Renowned DJ Wayne G is set to visit Connections Nightclub for a massive Boxing Day party. 2015 has seen the popular DJ travel extensively playing parties all over the world including an appearance alongside one of his heroes.
The list of places you’ve DJ’d is HUGE, is there anywhere you aspire to play that hasn’t happened yet?
I have been so lucky, 2016 is 21 years of DJ’ing for me and I have got to travel the world, see some amazing places and meet fantastic people along the way. Of all the parties left to play, I do have 3 on my bucket list. One is Coachella, one is Burning Man and the other is the Winter Beach Party in Miami. But for me as a DJ, I am just as happy to play a small club with a low ceiling and barely any lights, as I am to play a super club or a big festival.
When did your love of music begin?
No laughing but it actually came from my sister constantly spinning the double LP of the ‘Grease’ the movie soundtrack. Yep. That Gay. Then ‘Saturday Night Fever’. My sister always had this impeccable taste through the mid ‘80s for soul music. Naturally, over the years I stole her record collection. I started buying my own records around the age of 7 and by the age of 13, I was working in a record shop, on the Old Kent Rd in London, called Deejays, that every rave DJ in late 87/88 was coming to for all the latest tunes. So I was always strangely upfront with rave music from an early age. I ended up never being paid from that weekend job. I always took home records instead of cash but still never had the desire to be a DJ.
You play music across a range of genres, is there any style that you just can’t stand?
I am still trying to work out if I like what this ‘Tropical House’ is that seems to have popped up. Some of the Dubstep stuff, I can find a little noisy but I actually love all genres of music. That is why it’s really tough to pigeon hole me with one particular sound. Even when it comes to remixes. I always add elements from other genres into my remix tracks.
You’ve sampled quite a few; which city has the best Pride party?
Oh gosh, every city around the world is different, You play somewhere like Sydney Mardi Gras, which is immense and you get a huge sense of community and a massive influx of tourists and then two months later you can play Salt Lake City Pride and I am reminded that we have a long way to come in this world, till we are all accepted for who we are. When I was watching the parade there last year, something most people tend to avoid these days, let’s face it, they would rather head out to the clubs/bars instead, I realised I was one of a very few hundred that were there to support those marching, the rest were Mormons that were holding placards and shouting abuse about how we were all going to Hell for our behavior. It’s very hard to bite your lip in those situations. But also very eye opening in making me aware that we have still have a long fight ahead of us and not to become complacent.
Which song do you keep going back to?
Gosh, there are a few but I love ANYTHING Whitney. She was my girl and I will try and throw her in, even if it’s a tiny sample, into every set. One song at the moment I am addicted to, is Jess Glynn ‘Hold My Hand’. Which is why I have done my own remix that you will hear at Connections on Boxing Day for the first time.
Earlier this year you got to DJ alongside one of your idols Shep Pettibone, the man behind many of Madonna’s hits – how did it go?
There are no words. When he first reached out on Facebook and said he loved my work, I thought it was someone fake. We then started to talk about music and stuff and I realised he was the real Shep. Then he and his wonderful assistant Kelly approached me about playing last summer on the Saturday night at the club/resort he owns in Ashbury Park, New Jersey. Then on the Sunday it was Shep’s birthday and they asked if I would like to spin the pool party for his birthday with him. HOW THE HECK DO YOU SAY NO TO SHEP PETTIBONE? Simples. You don’t. It was one of the most magical experiences of my life. A man I have idolised since the 80s, all his remixes, productions, the stuff he wrote for Madonna, the albums he produced for her. I mean, he is the legend.
Catch Wayne G at Connections Nightclub on Boxing Day.
Photo credit: Rikke Photography
