Not So Underground: An Interview with Nic Fanciulli

November 3, 2008 4:37 PM
by Michael Maryanoff

If you look around the Internet, you’ll find that there is much press toting Nic Fanciulli as a “rising star.” This is a bit of a misnomer for a star that has been a part of the world-class DJ constellation for quite some time now. He’s no stranger to jet setting and is one of the last DJs who have risen to fame before they grabbed a spot on the download charts.

He might have just moved to London from Ibiza, but that just means more time in the studio releasing more tracks for our listening pleasure. Thankfully for us, he will get a break from the dreary London weather on December 6th and coming to Mansion for what is sure to be a wonderful set.

CoolJunkie: What have you been up to lately?

Nic Fanciulli: I’ve just moved back from Ibiza, actually. I’ve been out there this summer with my residency at Space and I just got back recently to be working on production. I just finished a new single for Renaissance and one for Ovum, Josh Wink’s label.

CJ: Will your set at Mansion be any different than your set this June at The Vagabond?

Nic Fanciulli: It’s going to be different. I love playing smaller rooms but it’s also nice to play a wider audience, to people who don’t normally listen to that music. It’s a different challenge. You always have to tread carefully in bigger rooms but I’ve never really had a bad show in Miami, so hopefully it will go well.

CJ: How does Miami compare to other cities around the world that you’ve played?

Nic Fanciulli: It’s definitely one of the party cities and there is always that vibe. It reminds me very much of Sao Paolo in that as soon as work finishes people go out and party. Miami is a great location and people know how to party really well. It’s a little less restricted than the rest of America with the licensing laws, compared with somewhere like California or somewhere like Boston where they have to stop serving alcohol at a certain time. The parties start a lot later and finish a lot later.

CJ: How would you describe your sound?

Nic Fanciulli: I’d definitely say it’s house music. From deep house all the way through to techno. Everything in the middle goes really, anything with a 4/4 beat basically. I usually get to play for three or four hours anyway so I get to play a lot of stuff across the board.

CJ: Who are your biggest influences?

Nic Fanciulli: When I first started listening to music in general it was people like the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, real indie bands like that. I started being a drummer in a band and then I started working in a record shop and I was really influenced by people like Laurent Garnier, Lee Burridge, electronic acts such as Daft Punk and Kraftwerk, so they were the sort of people that influenced me. There is a lot more because my range of music even goes to drum and bass, people like DJ Zinc, Andy C there are a lot of influences.

CJ: Do you ever try DJing some drum and bass?

Nic Fanciulli: I have done it a couple of times. At certain places if I’m lucky I can play like 15 or 20 minutes of drum and bass. Recently I did a mini mix for Annie Mac on her show and it was drum and bass. It was basically 70 records in five minutes. I did actually play drum and bass on the Space Terrace with Sharam and we cleared the room in about five minutes. (laughs) I think we did it because it was getting late - it was like three in the afternoon -and we were like “Look we’ve got to go home now.”

CJ: How do you feel about people describing you as a “rising star?”

Nic Fanciulli: Me and Zabiela were talking about that the other day. I think that’s an easy quote for people to say. I think that the way that dance music is going now it’s very different. I think that me and James broke through as the last of the DJs. Now it’s very much marketed on I call it the “Beatport Chart,” you make a top 10 record on Beatport you’re automatically thrown onto the DJ scene, but before it was a lot more about DJing and warming up for people and going on tour. For me, I’ve broken through by warming up for Deep Dish and it was the same for James with Sasha. It’s different now. We’re still quite young, we’re only 28, but we have been doing it since we were 16.

CJ: You say you’re on the tail end of that generation of DJs?

Nic Fanciulli: Yea, I think you’re a newcomer until you’re past 30. (laughs)

CJ: What do you think it takes to maintain prominence on the global scene nowadays?

Nic Fanciulli: I think touring is a big part of it. Touring consistently at certain territories, playing regularly, and also production is important now. I also think that the day of the DJ is still there. You can be a great producer and a really bad DJ or you can be a great DJ and not know how to produce. But when you’re DJing you’ve got to rock the club, so it doesn’t really matter if you’ve done production or not, does it? I think if you’re a good DJ and you can rock a room you should be able to play. It’s a Catch 22 type thing. I think a lot of podcasts are really important. I think the CD generation is dying, people aren’t buying as many CDs, they are getting free podcasts. I think it’s always good to leak out some of your sets every now and then, to let people know what style you’re playing because musically changes so quickly. Your music goes from this to that in the space of six months and people come and see me and are like “Why didn’t you play like that,” and you’re like “Well I don’t really play like that,” but if they keep up today with the podcasts and the mixes that you’ve recorded it makes it a lot better.

CJ: Dance music moves pretty quickly nowadays.

Nic Fanciulli: Yea one minute the trendy thing is minimal the next thing is deep house, the next thing it’s this, that doesn’t mean that you’re following what’s going on you’re just trying to adapt your music. You’ll just get bored if you keep playing the same style all the time.

CJ: You think it’s good to vary it?

Nic Fanciulli: That’s the one thing when I do my compilations, to get a variance. I’ve never been one of these people who likes to follow the trends I just do what I do. It’s always been just house, it’s never been trying to be too cool or too cheesy it’s just trying to keep the balance right and I sort of like being in the middle.

CJ: Do you think it’s important nowadays to be a producer?

Nic Fanciulli: This is what I’m saying. Every time I speak to people in management they are like “Hey you have to do this record,” and it’s true that you have to make big records to break territories where people don’t know who you are. When I broke through it was warming up for people like Deep Dish and going to America for a month with them. I go back the next time because the promoters really like what I do but now it’s pretty much the promoters looking at what’s going on musically and production wise and then booking on the strength of that. They also do it on the strength of DJing, but I think it’s now predominantly about production to help push DJing careers. When I started it was all about having a residency, creating your own sound, and having your own crew. That came down to your weekly. That’s how it was back in early 2000’s, it was all about creating a party, people following you and that’s how people got into your sound but now it’s totally different. You hear about more people breaking through from production that you do through DJing.

CJ: What do you have in store for the immediate future?

Nic Fanciulli: I’m going to do a compilation for next year. I took the year off after doing a compilation with James. We sort of spent a year touring and it was nice to have a year off and just concentrate and writings some music and just touring normally, not having to do five days a week and that sort of thing, just really enjoying DJing again. Sometimes you have five shows a week they’re not all good so you’re going to be like (sighs) and you’ll be down about it. I think when you get two or three gigs a week, it’s really important. I’m really concentrating on my DJing as well this year. I’ve moved over to Traktor and that’s been fantastic. That’s taken my DJing to another level. For next year I’m trying to go on with the new compilation and to keep touring and trying to get as much music out there because once you’ve been doing it for six or seven years you’ve pretty much been to every country in the world so you need to reinvent yourself. You need to look at new things to do and new festivals to go to because you’re going back to the same places after that amount of time.

Click here to hear more from Nic Fanciulli.