Paul Oakenfold

Alright Jay here, hanging out at the Young Hollywood Studio with one of the biggest DJs of all time, the one and only Paul Oakenfold.

Hello.

Now, I say biggest DJs of all time, because that's what the Guinness Book of World Records says.

Yeah. It's strange 'cause I got the call when I thought it was my friend mucking around. So, I nearly ended up putting the phone down on them. It's kinda crazy, Guinness Book of World Records. One of the biggest DJs in the world.

So, speaking of the world, you've been to some incredible places. I wanna talk about some of them. China. Let's kick off with that, the Great Wall of China. And what was that experience like?

It was an amazing experience. Very lucky to play on, on the Great Wall of China. It was a process where you had to get permission from the government. So, it it took a a year long to get everything organized. They don't really allow parties and people to go raving on a on the wall all night long till the sun comes up. So, it was very controlled in terms of how many people could come, how loud the sound was. For me it was a wonderful experience.

That's pretty incredible. Now, do you, do you change your playset when you're doing something like that, as opposed to what you would do, you know, when you're at the Hollywood Bowl?

You tend to in some respects. Yeah. I mean, from a show like the Hollywood Bowl or when I was touring with Madonna, would be more commercial. A show where you're playing to a thousand hardcore clubbers from around the world, then you can really dig deep and really experiment with new music 'cause you know they're gonna go with you on the journey.

Is there anywhere in the world you've never played, that is sort of on your wish list of where you have to go play at some point? You've been pretty much everywhere, but is there one place you

I'd like to play in Tibet. I find it really interesting in terms of DJ. Really pushing the envelope. So, I really like to play outside of where you would think a DJ should play.

Let's talk about the world of DJ. Like, it's growing and growing, and and DJs are bona fide real celebrities now. Everyone's getting into it it seems.

Yeah. It's it's been very popular in Europe for a long time. I mean, a lot of DJs produce their own music. They write their own music. They do remixes. So, in respect of an artist making music, they do that. And then, in terms of performing, a lot of them play their own music now and It's becoming more popular in the US, I think, because people are understanding that it's not just someone up there playing a couple of tunes from from other people.

Now, let's talk about Paul Oakenfold the producer. We've talked about the DJ, you know, you're in the studio doing some new stuff.

I've kinda been focusing on songs and good singers. Great singers actually, I've been very fortunate. Why not just play to America's strength, which is great singers and great songwriters. And as a kid growing up in London, that's what we listened to on the radio. It was always good songs. So, I thought, well, I'll do, you know, what I do in terms of music, melodic edgy music with great singers and songwriters.

Gotta talk about Madonna. Just the whole experience. Opening for her not once, but twice. The goddess, Madonna.

Yeah. I mean, Madonna, first and foremost, is an incredible artist. I was asked if I'd like to support Madonna on tour and produced like the last couple of singles and Celebration, right? That was, that was the most recent one. It's great because what it does by producing other artists, you get a chance to play those tracks out, whether it's yours or someone else's, regular to a big crowd. You really can see what works and what doesn't.

Now, last thing I wanna talk about, the technology. It's changed the game. You've been doing it a long time. When you started, you didn't have all all these tools. Are you still being old school or are you actually, you know, changing your style to go with all the new things out there?

No, I think, first and foremost, it's important to embrace new technology. I certainly felt it was important to move away from vinyl. Generally, there's two forms of DJ. You're either on a computer or you're playing CDs. I choose the route of the CD, purely because I don't wanna lose the art of DJing. I think sometimes if you're looking at a DJ and he's concentrating on his laptop too much, he loses the rapport between the crowd. And that's really, really important. So, I like the whole movement of pulling CDs out, playing them, being as live as you can, rather than programming it all on a computer and just running it. So, for me that's, that's where it's at.

Makes sense. There you go, Paul Oakenfold. The world's biggest DJ.