Nov 1

Nov 1 Andre McLeod - deephouse.com podcast/interview #005

For this podcast, we've got André McLeod, a DJ/Producer/Event Organizer who was born in Kingston, Jamaica and later moved to New York City, where he played in the N.Y. Underground scene for over a decade. André currently resides in Tokyo where he actively DJs, and can be heard playing anything from Dub to Disco

What inspired you to move from Jamaica to Japan?

I left Jamaica after I graduated High School; I guess like most people, looking for better opportunities etc.

You've been living in Japan for awhile now. What are some of your favorite things about the deep house scene here?

The thing I dig most about the music scene in Tokyo is the high level at which a lot of DJs spin, i.e. mixing, music selection and music knowledge, and not only in the house scene but overall.

Having heard you play out quite a few times, you always impress with your track selection. Tell us a bit about how you got into DJing and who some of your biggest musical influences are.

Well, before I got into DJing I was into bands, Hardcore, Rock, Metal that sorta thing, but at the same time my friends and I would hang out in bars/lounges in the Lower East Side. This was around '97 or '98 I think, but it was cool cause you would hear djs spin all kinds of stuff throughout any given night.

I wasn't really into clubs back then, so hanging out in those smaller, local spots you would hear a variety of stuff because the djs had more freedom to play whatever they wanted and also could build a narrative through out the night. Anyway, eventually I became friends with a lot of those guys, and they would turn me on to all kinds of music. I started buying a few records and they would let me get on the decks and do a warm up set or whatever 'till I eventually got offered to do my own night and the rest as they say is history.

Who are some of your favorite artists right now?

As far as favourite artist goes, at least dance music wise, at the moment I'm really into Marquis Hawkes, Funkineven a.k.a Steven Julien, Brassfoot, Andy Hart and Leon Vynehall just to name a few.