When he isn’t pounding rhythms behind the drumkit for Belgian indie crossover band Soulwax, Ghentbased artist Steve Slingeneyer is quite likely to be mixing tunes, slipping beats and raising the roof at some venue around the world.
Under the name of One Man Party, Slingeneyer has been putting together the most awkward of musical mash-ups in a manner that eludes categorisation, let alone description.
Do bear in mind, however, that one of his influences is Animal from The Muppet Show, which could explain it all. If still in doubt log on to OMP’s MySpace page and download his free DJ mix.
He’s shared bills with the likes of 2manydj’s, Justice, MixHell, Busy P, Vitalic, Klaxons, and many others, and on November 21, he will be bringing his soaring electro-fied music to Malta when he performs at Tattingers in Rabat for the ‘The Beat that shakes the Mothership’ event, the last of four events that Don Disko ( www.dondisko.com) have staged with the collaboration of The Devil Digs Rave this summer.
The three previous editions, held at different venues, featured different local DJs and artists and were a huge success. Apart from One Man Party, the line-up for the last leg of the tour will also include Mathematikal, who are currently working on their debut album, as well as DJ sets from Squeak and Kenji.
Tickets are available from Exit, Fact, Dr Juice, Ryans and Chequers or by sending an e-mail to info@dondisko.com.
Interview with Steve Slingeneyer
(One Man Party)
How did you first get involved in music and then in bands?
My father is a musician; my whole family is musical. We would dance in the living room to Earth, Wind and Fire and rock out to AC/DC. I got into music at an early age. I was 13 or so when I picked up the guitar and then got into drums, formed a punk/hardcore band and that was it. It just grew from there.
Apart from the Soulwax connection, what gave you the urge to set up your one man party alter ego, and when?
In the early Soulwax days, Stephen Dewaele (of 2manydjs) and I used to DJ for fun, mixing anything from disco and funk to rock and electronic stuff. Then I moved to New York for seven years. When I came back to Belgium, I steadily started DJ-ing more and more; from the bar to the local clubs to international places.
The name One Man Party came from James Murphy (of LCD Soundsytem) because I was known for dancing and partying hard on tour and at parties. It seemed perfect to use as a DJ name.
Eclectic setlists are becoming more and more popular. Why do you think have clubbers become more receptive to such diversity on the dancefloor?
Being eclectic is completely natural to me. I get bored hearing or playing just one style of music. I think people in general have broad tastes. One has to cater for that.
It’s also a real challenge to make different styles of music work together. You can mix by tempo but also by key, finding little bridges between tracks is what excites me.
Although clubbers tend to follow ‘styles’ a lot it’s nice to tease or surprise them with a track they wouldn’t normally dance to. A DJ should just want to make as many people dance as possible and hypnotise them with his selections, but it’s also a lot of fun to shock sometimes; throw somebody off. By the way, I never rehearse a set.
Any particular people you’d care to mention who have had a major musical influence on you as a musician and as a DJ?
There are loads and it’s mostly because they’ve taken me on a trip… Maurice Fulton, Carl Craig, 2manydjs of course, Riton, James Murphy and Pat Mahoney, Erol Alkan, Justice.
Ghent seems to be quite big on groovy tunes and clubbing, but also for alternative music.
Ghent has been producing some good music lately. My favourite new band is called Teddiedrum; a two-piece band that plays electronics, a ‘teddybear’ drum, guitar, keys… they sound like a cross between Hot Chip and Devo.
Then there’s a good indie band called Wallace Vanborn and others such as Hong Kong Dong, Das Pop, Drums are for Parades, Waldorf, Mascotte and many others. There’s a lot of diversity and many of the younger bands are often quite experimental, which is always good.
On the dance front there’s Nid and Sancy, The Glimmers, Ultravid, Sound of Stereo, Disco Drunkards, Hermanos Inglesos… a lot of bands. Ghent has been a real source for dance music but there’s a lot of live action too thanks to clubs and bars such as Charlatan, Make-up, Vooruit, Culture Club, Video and Roerkuip.
Your top five tracks at the moment are…
High Together by Siriusmo, Ghost Girl (Blatta and Inesha Remix) by Telepopmusik, The Dozens by Fake Blood, Simple Things (Work it Out) by Shitrobot and the 12” remix of Gino Soccio’s Remember
You’re playing at the last leg of DonDisko’s ‘the Beat that Shakes the Mothership’ tour. What are you cooking up for the occasion?
DonDisko will drop the funk and I bring on the rave…
Any expectations on your part from Malta and its clubbing scene?
Sadly, I don’t know the clubbing scene in Malta but I can imagine it’s an easy atmosphere – what with all the sun you get! I am definitely interested in the history of Malta and I’ve heard about the ancient Megalithic temples, which I hope to visit… depending on how the clubnight goes of course (laughs).
www.myspace.com/onemanpartyisadj
Written by Michael Bugeja
article was published on 8 November in The Sunday Times.
