DJ Vibe
In 1980s Lisbon the resident DJ wasn’t simply housewarming for the main act – they were the only act. For António Pereira, AKA DJ Vibe, that meant the ability to stretch selections across genres and styles, entertaining crowds with everything from new wave, disco and slow jams to the new sounds of acid house and rave. The son of a record store owner, Pereira got his break in the city’s burgeoning nightclub scene while still a teenager, eventually becoming the resident at institutions such as Plateau and Kremlin. In 1993, after close to a decade behind the decks, Pereira teamed up with Rui Da Silva as the Underground Sound of Lisbon, releasing a string of singles on local label Kaos Records. Inspired by the harder and deeper end of house music, the duo’s “So Get Up” would eventually make its way to New York City and into the hands of Junior Vasquez at the Sound Factory. The record became an underground sensation, kickstarting a relationship between the two local scenes that cemented the trance-like tribal sound both would become famous for.
In this public lecture in Lisbon, Pereira shared stories of Lisbon’s early club culture, how DJs and venues had to operate within existing cultural constrictions and just how Lisbon’s tribal sound made the jump over the Atlantic.
Hosted by Lauren Martin Hello everyone. How are we doing? Good. Good. Nice to see you all. Thanks for coming on such a nice day, but you have a lot of nice days here. It’s really lovely to be in Lisbon to be hosting a lecture with someone who’s been so integral to the development of modern music in the city and in Portugal. We’ve got a little pile of records here and we’re going to work through them, play music and talk about history and the stories of how Portuguese club music evolved. So please help me welcome DJ Vibe. [applause] DJ Vibe Hello, hello, thank you. Lauren Martin You’re comfortable? DJ Vibe Yeah, I’m good. Thank you. Lauren Martin Everything good. I kind of wanted to start right at the very beginning. And you mentioned briefly before we started that you grew up around records and you grew up almost in a record shop. Your dad had a record shop in Lisbon, right? DJ Vibe Yes. My father used to have a record store in [TK] in the ’80s, early ’80s. And around 12, 13 I started to really enjoy music and, you know, see all those records, sometimes at home because he used to go to Spain to import music for sale. At night, when it arrived at home, he’d take the records out from the car and it was all there with me. I’d be looking through those and see, what’s this? How does it sounds? We don’t have a system at home to listen to records. So I started to come with my mother, at the weekends, to the record store to be able to listen to those records. Lauren Martin If I walked into your dad’s record shop on a Saturday afternoon with you in the early ’80s, what kind of people would be there, what kind of characters would you see, and what kind of music would I be able to listen to? DJ Vibe Pretty much everything from Portuguese fado to soundtracks, rock, new wave, disco, funk, popular music. Everything. It was a record store, you have to have all those styles of music. So, some of the DJs used to come on Fridays at the record store because they used to buy records for some clubs around that time. Lauren Martin Do you remember the first records you might have heard at your dad’s record shop, where you’re like, “This is the coolest thing I’ve ever heard?” DJ Vibe It was a few, but maybe one of them. It was Peter Frampton Comes Alive! It was a double album recording live, from these guitars, guitar players, and I was like, every day I came to the record store the first record was that one I used to play. There was another one by Tina Charles and then Kraftwerk, Radioactivity. When it comes out, it blew my mind, it was like, “What the hell is this?” You know? With this electronic music. And yeah, this is the records that stuck in my mind. Lauren Martin And you say that you didn’t have any turntables at home. You didn’t have a DJ setup, so you could only play the records in the shop. DJ Vibe Exactly. Lauren Martin Did your dad let you DJ in the shop when you were a kid? DJ Vibe One of the shops. Because he start… He opened the first store in TK 4:11, and then it was another one under different, a different place near TK, but it was a different shopping center. And in that one there was two turntables, an amplifier with phono one and phono two, the mixer, the turntables don’t have pitch. So I learned to play on those turntables without a pitch. So I tried to find the rotation, playing with the knob, switch to 33 or 45, so I tried to find that place to give more or less speed to the other turntable to match the beat. And it was there I used to come more often and practice before I start to play in the clubs. Lauren Martin I ask this because you didn’t start DJing when you were 25 or 30, you started fairly, very young. How old were you when you started to DJ properly? In bars or in clubs? DJ Vibe Officially 15, I was turning 16 and, my birthday is in September, I started to work at that club in June. The owner didn’t even know my age because I don’t, I couldn’t get in, you know. It was like, I’m not 18 years old so I can’t go to the club. So, I went to that place one time to test if it feels good for me to play there. So I came to the club around 9:30, the club opens at 10. We used to do an hour of music, ambient music, and then we do the opening and start to build the night. And yeah, I did pretty much the whole night when I got there. You know, you have like two turntables with the pitch, which is easier, [compared] with how I learnt, you know. So, I did a whole night and stayed for six months, I guess, in that place, called Bataclan TK. Lauren Martin So when you finally had your 18th birthday and went to the club, they were like, “You’ve been lying for years about your age?” DJ Vibe Yeah well, I didn’t stay there too long. Not too long. Because at the same time there was different clubs doing matinées and it’s easier for me to get in into those matinées than at night. I tried to get in every weekend because we used to work in the record store and if the record store close at midnight, my father sometimes let me to go outside a little bit with some friends. Which was not easy because sometimes I can’t get in [the club] so I have to go back home. And yeah, it was a good time, trying to learn more about DJs, listen to the other DJs as well. But it was not easy because I was very young. Lauren Martin Tell me about those other DJs that you would go and see because this is like early to mid-’80s, you’re a young teenager, what kind of music is being played in clubs, if this is happening before house music even exists? What kind of records can you go out and people were dancing to? DJ Vibe It was more pop and rock back in those days, you know. After the revolution, ’74, ten years after, I guess it was around ’80s, early ’80s, a club called Trumps is open in Lisbon. It was the first LGBT club and there it was a guy called TK used to DJ and he was the one who have the best music, for me, in that time. So Trumps, it was one of those clubs and you can hear the disco and some funk from America because the imports are very difficult [to get] in those days. So he had some friends, they used to bring some music for him, very exclusive. And I went there one time and I get like, “Wow, what music is this?” Because I don’t know it. And that stayed with me until today. And yeah, we had also some club called [TK 09:40], which was a place where the bands, pop and alternative, they played live, which is not like dancing, but it was a bigger movement for that place. And pretty much Trumps I guess was the main one. There were others, clubs, more gentleman clubs and stuff like that, but I don’t go, usually. Lauren Martin So after Portugal became a democracy, and you’re saying that it was quite difficult to get import records, was it quite expensive and hard to get new music from outside Portugal? Did you have that experience? DJ Vibe Yes, I felt that at home when my father arrived with those imports. And within three years I start to go every month to Spain, myself, just to buy music you can find there. So I always have some secret weapons I can get. Lauren Martin Where did you go in Spain to buy records? DJ Vibe The record stores in Madrid. In Madrid, yeah. Lauren Martin Were there any stores in particular that you really loved that were bringing in new music from around Europe? DJ Vibe I try to remember the name of those stores. Lauren Martin It’s a long time ago, admittedly, so… DJ Vibe Yeah, I can’t remember the name. It was like two or three record stores, I always go there and then the big malls. They have also some vinyl because in Spain the market was bigger and they release more music than we used to have in Portugal. Lauren Martin When you were a young man and you were starting to DJ properly, you know, you’re young, you’re 16, 17, 18 in these clubs and you’re seeing lots of other DJs, play pop and rock music. What got into your head where you thought, “I want to try doing something a little bit different?” Do you remember what kind of records you might’ve heard that made you think that maybe people could dance to something other than the pop and rock music that they’re used to? DJ Vibe I always try to give something new in my nights. Play something different that people were never used to, never listened to before. So, that’s why. Because I’m very curious, always looking for new stuff, new music and try to show [the audience] what’s really new, you know. So I remember when I open a club called Alcântara-Mar in 1988 it was around when acid house comes up in the UK. I was there at that time. I went there to buy some music for the opening of the club and when I could start to play the acid house in Alcântara I always keep the last hour to show them the new stuff. OK. When the people are more high, crazy, so they can accept it better. And I tried to show them what’s happening that time with new music and they call me like, “Here we go this guy’s crazy. He’s playing music, the bubble music.” That’s how they called it. Lauren Martin They called it bubble music? DJ Vibe Bubble music. Lauren Martin Was that the sound? DJ Vibe To the electronic music, dance music, of the time. They call it the bubble music because the people they like to dance to guitars all the time, so, and there’s no guitars in electronic music, so it was like called the bubbles because the sounds I guess, and the kick drums. Lauren Martin I like that as a way to describe acid house. It sounds like bubbles. DJ Vibe Bubbles. Lauren Martin As they grow and grow, they burst. Then you’re like, “What just happened?” Is there a record from your stack here that you’d like to play as an example of like, the bubble music? DJ Vibe Yeah. Lauren Martin What have we got here? DJ Vibe So this is one of the records I would play a lot, every night pretty much because we play every night, not just the weekends. This is a track from Adonis, “No Way Back.” (music: Adonis – “No Way Back”) Lauren Martin That’s a real classic for the acid house sound. Did you buy that record when you went to London in the late ’80s? Because from the outside looking in, it seems like that trip to London had a huge impact on your style of DJing. What did you do when you went to London? Did you meet anyone in particular that introduced you to these records? I’d love to know more about that. DJ Vibe No, I just, I used to go to all the record stores, find the latest music and, and yeah, in ’87, ’88, I found this sound which is coming from Chicago and it was in England with a smiley everywhere, the yellow smileys. It was like, “Wow.” So I’m getting very interested in this sound and I brought some vinyl and start to play it here in Portugal. Lauren Martin I really liked the description of the bubble music and you were saying that in Portugal people really liked listening to guitar music, but maybe there were tracks in between those that you found interesting, like bands that were starting to use a synthesizer or things like that. How would you plan a set, to make people who didn’t really expect it get into the flow with you? DJ Vibe Well, it was like a crescendo during the whole night, from the first track to the last. I tried to build a set until the last hour, because I used to play the slows, there was a time in the night that was like half an hour where the music was slow. The people dancing [imitates couple dancing], you know? Yeah. And after the slow time, I began with the strong music, you know, so the people was more happy. They can get the girl in the slow. So they were more into it to show them how to dance or, I don’t know. So, it was much [easier]. It was like a gymnastic kinda, play the music at the right time at night. And I tried to do a crescendo, playing from reggae, funk, disco, pop and disco house and then acid house. Later was the new beat, then the techno from Germany, as well, trance. So I played… I played many hours during the night. So I am able to do all this, a variety of music and not get just one style of music. So… And also I can have lot of music and I can do that easy and it was not a problem. Lauren Martin Not a problem for you at all. DJ Vibe It wasn’t, yeah. Lauren Martin No problem. When it comes to these DJ residencies, when you think of a resident DJ now, a lot of the time they might be the person that plays for the first hour or the first two hours at a party, but the way you’re describing it is that there were no outside DJs coming in to play in clubs in Lisbon at that time in the late ’80s and early ’90s, it was only the resident all night. Can you tell us more about how that worked for the clubs? If I wanted to go see you, would I only see you at that one club in Lisbon? DJ Vibe Yes, because [at] that time the people don’t go out to listen to a DJ. The DJ was not… it was just one employee playing some music in the club, you know. I think the most important person in the club, back in those days, it was the doorman. So, I used to play, as a resident, in different clubs, major, the most important clubs, I guess in Lisbon, from ’85. Plateau, was one of them. It opened in ’85. It changed the way to be at night, the way to go out. Before that to go to the club, you knock at the door, ring the bell, and the doorman who opens looks at you [to decide] if he lets you come in. Yeah. If you can come in someone’s gonna take you to a table, you know, so you’re going to be there, stay at the table. You ordered your drinks, but you stay there. You don’t walk around the club. It was something. When Plateau opened, that changed completely, the people can feel free to walk around the club, there were no tables. It was just for dancing and drinking. This was a good change for the city also, because before, all the clubs, they used to be in the middle of the city, inside, neighborhood areas where people [were] sleeping and living. When Plateau opened in ’85, it opened near the river, [Avenida] 24 de Julho, which is today a big avenue for nightlife in Lisbon. That also was a big change because you can play music [for] more time, because the clubs always close at four. With Plateau, we start to push, four thirty, five, five thirty and you went until six in the morning. It was a change in that time for the nightlife in Portugal. Lauren Martin It’s so interesting to hear that because for the UK, if you went to a club in the middle of the ’80s, clubs didn’t look that special. They were kind of people dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, raving really hard. This almost sounds like a jazz bar, where it’s very formal. DJ Vibe It’s more controlled, I guess. That, in ’85, stopped when Plateau opened. After that it was Alcântara-Mar, it opened two years later. It was like Plateau, but bigger, it was the same owners. They opened that club, a more industry hall and little chic, it was a mix. It was until six in the morning, seven. It was a good period because a lot of people couldn’t get in Plateau because Plateau held 300 people, and Alcântara can hold 700. It was opening for a lot of people that want to go to the Plateau and can’t get in, now they have a new club they can come in. It was very interesting. Lauren Martin What would an average week look like for you when you were DJing in the late ’80s and early ’90s? Are you playing every single night of the week for eight, nine hours a night? How did you survive that? DJ Vibe I’m sleeping in the day. I don’t see the daylight for weeks, sometimes. But yeah, we open at ten at night, and they finish at six. You go to the bed at eight in the morning. Lauren Martin Is it every day of the week? DJ Vibe Every day. Every day of the week. Plateau, when I get there, it opens on a five, December, I start to play there on the seven. The first three months I didn’t have a day off. I was there every, every night. We were young so we were okay. We just want to party. Lauren Martin Speaking of those parties, is there maybe a record from your pile that you remember playing at an early residency and people really loved it? Is there anything from here? DJ Vibe Yeah. I don’t have a record of this one, but I used to play this a lot in Plateau. (music: Alexander Robotnick – “Problèmes D'Amour”) This is [from] Fuzz Dance called “Problèmes D'Amour”, and this is Alexander Robotnick. Lauren Martin Alexander Robotnick. I really like that track as an example of that time, because it sounds really like live electronic funk. You have the new acid house sounds in there, but it also feels like there’s a guitar in there somewhere, there’s a piano in there somewhere. DJ Vibe That’s before the acid house, actually. Plateau, it was famous also because of the music politics they have. Because the DJs don’t bring his music for the clubs. You go with the owner of the club every week to the record store to buy the music. Lauren Martin The owner of the club would go with the DJ to buy the records? DJ Vibe Yes. Lauren Martin So he knew what you played? DJ Vibe Yes. He came with me, I choose what I want. Sometimes he was saying, “Oh, this is too much. It’s too much money, really we can’t get all of these records.” Lauren Martin Oh, so he’s paying for them. DJ Vibe Of course [laughter]. The music, it was for the club. Lauren Martin Nice. DJ Vibe You just go, pick the records you like to play, he paid, you go. Lauren Martin I have never heard that before. Was it almost like how Larry Levan would have the wall of records in the club behind the booth and the records always stayed there? Was it like that? DJ Vibe We don’t have the records on the wall but the records stay in the club. You buy the records, if you go out, if you leave the club, the records stay in the club. Lauren Martin That’s really interesting. I didn’t know that. I learn something new all the time. DJ Vibe Plateau became very different because one of the owners, he was from Spain, he had a bar in Grenada. He brought his DJ for the opening. The music he brought, he was like Matt Bianco, kind of style. The Cure, we play more alternative pop, new wave kind of stuff. Sometimes the indies too, of course. Not the commercial side of the music the other clubs play. Lauren Martin I wonder, around this time there’s two other things happening in tandem in Europe. There’s dance music cultures developing in the UK, and that becomes big clubs like the Haçienda. But also, in Ibiza, there’s people like Alfredo who are developing the Balearic sound. Were you quite inspired by that Balearic style and sound as way of mixing quite different records together, a lot of slower records, rock records? Was that influential in what you were doing too? DJ Vibe Yes. First time I go to Ibiza was 1987. It was Alfredo playing at Pacha. He was the guy, and also the space. He used to have Jam & Spoon from Germany, which they play more the techno side. Definitely these two guys, the music they’re playing back in the days, influenced me later for the club I played at for 10 years, called Kremlin. We used to go every week to Spain, buy music as well, and every summer, fly to Ibiza, listen to what they’re playing with those Balearic sounds. Lauren Martin Did you play in Ibiza as well or were you just going as a fan? DJ Vibe More recently. Not in ’80s, I never. I played in, I think in 2001, my first gig in Ibiza. Lauren Martin We’re talking about all this like it’s the most normal thing in the world to be a DJ in the mid- to late ’80s, but I wonder what mainstream Portuguese culture thought of all this club culture stuff? In the UK there was a huge, almost like a moral panic about raves and ecstasy and acid. It was in all the newspapers, it was the end of the world. Was there something similar like that happening in Portugal? Did people pay attention to it? DJ Vibe What happened in the UK? Lauren Martin No, I mean, was there an equivalent, like, who are these people? DJ Vibe I can say we had the opposite. The police used to come to help us to do the parties [laughter]. We are able to stop at the gas station on the way to the party and get a bottle of whiskey and go to the party with the bottle of whiskey in the car. The English DJs come, [they get] very, very... That’s why they call [the parties], “A Paradise Called Portugal.” That name came because all the experience [of DJs] and journalists [who] came first time, and they say, “How come you guys can have this like this?” The police are here, say to the guy, “Come in, come in.” I knew in England it was completely the opposite, they are very tough. We get lucky with that. Lauren Martin Why do you think that was? DJ Vibe They don’t know exactly what’s happening [laughter]. I’m sure. They are like, they knew it was a music event, but that’s it. Even the mayors, they come to the parties early. See, “OK, everything’s fine, good, everybody’s dancing. Goodnight. Enjoy.” And they go. Lauren Martin Any famous politicians or people that should not have been at the rave at six in the morning? Did you ever see any? DJ Vibe I never saw the politician, but I have some politicians coming in the club I used to play, talk to me about the sound, [it] was louder, because they try to implement the law for the decibels in the clubs. Lauren Martin They were there doing their job. DJ Vibe They try. Just today I guess we have those limiters in the clubs, which, I think, is not good because dance music, it must be played louder. If you want to do that, it’s not correct, it’s not correct. Lauren Martin Tell me about this club Kremlin, which is very, very important to forming your style. If I walked in there on a Saturday night and you’re playing, how big is the club? How are people dressed? What’s the atmosphere like? DJ Vibe It was good. It was very intense, exciting and new for everyone. It was a time also for drugs, rave and to be more involved in the nightclubs. It was completely free for expression for everyone. The ones who dressed, you could dress the way you wanted, be the most crazy, you are welcome. It was a club for 600, 500 people, I guess. Big arcs in stone. It’s still open today. It was really good times. We have problems with the shadows. One day we start to close at four because the law in that time is for the clubs to be open until four, no more than that. The owners, they found a way to open and to do an afterhours thing with a bakery license. They found the license from six as a bakery so the club can [continue to] work. We had people, the barmen used to go on the dancefloor with croissants and stuff like that. Lauren Martin I could be raving and have a pastel de nata. DJ Vibe Of course [laughter]. Lauren Martin That sounds like heaven, actually. DJ Vibe Just to justify the license, the bakery license. But then you can be open until 11 and 12. This was a very crazy time. Sometimes they would receive a call from the police to say there’s a bomb inside the club, everybody has to get out. Because it was a competition, Alcântara and Kremlin. We don’t know exactly who’d make a phone call to the police to say there’s a bomb inside the club. The squad came and say, “Everybody out.” It’s four in the morning Saturday night, the peak hour of the club. Lauren Martin Was that to get people out of one club and into the other, like a competition? DJ Vibe Yeah, but Alcântara actually did it. Plateau is the same place as Kremlin. But the competition was Kremlin and Alcântara-Mar. It was different in the Alcântara, but always fighting with that. Sometimes the night was so good and you have to stop. It was funny times. Lauren Martin Apart from all the fun and the pastries, I’m really curious about the sound. We’ve talked about Spain, we’ve talked about Ibiza, London, some Chicago acid music, but you’re so well known in Portugal for creating this very particular kind of sound, as Portuguese, this deep house sound of Lisbon. If you could describe this to someone in your own way, how would you describe this Portuguese house sound that you helped develop? What’s the crucial elements of it? DJ Vibe Drums. Drums. When it start to play, the main influence is always the drums. I think that passed to America, after we [released] an Underground Sound of Lisbon track out in America, I think we’ve been an influence for the American, Manhattan sound, which is tribal music. I was playing mainly music, house and techno with a lot of drums. It was the main instrument for me. When I go to the studio, it’s programing the drums. Lauren Martin Your way of getting that sound out into the world was through Kaos Records. DJ Vibe Yes. Lauren Martin Can you tell us about the birth of Kaos Records and how you saw yourself as a label? Did you already have a sound in mind when you started the label, or was it a bit more experimental at the beginning? DJ Vibe I don’t even want to know [about having] a label. That was António Cunha who was the guy which, he passed away, he was a big influence on all different DJs [and] nightlife in Portugal. He was the first person to invite DJs from his clubs to play different clubs in the north of Portugal. That was completely new because we play in the clubs we’re used to [working in], that’s it. One day Antonio came to me and Rui [Da Silva], and asked if we want to be part of this label, if [we] wanted to do it, to put it out, to get a track. I told him, “I don’t have time for that. I don’t want to be involved in a label.” He said, “Oh, but you don’t have to do nothing. Just be your name there.” I said, “OK.” He was the one more involved, he was the one looking for new talent because he had a few people living in Porto, Paul Jays and in Coimbra. It was a group of people doing some music, but never releasing it. Antonio, he was the one, “OK, send me those DATs and we might put it out. Build a label.” It was him. I was thinking on what kind of music I want for the label because I was more a DJ, and that’s it. Lauren Martin You didn’t even think of yourself as a producer first. You were like, “I’m a DJ. Why would I get involved in this?” DJ Vibe I was [a] DJ full time, pretty much the whole week. I also used to do a radio show every weekend and I work in a record store [at] that time. I don’t have time even to produce. One day I wake up, I was in the booth playing a record. OK, I think I can do something similar [to] this, but I need a keyboard. And my boss, he brought a keyboard for the club. So I had the keyboard in the DJ booth, and I can play some sounds on the top of the tracks. And after that, I went to the studio with Rui and we started to produce music because he is the one more [nerdy] and more into the machines. Lauren Martin When you put out “So Get Up,” it managed to get across the ocean and into the hands of some people who were playing in New York. How did the “So Get Up” record get into the hands of people at the Sound Factory? Because that was a club in New York that ended up being quite important for you as a DJ, as a producer, to spread this Portuguese house sound. DJ Vibe Yeah. I was in New York a year before I recorded “So Get Up.” On that trip, I went to Sound Factory. And when I got there, I was completely... Blow my mind. Everything, the music, the DJ, the sound, everything, I was like, “What the hell is this?” The track, it became a whole experience of that night in Sound Factory, and I went with my friends, they lived there. When that record came out, I send one of them one copy, and he took that copy to Junior at the Sound Factory. Lauren Martin DJ Vibe Junior Vasquez. And he was... Next day, he was calling me to say, “Listen, I was on the line to get my coat and suddenly, the music stopped and I started to listen to your record.” Junior stopped the music for the first time, blah blah blah. And the guy was like, “Oh, really?” And the people get mad. So, Junior became... He created the buzz because it was only him [who had] the record in Manhattan, and Sound Factory in 1991, it was the club. It was the Paradise Garage for the ’90s, you know? It was the main club, he was the guy. So, he had the track when no one have it in Manhattan, and everybody was looking for the record when Junior [stopped the music]. So, when Kaos released the record, I sent a few more copies for my friend and he give one to DJs, different DJs in Manhattan. So Junior find out and give my number, because it was stamped on the label, my phone number at home. It’s the only information. No name, no nothing, just a number for my house just in case. And yeah, and it was good because it works. So a few months later, I started to receive fax from labels in America because he just give away the number and say, “If you want to know who this guy is, here.” OK. So, I started to receive a couple of offers to license, and then me and Rui and Antonio, we decide which label to release the record, and yeah. And then after that, everything is changed. Lauren Martin That record label was TRIBAL? DJ Vibe TRIBAL America, yes, TRIBAL America with Rob Di Stefano [who] became a big friend, and almost a Portuguese guy too. Lauren Martin Because the relationship between Kaos and yourselves, and TRIBAL, it wasn’t just, “Oh we like this one record from Lisbon.” DJ Vibe No. Lauren Martin It actually kind of changed a sound where you had a relationship between the deep kind of tribal house in New York, and the style of house that was getting played in Lisbon. I’d like to know a bit more about that, but there’s a record in this pile that has the Sound Factory name on it, and I thought we could listen to that as an example of this New York deep tribal sound. Lauren Martin So who’s this record by and why is it special for you? DJ Vibe Well this is a record from Angel Moraes called “Welcome to the Factory.” And Angel was the ... He’s Cuban, but he lives in New York, and first time he came to Europe, or playing in Europe, I was the guy who brought him. So Angel became [a] big fan of our scene back in those days, in the ’90s, and also [a] big fan of Portuguese beer. And he did this record which became an anthem on my sets for many years until today, I still play it. So I play a little bit. (music: Angel Moraes – “Welcome To The Factory”) Lauren Martin It’s such a... I could not stop that track before the vocal came in, but then we’d be here for another ten minutes. It’s so nice. I think that’s such a wonderful record. The more you listen to it, the more I just imagine myself on a podium at Sound Factory, which I guess is the point. I’d love to know more about not only these kinds of records, but the style of DJing that you developed over these ten, 15 years. This very deep hypnotic, smooth, kind of blends, and you did a lot of mix CDs around the Kremlin residency and the [Global] Grooves ones as well. Can you tell me more about this style of tracks and how you created this style of DJing that really suited that kind of sound? DJ Vibe Well, when I play, I like to create moments to the people who are dancing, and when you give the people hypnotic sounds and the fat rhythms, so it became more interesting for me to work that type of sound. I think the music, these instruments, and the frequencies these days, it hits you stronger than before. So I think it’s more easy with the technology today to work and play music than before. So what I try to do is, today I would just have two hours for a set, which is very short. [I would] try to tell a story during that time, yeah basically filling, depending on the time you play, where you’re playing, and that’s [how I choose records] for each gig. Lauren Martin In terms of your techniques, are you someone that enjoys having little tricks, like for example, we’re talking about really classic house and techno DJs, Larry Levan would have his tricks and style, and even someone like Ron Hardy would have... Would play live edits over his mixing and things like that, and you said that you would often play keyboards over tracks you’re playing. DJ Vibe Yeah. Lauren Martin Do you still do things like that? DJ Vibe Oh yeah, yeah. That’s the interesting... the interesting part of DJing, is not just play [the] record and let it go, you work the record. Sometimes you go back again and play the verses or chorus or whatever part of the records you want to play again. Before it was just vinyl, I used to play with four decks, but today with the computer, it’s making it easier so it gives you more ability for you to create different versions live, and also doing edits for me to play in the gigs. Lauren Martin This is kind of the emblematic sound that we just listened to there, but I’m wondering do you still like to sneak in older, like Portuguese jams, like you still have some more records here and I wonder if people are familiar with this very smooth hypnotic sound, but do you like to occasionally throw something in there that’s a bit more unusual? You’re smirking, I bet you are. Maybe there’s one in here that you could play for us that you often keep in your record bag, but… DJ Vibe The Portuguese one. Lauren Martin I feel like there’s a secret weapon coming, I don’t know which one it is. This one looks like it’s been in and out of the record bag for quite a number of years, what’s this one? DJ Vibe This is a record from Carlos Maria Trindade called TK, and I think it was the first record I heard [a sampler]... He’s working on [his] vocals with [a sampler]. So this is a track called [inaudible]. (music: unknown) Lauren Martin Now the title of that song, when you said it, I’m the only person in the room who didn’t laugh because I don’t speak Portuguese, so what does this song title mean? DJ Vibe It is a case, it’s being talking about it. So because he’s talking about the revolution, they used some samples from the revolution, the day of the revolution in Portuguese, and that’s the name of the track. Lauren Martin That’s definitely a TK track, it’s fantastic. I wonder, we’ve talked a lot about the past of Portugal, and your role within it. I’m very curious to get your thoughts on what you feel about contemporary club culture in Portugal. Just from the outside perspective, it seems like the city’s become a lot more popular for tourism, and I’m sure that’s had its knock-on effects for people that live here, and also the club culture. I wonder what you think about the state of dance music and club culture in Portugal as today, and what you maybe do to change it or improve it, things you do and don’t like, I’d love to get your perspective on that. DJ Vibe Well things today are, I think a little bit strong, not a little bit, [they are] stronger than before definitely. And there’s much more clubs, there’s a lot of parties, there’s a lot of promoters doing some parties. The things we used to do back in the ’90s, so we have Fuse and they’re doing parties every year, which is an extension of what we used to do in the castles back in the days. The only thing I guess is I see sometimes not a proper respect for the Portuguese DJs when they come on the bill. It looks like the Portuguese DJs are always the second choice and not mixing with internationals. It’s not a correct way after all these years, and we deserve a little bit more respect from those promoters to give us the right place after 20, 30 years. I think we deserve... Because without us, this thing I’m sure it [would not be] the same, and they [wouldn’t have] the parties [they have] today. Lauren Martin Right at the very beginning of our conversation, you were telling me that they never got international DJs to come play, it’s always the local residents playing at clubs. Are there things like that still happening if I wanted to go see a local Portuguese DJ play all night? Does that still happen? DJ Vibe No. I mean, yes, of course, there’s a... In Lux, there’s a resident DJs, they’re doing the whole night, yes. But I think that’s the only place. Lux is one place, apart of everything else. Lauren Martin I wonder, and not everyone wants to think of themselves as having a legacy necessarily, but I wonder if you see your influence in other DJs and in the club culture still. Do you see that anywhere when you go out? DJ Vibe Yeah, some things I can feel it was because I passed by, or something, yeah. And even some DJs, they’ve really… Send me music, send me [messages], ask me about this production, what I feel, because they are, they are really big fans of me and they try to do what I’ve been doing, and they want my opinion. So I can hear sometimes in the production, some of the records that come out, it was some influence by me. The same as me with the other DJs, it’s normal, it’s a cycle all the time. Lauren Martin Is there anyone in Lisbon, or just more widely across Portugal that you’re excited about as a new DJ, as a new producer? DJ Vibe Well, I can talk about this guy now, he’s everywhere. Everybody knows Luis Moullinex, the last revelation about our scene, the way he’s doing the scene and the production and the music and the band. Yeah, it was for me, the big revelation for the past five years. Lauren Martin Just as you were a revelation for someone over the years, again and again, it’s all, as you say, a full circle thing. I wanted to open up to questions for people, but first before we do that, I want to say thank you so much for sharing your stories and your music. DJ Vibe My pleasure, thank you very much. [applause] Lauren Martin Yeah, would anybody like to ask a question? audience member We were talking about the past, let’s talk about the future. What do you think about the artificial intelligence and robots? Do you think that robots will substitute the DJ? DJ Vibe No. I heard that the first time, more than 25 years ago, we use to talk about that, if that [would happen] already. And you can see technology, but you can see who can take your place. You’re never going to see a robot unless for an event but a regular robot to play in the club I don’t think so, I don’t think so. And if that happens, it’s bad. I think that’s going to kill the whole thing, and that’s not very possible. Lauren Martin Well if anyone’s shy, you could always just ask us afterwards, it’s fine. But again, thank you so much for coming this afternoon, and a massive thank you to DJ Vibe. DJ Vibe Thank you. [applause]