NZ clubbers impress visiting DJ

A touring British DJ says New Zealand nightclubbers are renowned in international DJ circles for their high-energy enthusiasm, compared with those hitting the clubs across the Tasman.

DJ-producer-recording artist Dan Havers (28), of London, one half of upcoming drum'n'bass duo DC Breaks, visited Queenstown this week but has no plans to perform in the resort.

He has been a DJ for seven years - five of them on international tours - but is touring Australasia for the first time.

Mr Havers played drum'n'bass, mixed with dubstep and electronic music, at Auckland venue Zen to a crowd of about 700 last Saturday.

"It was the best gig out of all of Australia and New Zealand. The numbers were great for the size of the club - it was quite a young crowd, but they were up for a good time."

"We're quite hot property at the moment. The promoters in Australia and New Zealand wanted to get us out and we put together a three-week tour, including Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne and then Auckland.

"Unfortunately, Wellington and Christchurch fell through at the last minute, but I'll be back in November."

Bristol DJ and producer Chris Page is the other half of DC Breaks and the pair have released their own material on Viper Recordings and Frequency Recordings.

Pickett Line, a soulful drum'n'bass summer hit this year, was the follow-up to up-tempo electronic single Mankind last year.

Mankind will be remixed and land on the upcoming duo's four-track EP Halo, before work starts on their first album next year.

MP3 and dwindling vinyl record sale were becoming less significant for recording artists, Mr Havers said.

Remixing, DJing and publishing were the main ways artists could earn a living, symptomatic of the way the music industry was changing.

The latest trend in British drum'n'bass music was a move away from "loud pop star production" and marked a return to the sound of 15 years ago.

Mr Havers remixes for Universal Music, EMI Music, Island Records, Rough Trade Records and Ministry of Sound.

Clients approach him to create a drum'n'bass remix of new tracks to increase interest in their artists - particularly emerging talents - across musical genres.

Mr Havers has most recently remixed for Liverpool five-piece electro-pop band Soft Toy Emergency, young Swedish pop soul singer Erik Hassle and London rapper Example.

"They would supply me with the vocal parts and sometimes some of the backing instruments. My process would be slicing up and re-ordering the parts I wanted to use and throwing in my own personal sounds."