Oded Nir: “Mother is scariest supporter”

Oded Nir and Marceline 2019
In 2015 Oded Nir told me about his first dance gig in 2005. To prepare himself, he used the DJ gear in his gym.

This post is also available in: Nederlands (Dutch)

We met in 2014. In 2015 we spoke about his first gig in 2016 we did a feature interview. When two curly heads meet… Oded Nir about his first gig: "I was extremely nervous and had been practicing for weeks."

“My first gig was in 1990. I was only fifteen, lived in Tel Aviv and was asked to play at a school party. I had to work with a double taperecorder, a single turntable and a CD-player. It was an amazing experience! I still remember what tracks I played that evening Ride on Time, Pump Up The Volume and for the slow dances Sinaed O’Connor with Nothing Compares To You.”

oded recent gitaar - Oded Nir: "Mother is scariest supporter"

“When I was seventeen, I completely switched to instrumental music. I specialized in the bass guitar. Soon I was playing in rock, metal and rhythm & soul bands. My first gig as a bass guitarist was in the spring of 1994 in Tel Aviv with a rhythm & soul singer/songwriter type of band. I was so nervous that I couldn’t sleep the night before. As a consequence, I did make a few mistakes on stage and nobody was amused.” (laughs)

DJ roots

“When I was thirty I returned to my DJ roots. I started producing my own tracks. My style is chillout and downtempo. This meant that I had to adapt my way of performing to the music. I had to depend on the skills that I had developed when I was a fifteen-year-old boy.”

Extremely nervous

“My first gig new style was in 2005, once more in Tel Aviv. The location was a beach club called Sakaya. I was extremely nervous and had been practicing for weeks. I prepared my set at home and I spent hours playing in my gym. They had DJ gear that I was allowed to use.”

Mother

“The crowd at Sakaya were mostly people in their twenties and thirties. I was so happy that my family were present in 1994 and now once more. It was nice to feel supported. My scariest supporter is my mother though. Whenever she will attend one of my performances, I’m extra nervous. Last time she saw and heard me play was in Kitchen & Bar van Rijn in Amsterdam (NL).”

Club Mansion Amsterdam 2007 - Oded Nir: "Mother is scariest supporter"

Production error

“Although also this time my set wasn’t flawless, in hindsight I was pretty happy with it. It directly led to a residency in Club Sakaya. I stayed a resident there until I moved to Amsterdam in 2006. By now, I have learned that there’s nothing wrong with making mistakes. Just don’t dwell on them and learn from them, so you won’t make them again. In the end, it’s the experience that counts. A DJ or really any other artist wins most by performing as many times as possible for all types of crowds. It’s important to learn to correct your mistakes. Some of my own tracks actually are the result of a production error.” (laughs)

oded nir 2015 - Oded Nir: "Mother is scariest supporter"

“I wanted to highlight these three gigs because they are the fundament for my present experience. I use everything I have ever learned in the past. I perform with Ableton, bass guitar and synthesizer. I combine my youth with my adulthood. This way the circle is complete.”

Last picture: credit Juliana Bruel

This article was originally published in Dutch on Thursday April 30th 2015 on DJMag.nl.

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