The following profile of Canberra DJ Archie was written for Citysearch
How do you begin to describe the style of this astounding DJ? In a word: versatile.
Anyone who's seen Archie in action knows no two set are alike when he's putting records on the turntables. Depending on the crowd, he could be funking it up with some heavy house or laying down an old school hip hop flavour. This variety was even greater when he was providing percussive scratching for the band Smeg.
"Originally the whole metal thing was like Cookie Monster music to me," says Archie. "But being in a band taught me about chord progressions and opened my ears. It gave me the chance to be creative in a different light. With DJing you keep to a formula of mixing record after record with maybe a little scratching. In the band we were using electronic gear onstage that allowed me to write drumbeats and cool 303 noises."
When Smeg recently disbanded, Archie took the lessons he'd learned and began writing tracks with various DJs, including Nash T whose Burning Hands track (co-written with Chris Fresh) made it into the AMR Dance Charts' top ten. Archie anticipates this new track will be included on a mix CD planned for release later this year. Yet the most exciting development on Archie's horizon is the work he's done with Endorphin. Aside from joining him during the recent support slot for Moby in Sydney, Archie has been recording material to appear on Endorphin's third album.
"I visited his studio for one day and worked on maybe six tracks," says Archie. "It's something that's replaced Smeg really well and in a similar vein. I want to concentrate on heaps of other stuff as well but it's a great opportunity. He's put my name in a number of places, like sampling my scratching for a remix of Sunk Loto's Make You Feel."
Archie's concentration must be superhuman because, between residencies at the monthly Twisted parties and fortnightly gigs at Heaven, he's starting to appear at Plastic, SupaFly and Icebox in Sydney. Even with this hectic schedule he still manages to pop up at ANU Bar gigs and contributes every week to the ARIA Dance Charts, which are compiled from lists provided by DJs across the country. His future plans include spending more time in Sydney, where he's beginning to cement a reputation. But if you ask Archie about the scene in the Olympic metropolis, he'll tell you with his trademark humility "I'm a little fish in a big pond."
Given the right environment he's likely to become a monster.
