Joe Nice interview
While dubstep itself has underwent it's fair share of changes over the years, Joe Nice and his unfailing love for the music and respect for dubplate culture has remained a constant. For many of us here in the States, he's responsible for introducing us to a sound birthed in South London and helping to bring and represent that sound all the way across the Atlantic throughout North America. He's someone whom has never been afraid to speak his mind, although at times elects to communicate instead through his bag of dubs, two turntables, and a mixer.
In advance of the inaugural RECONSTRVCT party in Brooklyn this Saturday night which also features fellow DubWar resident Dave Q as well as the U.S. debut for Deep Medi producer V.I.V.E.K, we had a chance to catch up with Joe and talk about the new event:
When I did that interview about 17-18 months ago I basically drew a line in the sand where I stood musically and it was a "ride or die" situation. I said what I had to say, I stood by it, and I stand by it now. I don’t think it was something limited to promoters in NYC, I'm sure there were promoters that read the interview and didnt want to book me because of what I said...and that's ok. When I did that interview, someone needed to speak up; I did...and if the interview took place tomorrow, I'd say the same thing.
Tying into that is the new Reconstrvct event happening in Brooklyn at the end of the month. The party is set to write a new chapter of the dubstep story within NYC, hosting Deep Medi producer VIVEK’s US debut, as well as sets from yourself and Dave Q. Can you talk a little about the event and the ‘low frequency with decency’ mission statement?
Well I was approached by a couple guys in NYC: Luke, Seth; they wanted to start up a new dubstep event in NYC and they wanted my involvement. I'm curating the event. I'm looking at the big picture, rather than small details within the picture. After 5 years of being "behind the curtains" at DubWar, there are loads of learned lessons I want to implement for Reconstrvct. There are things that I want to do that are going to be different from DubWar. We want our own identity and we don’t want to just have people come in and say “You guys are just trying to rehash Dubwar.” It's a new party. New place. New space. DubWar was a specific event in a specific time, it had it’s run, it’s done, and I nor anyone else could ever recreate DubWar. Those shoes can never be filled. We intend to create positive vibes and bring proper dubstep back to NYC. We want those that attend Reconstrvct to enjoy themselves, drink a cold Red Stripe, see people they haven’t seen in a while and enjoy themselves in an environment that allows each person to find their own space in the place. There’s certainly a market for that here and I fully intend with the guys I’m involved with to bring that sort of vibe and that sort of positive energy to NYC. “Low Frequency With Decency?” It is what it is. I don’t need to explain it. You know it when you see it, feel it, and hear it, those four words will make even more sense and have more relativity to you. Plus -- it's NEW YORK.
I cut my teeth in Baltimore but the city where I "grew up" most as a DJ is New York. You always have to come correct at every show, but that's not enough for New York. Standards are high and that's the way it should be.
While many choose to focus on the negative aspects associated with the explosion of brostep, it seems to have also brought the community that produces and supports the deeper sounds of the spectrum even closer. Do you think there are some positives that may have come from it all? Has it helped to build a hunger and desire for music that hits in a less superficial way?
I certainly agree with the idea and concept of those that were non-brostep circling the wagons and tightening everything up. That’s not necessarily to say that there was less of a community or any less of a togetherness before the whole brostep explosion. Whenever you have a situation where battle lines have been clearly drawn in the sand and the writing is on the wall, you have a tendency to gravitate towards those that are most like you. Human nature.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen it where you have someone that plays dubstep that’s getting booked in NY with someone who’s considered brostep or whatever you want to call it. You can probably say that about other cities and the same thing about London.
Look at the DMZ lineup. You’re not gonna see Skrillex, 16bit, and Mt Eden on that lineup, it’s just not gonna happen. The opposite is also true, you’re not gonna see dubsteppers booked for an event that caters more to an aggressive brostep crowd.
We’ll do our thing, they’ll do theirs, and I guess now there is clearly enough room for everybody.
Have you been spending any time in the studio recently on production?
I’ve been dibbling and dabbling with a couple ideas here and there. Nothing that’s concrete and nothing that I’m ready to put out there and see if people are going to be receptive to. I’m not mature enough in my own production and my own concept of what I think I would want to play out. I’m not there yet and that’s gonna take time. Obviously more time than I ever imagined, but it’s gonna happen and when the time is right, it’s gonna be right. It has to be right, it has to feel right, and the timing has to be right. There’s no need to put something out just to be able to say that I did it.
DJing will always be a passion of mine. Performing in front of people no matter how large the crowd, is important to me. It’s important to what I do and what I represent in the dubstep community. It’s my identity. It’s what I do and I know the feeling I have when I play a tune from an artist and it goes off in the dance. I can only imagine the feeling that particular producer has when he or she plays their own tunes and sees a positive crowd reaction...or no reaction, which in many cases is just as good as people screaming and jumping up and down because if they’re not reacting, they’re standing there listening and thinking. That’s when you know you really have a crowd because it’s not just an automatic reaction of hearing something and asking for a pull-up. You’re standing there in the middle of the dance floor and you’re hypnotized by what you’re hearing and you’re thinking about it. You’re thinking “damn, I wasn’t really expecting this” and you might not necessarily like what you’re hearing, but you’re listening and it’s sinking in. I love when that happens because that’s when you know you have the crowd in the palm of your hand. Now you can go anywhere you want because you have their attention and not necessarily in a bombastic fashion.
You’ve always been one of the most quotable personalities in the scene. Where does all that stem from and who have been some of the most influential figures in your life?
We are all products of our own environment. I'm no different. My parents are the people I’ve learned the most from. Not necessarily in music, but as human beings. The life lessons that I’ve learned from them…it’s interesting now because I have a seven month old daughter and there were things said to me by my parents as a child that i didnt understand at the time, but I always remembered. My Mom would say, “you won’t understand this now, but when you get older and have kids you’ll understand.” Now I’m a parent and I’m saying things that my mother said to me when I was a kid. I guess these things that I say are from the heart. They’re not pre-planned statements that have come out just to make an interview or to sound cool in a conversation.
I’ve had people that have been influential to me musically and locally. Dan Gee, John Ask; those two guys in the early days were always positive influences and were always in my corner when I was playing in ‘02 or ‘03 to 10 people in a bar. They were always there telling me to keep going. Nearly a decade later, here I am.
I think there’s a lot of people within dubstep that have been influential…Mala, Martin Clark… Kode9’s another guy that when you sit down and talk with that brother and you feel smarter afterwards. The DubWar guys, Distance, Tunnidge, Cyrus…you can always learn something from someone.
I wasn’t even trying to call people out by name. There’s always a learning opportunity, there’s always a teachable moment, there’s always a learnable moment. Life lessons learned. True joy is when you can share those experiences with someone that has not had been as fortunate to have had them. It’s the satisfaction of knowing you were able to help someone along the way. Pay it forward.
Speaking of Martin Clark, I believe he recently threw down the gauntlet and challenged you to a battle of lost dubs on Rinse…
Mr. Clark did call me out. You saw it on Twitter, but that wasn’t the first time. He called me out in an email about 3 or 4 days before he actually challenged me. The only reason I hadn’t responded to him is because what he said in the email (and I’ll leave that between us and the email) what he said was audacious in a way that if you didn’t understand our relationship and our friendship, you would look at it and say, "Damn, what’s he beefin about?”
I never saw it as that. I know he's trying to wind me up and that's all good. Trash-talk is standard operating procedure for a soundclash. It's healthy. Someone has to obviously throw down the challenge and someone has to accept. Whenever you’re being challenged at anything, ego ultimately is going to get involved and then it just escalates from there in terms of the competitiveness.
I’m touring Europe/UK in October and if our schedules fit, it’s 1000% gonna happen. Now I know he has things in his collection that I’ve never heard or don’t believe actually exist. At one point he worked for Ammunition and it would not shock me if he had test presses of every Tempa release. There’s some dubs he’s got floating around. I know that I’m looking at my bookcase and....well....let’s just say there’s a few gems in the collection. Ultimately, it’s not about him winning or me winning, I think it’s the listeners of the show that will be the real winners. When are you gonna hear some of these tunes ever again? Blue ribbons and gold medals for everybody.
