Dj Funkyronster Still Going Strong on Phangan!!

Hello, so what is your background in Djing and what styles do you play?
I have been DJ'ing for 10 years. It was always a hobby until I retired, but now I have more time.
Originally I was a Psytrance DJ, but as I get older I prefer the quieter side of things, so nowadays I like to play chill, ambient, psy bass, but always with a beat so people can dance if they want, or talk if they don't! My career has been in computers, so I have been a Traktor DJ since the very beginning - unlike most DJ's my age, I have never spun discs!
I believe the golden age of Psytrance was 1995 to 2005, so if I ever get asked to play Psytrance I love to play classics from this time.

What are your music influences?
I was born in 1957 so my influences go back to the beginnings of electronic music. Pink Floyd have been my biggest influence. Sometimes I mix 70's music in my sets, it's always fun to watch the faces of the old guys in the audience.
My favourite artists are Kalya Scintilla, Desert Dwellers, Sergio Walgood, Brujo's Bowl/Beatroots, Kuba and Seb Taylor.
In Psytrance I was always a fan of the French scene - Logic Bomb and Silicon Sound.

Where have you played and what were some of your favourite gigs?
In the last few years I have been invited to play at several festivals and parties in Europe. Magikana in the UK, ZNA in Portugal, and recently SUN festival in Hungary, which is a spin off from the original creators of Ozora. I have also played at Trance Sahara in Morocco back in 2010. There was a sandstorm that made all the CDJ's useless, and for a day I was the only laptop DJ who could play any music - that was a crazy day! Another time I was in Vietnam and somehow I ended up playing for a local wedding crowd. All the old ladies were putting money in my shirt pockets when I played Beach Boys and Beatles - big notes like 100,000 ... I made a million that night! ..... which I later found out was worth about 40 euro!!
I am usually billed on the alternative or chillout stage, and on Phangan I am happiest playing the sunset hour!

What do you think of the Phangan music scene?
I am glad to see that places like One Love Bar are doing OK, and give guys like me a chance to play. I think there is a need for good quality downtempo music on Koh Phangan to balance all the hectic EDM played non stop at the parties, and to give the older guys something to listen to. It has always seemed strange to me that none of the parties on Phangan have a decent chill out area or alternative stage for downtempo music. In the last few years in the UK and Europe I have seen a big change in the UK and European party and festival scene. I think it's because a lot of the guys and girls who were grooving in the 90's to Psytrance are now a lot older! I am even starting to see chill and downtempo only parties and occasionally small festivals dedicated to this genre.

Of course I have done all the moon parties, but it's not really my scene anymore. If I have friends visiting who want to do a party, then I prefer the Half Moon - the setting has a wow factor when you see it for the first time, and there is plenty of safe seating so you can people watch as well as dance. The full moon party is way too much for me! But you will usually always find me at the Backyard the next day!

Why the name Funkyronster?
I've had the name since 1995 - it was given to me by a bunch of guys at a party when I was playing funky disco music and it has stuck ever since! Sometimes I wish I had a more psychedelic name but there is usually a tiny element of funk in most of my sets, so I suppose it fits!

What have you been doing here on Koh Phangan?
We have been here for the last 6 winters. My wife enjoys yoga, and I just laze around with my laptop, working on my sets. Every year we meet new people and find new places to play.

What for you is exciting new sounds?
Exciting new sounds for me are definitely the recent popularity of psy bass and psy chill. It's still psychedelic and trancey, but slower tempo, around 100 bpm, you can dance to it, or you can relax and listen to it. It is really popular all over Europe and the UK on the alternative stages at festivals like Boom, Ozora, ZNA and SUN, to name just 4. Kalya Scintilla and Desert Dwellers are two very popular artists in the genre, and the production values are really high so it sounds amazing on top quality systems like Funktion 1 or Opus. Feel the bass!

What are your current and future projects ?
I am older than the average DJ, so I just like to go with the flow. I have to spend at least 20 hours a week listening to new releases, and I may only find one or two new tunes so my sets are continuously evolving, but slowly. I can only play tracks that I really love myself, every track has to have that tiny bit of twisted psy funkiness that defines my style.
But I am also a good general purpose DJ. When you are a travelling DJ and don't have a residency, you have to be super versatile because you never know when you will be playing next.

What's your life philosophy?
That's a good question but hard to answer. Like most people I am very unhappy with what's happening in the world. We can fly to the moon and do all sorts of fabulous things - but a quarter of the planet is hungry, and a third of the people still shit in the open. That's crazy, and we need a big dose of common sense from our leaders. But I am happy with the way social media is becoming more and more important and starting to have a real impact.

You can contack Funkyronster by email