Q Club

Graham Gold
Graham’s legendary shows on London’s Kiss 100 and his club night Peach, the most successful club brand ever in the capital, made Graham the star that he is. His commitment to the scene and play exciting fresh new music is pretty much un-paralleled. Now with his productions getting played by the likes of PVD, he remains much in demand.

Years of experience has taken him to all corners of the world playing superb trance for all the major brands and festivals, including Glastonbury, Homelands, Impulz, W.E.M.F., Summadayze and The Street Parade in Zurich. There actually are very few places in the world he hasnt played!! The experience gained over this time is priceless and is why Graham is constantly a welcome guest time and time again.

So when did you move to Thailand Graham and why?
I moved in April as was just getting disillusioned with the UK after so many great years. And also, after a very costly divorce, and not earning what I used to, it was deffo time get out of there!

What’s the dance music scene like in Thailand?
Bangkok (the capital) shuts down at 2am for all the lcubs but the girlie bars can just go on and on! I have a monthly residency there which is pure trance and I play for 5 hours (the whole night). It’s picking up nicely, as trance id still quite small here. I have a monthly in Pattaya, which is 90 ins by car and a seaside resort. I play at Insomnia, and that is a pure filthy house/electro set and that goes on till 8am! There is also Phuket, but I have only played there once and it was out of hi season, so just OK!! Then you have the islands –Samui and Phangan. They have thriving scenes, and love electro and quality house. And of course, Phangan is the home of all the best moon parties-Full, Half, Shiva and Black.

Whilst the Full Moon is the busiest as it the the most talked about one-8000 low season to 25,000 high season and 35,000 on NYE –it’s a free party on the beach with about 8 soundstages. I just played an 8 hour set which was everything from funky/electro/house/prog/trance and it rocked! But the main music here on Phangan is Psy trance-it’s what all the parties are really about!!I am also resident at half Moon which for me is a better party. Though not on the beach, it’s in the forest and you get about 2000 people. Unlike FM where there are a load of pissheads, Half moon attracts a better crowd. There is also Koh tai, which is the next island up from Phangan, which although small, does have parties every night! And I have played there 3 times to capacity crowds, who are sooooooooooo up for it (remember you can get everything here in Thailand too!! Know what I mean!!

With the huge success of Glorified early this year are you following it up with anything at
the moment?
Yes it’s finished, and got mixed down last week. I think it’s better than Glorified and shows me coming ona s a producer. I also have 3 projects on the go, which are not finished cos of the only down side about living here. Power and Internet!! I had to buy big stabalizers to combat the power flucations (the main board on the mac has already been taken out once!) and really slow connection meaning every waking moment is keeping on top of downloading all my new promos!¬ But think I have sorted that out now, so when I get back, I will be up to date as will use the time in the UK to clear out all my inbox!! The projects include one with Claudia Cazacu which we actually started before I left England, and one is with a DJ in New Zealand which we started when I was there playing for Slinky a few months back. It’s a remake of a classic 85 soul tune,but not saying more than that till it’s finished!!

How would you describe your sound at he moment?
Filthy electro and tough house-whether its tech influenced or Rivera/Wilkinson/Chris Lake style plus of
course TRANCE!!

Do you miss the UK club scene?
Well I miss Peach of course, but the scene is a long way from where it was 98-2003. Ok everything changes but when you still get 20+ mails a week from peeps who just come to say how much they miss it-then you wonder why it all changed!! But missing the long hours spent in the car every weekend-no not really. Now I go to work on a scooter and a boat!

Have you played Ibiza this year and if so where?
This year no as settling in here (stupid really as i spent 4 years at college learning Spanish!) But I did play it every year and was there most weeks throughout the summer from ’94 till 2004. And was back there last year for the Peach parties. I think DC10 is the only place I haven’t played on the island.

Is this your first Cream Classics event?
No, I played one in Malta a few years back, which was cool, as I have been playing there since 92 so know what they like.

What can we expect from your set?
Depends on what gets played before me. They haven’t actually given us any guidelines re start and end year, but if I can get a bit of everything in from’92 to ’05 say, then you will get all the funky stuff from labels like fresh Fruit that ruled in 93, the Italian progressive stuff like Transformer 2 and Glam thru to JX style and trance of course!

Is there currently a Mrs Gold or are you on the market good sir? (so we know how far to place the dancers from you) lol?
Sadly no there isn’t, so I am deffo in the market place, so please place them as near as possible to the mixer (and one underneath would be good too!”!)

And to you-look forward to seeing you too!!

thanks for taking the time to speak to us Graham and we look forward
to seeing you @ Q Club.