Sauce

A man who clearly knows how to use an advantage, Jeff Drake’s role within Ministry Of Sound is proving very useful for staying on the cutting edge of electronic music – foreseeing the next dancefloor bombs and bringing them to crowds at the renowned Chinese Laundry and Moulin Rouge before most DJs have even heard of them. He told me where he saw dance music heading …

So what are you working on?
I work for Ministry Of Sound, so I’m at the office.

And what do you do there?
I’m the label manager for Hustle … So basically I look after all our domestic and international single releases, and all the vinyl. Basically working with the local artists, and international stuff that’s been licensed into Australia … so that’s kind of neat.

So what sort of music do you play? Do you call yourself a particular kind of DJ? Or do you go across all the genres?
I seldom label myself, because I don’t think I strictly play one style ever – it really just depends on the situation … My record box is full of all the tunes that I’m in love with, and I’ll just try and play the right records and the right time for the right gig. So if I feel like I should go house here, and that’s what the crowd wants, then I’ll go as house-y as I can. If the crowd want to play really dirty, then I’ll go that way. But if I kind of had to describe it now, I think there’s a bit of a ghetto influence. It’s a bit gritty … it’s really funky, but it’s also a bit edgy, if that makes sense? It’s all party and dancefloor stuff, but it’s got a bit of an edge that’ll probably catch my ear. I don’t strictly play stuff off the label! [Laughs]

You’re coming down to play at Syrup. What could possibly be some of the first tracks that you might play?
That’s a good question. It really depends on what the person before me plays – I’ll watch what they play, and see what the crowd’s reacting to. But if I had to guess, it’d probably be something sort of [like] Switch – that kind of glitch-ier house sound. That’s usually a good place to start from, because a lot of guys are playing that sound – so you can make a strong statement – and it sounds a lot different to classy house music, or the big-room electro house. It sounds quite different to that. So you can really announced your arrival with some records in that style. And then, from there, you can kind of go anywhere. So if all’s going to plan, I’ll probably start in that area.

And where did you play last weekend?
Good question … I played at Chinese Laundry and Moulin Rouge, both in Sydney. Funnily enough, they’re my two favourite gigs – they’re definitely my two favourite clubs in Sydney, and two of my favourite gigs in the country. So Laundry’s just … musically, you can get away with absolute murder, you know? The crazier the records that you play, the crazier the crowd gets, so it’s just so refreshing to be in that situation. And Moulin Rouge is like a real late-night venue. It’s very heads-down clubby, and you just lock into a groove … it’s the same deal – you can play records you probably couldn’t play anywhere else, you know? Before that, I’ve been in Perth, Brisbane … tomorrow night I’m in Canberra. So I’ve been traveling a lot lately.

What are your experiences of playing in Tasmania before?
None! I’ve got to talk to all my mates who’ve played in Canberra … I mean, played in Hobart, and ask them what worked for them, and what the crowd’s like. I’ve heard nothing but really good things about Syrup, so I’m pretty pumped about it. Everyone tells me that that’s the gig to have in Canberra … in Hobart. Why do I keep saying Canberra?

About the same size, I think.
[Laughs] It’s probably because I’m going there tomorrow – I’ve got it on the brain! Everything I’ve heard about Syrup is that it’s mad, so I’m really looking forward to it. I’m going to bring a lot of the really new Ministry stuff. So if people want to hear stuff that’s going to be on next year’s Ministry compilation, I’ve got all that stuff with me. So there’ll be a lot of new music – a lot of records that, come three months’ time, will be really big. Hopefully I’ll be able to road-test a few of those.

I think you’ll find it’s very similar to Moulin Rouge and Chinese Laundry, in that you’ll be able to do whatever you want, and the crowd will be up for it.
Well that’s one thing I’ve noticed about smaller towns [and] smaller cities – they’re not so spoiled for choice, like in Sydney or in Melbourne, so people are a lot … like, more willing to go with you. It’s not like they go to a different club every single week, you know? So they’re much more engaged when they hear something different. So I’m that the stuff that I play is fresh to their ears, you know what I mean? I’m never going to take it seriously, and I’m never going to be that guy that’s trying to educate the crowd – it’s more about playing records that are big party records, [and are] just a little bit different.

You’ve done a six-hour set before – where was that? And how long are you looking to play for in Hobart? Or will you just see where it goes?
I’ll play as long as they’ll let me play, you know what I mean? I’m a bit greedy when it comes to DJing. Once it gets harder, they really don’t want to stop. Others keep playing until the club closes – like, five o’clock, six o’clock. In fact, if there’s still people there, I’ll still want to keep playing … As far as, like, long sets, the good thing there is; once you lock into a groove, I just like to stay in it, and then you can just drift off to the left, and drift back to the center. You can play so many more different records, and so many records that are really deep in your crate, that you probably wouldn’t get to play if you were playing for two hours. So [I couldn’t tell you] how long I’m playing down there, because I don’t know. But the longer, the better.

You’re in a pretty unique position, being both a working DJ as well as being right in the middle of Ministry Of Sound and Hustle. To gauge it, where’s dance music heading at the moment? What are the trends that you’re seeing in the scene right now?
I think the trends are away from just being … I mean, the whole electro house thing has been really big, and it was a good breath of fresh air into dance music when it was at the point where it was ready for a change. I think that sound … those influences have spread across most of the genres now – they’ve crossed over from being strictly nightclub things to now being radio things, and that sound is probably at the point where it’s … not run its course, but it’s settled into a really nice place, and it’s doing its thing. And now, we’re probably looking to see where things are going to go next, you know what I mean? There’s lots of … all the minimal stuff’s been a really big underground thing. Slightly progressive sounds have been coming back for a while. You know, I think crowds are not so much interested in … I think the purist thing of doing one thing is gone. I think, now, good records are going to stand out, whether they’re vocal records, whether they’re electronica, whether they’re breaks. That’s kind of been the more recent trend up here. You can get away with playing a lot of different styles, and if you want to go deep, you can.

You’ve got Kid Kenobi playing house … you’ve got Amber Savage playing house … So coming from breaks and trance to house, they’re just doing anything now.
Yeah, exactly. Like, trance guys are playing house. Sublime has gone from being strictly trance to … now they do electro and stuff at the beginning of the night. I think that cross-pollination of styles is just going to keep evolving. And that’s great for me, because now, if I sign a great breaks record, I can play it in the middle of a house set, and crowds are just totally cool with it. So, you know, I’m happy with that.

Jeff Drake plays Syrup in Hobart on the 15th of September.

Listen to the full interview Below