Coco Cole
Coco Cole
15-11-16
Dalston Superstore and the Goldsnap girls are absolutely thrilled to welcome a very special guest to this week's edition of Goldnsnap! Coco Cole has had one hell of a year - from hosting her regular residencies on Capital XTRA & Capital FM with a 9 million-strong audience, to being selected by the widely revered Martin Solveig for a summer residency at his My House night in Ibiza. We can't wait to see what this "vital cog in the machinery of UK Dance" (Mixmag) has in store for the ladies of Goldsnap! They caught up to find our how she got to where she is today!
When did you start DJing - and what or who were your early passions and two most influential albums?
I started properly when I was 19. Saved for ages to buy this Numark DJ controller and Traktor. Not as romantic as the previous generations who had turntables, but hey I'm a child of the digital age and it helped me learn what I needed to know. Early passions? I've always been a big music head. Learnt classical guitar in primary school and was always the singer in school plays. Pontius Pilate hello! It was when I was 15 that I started diversifying my tastes and really learning about music. The internet saved me. I'd spend hours on Limewire (not realising it was piracy to be honest) and I found I was into music labelled under "electronica." From there, I discovered Massive Attack, Zero 7, Cinematic Orchestra, Telepopmusik, CocoRosie, Metaform, Nightmares on Wax and they all blew my mind. Listening to them just sent me to another place. I totally jacked the soundtracks from The L Word too... so I was really into Tegan & Sara...!
What equipment do you prefer to use for your sets and why?
I use SD cards at the moment. Using a computer with Traktor would really stress me out. I'd be retching before my gigs because I was so nervous my computer would fail. So one gig I just thought, "Fuck it," and I gave USBs a go. Never ever looked back. My USBs have been giving me grief recently though with the export time from rekordbox so I switched to SD cards as they're quicker & cheaper for the capacity too!
Where does the name Coco Cole come from?
Facebook. Back when it was a bit of joke. I told my mate who I called RiRi (because her last name was Riley) to change her FB name to RiRi Riley... she did on the premise I did too and vóila. Basically Year 9 bants!
Goldsnap is a gurlzz night, what genre/subgenre do you think these queers want to hear?
I'm hoping to go kinda jackin' house to take it back to the Chicago scene but it all depends how the night goes. I love DSS & run a night there myself where we play proper house party shit so who knows, I might end up pulling out Destiny's Child & the Biebs.
What is one track that never gets old for you no matter how many times you hear it?
Oh jeez. Luckily loads. But my all time favourite track ever is Prince - Controversy. I could listen to that over and over and over and over ....
Can you tell us a bit about Coco Cole and your DJ lifestyle - what is a typical month for you?
Haaa there's no such thing as typical in my life which is how I like it. I'd wilt with boredom if I ever followed a schedule again. There are, however, always running themes of sleeplessness, radio shows, dancing, gigging, hours downloading music, meetings, emails, swearing at my computer and spending all my money on Ubers!
If you were to be stranded on an island and you only had 3 albums you can take with you, which would they be?
Fuck, how are you doing this to me?! Okay okay I can do this...
- Lauryn Hill "Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" for singing along and never getting bored of those classroom discussions about Love.
2. CocoRosie - Adventures of Ghosthorse & Stillborn for daydreaming & being sad.
3. And a mixtape of all my all time favourite tracks for jamming. Loophole!
Music and DJing sometimes can be difficult with the lifestyle & scheduling, what keeps you going / what keeps you motivated?
I literally have no idea sometimes. I'm just fueled by this innate desire to share music with other people. It's at the root of everything I do. The feeling of blasting out tracks to a packed out sweaty dancing room is also pretty addictive. I'm always chasing that too.
Catch Coco Cole at Goldsnap this Thursday 17 November from 9pm-2:30am!
Coco Cole