for this project?
Venom was created primarily as an outlet to release my own mixes on. I realised that I needed to bring other DJs into the fold to compliment my releases. It made sense to have a DJ like Amber on the roster, as she is one of the most popular Hard Dance DJs of the current clubbing generation. To put it simply; I’ve been bangin’ it out for 14 years and Amber 4 years. There’s 10 years difference in our age and so on. Plus the whole girl DJ and boy DJ combo seemed unique and we surprisingly work very well together both having outward expressive personalities. It just made sense to make it a double act.
 Your Sublime residency has earned you many plaudits over the years, do you try and differ your sound week to week, or do you think its consistency the regulars (Voodoo Children) want?
My formula has always remained the same since day one as a DJ. I play tracks I like. I often avoid the more obvious as you hear a lot of DJs all playing the same hit tunes, too often in fact! I seem to read the dance floor well and I tend to play a bunch of the same tunes in every set over 3 or more months but the difference is I mash up each set with a lot of new records and throw in some older tracks to deliver a broader spectrum of what’s around. Plus the music I play all steers towards darker or harder sounds and I guess that’s what people like about how and what I play.
International tour wise for 2004, what do you have in the pipeline?
I’m about to kick off another CD tour to promote the Venom label and the release of a new DJ mix CD series called ‘WAX ON”. The tour is spread over 3 months taking in every state and territory capital in Australia as well as the NSW coastal and regional townships. I love travelling and being on the road its always loads of fun. In July I’m off to my fifth Love Parade in Berlin too! Don’t forget, meet me at the Brandenburg Gate at 2pm on the day.
“The Winner Is”, inspired by the announcement that Australia would be able to host the 2000 Olympics became a Top 10 hit in Australia. When you decided to do this in the Studio did you know this would be such a winner (pun intended)?
It’s pretty historical now being 10 years on but yes, I knew I’d backed a winner! Aussies are so patriotic about local sport and this track appealed to everyones senses. It sold over 30 000 copies and I was nominated for an Aria award for best dance release. Beat that!
Which producers are currently finding their way into your record box on a regular basis due to their brilliance?
Oliver Klitzing aka Reloop from Headline Records continues to blow me away with his original dirty tek-trance sound. Scot Project is the master of Hard Trance and a lot of one off Italian producers seem to have the knack for getting it right everytime!
What studio plans to have for this year in terms of releases?
I’ve created a division of Venom called Venom Vinyl (funnily enough). Hopefully I’ll knock out a few 12’s before the year runs out…
You are doing a Venom Sublime special this Friday night and will be playing for 5 hours, what can those in attendance expect to hear?
Lots of me playing lots of records and keeping everyone up there from go to wo. I’m also previewing the release of my new DJ mix, ‘Wax On’ and I’m giving away hundreds of free CD samplers and a few Venom T-Shirts. So come on down from 1.30 to close and we’ll have massive night out!
Some DJs concentrate on keeping the dancefloor, others prefer to take on the role of an educator. Then there are those who are more ‘the entertainer’. There are hundreds or thousands of good DJs out there but only a handful of truly great ones. What do you think makes a great DJ?
Then call me the ‘edutainer’! A great DJ, whether commercial or underground needs to play what they believe in but not as though its to the brick wall of their home studio. You’re a DJ in a club or at a party and the people in front of you will appreciate you more if you make them happy. Play the records your dancefloor have become familiar with, the songs that have become yours and their favourites. Do try to squeeze in new music alongside your more played tunes. At the end of the day, you the DJ are being paid to do a job of making the crowd in front of you walk away at the end of the night and say, job well done, thanks for making my night a good one.
What can we expect from your latest project "Wax ON"?
I’m taking the idea of a DJ mix CD back to ground level. Call it old skool mentality or whatever. ‘Wax On’ is about the DJ and their tools, being two turntables, a mixer and a box of records. The packaging and imagery is exactly that. It’s 100% no bullshit, no hype. What you see & hear is what you get! It’s 2 discs, each program an hour long and its definitely all killers and no fillers. Disc 1 WAX ON is a selection of my favourite German & Italian Hardstyle tunes from last year to now, Disc 2 WAX OFF is a Nu-Style of sound and features a lot more Harder progressive records mainly from Holland. It’s a good reflection of current state of play. Look out for the limited edition Nik Fish Tee’s! ‘WAX ON’ will be available from most music retailers via Inertia Distribution late Feb?
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Published / Tuesday, 10 February 2004
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