IF Sydney House Music formed an executive council, John Devecchis would undoubtably be asked to sit on the head board. John was an integral part of some of the most legendary house nights this town has ever seen. As a DJ that lets his music do the talking, we were ecstatic to be able to sit down with the man and get the lowdown on a range of topics, including his thoughts on this weeks Secret International and some very "shitty" clubbing experiences...
Firstly, how many different spellings and pronunciations of your last name have you encountered over the years?
It’s Italian and I
have encountered many variations since my very first day at school. I believe it is
supposed to be pronounced: ‘d-ve-kiss’ But ‘da-vee-cheese’
and ‘da-vecci-arse’ are also quite common variations. One guy back in the UK
had only heard my name spoken and thought that I dj’d under the name ‘John The
Lettuce’
As one of the most influential House DJs in Sydney in the first decade of the millennium, you secured residencies at pretty much every house club around. Are there any standout gig(s) that spring to mind as your favourite?
In Sydney, Djing with
Laurent Garnier in 05. We both played 4 hour sets to a single room. The residency on the
Terrace @ Home nightclub was special to me also from 2001-2005. In Europe it would be
djing @ The Circus parties run by dj/promoter Yousef. Warming up for Trus Me at Asylum in Leeds last
year was a great gig also.
What’s the weirdest thing you’ve seen in a club?
Haha ‘The Girl Who
Dumped on the Dancefloor’
It was back in the
summer of 2002 at Home nightclub. I had just arrived on the terrace and was
waiting near the entrance to the dj booth roughly ten minutes before I was due
to start my set.
I was enjoying my
first beer of the evening when I
suddenly noticed a dark haired girl in a black dress come stumbling through a
crowd. She looked really confused and flustered and her mate seemed to be
arguing with her about something. This kind of thing happens all the times in
clubs so it was nothing out of the ordinary and certainly didn’t alarm me. What
she did next however, was quite alarming. She seemed to mistake the top step of the dj
booth for a toilet seat. Onlookers were in
dismay as she hoicked up her dress, plonked her self down and relieved herself
all over the floor of the dj booth and partly up the walls. She was fairly
smashed and I am convinced that she genuinely thought that she was on the
toilet. The next thing she did was wipe herself with an open palm, push her
dress back down and stumble across the bar brushing into clubbers as she left.
She then used the bar to prop herself up and left a dirty handprint on the side
of the bar.
Illya was dj’ing at
the time and the first thing that he noticed was the dance floor clearing. He
had been busy mixing and didn’t notice the girl doing her business just near
his feet. And then the stench
hit him. He did everything he
could to keep the party going under the circumstances. The chick’s friends
and security finally escorted the poor girl out of the terrace door. The dj booth still
had pungent aroma when I started my set and it wasn’t easy to concentrate for
the first thirty minutes. Especially with people coming up and jokingly requesting tracks like ‘Turder on the Dancefloor’ I also noticed an unfortunate guy walk past
the booth with a white shirt with a shit handprint on his back. I didn’t have
the heart to tell him.
The girl it seems was
a visitor from another city on a weekends visit. She had left her
travel bag in the cloakroom and a couple of people came up with the cruel idea
or putting a few toilet rolls in there. But the reality of the matter is that
the poor girl had gone through quite enough trauma for one night.
What’s the last tune you heard that gave you the amazing
tingle up the spine feeling?
I’m sure most people
already know this song but the last genuine ‘tingle’ I got was listening to
James Blakes’ cover of Feists’ brilliant song ‘Limit To Your Love’
Grand Theft Audio – Long Time Sounds as good today as it ever did. I went through 3 copies of this track in the 2000’s haha
Tell us a little about your side project- The Owl?
"The Owl’ was a nick-name
that Alex Wolfenden and Yousef gave me because of my random sleep pattern. So I
decided to use it as an alter-ego for my disco/funk/motown edits I made for my
bar gigs (of which I have quite a few regular ones in Sydney). I now have over
a hundred edits under my belt. Some are simple ‘chop up’ jobs and some are very
intricate and almost like remixes. I mainly keep them for my own personal use. Though a few have been released on Editorial records. Here's the Soundcloud:
On the house music
tip I have a vinyl/digi release coming out next Monday on the Italian ‘No More
Hits’ label and also my own vinyl/digi label launching in March. You can preview the first releases on the label Soundcloud Page below:
Name some producers that are rocking your world at the
moment?
I’m into that classic
deep house sound so producers like James Barnsley, Kindimmer and Jordan Peak
are up there for me at the moment
You’re supporting a “Secret International Guest” at DUST
this Sunday. Being aware of who it is, should we believe the hype or is it just
a no name DJ that’s been coined a very dubious definition of International DJ?
He’s one of the
biggest producers in the World with regards to serious organic-sounding house.
I have had the pleasure of seeing him dj in close proximity before. He has a
load of new tunes yet to be unleashed I believe so this is one for the heads
certainly not to miss. Do it.
A Hypothetical...
Bob Marley for sure.
So much to sample from that back catalogue! MJ has been done to
death (no pun intended!)
Mr Devecchis is on warm up duties this Sunday for our special guest who can not be named just yet. All will be revealed shortly but Trust Us when we say Sunday is set to be a monster of a night. For any Guest List enquiries email - glist@dustnights.net
Full event details can be found HERE
