Tonight, Mannheim’s own Nick Curly (8Bit/Cecille) stops at U Street Music Hall amidst one of only three U.S. tour dates, in lieu of his debut album Between The Lines (released back in March). We had the chance to catch up with him before the show to discuss the tour, his beginnings in breakbeat, emotionally connecting with his audience and Rajo.
See Nick Curly tonight at U Street Music Hall with Chris Nitti – doors open at 10pm, entry is free before 11pm for ages 21+. RSVP here.Â
Is this your first time in DC?Â
I’ve only been to Washington once before. It’s a really nice city – and I remember that I ate the best hot dog there I’ve ever had. Also the gig I played and the people were great. Really looking forward to coming back!
You’ve been on tour since January 1st, to promote Between The Lines. How has the tour been thus far? Any particular highlights?
Tour has been great so far. The highlights have definitely been the BPM Festival, Time Warp Festival, and my gigs in China and Japan – but I can say that the whole tour was super cool – definitely the best tour I’ve played so far.
You mentioned in a recent feature with Resident Advisor that you began your DJ career in 1995, spinning breakbeat and house…
That’s correct, when I got into this music we always went to a club called “Vibrationâ€
where DJs like DJ Hype, Mickey Finn or George Morell played. At this time they played
house and breakbeat on the same floor. Sounds weird today, but it was great.
My first record I bought was from the legendary breakbeat label, Kniteforce.
You’re a co-owner of two labels, 8Bit & Cecille – can you explain the difference between them?
The main difference for me is that I run the labels with two different partners. 8Bit is more deep and tech house, and on Cecille we release all genres. I would say Cecille can be a bit more “experimental†than 8Bit.
In regards to your debut album Between The Lines, you mentioned your main aim with this project was to “capture an emotional feeling” – what kind of emotions were you trying to evoke from your audience?
Most important thing for me was that I wasn’t doing a dance album. I wanted to create an album you can listen at home or in the car, with some tracks that catch you in a emotional way. For example, the “Piano in the Dark” is such a track.
Are you still working on projects as “Rajo” with Johnny D & Ray Okpara? If so, is there anything in the works we can look forward to?Â
At the moment we haven’t found the time to work together. Ray moved backed to Berlin and Johnny has a young daughter and I’m traveling all the time – but I definitely think we will do something together in the near future.