Reading my interview with Adam Cooper made me ache even more to experience the club scene in Ibiza. Adam Cooper is one of the lucky few who got to experience Ibiza at a very young age as soon as he discovered his love for house music, clubbing and his curiosity towards the life of a DJ. Aside from agreeing with ACDJ that “Insomnia” by Faithless is definitely a tune that never fails to get the dance floor flooded with ecstatic dancers, here’s what ACDJ has to share with me during our interview.
1. So how did your DJing all begin?
DJing is something I have wanted to do for a very long time, I have been into house music since I was a little kid, listening to the early Eric Morillo tracks when he was with Reel 2 Reel and then taking my first trip to Ibiza at 17 Years Old. I had my first dabble with the decks at 18 Years old (I’m 28 now) but unfortunately that would be my last for a long time due to money constraints. Eventually late last year I took the plunge and bought all the gear and started to teach myself how to mix/blend house tracks together. 6 months later I had my first gig…
2. Do you have a DJ name and where did the name come from?
My DJ name is ACDJ (My initials plus DJ), a bit of a take-off of ACDC although their music has no influence on what I play, I just thought it worked. But it has only half stuck with some bars and event organisers calling me DJ Adam Cooper, some calling me ACDJ and some calling me Adam Cooper. I guess I am going to have to choose one and stick to it otherwise I could find myself double booked under two different names… I think I’ll stick to DJ Adam Cooper.
3. What gave you that initial push to be a DJ?
I have always loved clubbing and house music, I listen to it non-stop to the point of annoyance of my family and friends (They will be reading this grinning and nodding their heads). After all those years of pounding the dance floors, listening to the DJ’s and picking apart mixes and sets, I thought it was time that I put all that research to my advantage and see if I can do a job worthy of the dance floor I am entertaining.
4. What was the first event you ever played at?
My first official gig was at Bar Savanh on Heritage row.
5. What’s the best event you’ve played at?
My favourite gig so far was at SupperClub Singapore, the SupperClub group no matter which one of their clubs you are at around the world they always draw a sexy and up for it crowd. But for me personally I love playing at TwentyOne because of the intimate environment, it feels like you are really part of the crowd, Plus the sound system is pretty good too. I’ve had some crazy nights there.
6. What’s your favourite tune of all time?
I have so many… I tend to have new favourite every week. My favourite tunes at the moment are, Can’t get high without you (David Penn Mix) – Joey Negro. Turn on the music (Axwell Remix) – Roger Sanchez. Bangkok – Boris Dlugosch.
7. Out of all the tunes you have, which one never fails to get the crowd excited and hit the dance-floor?
Insomnia – Faithless. When the main synth kicks in you can make any dance floor around the world erupt.
8. So how is the club scene in Malaysia in your eyes at the moment?
When I first arrived to Malaysia I was very pleasantly surprised by the music scene. Zouk obviously has a big reputation for the international line ups that it hosts but there are also a lot of impressive local talents, I think the strongest area where Malaysian DJ’s shine is ‘Open Format’ and ‘Nu skool/Indie Disco and Hard Electro’. The best being Lap Sap from my experience.
9. How big is your vinyl collection? What do you think of CDJ’s?
My Vinyl collection is non-existent apart from about 20 vinyl’s I collected when I was 18, actually some remixes for those tracks have been done this year and last like ‘Nalin & Kane – Beachball’ and ‘Paul Van Dyk – For an Angel’. The Pioneer CDJ1000’s are great pieces of equipment and with most venues carrying these as the main or only option it is the way you have to go whether you like it or not.
10. Funniest thing that ever happened at an event?
1. A ‘hen do’ turned up to a gig I was playing and one slightly over intoxicated girl decided to do a strip for the hen and started pole dancing up against the Perspex see through DJ booth, the hen saw a bit more flesh than she was expecting, I think the whole place did!
2. Once there was a power cut but the decks were running off a separate generator so they kept playing, I was in the middle of a mix bobbing my head away to the music when I looked up everyone was standing looking at me, I took my ear phones off and there was silence, until I got a few laughs and then chanting for the music to come back on. Eventually the music restarted to a big roar from the crowd.
