X-Clusive Interview with DJ Stonedog

This month exclusive interview with DJ Stonedog...
DJ Stonedog is the resident DJ and Creative Director of popular Hong Kong gay venue Volume. He made National headlines as the first queer artist to write, produce and release a single for and from the city’s gay community. His debut single “Rainbows” became synonymous with Volume and has the distinct honour of being the world’s first club song about the Gay Pride Flag.

Check it out then read my exclusive interview with him, below.

ExMen: Hi Dj Stonedog…. first of all, how did you get a nick like that?

DJ STONEDOG: From my ex-boyfriend, actually. At the time we were in a long-distance relationship (he in Manila, me in Sydney) so we were spending long periods apart and struggling with ridiculous phone bills. It was the mid-90’s and the birth of the email era, so he encouraged me to sign up for an account. I didn’t know what user name to go for, so I just translated his, which was a Filipino Tagalog expression “Bangag Na Aso”- which roughly translates as ‘the dog is stoned’. Back in my wild youth, it was both funny and appropriate. (laughs). Fast forward to when I had to come up with a DJ name, I simply just took my email account moniker and thus ‘DJ Stonedog’ was born. Thankfully, people seem to like the name and it hasn’t failed me yet.

ExMen: How did you end up in Hong Kong, being originally from Sydney?

DJ STONEDOG: I guess as I’ve matured I’ve come to realize I’ve become quite a very goal-oriented person. In my early 20’s, I began discovering within me a loud urge suggesting to me I was meant to be living overseas. I just didn’t know exactly where, but I definitely knew when. I can clearly recall thinking to myself when I was around 23 years of age saying “I’m going to be an ex-pat by the time I’m 27”. Sure enough, I had scored a job offer in Hong Kong and moved there literally a week after my 27th birthday. I knew in my gut that that was when it was going to happen. My star sign is Scorpio, and one of our traits is that we’re very in-tune with the more mystical elements of life. I had an intuition about living in Asia, as if it were a calling of sorts, and it proved to be correct.

ExMen: How was it like when you first established Volume in Hong Kong? How would you compare the GLBT/ club scene there to the other countries you’ve been to?

DJ STONEDOG: I’d been living and working in HK for several years before Volume was even a thought in my mind and although I did party on the gay scene from time to time, most of the time I preferred to hang out at straight venues with my predominantly straight friends. They all knew I was gay, but it seemed I just wasn’t connecting with the HK queer scene at the time. I guess coming from Sydney I missed that vibrancy and creativity that is the lifeblood of Oxford St. What was here in Hong Kong paled in comparison, and quite honestly, bored the shit out of me. Where were the regular drag shows? Where were the novelty events? Where were the dress-up parties? And mostly, where is all the good music? I had had numerous conversations with other gays here and like them, lamented on the uninspiring scene here. I never once imagined at the time, that I would be one of the ones who would eventually step up and actually do something about it. But I’m glad I did and I think the queer community as a whole has noticed the change Volume has helped trigger for the better here.

ExMen: Your website (http://www.volume.com.hk/) mentions that you’ve worked with artistes like Chaka Khan, Ricki-Lee Coulter and Dannii Minogue. How did that happen and how was it like (for each)?

DJ STONEDOG: I come from a TV production background, so I used to work with a lot of celebrities day in, day out. They stopped becoming ‘stars’ in my eyes and just became real people as it’s hard to think of the hottest actor in town as a God when you’re sitting outside the studio, both nursing hangovers and gulping down coffee lamenting a pounding headache. Dannii was one of the many talents that I worked with during that era of my life. I recall at the time she wasn’t getting much respect in the press and was thinking to myself how unfair that was since she was such a hard-worker and very professional on set. As for Chaka Khan, meeting her was a moment I will never forget. I was volunteering for the Sydney Lesbian & Gay Mardi Gras and dancing in their big stage shows at the after-parade party. I was in her 4am “I’m Every Woman” show and all us performers had to wear drag. It was my first time in a frock and heels and I was petrified of having to run down a giant gold-gilded staircase in that get up, plus- in time with the music! If I’d tumbled, it would have been ass over tit down the steps in front of 20,000 people! Thankfully it all worked out fine but I’ve been afraid of donning a dress ever since! (laughs). Ricki-Lee, I worked with last year. It’s great to see her sustaining a career well beyond Australian Idol and she’s only getting bigger. I met her in Melbourne when I was sent there to direct a concert she was doing for TV. She was very down-to-Earth and very accommodating towards my ideas for the show as well as her fans. I would even go so far to say she’s one of the friendliest of the celebrities I’ve ever worked with. I wish her all the best and I’m thrilled she’s now signed to dance label Ministry Of Sound.

ExMen: How was it like working with Olynn Saleh to produce Volume’s anthem song, “Rainbows”?

DJ STONEDOG: Olynn is one of those artists with such huge talent that I am in total awe whenever I’m around her. She’s definitely fun to work with. I was concerned that she might baulk at the concept of recording a song about the gay pride flag, in terms of it potentially pigeonholing her, but she believed we had a positive message within the song and one which deserved its chance to be heard. “Rainbows”, to the best of my knowledge, is the world’s first dance song about our Rainbow Pride flag. Some people have criticized it saying it’s not political enough but from our point of view, we didn’t want to hit people over the heads with a ‘we’re here, we’re queer’ message. The line at the end of the song about rainbows being a “symbol of pride”, we felt was all it really needed to get the point across. We just wanted to make a happy song about how we feel when our community comes together. Our pride flag is our unifying guiding light and I think, of all the world’s flags, ours is definitely the prettiest!

ExMen: You categorized your own spinning style as “flamboyantly aggressive retro-tech meets modern-day macho manbeatz”. Care to elaborate what that means?

DJ STONEDOG: Have you ever done one of those inane ‘how gay are you quizzes’? I always seem to get around 50-60% which probably explains why my sets are a combination of girly handbag tracks and edgy underground macho stuff. I like my house-divas, but I also love tribal and tech-house electronic music. My sets reflect both sides of my personality. I’m also an 80’s-kid at heart so I love throwing revamped 80’s songs into my performances. Artists like Pebbles, Deacon Blue, New Order & Taylor Dayne for example. So that whole spiel about my spinning style truly is a reflection of me. I have wide, eclectic tastes.

ExMen: What can one expect when visiting Volume for the first time?

DJ STONEDOG: Apart from everyone loving the free vodka we serve each Wednesday before 9:30pm, I think the best way to answer this is from the feedback of others I’ve had over the years who’ve come through our doors. The first thing Los Angeles’ DJ Kimberly S said when she came to Volume was “Oh, this place is so cute!” DJ Dan Murphy (Sydney) said something similar. So I guess the first thing that hits people is the whole interior design of the venue which just instantly puts people at ease. There’s a lot of sheer fabrics and fun patterns everywhere with bold, playful, non-traditional colours on the walls like bright yellows near campy purples. We never wanted a space that was sleek, impersonal and too-cool-for-school. We wanted Volume to be more about fun and not about hooking up so the club reflects that. It’s translated well towards the type of clientele we attract. We’ve managed to avoid that sleazy reputation. People go there to have a good time with friends first and think about hooking up as an afterthought. It creates a very open, relaxed party atmosphere in the venue when it’s not all about sex, it’s about being social and meeting new people- but not in a cliquey, predatory way. Actually, I was discussing this with a drag queen the other day and we decided that Volume basically is about fun, friendship and…the occasional fuck. (laughs).

Check out DJ Stonedog’s 2nd single “No I Won’t”:

ExMen: Who are your favourite DJs/remixers? Who would you like to remix for if given a chance?

DJ STONEDOG: For me, it’s more about who is coming up with the next ‘in’ sound. Less so, who’s been flavour of the past 12 months or who’s jumping on a fad bandwagon. A lot of DJs and producers get trapped by labels into churning out the same style for different artists- just so the label can have a familiar sound attached to the remix. After a year or so it all begins to start sounding the same on the dance floor and I start passing on any of their new material. So I admire the guys who have managed longetivity like Peter Rauhofer and Junior Vasquez for their versatility. In terms of who I think is hot right now, I’d say Brian Cox, TV Rock, Casey Alva, Funk Avy, Lenny B, Linus Loves & Matt Pop- each of whom are currently cutting through the clutter. My personal fave of course, is Brian Cua from Manila who’s become my partner-in-crime of sorts. He’s working on several tracks with me for the Volume album. Not only does he possesses incredible talent, but is also fantastic to work with. As for whom I’d like to work with in the future, well, Bananarama are making a bit of a comeback this year, and they seem like they don’t take themselves too seriously, so a project with them sounds like fun to me.

ExMen: If you can place a mail order for a lover according to specifications you dictate, how would he look like?

DJ STONEDOG: Polished, chiseled, made of 18-carat solid gold and shipped directly to my offshore bank account and trust fund for future investment.

ExMen: If you have a genie to grant you anything you want in the world, what would you wish for (excluding “world peace”)?

DJ STONEDOG: Well, if I can’t have world peace then let’s drop that infamous ‘gay bomb’ we all read about and get the rest of the world on ‘our’ side. (laughs).

ExMen: What are you working on now, musically? What are your future plans?

DJ STONEDOG: I’m about halfway through producing Volume’s first full-length album. Obviously the first two singles “Rainbows” and “No I Won’t” will be included as well as a new track “The Snake And The Spider” which I’ve done with Singapore Idol’s Andy Josh Lim. I’m currently working on two more tracks with a very special Hong Kong based artist and in talks with a handful more to get them on board the project. So far it’s coming along great. What I like, is since its Hong Kong’s first ever dance club album from the local gay scene, some of the songs reflect life here in gay HK. For example, the track with Andy Josh is about an open gay relationship. It’s great to have an outlet to have our stories told…to a pulsing, dance beat.

ExMen: And lastly which is your favourite DJ ExMen mixset?

DJ STONEDOG: Ah, that’s easy- your Debbie Gibson Megamix! She was my teenboy childhood idol because she wrote and produced all her own stuff and hit #1 in the US at an age just a few years older than I was at the time. So as a songwriter/producer myself, I looked up to her as a very positive role model. Having said that, I thought your Rhianna Vs Chris Brown collection was pure genius. Especially because you released it right after that alleged beating incident. So yeah, I dig the humour in your mixes and I love your site. It’s one of the better ones, for sure!

To download the 2 official Volume singles “Rainbows” and “No I Won’t” (along with each track’s various remixes), click here: http://volume.com.hk/store/releases

If you wanna know what kind of music you can espect at Volume? Check out my mix "One Night At Volume Hong Kong" Out Tomorrow!!