INTO THE VAULTS 002 – DYLAN SMITH

Ryan: Ryan: Hey Dylan, Thanks for coming along to do Into The Vaults 002! You have an extensive history with the club dating back to before you were 18, How did DJ’ing all start out for you?

Dylan: Not a problem my man, excited to be here. Luckily, I was basically born into DJ’ing and music through my dad. I remember going to record stores with him every Friday after school which lead me to saving up pocket money and starting to buy my own records. Skipping forward a good few years, one of my good friends and I decided to start our own under eighteens night, due to the fact that we were underage and there was no promoters putting on underage shows for DJ’s at that time. We saw an opportunity to share, at that time, the music we loved to a wider audience our age who weren’t exposed to music as widely as they are today. One thing lead to another and we started getting our mates involved, notably at our ‘Battle of the DJ’s’ show and several more at Cab Vol funnily enough. Once I turned 18 I had to try and take one step at a time, taking any gig that was offered to me to get my foot in the door. During that first year everything escalated to whole new levels, finding myself warming-up for massive artists and playing several gigs a week all around the city.

Ryan: “Born into music”, Love it! In the brief chat we had before, you spoke about “Falling out of love with DJ’ing” – How did this happen?

Dylan: When you are working a nine-five job and DJ’ing at least twice a week, the weekend turns into one long day, naturally you reach a point where the thing that you love doing the most almost becomes a chore. I was struggling to find time to look for new music and slowly started to not look at all. One thing led to another and boom, I had lost all the motivation to look for music, never mind play it out in a club. It was then that I realized I had fallen out of love with DJ’ing and decided to hang up my USBS.

“I always knew that I wouldn’t stop DJ’ing, it was just a matter of time I suppose.”

Ryan: This interview is the first music related venture you’ve been involved in in nearly a year and you’re starting to get back into the swing of things. What changed your mind?

Dylan: After taking some much-needed time off from the lifestyle, late nights and so on, I started to expose myself back into music by listening to new mixes and going back to the club nights I used to love which jumpstarted my love for music again. I always knew that I wouldn’t stop DJ’ing, it was just a matter of time I suppose.

Ryan: It’s great to hear that you’re getting yourself back into the groove. The mix you’ve done for us is the first mix you’ve done in a while, can you tell us a bit about it?

Dylan: It certainly is the first mix I’ve done in a while, to be honest I think it may be my first solo mix I have recorded since I was about thirteen! The mix itself is far from perfect but at least it is a true representation of my music taste and my style of mixing. I wanted the mic to sound as if it was recorded at a set I had played so the night before recording I bought some new music, turned on the decks for the first time in almost a year and just hit record… And here we are.

Ryan: That is quite the story, class! I take it now that you’re ‘back in the game’ we will be seeing and hearing a lot more from you?

Dylan: Over the next month or so you will indeed be seeing and hopefully hearing much more from me. I have a couple of things lined up already which will be shared at a later date, however in the mean time I can happily say that I have got my Dad along with me this time!

Ryan: Exciting times! Well we wish you the best of luck with everything and thank you for coming along.

Dylan: No, thank you.

Interview: Ryan Fyvie