One of this year’s most talented house protégés has just dropped a huge double mix CD, appropriately called Sizism.
DJing in Sweden since he was a teenager, a skilled turntablist by 16, Steve Angello had already cooked up his own record label by the age of 17!
Carl Cox, Erick Morillo, Danny Tenaglia, Roger Sanchez, and Pete Tong all went on to become big fans of that label, Size.
Still only 22, Angello won Best Newcomer at the DJ Awards in Ibiza last summer, alongside partner in crime Sebastian Ingrosso.
Hot to the touch!
Impact
This summer has seen him and the other so-called ‘Swedish House Mafia’ DJ/production dynamos make even more of an impact worldwide.
Angello’s well timed Sizism mix is loaded with fresh re-workings of classics, such as Lustral’s Everytime, alongside this season’s instant floor-fillers, including Outhouse by Laidback Luke and Angello and Ingrosso’s own monster tune Umbrella.
Describing the vibe behind Umbrella, Angello chuckles, “I guess the long wait for the summer inspired us to do it.
“We have had such a looooong winter we just had to get a summer mode going!”
Beginnings
But all this had humble beginnings, as it seems he got his start the same place he learned geometry…
“The first gigs were in school and they are so far from what I'm experiencing today!
“I mean, (now) I do my own parties around the world, leading the Size brand all over the place so I guess I have more to say and the clubs are just so much better from when I started out.”
You can’t help but be enthusiastic when you go from playing for your classmates to playing for thousands of ecstatic dance floor mavens.
At some point in his youthful career, Angello felt turntablism wasn’t his future, so he turned to more electronic affairs.
“I guess it was a natural step, hip hop didn't develop and the only way forward for me was finding the love of my life… dance music!”
On the Road
Now travelling constantly, Angello experiences the glamorous and the not-so-glamorous sides of being an international DJ.
“Me and Seb were booked on a festival in Poland recently,” he tells us, “and the drive from Berlin there was funny because the couple that drove the car had the same colour clothes on and were kissing all the time, tickling each other and just acted really stupid.
“Once we got to the hotel it was one of the shittiest places I’ve ever seen, the closest restaurant was 3 miles away and there was no mini bar, internet or food at the hotel.
“Everything was just against the contract so we got pissed off and got in a taxi back to Berlin.”
Everyone has their Marx Brothers moments on the road too…
“Once I played a beach in France and was mixing, when all of a sudden I slipped backwards and fell on my ass in the sand!
“The stage was really small and I got bruises all over.”
Let’s hope that doesn’t happen when Steve plays at Ministry of Sound on Sept 22nd, or indeed at Crank in Bournemouth (October 19th), Cineac Amsterdam (20th) or Monster Massive in Los Angeles (31st).
Words: Margo Fortuny