Interview with DJ Timothy Wisdom

by Nathan Pike

Meet DJ Timothy Wisdom, an explorer of beats and scientist of sound. This local DJ has been tearing it up and down the coast for years now. Perhaps you’ve seen his name on posters around town, or maybe you’ve been lucky enough to be in a room that he’s filling with beats so lovingly manipulated and transformed into an energetic, infectious, magnetic and all around FUN vibe. Whether you’re a fan of turntablism or not, there’s no denying this little kipper has some shark-worthy skills.

How long have you been actively DJ'ing? Where did you cut your teeth and who would you cite as a major influence in your becoming a DJ?
I was addicted to rap music from grade 5 onwards (it was called rap back then - hiphop hadn't been invented yet). But I was living in Newfoundland so my only access was via Much Music, family vacations off the island (where I'd stock up on music) and the occasional tourist who would bring along something for me to record. I guess it was Ice-T that first got me into the music. His bold topics and tracks jam packed with the "f-word" were really impressionable to a 10 year old. I also really liked the Fresh Prince's humour and Jazzy Jeff's excellent beats and scratching.

I wanted to be a rapper and I got my first set of turntables in grade 9 (1991 and I was 13 years old). My Dad was on his way to NY City for business and I gave him all my summer earnings (from lawn mowing and tour guiding). We both had no idea what I needed in terms of gear but he came back with the basics: two turntables and a DJ mixer. He also got a cheap sampler and a roland 505 drum machine (a fairly rare find - which I still have). I started a rap group with a friend but eventually just did it by myself - sampling all my beats from my rap collection and rapping over top. Then I'd scratch during the choruses and run everything through a home-made 4 track recorder. Eventually I was making rap tapes which I gave to anyone who liked rap music.

I taught myself everything but I couldn't mix yet. I didn't even have any nice dance records - just a few motown tracks that I used for scratching. When I got to university, I found a bunch of House DJs and got excited about mixing records and playing at raves. I bought some techno records and started teaching myself to mix songs together. After about a year, I released a mix tape which got into the right hands and I started playing at raves in Halifax and St. John's. Things just snowballed after that and I kept learning new turntable tricks and buying new styles of music.

Describe your signature style/philosophy.
In terms of music, my style is all over the map. I love taking people through tons of different styles of music and showing them that there's dope beats to be found in just about anything.

It all gets glued together with the most important element in DJing - FUN! People often tell me how fun my DJ sets are and that's cause I really love doing what I do and that vibe tends to extend into the crowd. It's like we're all partying together and it's not just a performer/spectator show. I like making people laugh at a show or joining in with people as they loose themselves on a dancefloor. Dancing is really powerful and it can be really healing if you let yourself go and trust your body's movements with the music.

I also like to show people that DJing can lean towards musicianship rather than just being a jukebox-like artform. To that extent, I like to keep busy on the decks, adding scratching, samples, turntable tricks and MCing while I play. It brings a human element to the music and again, makes the whole thing tons more fun - for everyone.

Where do you see the DJ culture heading and what role would you like to play in that?
A few years ago there was a big push to have more of a live element in DJing. We'd see drummers or sax players along side DJs. Then there were these live bands that started sounding like DJs (eg. The New Deal). I think that's sorta been subdued a bit and we're going back to DJs just pumping out beats. But now-a-days most DJs are also producing there own music and it's sort of a race to see who can produce the best tracks and make sets consisting of their own tunes. With the advent of cheap software based music studios, everyone is starting to make beats and we're seeing lots of new styles of music coming out (eg: Dubstep, Grime, Glitch, Bassline, Crunk). The west coast of NA certainly has it's own style of music and almost every successful DJ is a producer as well.

Also, the way in which we acquire music has changed. Things have certainly shifted into the digital world. The vinyl DJs are dying out as new technology allows vinyl DJs to still perform via records (as controllers) but have all their music coming digitally from a laptop. There's less and less record shop culture (racing down to Beat Streat on a Friday to grab all the new promos before everyone else gets them - and peeking at what other DJs are picking up or chatting with the store owners to see what's hot). Instead, DJs are spending more time online, meeting producers via mySpace or facebook and trading self-produced tracks. The hunt for dope music is still there but it's shifted to a global search in cyberspace rather than a jaunt to your favourite local record shop.

Who or what is really exciting in the scene right now?
I've been doing this for so long and it's always changing that now I'm confident it'll never stay static. That's cool cause there will always be new sounds to dig for and new styles to keep things exciting and fresh. Music will never get boring.

These days I'm rather addicted to Dubstep. It's really slow and quite minimal and I remember hating it the first few times I'd hear it. It took awhile to figure out how to dance to it and what it's virtues were but now I can't get enough. It's thick and heavy and the slowness allows me to move my body and dance in really twisted ways with tons more sway movement than just boppin back and forth to a house or techno track. The Lighta! crew puts on the best Dubstep parties - always tons of bass and dark lighting - it's the best vibe for the music.

I'm also really into weird glitchy zippy sounds with warbled and womping basslines. This is a real west coast sound and I like how it represents our part of the world. I played a party back east a few weeks ago and dropped a whole lotta this sound on the kids out there. They'd never heard this stuff before and it tore up the room.

Your biggest crowd and/or favourite gig so far and why.
The largest crowd I've ever played for was probably at the Shambhala Music Festival in Salmo, BC in 2007. 3000 people were packed under a huge circus tent and I've never had the pleasure to move such a large amount of energy around before. Every track was a massive anthem and people just screamed along to the whole set. Sometimes I'd wind down the turntables or do a rewind and the crowd would just loose it. It was super intense and I think I floated back to my tent afterwards.

But my favourite gig was when I really found the true secret to DJing. It was at Intention, a week long gathering over New Year's in 2002. I was playing music in this log cabin that we called "The Castle". I was doing my usual thing when one of the turntables started to go berserk and was totally unusable. Ordinarily a DJ would freak at this point cause it's sorta hard to mix with just one deck. But for some reason, some spirit entered me and I just picked up the mic and entertained the audience while I cued up another track on my one working turntable. I choose tracks that would instantly cause a stir and the set actually exploded into a night of pure magic and mayham. Everyone was right along with me on the ride and no buggered-up turntable was gonna stop us from having a good time. It was then that I realized you can make a party go nuts without music. You just have to set the vibe and keep everyone together on the same vibe.

Future shows?
I live and play all the time in Vancouver, BC. I travel around Canada and the US too but you can usually catch me around VanCity. For upcoming shows, check out www.timothywisdom.com

Probably the coolest parties that we're doing around town these days are the monthly Velofusion parties at the Anza club. It's the afterparty for Critical Mass - the bike activist bike ride and it happens on the last Friday of the month. The parties feature a great mix of live bands, DJs and plenty of sillyness. It's an event where even the audience is part of the entertainment and everyone's just there to have a good time (aka they've left their cool-persona at home). Dancing can be a personal activity but at Velofusion, it's part of our community.

Hosted by Synergy Media Labs