The 30 second intro – Who are you?
Colin Cooper aka DJ EZC from East Yorkshire, Obsessed with all electronic music from a young age, and I’ve tried to actually pinpoint the moment this happened and I think it was when I was 12 years old and 2 Unlimited released “No Limit” and that blew my mind and set the path I followed from then on gravitating towards high energy electronic music. And then of course being a teenager in the mid 90s when DJs become superstars and super clubs where born I immersed myself in it all, By the late 90s I was DJing and Promoting all kind of events from Trance, Funky house, Hard house, Hardcore and I even had my day in court for running pirate radio. I could have spent two years in prison for my love of playing dance music. Unbelievable to think now. But I loved doing radio and the excitement of setting up transmitters and studios and the buzz you got when it all came together of being on air with your mates.
How would most people know you? (What are you most well known for?)
Most people will know me for playing Hardcore and curating the Hardcore Will Never Die Podcast for over 15 years which is now at 500 episodes and had over 2 million streams. I’m really proud with what we’ve achieved with the Podcast, we’ve raised loads of money for charities from listeners donations and had sponsorship from RockStarSpirits which won backing on Dragons Den. HWND Podcast started when the word Podcast was just starting to be thrown about by Apple and I went searching to find a happy hardcore one because hardcore I have always seen as my dirty little secret as i loved everything about it from 150bpm breakbeat to 200bpm grabber but very few of my friends shared my passion, But there was literally nothing, there’s loads now obviously but I’m pretty sure I was the first. More locally where I’m from in Yorkshire I’m probably more known for the pirate radio shenanigans and promoting.
Please list your relevant links (Social accounts, Mixcloud, gigs etc and a link to a mix)
Hear DJ EZC in the mix
Please let us know your next gig dates, and release schedule if you have anything coming out soon
DJing has taken a back seat in my life these days but occasionally if I’m asked to play at something special I make an exception. Currently working on a special episode of the Podcast to celebrate 500 episodes.
What is your home DJ tech set up currently?
I used to have the full Dj booth set up of pioneer cdjs and 1200s but it’s now stripped back to just a Pioneer DDJ1000 and my MacBook with a sure sm7 microphone. The podcast is recorded using a mixture of Ableton, Audition and Rekordbox
What do you most often play out on these days?
Happy Hardcore – (Ed – We asked EZC to come onto DJWORX because of his passion for the music he plays. 500 episodes of a podcast is huge dedication to the cause. Happy Hardcore has never been fashionable, but it was definitely hugely popular from 1994-1999. Even since then the UK Hardcore scene has kept going, and, let’s be honest sometimes you just want to go mad on the dancefloor, and this is the perfect music for it. Raves like Rezerection, Helter Skelter, Fusion, Dreamscape and more saw some of the most manic dancefloors of all time, and were all the better for it)
What DJ tech did you use in your early days? (We’d love to see some photos!)
A pair of 1989 Technics 1200’s and a Citronix sm550 mixer
What’s on the tech shopping list?
A new MacBook, the one I use is about 10 years old but there absolutely bulletproof but who wouldn’t love a new MacBook Pro.
What’s been your favourite ever gig?
You can’t beat your first gigs when your nervous as hell shaking and your mixing in vinyl. But some other stand out ones where playing in Scotland, the Scots are crazy and the most amazing people. Also playing for Eat Your Words and the Farmyard festivals they used to put on with 10,000 bikers going nuts to hard house. (Ed – Shout to the Hull crew at Eat Your Words)
Throughout your career is there a piece of equipment that you have just never got on with?
The very early cdjs and crap monitors
From a DJing point of view what three things do you always take to a gig apart from USB and headphones obviously!
I went through a phase of taking a trumpet and a haunted porcelain clown – (Ed – Not sure if EZC is joking here…, although Judge Jules definitely used to take a trumpet to gigs.)
Can you talk us through your productions? (If any)
I produce 90s inspired happy hardcore, using that famous 909 distorted kick drum layer with breakbeats. The best advice I was ever given for producing happy hardcore was sample everything. From sonic the hedgehog to old school rap. Keep it fun
If you still have vinyl at home, how much?
I’ve recently sold in excess of 10k records , I started collecting them from my mid teens and used to buy and sell a lot of vinyl collections cherry picking the best for myself but I just totally fell out of love with it and moving it from house to house over the years was horrendous. Plus the value lately has skyrocketed so I cashed in.
Outside of DJing and production, what tech do you use at home?
My Dyson literally every time I walk past it
Can you let us know three apps that are essential to you?
Spotify , Apple Podcasts and Just Eat
What app would you like to spread the word about?
TooGoodToGo , far too much fresh food is wasted at the end of the day and you can pick up some amazing end of day food packages, very handy (Ed – This looks useful)
What non-music related product can’t you live without?
My hiking boots, have to get out there and get lost adventuring up mountains
Any DJs or producers that we should watch out for?
The great thing about curating a weekly podcast is you get sent a lot of music and there’s some amazing producers I’ve built relationships up with whose music is world class. To name drop just a few, Nukura, Jack In Box, HyeNRG, Eufeion, Brett Cooper, Fracus & Darwin, Sc@r, Rob IYF, Pursuit, Aaguan, Kane Scott.
Been to any great clubs or events recently?
Rejuvenation is Leeds, Rebooted in Sheffield and Day Time Disco in Manchester
Football team?
More an F1 fan I’m afraid
Book recommendations?
Moby’s two autobiography’s
Cheers to Colin for the DJ EZC interview. We’ve known it since 1991 but hardcore will never die due to people like EZC keeping the fire burning.
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