When Global Underground launched Nubreed in 2000, Anthony Pappa showcased what the series would be all about. Cutting-edge progressive music at the forefront of the underground.
This interview originally aired on September 2, 2021.
Super Progressive: Let’s get right into it, Anthony. I need to know the story behind the iconic blue jacket that you wore on the cover of your Nubreed album.
Anthony Pappa: The photographer said, bring some of your clothes to the shoot and we’ll just see what looks good, whatever. We’ll work it out. So I didn’t have a hired stylist or anything. It wasn’t like a Hollywood movie set. It was… You are the DJ. That’s you. That’s your clothes. Let’s do this.
Super Progressive: In the album notes, you explained what this new series, Nubreed, was all about. What you said was, “It’s a new group of DJs who’ve been around, but have not yet made it through to the Premier League. But these are DJs who are ready to step in and take control. For us, this is about not having a set formula, not doing what’s been done before. We’ve got no safety net.
Anthony Pappa: Correct. My album came out at the turn of the millennium in 2000, but the thought process, the work behind it, and putting it together was in 1999. And I think there was a big shift in the trend of music. Well, obviously from house music to progressive house music, and then it went to trance music. And through the nineties there was quite a big progressive trance sound. But as the millennium was approaching and as producers, music studios, and equipment were evolving, there was this new style of cooler, fresher sounds. You get new equipment. You get new programs. You get new sounds, new influences, and music style and sound changes. And that’s what I love about the music that we play. It’s called Progressive, but it actually progresses in its changes. It’s always evolving. And at the end of the nineties, going into the time when I was looking for music to compile for the album, it was a sound that just seemed fresh. It felt like this is where it’s going. This is new. It was the perfect timing, not just for me to have the album come out on such an iconic Global Underground company, but the timing was right for a fresh sound as well. And I just think that with this album, all the stars and planets aligned for all that to just happen at the right time.
Super Progressive: You were chosen to debut this series, but Global Underground could have chosen any one of the Nubreed artists to be the first release. Why were you chosen?
Anthony Pappa: I think that’s more of a question for them than me, but from what I understand, they had such a big following, like you said already with their international, worldwide Global Underground series that all those DJs were superstar DJs. And I think before they started this series, they actually put out a bit of a poll in the sleeve notes of the albums. They used to put cards where you could reply to be on the mailing list. And I think they actually started asking people, what DJs would you like to see on a future album? Who would you like us to consider? And apparently from what they received back from these cards, my name popped up quite a lot. So I was someone that they were looking at anyway and had their eye on. But I think with the confirmation from the public telling them that, hey, we’d like to see this guy as a future Global Underground DJ, I think they just made the choice to choose me and roll with that for the first one. And that’s not taking away from the other guys because they’re all amazing, but someone has to be the first and there can only be one. So yeah, that was me.
Super Progressive: You were saying how Progressive House is progressive in its nature. The mix came out in 2000. The idea for it was around 1999. There’s a lot of new technology like CDJs and Pro Tools coming out for editing after recording the mix. But you recorded the mix on a pair of Technics?
Anthony Pappa: No. Well, I used some of the tracks. I couldn’t, I couldn’t track the label down to get digital files. So a couple of tracks on the album were actually off the vinyl. So I used a combination of turntables, CDJs, pioneer, and recorded the mix into Logic, the programme with the computer and used logic to sequence it. But in some areas I actually did do some of the sequencing live as a mix, and then we kind of edit, edited the mix together through Logic and then added some effects and special touches, which was due to a guy called Andy Page who at the time I worked with to create this album who was also living in Melbourne, Australia. I was actually living in the uk, but when I put this album together, I did it in Melbourne where I was at the time when it was time to record the mix. So
Super Progressive: The one thing that’s different about Nubreed than the City Series is there isn’t necessarily a city attached to the album release, and often the city would play some sort of role, even though the DJs had unbridled creative freedom to pick whatever records they want. The city kind of influenced the album in some way. How did you give this Nubreed mix a Global Underground identity without it having a city?
Anthony Pappa: I think what gives it the Global Underground identity is the style of music and the way they market their albums. But without it being about a city or based on a city, this is probably what made this series even more special for these new DJs breaking through. It was really about them and showcasing who they are, their sound, and what they do in a Global Underground style you might want to say, but really it was your name, your sound, your style. Obviously they’re not going to work with somebody who doesn’t fit the style of the album and music that they portray, but yeah, it was more based on you and not the location. And even with the other guys, yeah, the cities were a big part of it. I guess that’s what made some of the artwork quite iconic, like Sasha with the San Francisco, the bridge, all these iconic landmarks and DJs and the whole concept of a DJ in a city and capturing that moment and putting it onto a disc in the nineties when we didn’t have all the Mixcloud and streaming and SoundCloud and people actually wanted to buy the album, look at the photos, read the sleeve notes, and hear the music, the kind of old school way, which I still think is the best way to really appreciate music. Because all the digital stuff, it’s here today, gone tomorrow, it doesn’t really have its value. It’s not a physical product, it’s just a file. But yeah, look, not being based on a city, it really put more emphasis on the person, the DJ, the artist, and your mix and what style of music you were playing.
Super Progressive: Can you explain to us how you were doing your music discovery and how you were coming into contact with these tracks that were really underground?
Anthony Pappa: Well, basically as a DJ that is always in hunt for new music and good music, It’s my job to source this music every week. Back then I would go to three or four different record shops in the UK. If I couldn’t go to them in person, I would mail-order from two or three stores weekly. So I made sure I was getting the best of the new releases, imports, German, Italian, American stuff. And also as a day job, I worked at DMC and Stress Records, which was part of the Mixmag office. So I was surrounded by music day in and day out, and I was on a lot of mailing lists as well, because labels wanted the DJs that were playing at the right gigs to have the upfront copies of tracks so that you could help break the record. You were sent promos and test pressings. So I was at that level where I had a lot of music coming to me already and via the exclusive lists that I was on that was sending me one of 20 copies upfront and shopping in the actual shops, I kind of had my finger on the pulse. And also having a day job at DMC Mixmag, it was music twenty-four seven. I was right in the middle of it. And these days, it’s more digital, so I probably get sent about 3000 tracks a month. I probably listen to about 150, 200 tracks a day, and it’s my job to just filter through and work out what I like, know what works for me, and that’s how I keep on top of it.
Super Progressive: So track selection is one thing, but then we were interviewing Paul Oakenfold, and he kept talking about the arrangement and the key of the mix as well. As I’ve learned more about your style, mixing in key is a defining characteristic of your sound. Can you explain to us how you developed an ear for this and how this became part of your style?
Anthony Pappa: As a kid, I studied music theory, and I could read and write music. I grew up playing the drums, and my father was a keyboard player and a musician in a band. So I had that musical background, and when I say musical, I mean the actual theory of music. And for me, it seemed natural to apply that understanding of music of a note or a key or a chord, which is a group of notes, and apply that mentality to the actual key of a record playing, so that not only are you mixing the beats in time, but you’re also mixing the key, making the sounds work well that fit together. And I just started mixing in key. I’d never heard of it from anywhere before. It was something that just made sense to me. So I used to write the BPM with a sticker on my records and also the key and also the chord because the chord would give me options around the key, which is called harmonies. And then I worked out at 0% on the turntable, let’s say a tracks in C minor, if you pitch it up by 4%, it would go to the next note, which is C sharp. So it was learning to DJ this way and with this mindset over the last 34 years, that’s made my style of DJing and mixing become the way it is. People say, oh, when you mix, it’s more seamless. Things just fit well together. Well, that’s due to the keys.
Super Progressive: I was watching some of your previous interviews on YouTube and it sounded like you had a really cool opportunity as a resident. I’m not sure if this is correct, but maybe at the Metro in Australia you had the opportunity to open for DJ’s touring? What opportunities did this provide you, but also, who were some of the DJs that influenced your style the most?
Anthony Pappa: I’ll say the top three for me were Sasha, John Digweed, and Dave Seaman. When I was at the age of 18, I was playing all the main clubs in Australia, so I did have that opportunity of the opening slot before the international DJs. So it was good to strike up that relationship on a personal level with these guys as well. And also when they toured around Australia, because they liked the way I opened for them, they would request that I played the slot on the whole tour. So that was great. That meant I got to spend time with the guys not at the gig, just hanging out, which is always the best way to meet people properly, when you’re not in a club and it’s too loud and you can’t actually talk to them, plus everyone else wants to say hello.
So it was good to, at an early stage, get to meet these legendary guys and have a bit of personal time and learn from them, learn by watching them and also listening to them, but just hanging out with them and seeing the lifestyle. This is what they do and it’s like, this is cool. I want to do this too. So that’s why when I was 21, I decided to move to the UK. I made the move from Australia because I figured I needed to go to the next step in my career, where I was doing it as much as I could do in my own country, but to make it on the international circuit, you had to be in the UK. People aren’t going to book a DJ from Australia that they’ve never heard of before. The flights are so expensive. So I was like, I’m going to throw myself into their pool and see what happens. And as it turned out, it was great.
Super Progressive: One of the more touching parts of the Nubreed mix to me is that the album notes actually open up with your father’s history and how he came from Sicily to Melbourne. He was in a band, and he had his own music dreams. Did this give you some confidence when you’re a young guy making a huge move? Did some of these parallels in your dad’s life and experience give you some confidence to go and make this big move and follow your dream?
Anthony Pappa: Honestly, probably not. If anything, my family didn’t want me to go because my dad had his own business and it was a very successful company making tapware. I was working for him, and I’m the son. You’re supposed to take over the family business. Everything we’ve built up is for you to continue for the whole family, which is huge. But how do you not break your parents’ hearts and say, thank you, I love you, and I love what you’re trying to do for me, but this is not what I want to do. My heart is in this, and I want to be a DJ, and I love music. So at first, it was actually hard for them to accept that, okay, I want to leave that behind and go overseas. But it took years, and once I started, it all started to happen, and they were just happy for me that I was doing what I loved and that I was doing what I wanted to do.
Super Progressive: So you’re going to England. It’s the coolest thing. But I imagine culturally, that transition from moving to Australia to England might be a little difficult. Can you talk about those first couple years?
Anthony Pappa: It was, especially coming from a sunny country like Australia, moving to England, where it’s doom and gloom, rainy and gray and cold. I think at the age of 21, I was so focused on what I was going there for. I don’t care if it was 20 below every day and snow everywhere. My focus and my drive and vision of what I was going for was so strong that nothing else mattered. It was all about this is what I’m here for, this is what I’m here to do, this is what I want. And everything was all based on and focused on that. Nothing else mattered, you know what I mean?
Super Progressive: In those initial years, and I know I’m taking you back down memory lane, but what were some key moments or opportunities or relationships you built that were really pivotal in your ascension?
Anthony Pappa: The first one was getting a job at DMC and the record label Stress Records. That opened the doors to me to learn a lot about the whole music industry in the UK because as I said, Mixmag was there. They had a record label, they had a magazine, they had studios there. So it was a melting pot of a lot of different things. That was a good way for me to learn a lot about a lot of different parts of the industry that I wasn’t necessarily so familiar with. It was the first time I had really seen proper recording studios. So that’s when I started the Freefall project with my partner Alan Bremner and started the studio career. Also, another key moment was getting signed to the Renaissance DJ Agency. Renaissance was, and still is, a legendary brand that does amazing events,and parties, and it was the birth of Sasha and Digweed’s iconic Mix Collection album. This was before Global Underground, the triple album, which is still to this date, probably recognised as the holy birth of all DJ mix albums ever. So being on the books with them, they were my DJ agency and management. And so that opened doors with some gigs, which led me to playing a lot of the better venues around the UK. And then towards the later nineties, I think more international gigs started opening up, and that’s kind of when I started getting on the radar of the Global Underground guys. James Todd and Andy were noticing me more as my name was kind of coming up. And then that relationship started with them, which led me to 2000 when the album came out. And it all kind of just skyrocketed from there, really.
Super Progressive: What kind of impact does an album like this have on your career? Because at the time in the scene, it was much more difficult. You couldn’t go on YouTube and type in a mix from somewhere in the country. This music, underground music, was just a lot more inaccessible. But for you to have the opportunity to go on a Global Underground album that is distributed around the world, what kind of impact did this have on your career?
Anthony Pappa: It was huge. I mean, like you said, the internet wasn’t as big as it is now with regards to discovering music and artists. There was no Facebook. There was no Instagram. It wasn’t an instant, here, check out this person and all the links are there. So they spent a lot of money on marketing and advertising the old-fashioned way where it was billboards, posters, magazines, lots of one-on-one interviews, lots of one-on-one gigs and tours in individual cities and countries around the world where you had to build up your following because people saw you or they wanted to hear you or they read about you, or they saw a flyer or a poster. So it was done the old school way. That was the only way really back then. It wasn’t a digital format, it was more of a physical thing. You had to put the hours in and promote. And we would build tours around promoting albums in certain parts of the world. And for me, I think having that real connection with people in the club and them learning about you by actually seeing you live instead of on a video or a 30-second snippet on a story page, I think that carries more weight because it was more, not that the new stuff’s not real, but it’s more real when you’re there in person. And it’s, hey, this guy’s playing and we’re watching him. That’s real. Not, hey, I’m looking at a screen. So I’m not saying that that’s not real, but it doesn’t have the same depth. And the first time I was driving my car in England down one of the motorways, and I saw one of those big billboards of my album cover, and the person in the car said, hey dude, have a look at that. And I’m like, I almost crashed the car. I was like, what? I was so blown away by the size of it. I was like, no way. That’s me. I actually almost hit the person in front of me. Oh man. Yeah, just the level of marketing and promotion that was needed to be done on every project, it was huge. It made a world of difference.
Super Progressive: I’m sure at that point in your career and for the years afterward, life can start moving really fast. You have 200 flights a year, spending a lot of your time traveling. Life gets moving crazy fast for superstar DJs. You were involved in a very serious car crash some years ago where you were kind of forced to slow down, really slow down, and stop completely. What did that part of your life and that journey teach you? Not about music or anything, but about yourself and your life?
Anthony Pappa: I often tell people it was the worst thing, but also at the same time, the best thing that could have happened to me, because life was getting a bit out of control. It was too much. I love touring. I love the job, but it became so fast and so busy. Like I said, it kind of got out of control, and there’s too many parties, and you’re on the road three or four, five days a week, home for two days and then up again, and it just wears you down. It is not that you don’t love touring and playing, I love that more than anything, but it’s just the travel and the time it takes to get to each place, and that’s what really ties you down. So yeah, I had a very bad accident. I broke both my legs, my arm and my back, and I was in a wheelchair for five months.
I had to learn how to walk again. This is five years ago, and it really makes you stop because it is like, okay, everything that’s going on, don’t worry about it. You just need to worry about the basics, which is breathe, rebuild, simple things, walk. I think that just simplifies life a little bit more. And not that you didn’t appreciate it before, but it makes you appreciate things even more and makes you start thinking of what’s most important to you and what you value and how you want to spend the time that you have and how you want to manage that time. You ask questions like how much do I want to be away? How much do I want to be at home with my family? And I think it just helps you get a better balance, which is not easy to do when you’ve just been chasing that dream and things go and it’s like, yep, let’s do everything. And you go from there to there, and you just need to learn to just keep cool, do a little bit of everything, but balance. Have a good balance, have a good life, be healthier, rest when you need to rest. Don’t overdo everything because you have to do everything. And I think it also helps with that mindset. The fact that I’ve been DJing for 34 years and I’ve done a lot of the things that I wanted to do where I can go, well, yeah, I’ve been there, seen it, I still love it, but I’ll do it in a calmer way so it’s better for me, better for my health.
Super Progressive: This will be a great last thing to talk about… The cover of the Nubreed album.
Anthony Pappa: I wore this blue jacket, which kind of became an iconic image, and a lot of people asked me about it. It’s a Hugo Boss Blue jacket. I still have it, and it still fits surprisingly. And yeah, it was part of the photo shoot for the cover. It’s like you think of a photo shoot and you think of a designer coming out with a rack of clothes and you just pick something up, but this was just my jacket. We are just DJs that play music, and we’re normal people. Well, we’re all normal people. No one here is above anyone. But yeah, it’s all real. What you see is what you get, and that’s me.
Super Progressive: Anthony, thanks so much, man. This was really great. I learned so much. We’re excited to get this out to your fans, and we’ll talk soon.
