Twenty years in any profession is no mean feat, let alone the fickle world of DJing, though Australian icon Robbie Lowe has not only reached this impressive milestone, he's done it with a quiet and humble determination that is a rarity in today's culture of flagrant self-promotion. What's also impressive is how throughout his lengthy career, Robbie has continued to eschew trends and stay true to the sound he loves, as well as earning the tag as Sydney's "go-to-guy" when it comes to looking for the perfect warm-up DJ for internationals.
To celebrate two decades behind the decks, this Saturday night Robbie will play a special eight hour set at The Spice Cellar, where he has been a resident for the past five years. Pulse's Henry Johnstone got on the blower with Robbie earlier this week for a lengthy chat about his career.
Pulse: Have you been digging up a lot of records in preparation for your set? Robbie Lowe: Not really too much, just more organising everything really. It’s been a good reason to organise tracks from the past five years or so. Last Saturday I spent eight hours putting everything in its right spot.
Getting ready to shift through the different moods you want to go through, I imagine? Yeah. It’s funny; you can never plan a set like this. Just like every set you never know what’s going to happen until you actually get there and feed off the dance floor. You’ve got to be fully armed, but as to how you’re going to play it, you just don’t know.
I’d like to back to before you even started DJing. When do you remember music first grabbing your attention? Did your folks have a lot to do with shaping your early music tastes? Absolutely. I was first introduced to dance music at a young age. I know that sounds like one of those clichés, but it’s true. I’ve got a really young mother; she was 16 when I was born, so I’m not really that far away from her [laughs]. When I was a kid she was in her 30s and was basically doing what we’re all doing now. She was going to the Hordern parties and stuff like that.
Was that during the rave scene? No, this was before then. This was when I was around 15 and they had these massive parties at the Hordern called Rat Parties and other names. She always loved all types of music including dance music - she was fanatical about it. She had a couple of good DJ friends and they were always giving her mixtapes that she’d bring home and play around the house. So I’d be hearing all this music and these tracks and after a while I just starting thinking, wow this sounds unreal! I was hooked. After a while I was pinching her tapes and would thrash them in my Sony Walkman.
I remember once when I was a teenager, one of Mum’s friends used to come over a lot and we got chatting one time – he knew I was into dance music from my music playing in the house and was getting inquisitive about turntables. Anyway he mentioned that he had a lot of DJ friends in London and that one of them is a good friend of his called Sasha. And I was like, hang on a minute, I know that name! It’s funny thinking back on that now, how close to home that was. So yeah I was hooked from an early age, and back then it was hip house and acid house. Then when I was about 17 or maybe a bit older, rave really hit hard in Sydney, it was huge.
So what came first – the clubbing or the DJing? I was never a clubber. I just started DJing, and not because I wanted to become a DJ, but because I loved the whole concept of mixing records together. It’s funny, I never wanted to be a DJ, the whole thought of it just wasn’t for me [laughs]. But I’d mix in my room for hours and that’s all I wanted to do. It wasn’t until a couple of friends pushed me in the deep end one day and said, right, you’re getting a gig.
How old were you then? Around 19 or 20, it was at a friend’s birthday party. They pushed me into it; I didn’t want to do it. Then I started playing and it was just horrific how nervous I was. I remember bringing in the first track and my hands were shaking. Then I brought the next one in, and the next one and then you couldn’t get me off the decks - it was on from then. Then one of the main DJs at the party came up to me at the end of the night and told me I should keep at it. I think he must have saw something in me.
So I just kept plodding along, I wasn’t necessarily looking for gigs. I was working in a surf shop and this guy came in one day handing out flyers, he ran parties at Kinselas in Taylors Square. I ended up playing at one of his parties with Pee Wee Ferris and a couple of other guys, and that was a pretty big gig for me at the time. Back then Pee Wee was the man, he was the king of Sydney.
The king of Subbies. This was way back even before Sublime. When I was a kid Pee Wee was the biggest DJ in Sydney. He had guys like Danny Howells praising him.
Anyway I started picking up gigs here and there, and then I got my first residency at a club in Kings Cross called The White Room. I got offered a Wednesday night residency from 9pm till 4am every week. Can you believe how many hours that is to play, every week? For the first three hours I’d be playing to about ten people, then by the end of the night I’d have about 50 backpackers. I did that for about six months.
From there I started meeting quite a lot of people and I got a few opportunities at a party down at Morton’s Pub on Sussex St. That used to go off on a Sunday, kind of like S.A.S.H. That’s where I met Ben [Korbel]. By that stage I kind of knew that I was going to be DJing for a long time.
You mention Ben, who was one of the guys behind Sounds On Sunday, a legendary party in Sydney where you were a resident. Would you say that’s where your reputation began to grow and your career really started to take off? Yes, 100%. That was my first real credible residency, and it was a big residency too. Sounds On Sunday…no one ever thought you could do that kind of party on a Sunday. Before Ben and Paddy came into it another guy started it called Mike Kerry, this was in 2001 or something. I actually played there on the first day it opened and they had around 2000 people. Then every week for five years there’d be between 1500 and 2000 people partying there.
I was playing there every week in the courtyard, getting the last set from 8-10pm to 1000 people at least. That’s where I definitely got a lot of recognition – a lot of fans and admirers. Sounds On Sunday was definitely the start of everything.
And Sweetchilli was a big one for you too? Absolutely. Sweetchilli was a funny one at first because I couldn’t break into it [laughs]. Do you know how hard it was for me to get a gig there? The nature of DJing is always up and down, it’s always been that way. Admittedly the past five years I’ve had a really good run, but for 10 years it was like pushing shit up a hill. Sweetchilli was already up and running and all my friends were playing there – Ben, Trent Anthony – but for some reason they just wouldn’t give me a gig. Mind you, I didn’t really know the promoters Crispin and Daniel all that well. One night I played this really bad gig and after I’d finished I was like, fuck this, I’m going up to Sweetchilli and I’m not leaving until they give me a gig.
So I stormed over there, went straight up to Crispin and said, what is going on? I’ve sent you my demos, I call you up, you don’t listen to my mixes, what do I have to do to get a gig here? We ended up having this argument with about thirty people standing around us, laughing. Anyway finally he said OK, you can play at the next party. And it’s funny, both Daniel and Crispin ended up looking after me really well. I’ve got a lot of respect for them. For the next eight years I had a really good platform at those parties and I gained a lot more credibility. They were amazing gigs and the guys were bringing out every big international DJ and I learnt a lot about warming up for them.
Back then international DJs coming to Australia was a rarity. Nowadays it’s crazy, we’re really spoilt for choice. Sydney is the best it’s ever been right now. Sydney is incredible at the moment. But you’re right, I remember back then when an international like Digweed was coming to town, it was like the Queen was coming! Everyone would be talking about it, there’d be so much hype. Obviously the scene has got a lot bigger and there are a lot of opportunities for internationals to come and make money here. There are so many big names coming here week in, week out, that you don’t even know who’s playing. I can understand why; I really do think Sydney is one of the best places in the world - it’s beautiful and has a great scene.
You’ve warmed up for a bunch of big name internationals over the years. Which gigs stick out in your mind most fondly? The first warm up I ever did was for Danny Howells in 2003 – that sticks out as a really special day. It just felt like a magical afternoon; I played a really good set, everyone was happy, Danny was in a great mood, not to mention he played one of the best sets I’ve ever heard. Then there was a Sasha warm up maybe a year later at the Greenwood that was amazing too. Digweed at Home for Sweetchilli around 2006, that was packed. Funnily enough the Tiesto warm ups at The Hordern were amazing too – there was around 6,000 people at each show. I was playing pumped up, tech-house and everyone was going nuts.
Also some of the sets at Spice over the last 12 months have been pretty special too. Kenny Larkin, Chez Damier, Catz N Dogz.
You began your residency at Spice in 2008. What do you love about being a resident DJ? Playing regularly in a good club to a good crowd really improves your DJing. You can experiment more and dig a bit deeper into your records. Ultimately it’s where you build a fanbase – you get to know everyone and it becomes a family vibe. The whole residency thing is so important, so I feel very blessed to have what I’ve got at Spice.
It also feels like at places like Spice that they’re putting the importance back on resident and local DJs, which perhaps went missing for a little while. You’ve got to have your base and the residents create that base. If you start relying too heavily on the internationals, it’s not going to work properly. If the club builds the residents and makes them the stars, so to speak, then when you get the international it’s the icing on the cake of the whole clubbing experience. The Spice Cellar has nights where it’s just residents playing and they’re just as big as when there’s a visitor. It’s not only at Spice though – the residency thing has caught on everywhere, which is great.
Coming up as a DJ in the era that you did - how do you think this has influenced or shaped how you play? I learnt how to mix on records that had really short intros and outros, so you really had to read your tracks and drop a track in the right spot. And you didn’t have much time, so it was all about programming. A lot of tracks would start with a piano or a bassline too, so your programming of where you dropped a track had to be impeccable, otherwise it sounded like a dog’s breakfast. The whole objective of mixing when I started was to program the track and get it in and out in the best spot with the least fuss. No over mixing, just in and out, smooth transition. I think it’s that sort of trait I learnt that when I mix now, I still follow those same guidelines.
It’s been 20 years for you on the decks, but are you still learning? Absolutely, every time. I’m always learning and always pushing myself. I give it 110% every time I play. I still leave gigs analysing how I played my set, sometimes for a coupe days after. I’m so passionate about my job. And I promise you that I really feel like I’m only just getting warmed up.
Listen to Robbie Lowe on Pulse Radio