DJ Falcon - Fly On The Wings Of Desire
3D’s Nina Bertok speaks with French electro house producer DJ Falcon, a close friend – and production partner – of Thomas Bangalter and all-round hip cat, returning to Australia this month to surf, snap and spin.
DJ Falcon [Stephane Queme] is a man of many talents. Sure, most would know him as Daft Crew’s superstar producer and even as a one-time Virgin Records A&R – but his mad surfing skills and love of photography may surprise a fan or two.
And the fact that Queme is about to tour Australia for the seventh time in March means he’s very excited at the prospect of exploring both of his hobbies at once.
“I may actually come to Australia earlier just to get more time for surfing,” he says. “Every time I come to your country I try to stay for a couple of months so I can get better at it. It’s interesting because last month in France I met pro Australian surfer Luke Steadman who is like number 10 in the world. I’ve got a lot of friends in Australia and that seems to keep growing and growing.”
As much as he’s looking forward to a good surf, Queme is confident there will be plenty of scenery to photograph when he’s not busy DJing across the nation.
“I’m get into photography a lot, and even though I’m not this freaky, nerdy addict, it has started getting a bit serious and I’ve had exhibitions in Tokyo, New York and Paris,” he reveals. “Basically, when you’re a DJ who travels everywhere around the world, you have a chance to capture some really great stuff. Not just the different places, but all the different people. It’s something that I want to keep as a hobby and nothing else because I don’t want to start having to force it.”
Which is pretty much the same philosophy Queme has towards his music, he adds.
“I didn’t release new stuff for a long, long time so now I have been back in my studio for a bit and I’m planning to have something new out this year. One of the things I’m doing is working with a friend of mine called Phoenix [the band], though I can’t talk about that too much just yet. He’s a great guy, which matters a lot when you hear someone’s music. There is a guy called SebastiAn who is on the Ed Banger label who I am a fan of. That label is emerging and I think it will be really big. SebastiAn is really talented, all the guys on the label are, and that has an influence of how you hear his music. If a guy is an asshole, I don’t want to hear his music. If he’s a nice person and he works hard then I will be interested in finding out more about what he’s doing and that’s how you find out about talented people.”
It’s a simple enough theory and one that Queme swears by when it comes to his own music.
“I’m a fan of music that is quite simple and easy but that still manages to sound good. And if you can make it sound like what nobody else is doing then that’s even better. And that’s one of the reasons I mentioned SebastiAn before, this guy has a distinct sound. So if you can pull that off, that’s powerful.”
WHO: DJ Falcon
WHAT: Plays at Tank
WHEN: Saturday 14 March
MORE: djfalcon.de / onelove.com.au