Page 28 - Zone Magazine Issue 011

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What’s your busiest day of the week? What does it typically entail? ‘A day in the life of Al Gibbs’...
Obviously Friday is a very busy day. I do all sorts of stuff in the background of the radio station. I do some of their events, some of the marketing stuff during the week, also then I do their gigs, then I’m here and I produce the show. I don’t just go on air and press play at 7pm. We put it all together in the background. I leave the house traditionally around 8/9am, I get in here early and I would be working away flat out until lunchtime, then I try and get an hour off to go for a swim or something just to break up the day. Then back in here normally for 2/2.30pm and then work through just to sort the final preparations for the show, on air for 7pm, do the show live, 52 weeks of the year, there, there abouts, probably taking 2 – 3 shows off in the year.
We used to record it but it’s actually more hassle to record it than it is to bring someone else in to present it, so one of the guys, Andy Preston covers it. After the show, I go off and do a gig, sometimes 2, I get around! But as a dj, you need to be working, you need to be gigging at the weekends. It would be easy just to do the radio show and go home, but I kind of find if you’re not gigging, you kind of lose touch with the music. I normally get home around 4/5am Saturday morning, they’re hectic hours but I’m still able to do it – so yep Friday is my busiest day definitely.
How long have you been in the business? Where did it all begin? Tell us about life before Freaks on Friday.
Ok so I’m djing since I was 15, I’m 39 now, and I’m turning 40 in January. We’re bringing the show to Ibiza at the end of the September and to also to celebrate my 40th! We’re going to be there for the official closing of Space, the official close down of the night-club itself. When I started
going to Ibiza, with Space, it was kind of at it's absolute peak, in about 1998, so I just thought it would be a good way for me to sort of do my 40th. We’re not going to do Ibiza anymore with Freaks, we’ve kind of done it every year, it’s obviously a brilliant ending career story, but also for Ireland, it’s a good finishing point. After this Ibiza trip, there’ll be no more, we’re going to do Croatia or something like that.
I’m DJ'ing a long time, 25 years. I’ve been professionally DJ'ing since I was 18, every night of my Leaving Certificate I had a gig, didn’t impress my folks as you can imagine, it’s been very good to me, it’s been a great career, it’s been a great experience. It’s been a part of me as much as anything in my life, it’s a huge part of me. Before I started djing on radio and working in the clubs, I was very much interested as a kid in the radio thing, and I remember watching a music video for ‘Snap – The Power’. There’s a DJ at the beginning of it, some Russian guy comes on and says something about Sputnik; there’s microphones and transmitters and stuff in the video and I was just switched on to it, I don’t know why but there was a calling there; so I followed that calling. I was very much involved in the pirate radio scene in Dublin, Pulse FM was the big one, DLR, all those type of stations; it was a hobby. I suppose it was like a wise man once said ‘If you can turn your hobby into a job, you’ll never work a day in your life’, and that is the truth.
Did you ever imagine your idea would grow to be this huge? What’s the best feeling you get doing your job and what does your job mean to you?
No I definitely never thought that I’d be doing this and that it would be a career. When you’re doing it for so long, you maybe take it for granted sometimes, and you get used to the good life and to the good sides of the life. There’s nothing like playing in a room with a thousand hands up in the air; just people losing their minds, even
though it might become common place sometimes; there’s still going to be stand out moments in gigs where it makes it all worth while. You can go through spates, and I have gone through spates where you do a load of terrible gigs and you go this isn’t worth it anymore, I hate this; but if it’s what you want to do and it’s what you love, you just keep bashing on and well I’m still here I suppose!
Name one difference you feel prevalent in the music scene today opposed to 15 years ago. How do you predict the scene to develop in years to come?
There’s a huge difference between now and then, whatever about the scene, the scene just goes around in circles. It’s young people, discovering this new music, getting really excited about it, whatever genre or style it is, they party their little socks off for 5 or 10 years, they grow up and look back and think that that era was the best era that ever was and that’s happened and because I’m nearly 40 now, I’ve probably done that 3 times. The music is different now because it’s so disposable, I was only having this conversation today with someone else; when I was DJ'ing 20 years ago, you would buy a record, that record you could play for a year, a year and a half, now you download a track, you play it twice, and it’s forgotten about.
The music is more disposable and that’s not a good thing, people have no value of music, it’s just a thing, back then it was a material; a piece of vinyl, cover art and it was a thing, a physical thing, now it’s a file sitting in a computer somewhere and I think that side of it, music has lost out but I suppose the upside of that is that there’s people making music, who are naturally good producers that would never have been heard of and now coming to the forefront because of technology the way it is, and I guess that would be the answer to that question!
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28 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE
feature interview [ireland]
I set off to Dublin on the eve of Friday 12th August for my arranged interview and meeting with Al Gibbs, chauffeured and supported by my wonderful partner, both of us avid fans of the named above so the excitement was rife in the car en-route. I had never been to the FM104 studios before. Upon entering the building I was overwhelmed and it felt so very surreal to be standing in such a place. Al greeted us and took us to the studio, his warmth was very much felt.
As a fan for years, it was undoubtedly an unforgettable experience. His indentation within the music scene is of a colossal amount, responsible for injecting the highest forms of happiness to people all around every Friday evening. They tune in to basque in his exquisite tune selections and bubbly banter. His infectious, appealing and charismatic mannerism – how one voice can offer so much comfort, a haven almost for those that like to unwind, indulge or escape inside a few hours of aural heavenly bliss.
He is both a remarkable artist and music enthusiast that shares even the most well hidden treasures to his listeners and followers, unwrapping their unquestionable beauty around the ears of the youths of today, gems as old as the stars, only few will truly acknowledge their rarity and divinity. The dance decade’s hour is a perfect opportunity to catch these gems. I mean how often would you get to hear the likes of ‘Jam and Spoon – Right in the Night’ or ‘Mory Kante – Yeke Yeke’!
They blow over the airwaves with a chilling touch of nostalgia, enough to take you back to a dancefloor, a night of your life that you can never forget, rekindling an untouchable memory, impervious to time, as if it was yesterday. The first few beats in and you’re back there. Beads of sweat upon your forehead, a sea of flashing lights, darting lasers and simply just the faces of people that you never knew but were always there. That one tune blaring, tingling vibrations, never feeling so alive as you did then in the midst of a crowd of hundreds, all there for the music.
Years on and that tune comes on, courtesy of Al Gibbs; you become possessed with an overwhelming feeling of euphoria and excitement, remembering that night of your life, a priceless, sensory thing, the immortal strength that music really has, the love it creates, an existence in which so many can relate – its connections and how it brings people together.
I remember how opportunities to listen to each show in its entirety seldom occurred. Long trips meant full enjoyment. Driving home along a sunset coated sky, wipers speeding across the windscreen during a thundering winters night, the shimmer of Christmas lights whizzing past, friends, family, nights out, nights in - how we’ve travelled distances, ones we’ll always recall, and that one voice that carried us there, the big man, the freak himself, Al Gibbs.
So basically he holds infamous stature and importance to many listeners around the country, particularly Leinster, but for me on a personal level, it was always a dream to interview, his being such an inspiring, influential person. I had the pleasure of attending the Button Factory three weeks ago for the launch of the ‘Freaks on Friday Hall of Fame’ with none other than Mauro Picotto. I don’t think I had ever looked so forward to a gig in all my life. Of course Al made sure that we were all geared up and ready to go, dropping teasers on air during the weeks building up to the gig. There I was, standing in the sold out venue, an absolute sweatbox to be completely honest, smiling clubbers all around me, hand in hand with my man, soaking in the hype and Mauro drops ‘Iguana’ as the final tune of the night. Well I’m sure I can speak on behalf of anyone else that was there when I say that it was nothing short of electric. that night will be imprinted in my mind for the rest of my days. Hats off!!!!
I propped myself up into Jim Jim’s chair in the Strawberry Alarm Clock studio. I gasped as I took in my surroundings; bright red microphones scattered along the oval desk, famous names scribbled across the FM104 placards on the walls and Al himself sitting facing me. The pressing of the record button meant all systems go and the interview began.