Hi Carl. So what brought you to Oz? I love it here. When I first came to Australia, I came to Sydney and didn’t like it much. I find Sydney can be very transient. You don’t make many friends there and if you do, they’re like, “I’m only here to do a bit of surfing and then I’m going, man”. That’s about it then you’re on your own again. You need a lot of money to live in Sydney as well.
More a Melbourne man then? When I came to Melbourne I found it really cool. It’s a city that’s on the up as well, with some really cool stuff happening. I found that every time I came to Melbourne I’d hang out in St Kilda and go the beach, but I didn’t realise that if you kept on going round the beach road that you’d get to Mornington Peninsula. I’ve got a friend who lives there and I was just, “like this is gorgeous”. I kept going back and it got better and better, so five years ago I thought right, that’s it and I found a beautiful house here.
Are you into Aussie rules football? Well I’m by the beach so I get behind St Kilda. I don the hat and get in there. We lost out a little bit last year but we’ll see what happens this year.
Most English guys don’t see past football… You know why, it’s because they’re so into soccer and they think that nothing else can compete. I like soccer, I support Manchester United now and again, but what I like about the AFL is that it’s very family orientated. You can sit next to someone from Carlton and nobody cares. I never really went to football matches because of that. I’m not into violence at all and in the early days that’s all you ever saw. A game of AFL and a pie and I’m happy.
You must’ve seen a lot of Australia? I’ve probably seen more of Australia than most Australians! I’ve been kind of everywhere really. I’ve found where I like and Melbourne is where I’ve chosen to live. I like Brisbane and I like Perth, Adelaide but my heart is where is I live.
Is it right that you were born in Barbados? Well, that’s what Wikipedia says! My family is from Barbados, but I was actually born in Manchester, which is the reason I support Manchester United, even though I don’t have a Mancunian accent at all. I only lived there for six months before moving and growing up in south London.
Is it weird having so much about you, some of it wrong, on the internet? Yeah I guess so. It’s interesting how things move on and how people perceive you. A lot of people see me as this high flying socialite superstar DJ, well here I am. I have my motorbikes and I hang out with the lads, now and then I go to the drags. I’ve always been a petrol head.
What do you think of the DJ scene in Australia? The DJ scene here is hot, there’s a lot going on. The problem is there’s too many DJs who want it as a career. But the thing is, for me to be who I am today, I had to put in 32 years of my life to be where I am now and I’m still doing it. The reason I’m still doing it is because I love it. When I wasn’t making any money, I still bought records and still played them to people. I don’t see myself as God. I find music, put it together and I want to share it with people. All I know is this record is bloody excellent, I’ve got this huge soundsystem, people are halfcut and having a good time, it’s just going to go bam, and it hits them straight in the chest.
Must be a good feeling? For me, that is fantastic, I love the idea that I’m able to share what I love, that’s what I’ve always done. Now I’m able to choose more. I don’t have to play birthday parties and wedding anniversaries any more, playing “Holiday” or “Blue Suede Shoes”, I love the fact that I have all that behind me. But the modern day DJ has no clue, everything is by David Guetta or Black Eyed Peas or whoever, because they can get an instant reaction. Catch Carl Cox at Melbourne’s Billboard The Venue (Friday 18 Mar). Early bird tickets from $35.
