Rostam’s 30 – DJ Modium’s Interview

Posted 3/20/13 by DJ Rostam

Rostam’s 30 is LTCL Magazine’s new initiative led by DJ Rostam to introduce new hot artists to our college readers. Simply put, we interview these artists with 30 questions and provide their music links for you to download and listen to daily. Let us know what you think about DJ Modium with a comment below!

riginally from Australia, this week’s featured artist is DJ and producer, MODIUM, who got the taste of electronic dance music from Melbourne’s world renowned underground club scene in the mid 90’s where techno house and trance were king. Over the years he kept close to electronic music production and electronic dance music, and in recent years stepped up his passion into DJin’, resulting in evident overnight success.

From those humble beginnings of hosting college parties, he has quickly created a unique sound which is now synonymous with big room clubs, and in recent times moved to Asia where he is quickly rising through the Asia club scene with his ability to play across the spectrum of house, from soulful warm up’s to main room anthems and electro house.

On top of this is a list of regular Ibiza-style beach dance party residencies, including playing with the glamorous Ministry of Sound HEDKANDI shows where in 2011 Modium establish himself as a regular support DJ for HEDKANDI, which has seen him support and headline alongside globally recognized club DJs.

2012 was a big year from Modium, seeing him play alongside and tour with a growing number of global artists such as The Scissor Sisters and Taio Cruz and in 2012 took the step to get some of his remixes signed to labels such as RCA Records (Sony Records), Island Def Jam, Capitol Records and Atlantic Records. With a lot of energy still stored, Modium is nowhere near the ending point. He’s planning to do even more in 2013 by stepping into the British and overall European club scene.

For more on DJ Modium, check out his official Website, Facebook and Twitter.

Full Name: Adam Neat
Stage Name: DJ Modium/Modium
Occupation: DJ. I guess you could say I’m a technologist of sorts, though I’ve been doing dotcoms, corporate life and strategy consulting through my career!
Genre: House of all flavors. Commercial, vocal, club, tech, progressive, lounge, deep, disco and electro!
Gender: Male
Age: 35
Where did your stage name come from? Many years ago, MOD’s were an early form of electronic music creation in the 90’s, so MOD with IUM which is a reference to electronica, became MODIUM.
Where are you from? Australia!
Where did you start your career? I’d say I started in Melbourne, Australia many years ago but then was dormant for some years until I started up again a few years ago. But Melbourne is where it all started.
What city do you represent? Hard question. I live in Singapore, but I’m from Melbourne. Both?
What gave you that initial push? For the love of House. And, not much beats the feeling of playing to a crowd erupting to your sounds.
How long have you been in the industry? On and off for about 15 years!
If you had to give a thank-you speech, who would you thank and what would you say? Thank you to Frankie Knuckles for starting it all!
What makes you a softie? I am a sucker for feel good movies like Love Actually and Notting Hill! Yes, I know…
What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? Take bigger gambles with my career!
What are three hobbies of yours other than what you do? I have a pilots license and love to fly. I love cars and turning factory purchases into muscle cars. And, on the music side, I’m a bit of a techie geek, so I love to find new ways to add more dimension to my sets and recordings.
Pepsi or Coke? Pepsi.
Rap or Hip Hop? Hip Hop.
House or Dubstep? House.
What do you eat a lot more than anything else? Rice! Can’t avoid it in Asia.
What was the first event you ever played at/put on? In final years of high school I did the arrangement for a school concert purely electronically on a computer. Given it was mid 90’s, it was a bit of an adventure.
What are some of your accomplishments in the field? Landed the Ministry of Sound HEDKANDI anchor slot for my part of the world after only a few months of getting back into club DJ’ing, and have signed remixes to a few labels.
What makes you different than everybody else in the industry? I think everyone is different, but its a case of degrees. I do push things a bit when it comes to the tech side of things whilst DJin’, but I always make sure I still keep the basics of DJin’ in place (using decks that is). My sound is quite layered and there’s always a lot going on when I play, so I think that’s quite unique.
Do you produce? If so do you prefer performing or producing? I do produce, and whilst there is satisfaction of producing tracks (remixing for example), the buzz from a big set is a rush.
Who would you love to perform with? Many. Armin I think is still up there with his production and showmanship, and I a keen follower for his advancements in the technology side of things. He’s a one man show though!
What’s your longterm goal? More signed tracks and more global gigs leading to being constantly booked.
When all the partying is over how do you like to chill out? Good food, good wine or give me a nice resort or secluded beach somewhere in South East Asia.
Funniest thing that ever happened at an event? Tough one between seeing people being rugby tackled off stage when they try to run on, or, being flashed by girls in the crowd.
What advice would you give to up and coming artists? Don’t take no lying down; and expect not a lot.
What are your goals for 2013? Branching out more globally. I have a big following in Asia (145K Facebook fans, mostly in Asia) but would love to get more into the UK and European scene.