Darius Syrossian has had a great year, signing exclusive to Steve Lawler’s VIVa music label, in the last 12 months he has played in Moscow, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Toronto, Ireland, and are supporting Steve Lawler on tour in the coming months at various different VIVa Music parties including Ministry of Sound London and the Miami Winter Music conference.

His remix of Steve Lawler’s very ‘Hocus Pocus‘ has received huge support and great reviews, his forthcoming track entitled ‘Luis Conte’ on VIVa Music is also getting remixed from the much in demand producer and 8bit Records head honcho Nicky Curly and also Robsoul’s DJ Wild, is causing quite a stir prior to its release! He is definitely the one to watch these days that’s why we found out more about him…

Who or what has been the biggest influence?

This sounds a bit crazy but ive been involved in the industry since the early / mid 90’s and one of the main influences for me was Steve Lawler , it wasn’t just the tracks he played, because i was always into the tough groovy house sound, but it was the way he put his sets together, its funny that 15 years on i am now signed exclusively to his VIVa music label, other than steve, back to basics in the mid 90’s influenced me alot, going to the hacienda and dancing under that balcony gave me many special moments,

What was your first big breakthrough as an act? What would you rate as the best experience that you’ve had in the music scene so far?

I’ve been involved in the scene for a long time, djing back in the 90’s i had some great memories at some very big events with what was called wildlife, also playing on nye in a big marquee to a few thousand people was special but more recently getting a phone call from steve lawler & signing exclusively to his VIVa music label is really the proudest moment for me, and then going on tour with him and playing away in places like Moscow, Toronto and so on makes it worth while

What’s the first record you bought?

The first vinyl i bought was grandmaster flash ‘white lines’ i still have the copy i bought, but bought another couple of copies to play out, that original copy is a prized posession

What have been up to lately and what can we expect from you over the next couple of months?

Well I’ve just returned for playing a few gigs out in Canada in Toronto, that was amazing, and have been working hard in the studio, me & Nyra have a massive tune about to drop on VIVa music, entitled ‘Luis Conte’ everytime I’ve played it the club has lost the plot and gone crazy, Steve Lawler is loving it & their is remixes from Nick Curly & Dj wild (robsoul) that will feature on the release, in early 2010 I will be playing @ Ministry of Sound and also going over to Play @ Miami winter music conference

Did signing on Viva change your production plans and directions or have you just released on Viva what you would have released on Breakout audio?
well actually I just make music I love and whoever signs it signs it, that’s my philosophy. If you go out trying to make a specific track for a specific label then you are not being true to your art! unfortunatly the scene has become very anal, everybody is obsessed about being cool, is this label cool enough, is that sound cool enough, it makes for very a sterile and stale scene, everyone copying the same thing, no creativity just following the rules of being cool! thats not for me and never has been, if you look at my music form when I first started djing its been the same style productions and so on, my dj sets have been similar, groove based, tough and quite tribal, so I guess signing to VIVa was the result of that because its exactly my sound, but i love all kinds of music, not just house music, I love jazz and funk, disco, and latin, plus I listen to alot of folk music

Is a DJ a star today? Or does he have to be more than just a DJ? What do you think of the superstar DJ phenomenon?

I like this question, purely because I think obsession with djs has not alot to do with music, the only djs worth treating as superstar’s are the ones that were their form the early days and helped develop the scene to what it is today, i can name them all, Jeff Mills, Frankie Knuckles, Sasha, Steve Lawler , Carl Cox, Todd Terry, Masters @ Work, and a few more i don’t need to name, these guys have a history with the scene, thats why they deserve the respect but these days , someone makes a good track and then people idolise them like they are the next superstar! Its ridiculous, and then the next year when that genre isn’t ‘cool’ anymore nobody cares for them, this to me says people aren’t liking the music or the dj, they just want to be seen to like what’s deemed as ‘cool’ its almost like a statement! I remember when I would go to raves in 1992! We would go to mills in Lancashire and dance ALL NIGHT, we didn’t even know where the dj booth was let alone who the dj was!

So i think people take it too far, unless its once of the pioneers of the scene then people don’t deserve to be treated like mea stars just because they play other peoples music! Also i think its human nature to worship something, people are not religeous anymore so god has been replaced by celebrity, but apart from the early djs who helped shape the scene just jumping onto anyone who has made a couple of decent dance tracks over a couple of years and worshipping them is a bit odd to me, but it does happen, you see it all the time.

Thats my take anyway, ha!

Which is more appealing to you while djing - to dig out a relatively old track, or play the newest release?

I love digging out old tracks, I have been running a record shop from mid 90’s up to last year, so have so many quality records that deserved to be massive but for one reason or other didn’t, and the sound that is big now is almost copying the sound of say 10 years ago, and at recent gigs I’ve been dropping old maw, Sneak, Van heldon records and people have been going crazy asking what it is, mixing old AND new is great

Was there a moment when you knew you wanted to make music your life?

Yes, I came to UK  in 1987, and it was hard leaving my family over there when there was a bad war and I felt kind of guilty escaping it, I was around 17 in 1991 and my friends were all older than me, they said we are going to a party and I thought it was a house party, we pulled up at this rave at York racecourse, and there was thousands and thousands of people, and I hadn’t really heard that music before, there was a great feeling of love and a family vibe, everyone was so friendly with each other, even though there was crusties, trendies, ravers, all kinds of people everyone dancing to this crazy music and that was it , I was hooked! And I thought this is what I want to do!

What is the craziest after party you’ve ever been to or played at?

There has been loads, but a recent one was in Moscow, me & Nyra played with Audiofly and the main Guest Steve Lawler at a great venue in the Russian capital, the crowd were amazing and the scene out there is amazing from what I saw, the night finished at 5am and they took everyone to the loft of this club and partied hard for the next full day, me nyra & steve all missed our flights back to the uk and stayed another night, we were lucky we had an extra day on our visa’s, but steve sorted our flights back, I don’t know many label bosses who would have done that and we couldn’t have signed to a better guy really, it was a crazy weekend!

What’s your all time favourite tune?

Its between two tracks, Todd Terry ‘dance to the beat’ still works like a dream and I played it last weekend actually, and then you have Underworld ‘dark & long’! no matter when I hear it I get goosebumps, I got dragged to ikea with my housemate last week, I’d rather gouge my eyes out with a spoon than spend ten minutes there, so Iwasn’t exactly excited but in the middle of rush hour on a cold cloudy day she pulled up for petrol, I stuck a cd in the player and on it came, I had 5 minutes of bliss, I chuckled to myself because I even noticed the goosebumps on my arm, its a beautiful peice of music!

If there is one rule in life to live by, what is it?

Never do the following things! HATE, JEALOUSY, OR ENVY, none of those things achieve you anything positive, just do love! And believe me im no hippy! But follow those rules and you will be a happy person, im one of the happiest people i know

Who was your hero as a child?

Murdoch from the A.team, he was a little crazy but a good guy and a bit funny!

What are you most proud of in your life?

That I can make money from my art, be it making music, or painting, I came first in the uk with over 27 thousand entries in a painting competition when I was 16, and since then have actually sold some canvases, if I wasn’t involved in music thats probably what I would do, but also a release we did for Steve Lawler’s VIVa label called Osasuna/Karaj sold really well and even in this climate of piracy and so on generated quite a bit of money, its not about the money but to know people are willing to part with their money for something you have done that is your art and passion makes you feel very proud, no better feeling really

Whats your favourite chat up line

If you ever pull a girl by chatting her up, shes probably not worth being with!

Define yourself in 3 words

Loyal, Friendly, hyper active

Darius Syrossian (Viva, Breakout Audio - November Chart)

And Download his releases here