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I was immediately sold on Gary Beck's track Luxar. The first time I saw the Scottisch DJ/producer live, was at the event Schwung in the Amsterdam Studios. This fragile man with his powerful, striking techno made a huge impression. In 2017 Gary Beck told me about his DJ-debut. “Every mix was a train wreck, and the 'sound system' was terrible.”
“My first gig was in a bar in Glasgow called L’Attache. These days that bar is closed. One day I had handed a tape to one of the bar staff so they could find out what I could do. They liked it and gave me a shot. I was 18 at that point.”
Old man at the bar
“Before the gig I was absolutely terrified yet excited at the same time. I brought along six friends and a few family members. The only other person there was an old man at the bar having a whisky. My own entourage was about nine people.”
Offensive posters
“The whole event got off to a bad start. We created negative images of my screaming face that were subsequently printed on giant posters. We put them all around the bar only to find out they had been taken down due to complaints from the public. Apparently, they were offensive.” (laughs)
I had to stop
“You want to know if I prepared my set? Yes, I spent almost a full week preparing. I purchased so many new records for the evening! From what I remember, I stuck to the plan for most of the set until the manager told me to stop about halfway through.”
Terrible sound
“The night itself was awful. Like I already said, nobody was there apart from some friends and family and the old man at the bar. The records were skipping, and the sound was terrible. Eventually the manager told me to quit and get out. The only good thing to come out of the occasion, was my aunt meeting the old man at the bar. They are still together now, seventeen years later.”
Sad
“Yes, every mix was a train wreck, and the ‘sound system’ was terrible. I was pretty sad about how my first ‘gig’ went. However, I learned not to get down about it. From then on, everything went upwards. Worse than that first gig, was almost impossible.”
“Did I have a mentor? No, the closest person to a mentor would probably have been my mum. She was that evening in L’Attache also present. I learned a lot about music from her, so I obviously wanted to impress her and not some girl. I’m pretty sure I was single at the time!” (Laughs)