Acid Rain on the streets of Glasgow with Domenic Cappello

There’s a real sense of exuberance in the largely Glaswegian, and ever-present crowd at The Sub. Every week, every warm-up, and every close, along with Harrigan, Cappello’s detailed understanding of the dancefloor, his unfathomable technical ability, and his sixth sense to build a groove are constant and undeniable.

With over twenty releases in his wake dropping on labels like 20:20 Vision, Nautilus Rising, Soma and his own Seventh Sign, Cappello, – who could easily of had an equally accomplished career in standup comedy – is about to drop an atomic bomb with his latest album, ‘Basement Philosophy.’

This man is not a seeker of the limelight. ‘Fuck Tik Tok & Fuck Instagram.’ Domenic Cappello really is all about the music.

Where are you from in Glasgow?

I was born and brought up in Hutton Drive in Linthouse (Govan) in Glasgow. I used the street name for my first forays into producing. I now live Southside of the city. 

Glasgow’s has reinvented itself as a post-industrial hub of art & culture. Were there tough times growing up or are all your memories sweet?

Glasgow was like most big cities growing up. There are places where you need to be very careful walking through, and there’s places where you could ride a unicycle wearing a fur coat, shin guards, and tiara and no one would look at you twice. It’s a city with a rough and smooth side, like most big cities.

It didn’t feel like a tough place to live growing up because when it’s all you know, you just get on with things. Looking back, there’s been some sticky moments when things could have gone badly, very quickly, and they have done for friends in the past, but I love the place warts and all and the only thing I’d change about it is the weather. 

What made you want to play music to people for a living?

Probably just wanting to hear my own music that I had bought, loud on a club sound system.

Before The Sub I DJ’d in a bar playing blues. Then Acid House came along, and then Sonny Boy Williamson took a back seat for Phuture.

I also DJ’d at an illegal after party called Desert Storm.

Subculture is the longest running weekly house and techno night on the planet.  Why has it gone on so long?

It’s all down to the people who own the club, and all the people who have worked hard behind the scenes for the past 30 years. We play only a small part in the success. 

It would have been easy for the owners to put on big cheesy guests every Saturday, followed ever moving trends and filled the place, but they’ve never wanted that, they wanted something more, and probably sacrificed financially to give us that. That has given us the platform to play.

The best clubs and parties are resident focused. What are your thoughts on this in relation to Subculture?

It’s everything in relation to Subculture. Yes, there are guests, and yes, we try and bring in young local talent to play, but at the end of the day the residents are there pretty much every week. 

The club site’s been many things over the years; a speakeasy where Louis Armstrong played, a steakhouse in the 70s and a ‘porn’ cinema. 

All right apart from the cinema. That was next door!

Didn’t Primal Scream play their first gig there in ’88?

Yeah, I think they did, I wasn’t there though, I was never an Indie kid so I wouldn’t have gone anyway.

In 2006 the club had a Bodysonic dancefloor installed. What is that and does it involve Lycra?

Bass bins are sunk in the floor under the dancefloor, and yes, Lycra is involved in everything I do.

Is there anyone you haven’t been able to get as a guest?

Would always have loved to have Laurent Garnier in for a Saturday but another Glasgow promoter used to book him and wouldn’t allow it. Club politics, eh?

Would also have loved to have UR live in the club, the full collective. I think that would be unreal.

Honey Dijon reckons the club is full of loads of “sexy drunk Scottish” people. Do you attest to that?

I’d never dream of disagreeing with Honey.

Subculture is older than some of the punters on your dancefloor. How do you maintain that connection with new generations?

It’s the music. That’s the key.

If most of the music you play each weekend is new, that’s a lotta digging. How do you keep up that volume?

I listen to new music every single day. I’ll put stuff by every day, then come Friday, I’ll go through it all again, get rid of some of the stuff I’m maybe not feeling after another fresh listen, and then spend Saturday all day prepping for that night.

What day of the week does it take you to recover after a Saturday sesh? 

I’m usually fine by Tuesday in July at some point.

Basement Philosophy sets out a powerful intention. Has it been long in the making?

It’s been off and on since just after lockdown. I tried making stuff during lockdown, when I had loads of time, but I was so down, I just couldn’t get into it.

Once the clubs reopened, I got a rush of excitement and creativity and it all started from there. Some tracks happened really quickly, and some took a bit longer but that’s just normal.

What is the ‘philosophy of the basement’ while we’re at it?

Everything that isn’t Tik Tok techno. Deep, dark, smoke-filled intimacy.

When you started making the album, did you have an intention in mind?  

I wanted something that would work in the club but also something that you could listen to at home on headphones and hear all the layers.

Sometimes these subtleties can get lost on a club system, or if there’s too much in the track, and it sounds good on headphones, it can sound too busy in a club.

I’ve been guilty in the past of adding too much to tracks, having it sound amazing in the studio but it’s too much in a club. I wanted to get the balance right between both. I think I achieved that.

I also wanted every track to be a club track for DJs. No ambient fillers or 3 min long tracks. I wanted them all to be useful to be played at different moments or moods in a night. 

What are you most proud of with Basement Philosophy?

The fact that the emotion and musicality comes through in the tracks. I’m not musically trained but even friends who are who have listened to it, are surprised I’m not. That gave me as much of a sense of pride as watching the dance floor react to them when I tested them. 

What was the most challenging part of getting the album together?

Fighting against my own brain, going from this sounds great to this is pish. Basically, the emotions most people who create go through. The stress dreams of having all the wrong tracks being cut on the record, to getting the record back and there’s no hole in the middle, to the tracks all having someone chatting over them and it being unplayable. There’s loads more I won’t bore you with 🙂

What made you choose Alien Communications as home for the LP?

I’m friends with Simon Bays who owns the label, and he put out a previous 12” I’d done called ‘Movements In Mind’.

I love how much he’s all about the music and how much work he puts into the label. He genuinely cares about it, and that comes across.

Acid Rain. What a track! Have you tested it out in the club yet?

Yeah! That’s been well rinsed, it goes down well every time. It’s great for transitioning from playing deep to let’s start going through the gears. 

The first time I played it in the club it was about 12.30 and the dancefloor was slow building up that night as the bars were still open at 1am. I mixed it in, then had to run to the toilet as nerves and too many beers got the better of me. When I came back out the acid line was in full flow, and the dance floor had become packed. I thought… Wow. Still smiling thinking about it.

The closing cut is like Trans Europe Express on acid meets the Shinkansen bullet from Tokyo to Osaka! But tell us how you really feel about instagram?

Haha! ‘Not For Instagram DJ’s’ is a fuck you to all the pish techno going about. Too fast, no soul, and 5 min drum rolls so the DJ can stand flicking their hands in the air and get loads of content for their videos.

It’s not all about you, it’s about the track and the dancefloor. The DJ should be a conduit between the producer and the dancefloor, that’s it.

My mate described it as “Pure Pumping Space Jazz.”  That made me laugh, but he nailed it.

Basement Philosophy marks many years in the box. Do you feel you’ve changed much since the beginning?

Deep question that. I’m not sure how much I’ve changed; I still feel the same as I did when I started out. Still love it as much and still get a buzz off DJing in front of a good crowd and playing in a club. Production wise, like anyone, you just learn as you go, usually from your previous mistakes. Hopefully, I’m making less mistakes now.

What drives you to get out of bed?

The beautiful Glasgow sunshine.

I read an old interview where you said you worry about fucking up every time you play.  Do you still get the jitters?

It’s still the exactly same. The day I stop caring, is the day I’ll stop playing.

Buy the new release HERE.