With the advent of computer-based mixing software, it may be easier to become a DJ these days, but it’s certainly much harder to be a true original. As we catch Z-Trip on a rare vacation, he stands poised with some sound advice on how to stand out in this lazy age: Take it back to the beat.
You’re working with a live drummer for your CMJ gig, correct?
Yeah, it’s great. To be able to sit down with a drummer who actually knows what time it is and to work with them and have them work off of me, that to me is my favorite. It’s what I’ve been doing lately, and I’m having the most fun with it. It’s giving me a different road that I haven’t traveled yet and I’m really, really excited about it. And so far the feedback I’ve gotten is overwhelming. Everyone’s really digging it. It’s definitely the next level for me.
It’s interesting that you’re doing this at a time when DJs are turning more to mixing on their computers.
I’m going analog with it! Yeah, it’s really fun.
Will you have any MCs with you?
Probably not. I’ll always work with MCs on and off, but for the show at CMJ it makes more sense to just focus on being able to bounce in and out of straight DJing with the drums. I don’t want to go over the top and bring and MC and bring visuals because I don’t think that’s the right spot for it. My view of CMJ is that it’s dance heavy and DJ friendly and more people get it. Also, the last time I was in New York, I had Rakim on stage with me and we did six songs. So to bring out another MC after that in New York, I want to take my time on who that next MC is going to be because I kind of want this one to kind of sink in and just be with me for a minute.
Can you kind of die now since you worked with Rakim?
I know! Working with Rakim, I’ve worked with Chuck D. I think I’m just knocking down all my idols now. A couple more people and I think I’ll be well-rounded and I can start working on my rock idols. Work with Ozzy and . . . who would be the Holy Grail for me? Eddie Van Halen would be the Holy Grail, I think, for me. If I could get him in a room and we could play some music, that would be the move. Jimmy Page would be good too.
How would you advise people who really want to be a DJ?
Try and sound different. Try your hardest to be as different as possible and incorporate new things. I’m worried about DJs that play songs because they heard another guy play it; it creates this sort of hearsay DJ-ing. Play different stuff. Whatever it is! Play the last minute and a half of a song instead of the first minute and a half. Do anything! That to me is what’s going to be refreshing.
And try and do as much stuff as you can while you’re up there, as opposed to playing prefabricated shit. When I go to see a DJ play, I want to feel like I’m experiencing something in real time. I’d rather live in a house that was built by someone’s hands, like a log cabin that’s been around since the early 1900s versus some prefabricated track housing that was put up in 1984. There’s just going to be way more soul in the cabin. I don’t knock new technology, I’m a fan of it and I embrace it. Because technology is changing so fast, though, people are trying to learn and adapt to it so fast and I think there are very few people taking the time to flip the technology and get the art out of it. I think some people are just getting the commerce out of it. But it’s not always about how long the road is, it’s the journey.
Z-Trip plays Friday, Oct. 19 at Studio B with The Bangers, Troublemaker DJs, Lazaro Casanova and MSTRKRFT
