From the trance explosion of ’99 to today’s digital scene, Steve Helstrip has been the man behind the Thrillseekers’ turntables. On September 28 at Metro City, Steve will bring thrills and grooves a-plenty to Perth as part of the Godskitchen tour. Here’s what he had to say to OUTinPerth.
From Computers to Decks: The first thing I did was produce music for a computer game 10 years ago. Then when I left the computer games company I made a record called Synaethesia, which got all wrapped up in the trance explosion of ’99. Seeing DJs like Paul Van Dyk and Paul Oakenfold making an absolute fortune out of playing my record, I thought I should start playing it. So, I got myself some decks and learned how to DJ and 7 years later we’re still doing it.
The Crowd Goes Not So Wild… It was in Turkey and I was playing on New Year’s Eve. I was following a rock ‘n roll band and I was like, ‘Why have I been booked to DJ at a rock ‘n roll party?’ I just didn’t know what to play and the crowd was like ‘What is this?’ It was two hours of the most intense humiliation.
Spinning in the Rain: Recently, we played at a festival in Vancouver, Canada, which was right in the mountains and just an incredible venue… except that it rained non stop the entire time. That put a bit of a damper on things, but people still partied. I think people planned to camp out for the night, but a lot were walking home at 6 in the morning, dragging their sodden tents behind them.
Good DJs: Made in the studio or made in the clubs? Ten years ago, 90% of my income was from production, but now 90% is from my DJing because of the whole digital revolution. Kids don’t buy records anymore, they just download it. The DJing is an essential part of making a living, but you can’t get the high profile gigs without the high profile records… But my passion is in making the music. Given the choice, I couldn’t live without making music.
Crashing into Inspiration: When I sit down to make a record, I try to tap into how I am feeling or take on board some significant news story or something that has happened in my life and put that into music. I was in a car accident many years ago and the following day I just had these feelings I’ve never felt before and this new appreciation for life and I just sat down at the piano and came out with track after track after track expressing those intense feelings and turning it into music.
Remixes Rewound: When my career was first starting off, I jumped at any chance to remix a record. But I’ve done maybe 50 remixes over the last 10 years and what you tend to do is raise the profile of the artist you are remixing and not your own. So, now I’m just concentrating solely on my own material rather than give away all my best ideas to other artists.
