Phanganist Speak to One of Koh Phangan's Finest DJ's Rob Gritton

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Resident DJ at some of Koh Phangan's best and biggest parties from Jungle Experience to Waterfall Party, Rob Gritton is a regular face behind the decks at many venues in the region.....dabbling with dance music production from a very young age Rob has been making many unreleased tunes dating as far back as 1995...

We speak to Rob to catch up on his latest ventures with a brief a history of his life in the DJ-ing and music production worlds ahead of his performance at Phanganist Hostel's Jungle Experience Christmas Special Warm Up Party THIS SATURDAY.

Hey Rob, great to see you.

So, what's your Koh Phangan story, how did it all begin?

I came to Koh Phangan in 2001 on holiday. I thought I would go 'tick', you know, I’ve gone to Thailand but it was a life changing holiday. I was 21 years old.

I kept coming here on holiday I’ve always wanted to move away into a warmer, nicer, calmer environment than England. I started meeting people and one of my dreams was to be able to do music production. Also I was interested in land out here which was quite cheap at the time and going up.

So, I came and bought some land out here in 2005 and slowly built a house which took me ages. The last time I went back to Europe was Nov 2006.

Once you have a house it’s much more difficult to go back. I moved into the house in 2010. It took me around four years to build the thing.

At the same time, 2008, I opened a bar in Haad Rin and originally the plan was a bar restaurant but it slowly morphed into a DJ bar called The Beach Lounge Bar. Many people know it who have lived in KPG for a long time.

Off the back of DJing in there I was asked to play at Jungle Experience. Loi Lay followed.

When did you first start DJ-ing?

The first time I touched vinyl decks was 1995 and a friend of mine’s brother was a DJ. He had some decks. I had a little play around with them. A years or so later, I was 17, I bought a set of decks. I’d collected vinyl and have parties.

I eventually sold the decks when I moved here as I didn’t think I was going to DJ. And the vinyl.

So, the DJing is something that kept reappearing for you?

Yeah. I used to be a computer technician and I’d do a lot for a friend’s studio. I thought I would explore the music production I didn’t know it was going to go the way it’s gone.

I was a pretty reluctant DJ. I was pretty shy at the beginning. I didn’t want people to think I was shy! But after I got a taste for it at Jungle, I realised it was something I was really passionate about.

What would you say is your signature style?

It depends on the time of the night because I like to play a cross-section. I don’t want to just be the DJ at peak time. I’m well placed at peak time playing banging techno or tech-house but then also I like doing sun sets and warm ups as well. So that would be sometimes chill out music and sometimes deep house as well.

I don’t like to limit myself to one style. If you look at what I do some of it is quite banging and some of it is quite chilled.

When did you start producing music?

I was introduced to some software and computer DJing in 1996. That was when it was first become easy to do. I had all the old soft ware Q-base and Reason and Rebirth. I made a couple of tracks but it was all mucking around and learning about it. A lot of my friends were into drum and bass and techno.

When I moved to Koh Phangan, after living here for a bit, before opening my bar, David Chong was my next door neighbour and he introduced me to Ableton Software which I instantly fell in love with. It does everything that you want it to do and you can DJ with it aswell. The otherday I was in Bangkok. I was at a bar, I had no CD’s available but we just used Ableton software on my laptop. But first and foremost really good production software. You can get your idea up quickly. It’s my production software of choice.

Over the years of living in KPG, it turned from being something I had on my laptop to creating a full working studio. I have a dedicated computer which does just music that’s build into my coputer. Using my computer nerd skills. I actually built my own mac pro.

What are your favourite things your life now as a DJ?

First and foremost I love the island life. I feel more at home here than anywhere in the world. I have so many friends here everywhere I go. It’s unbelievable really

As a DJ I like it because you don’t have to work everyday. Well you do have to work everyday and the days you do work you really want to work because your passionate about it. It gives me a chance to test out my music.

My new tracks that are going to be on Moon Island Records early next year, I’ve recently been playing them at Jungle and Waterfall to try them out and see what the crowd’s reaction is. As a producer I feel blessed. I can make a track that day and take it out and play it to potentially thousands of people. It makes you a bit scared! But when you see the crowd reacting to your music. It’s amazing!

What would you say to any aspiring DJ’s out there?

I think it’s like the green cross code: look and listen and don’t get caught in the trap of taking the easy way out and only doing laptop DJ-ing.

Learning to mix is worth doing.

Resist all the temptation to take the easy way. If you really want to do it and be taken seriously in the DJ world at least prove you can mix. Once you can do it it’s the best feeling in the world.