Swiss producer SUARK chats to That DJ Podcast about what it’s like DJing in his home country of Switzerland.
“I have to be honest, I didn’t really play much in Switzerland. In Zurich, I played a while and in Saint Moritz and that’s it,” said SUARK.
“The main spots where I actually played in Switzerland were in Lugano. I hang out a lot, but it’s not a music scene it is just discotheques more than clubs.
“You see very often here DJs are just like jukeboxes, they’re just playing other people’s music. They’re not really playing their own songs.
“This is something that you see maybe in the major cities, for example, Zurich and other places where DJs can actually play what they make.
“Here, unless you have a big record or you want to see the energy going down, you just don’t do it because there is a very particular way of how people here perceive music. It’s either a crazy success, then they celebrate their artists or the support is not really there.
“We struggle with that side. I don’t know how it is in the UK, but here I always had issues on getting support from locals.
“Then you go for example to Eastern Europe, and they just shout and ask her for autographs and no matter what they just like your selection.
“That’s something I see more in for example northern Europe. In Switzerland, it’s weird. We have great musicians here and we host some of the best music festivals, for example, Montreux Jazz Festival is famous for jazz and then rock.
“Swiss musicians are a bit left on the side all the time. So, you either become like a big success and then people just come and gather for you or you struggle to find those people that are very dedicated to you.
“The same is reflected in clubs, where people just want to go there and have fun and they don’t care about who’s playing or who’s not playing, they just want to have the hit record and then another one, then another one.
“If for example, a DJ pulls out a song he made, people will be like, ‘yeah, it sounds okay, but let me have another vodka’. They don’t pay too much attention to the music.
“That’s how I struggled a lot. At certain points, I just stopped playing because it’s the same in Milan in Italy, where you are actually just a jukebox.
“I speak about the clubs that I was performing, so I was playing a lot for posh clubs.
“It’s not very politically correct, but I was paying for the Just Cavalli in Milan, Hollywood. So these were the places where people would go there just to show off, not really to listen to a particular style or any kind of music.
“They want just hit records. They don’t care who’s playing. They don’t care if that record is the DJ’s and so on. I decided to stop performing completely and I want to get back in the scene because people want to listen to my music and to my selection too.
“Because I want to set the mood, you know? And sometimes I was not able to because they wanted to listen to Pitbull and then Flo Rida.
“I mean they are great artists, absolutely, they’ve been super successful, but after the 50th Saturday when they ask for Pitbull and Flo Rida it’s like, ‘dude, like chill’.”
Listen to the full episode below:
Listen on Google Podcasts, Anchor and more here.
I do the blog and podcast on a voluntary basis, so any support would be really appreciated.
Make a one-time donation
Make a monthly donation
Make a yearly donation
Choose an amount
Or enter a custom amount
Your contribution is appreciated.
Your contribution is appreciated.
Your contribution is appreciated.
DonateDonate monthlyDonate yearlyHave you read?
- Suark tells That DJ Podcast about playing with DJ QHave you ever dreamt of playing B2B with house music royalty?
- That DJ Podcast: How did Grahame Farmer get into dance music?Data Transmission founder Grahame Farmer has been a key figure in the dance music industry for the last 15 years.
- Who is Grahame Farmer?If you are a DJ or producer hoping to break into the dance music scene you will probably have heard the name Grahame Farmer.
- Undiscovered Sounds Selection: June 22, 2022Here is the latest selection of some of the best tracks with fewer than 10,000 plays on Soundcloud.
- What is the dance music scene like in Switzerland?Swiss producer SUARK chats to That DJ Podcast about what it’s like DJing in his home country of Switzerland.
Undiscovered Sounds 