September

Artist of the Month: DJ Ampz

01) Start by telling us where are you from? and how old are you? and how long have you been a DJ?

DJ Ampz: I’m based out of a university town called Guelph, ON, about an hour outside of Toronto. I’m 26 years old and have been DJing since the age of 15, well in reality 18…those first 3 years sounded like I played on the train tracks a lot.

 

02) Almost every Dj or Producer (or both) do this as a part time, except perhaps Djs in the Top 20, are you an exception to this rule? or do you have a day job as well?

DJ Ampz: At the moment, I just finished a 3 year stint running a FM radio station, however I am returning to school for my master’s program at the University of Guelph. I spend about as much time doing music or djing as a full time job would, but sadly it’s really just a part time project.

 

03) You are owner of three record labels, Amplified Digital, Ice Media and 4Play Trax, this last one focusing in the House/Electro aspect of Electronic Dance Music. This year you joined forces with the Straight Up! Music umbrella, are there any particular reasons or visions that you have for this joint venture?

DJ Ampz: Straight Up! Music has always been one of those groups that I have admired, and when the opportunity came to work with the organization, I jumped at it. The partnership has allowed the label to grow in leaps and bounds; securing new distribution outlets, promotional opportunities, cd compilation releases and artists to join.

 

04) As owner of three record companies it is almost natural to throw a party on their names, have you done or do you plan on doing something along these lines? Is there maybe a 4Play Trax party in the horizon?

DJ Ampz: When each of the labels started, there was an official launch party for all of them, held locally. Amplified Digital featured Aaron Joseph and DJ Tygon, and the 4Play Trax launch happened a few weeks later in 2007 at Revolution Nightclub in Waterloo.

There has also been various CD or Single Release parties over the past three years which have featured the likes of Jayforce, Che DuBois, Macca, Alexandra with Jake Chec and Curtis Maranda. In October of 2009, the Best of The Deep Chill had a cd release party at the Albion in Guelph, and in July of 2010, we held the 4Play In the Dark release party at Opus in Guelph which had over 500 people attend.

This coming October sees Aaron Joseph release his Dusk and Dawn 2 CD compilation for Amplified Digital at the Revolution Nightclub. We also have plans in the works for a new electro/big room house compilation come out in winter of 2011.

05) As a Dj, you have played along side with well known Djs such as, Markus Schulz, Hatiras, Dj Preach, and Zoo Brazil to name just a few, dropping bomb after bomb at venues/festivals such as Winter Music Conference, Pure Ultra Lounge and Guvernment. Would you like to share some memorable experiences from any of these performances?

DJ Ampz: There have been a few very memorable events; probably the biggest one was at a festival located about an hour outside of Vancouver, British Columbia Canada called APEX. The event was a 17 stage outdoor festival running from 10pm-10am and I had the luck to headline on of the main stages, so playing for a large majority of the 17000 that were there as the sun rose over the mountains at 6am was quite a breathtaking experience.

Opening for Markus Schulz in Miami in 2009 and 2010 was also a fantastic experience, as well as my radio shows 500th with Wippenberg, Zoo Brazil, Glenn Morrison, Blake Jarrell and Kenneth Thomas vs. Tritonal this past year.

I have had some of my favourite nights at the Purple Room, my home club for the past four years, specifically Ampz Only, a yearly 5 hour set where I get the chance to play whatever I want and really take a music journey.

 

06) Tell us about your latest compilation "4Play In The Dark". What was the process of selecting the tunes and how they are placed within the mix?

DJ Ampz: 4Play in the dark is a mix of my favourite dark, minimal and tech-house based tunes on the label. Essentially I went through the material released and selected the tracks that would fit, and then essentially just organized them so they sounded good mixing together. No story or deep insight into it, just crazy dark beats.

 

07) May this be called the "awkward moment" of the interview but I'm sure everyone wants to know an answer to this. You are a respectable Dj, you are a music entrepreneur, why aren't you a Producer? have you given it a thought about maybe pursuing this sometime in the future?

DJ Ampz: When I started into music at the age of 15, I started to produce with “EJay”, to which I was told that a DJ plays music and does not produce it. I ended up putting out about 30 tracks … that were just garbage. I decided to focus on my Djing and radio show (Amplified Radio) rather than production. I have had plans to get into production once again however the time has been spent working on the labels, radio show and night club promotions which I have a better business sense, then one for production it seems (That being said, if I do release something, don’t think it will be crap automatically, just most likely).

 

08) What are your short and long term goals as a Dj right now?

DJ Ampz:

September is an extremely busy month for me. Sept 8th I’m playing a Frosh (First week of University) Event, followed by a set with Mark Oliver, one of Canada’s top ranked DJs on the 10th of September at the Purple Room inside Revolution Nightclub.

The 16th sees me open up at Revolution for LMFAO, the 17th an Ampz Only set at the Purple Room and the 24th with Lazy Rich and Kenneth Thomas in Toronto at the Courthouse.

As for long term, I really don’t plan too much right now, I’d hope to continue to build the career with some larger events, residencies and tours, but things are all open and I find its best to just build towards a general goal rather than the so familiar “playing at X club” sort of deal.

 

09) If you had to pick three artists from 4Play Trax, three artists that you'd say, these guys/girls are the future of the label, who would they be?

DJ Ampz: I’ve been a big fan of Bobby Savage/shallowgrave since we started the label and he has a very bright future. Also the upcoming French producer Soulskid who has a very unique sound.

 

10) Anything you'd like to add, promote or announce before parting ways?

DJ Ampz: You think I would be better at doing interviews after completing over 100 on my radio show, but maybe not. Id suggest checking out www.amplifiedradio.com for more on my show, Facebook Fan Page is DJ Ampz (not the hip-hop/rap artists from NYC) and http://download.amplifiedradio.com for hundreds of dj sets available for direct download. Shameless self-promo, Love it.

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