Upclose with Damian Higgins

HK Magazine: You got your start sending out mixtapes through chatrooms, huh?
Damien Higgins: Ah. Back before the world wide web thing, I used to chat on IRC; that’s where my DJ name came from actually. It’s my IRC handle. Plus I was on newsgroups like alt.rave and some local mailing lists and that’s how I got my tapes out. It was really the medieval times.

HK: One of your mixes was called “Dungeonmaster’s Guide.” Are you into Dungeons & Dragons?
DH: When I do my CDs I come up with an overarching concept. I used to be into Dungeons & Dragons, from 1981 up through college, and I still appreciate the culture. I like the affiliation with geek culture. So I decided to put it out there, because it was totally different for a drum’n’bass CD. Music-wise, I did the intro and the graphics all D&D style. I’d gotten the same guy who did the intro to do these little D&D sound bites as well, so I could drop them into the album when it was done, but when I tried it, it ended up quite cheesy.

HK: And they call you the founding father of drum’n’bass.
DH: Well, not in the worldwide scene. But I was one of the first people to play it in the States in the early 90s. To be perfectly honest, when I started playing, drum’n’bass didn’t exist. The kind of music that got dropped was house, techno or techno that had breaks in it. What happened was, people started experimenting with breaks that were faster and faster. People think drum’n’bass just appeared but it actually evolved so slowly that I was just buying music that was getting slightly faster over time.

HK: Did you plan for any of this?
DH: Nah, I never thought I’d get into it. I played the drums in high school but it was just a hobby. I got into music around middle school, even DJ-ed at a few high school dances. I resisted doing it for a living though. I thought, I have a college degree, I’m going to do what I’m supposed to do. Not that I had any long-term goals – I figured I’d end up in the software. But DJ-ing was more fun and lucrative so I did that instead.

HK: Were you a total geek in high school?
DH: I was really into geek shit and my friends were dorky smart kids. But I was also named best dressed in the senior class. It was the same kind of vibe at college – I was into fashion, design, culture and Magic the card game. I studied information science, which is basically about computer networks and a bunch of shit I don’t use right now, except to impress people in interviews.

HK: You’ve been doing this since 1991. How do you keep your music fresh?
DH: Drum’n’bass is a blank canvas for all kinds of ideas. It’s like with guitar music – you can get anything from bluegrass to Swedish pluckings. There are so many ways you can flow. I’m always online talking to friends, getting new tracks… When I’m not DJ-ing, I don’t listen to drum’n’bass and I don’t practice mixing. I listen to a lot of indie rock and when I do go out to DJ, it’s all fresh. If I listened to drum’n’bass 24-7 and overload like I used to, I’d burn out.