Alexey Dukhov

Ever since I was about nine years old, all I could dream or think about was music. At first, I wanted to become a rock singer. I imagined myself on the stage (smiles). Well, that didn’t quite work out, but I became a DJ. And that’s exactly what I was dreaming about since my early childhood — doing music.

I’m a movie-addict. Everybody goes to movies to see this or that actor, but the reality is that it’s not the actors who make the movie, but the director, even though you can’t really see him. It’s the director who tells an actor how to play his part.

What I enjoy most about my profession is that depending on how you plan your set, you can actually program what’s going to be happening on the dance floor. Everybody has their own understanding of music, for someone it can be a creative act, for someone — just an entertainment. Different music carries a certain energy impulse, setting certain mood and atmosphere.

There’s a concept that DJs like to use, it’s called “feeling of the dance floor”. Cueing songs is something anyone could learn to do, a good taste can be cultivated, but nothing couldn’t help you gain this “feeling of the dance floor” that can only be inborn.

Music gives people energetic unity.

I love paintball. I’m still a boy at heart — all this running around, shooting people — that’s just so much fun.

Moscow’s my centre of the world. If you look at the clubbing movement, Moscow’s one of the world’s most popular cities. It’s favoured by a whole lot of foreign stars, and there’s also a fine crowd of decent local DJs who can play better than any foreigner.

There’s a constant “brain dance” going on inside my head (smiles).

I used to do modern dance when I was a teenager. There was a whole gang of us, about 30-40 people or so, and we had our own venue. We used to come up with our own performances and tour night clubs. That was quite cool.

I’m a self-sufficient person!

Love is the type of feeling that you can’t share with everyone. I don’t want to waste it on those who don’t deserve it. And as for those who do, it’s up to my inner self to make this decision.

A man can only be friends with one woman — the woman he sleeps with. That’s the type of friendship between a man and a woman that everyone’s talking about. Any other woman can only be as much as a close acquaintance.

Love, I would say, is more about tenderness, while sex is aggression.

I do feel depressed sometimes, and even get a kick out of this whole thing every now and again. Not from the depression itself, but a certain feeling of myself it gives me, from realizing how much I love myself. But, of course, it’s doesn’t get to the point of vanity. I just believe that it’s better to concentrate on love for oneself, than resentment (laughs).

I used to be a very pretty and happy kid. When I look at the pictures of myself before the age of 5-6, I can’t believe how cute I used to be. I’m wondering if I should make a poster and hang it up (laughs).

One thing I fear most is total loneliness! The worst thing I can ever imagine (smiles).

Speaking about 2012: I believe that there are people who can foresee the future, but this also gives one a sneaky feeling that it might have to do with programming people’s minds to make them believe that the end is inevitable. Because it’s a purely human idea, that everything in this world has a beginning and an end. There will be no end!

The most unforgettable DJ set I’ve ever heard was played by the American DJ Derrick Carter. They brought him to Moscow, and he was horrendously expensive. I’d never buy a single disc by Derrick, but back then he used to be able to make the whole club, a fully packed club, go absolutely ballistic, everyone without exception, starting from ordinary clubbers and finishing with all the DJs who came to listen to him. Now that’s what I call a natural born DJ.

The soul doesn’t think — it relies on feelings. A lot of our troubles come from inside our head. There’s too much hang-ups in there, unnecessary thoughts that always get in the way.