KC Lights' journey from music studies to the main stage

Ahead of his Deep Hard N Funky slot on Saturday, 19 July, Remix sits down with DJ KC Lights to talk about his impressive journey from studies to the main stage. 

Can you tell us about your journey into becoming a DJ? How did it all start for you?
I studied music at University, around the same time I fell in love with electronic music. After leaving Uni I began producing and releasing tracks that eventually started picking up attention at radio and amongst some big DJs. From there I started getting booked for shows and knew I had to sharpen up my DJ skills and things just grew from there.

How do you typically prepare for a set?
I always try and stay on top of promos and new music coming out, I find Soundcloud a great place to find little gems and bootlegs for my sets. Often I’ll have some new demos of my own to test out too. If it’s somewhere I’ve played before I’ll have a good idea of how the night will go but if I’m playing somewhere completely new then it’s usually just a case of having a bunch of great tunes in the bag and winging it really.

Do you have any pre-show rituals?
I’d love to say that I exercise then have a solid sleep so that I’m refreshed for the show but the truth is I’ve usually been travelling all day and so I tend to just blast some out some new music in my hotel room that I wanna play that night to get me hyped for the show! 

How does playing down under compare to playing in Scotland?
Everywhere is different, which is part of the fun of it! Naturally I enjoy playing to a home crowd but there’s always a good handful of Scottish people at the shows there too! I guess we’re attracted to a party wherever we are. New Zealand shares with Scotland - you love a rave! I always look forward to playing there.

What is your most memorable performance and why?
I’ve been blessed to have quite a lot of memorable gigs but one that sticks out for me is playing at Belsonic in Belfast to 20,000 people. It wasn’t just the size of the crowd that made it so memorable but it was one of the most insane crowds I’ve ever played to as well.

How do you balance your regular life with all the madness of being a DJ… IE balancing your time on the decks, producing new tracks & upkeeping your self-promo/marketing?
It’s not easy, that’s for sure. The key, for me, is time-management. I’m constantly trying to improve on that front but making time for all the different parts of the business, the boring and the fun, as well as carving out time for personal life is really important.

What advice would you give to aspiring DJs?
Don’t forget to have fun and always remember that the reason you’re doing it is because you love it. It’s too easy getting caught up in the chase of something to stop and take it all in and have some fun on the journey. I really believe that the passion and joy really comes off in the music you write and in the way you perform, people love to feel that.

If you could be stuck in one year’s music scene, which year would it be?
Such a great question and such a hard question! I’d have to say 2008. I was 17 and started going out and partying, life was easy haha! There were so many great Indie bands around that time, I also went to Ibiza with my mates for the first time and the dance music that year still sounds so fresh today. What a time!

@KCLIGHTSMUSIC

Tickets on sale now at ourhouse.co.nz