Paul Oakenfold was in a sunny frame of mind midway through a dreary rain-streaked afternoon last week in Taipei. He had spent a couple of days looking around the city and had just lost his singing cherry at KTV. Maybe it was the beer he was swigging or perhaps its just that he's got a lot to be happy about. Either way, the Londoner at the forefront of the rave revolution was in a good mood.
"The beers are on me, yeah!" he shouted after finishing off a round of interviews with some comments about his coif and the song at his funeral. "I can't believe we're talking about my hair. It was short for 10 years, then it was blue and then blonde. I get bored very easy. What more do you wanna know?"
"A personal question. Do you mind?" one journalist asked, "What song do you reckon they'll be playing at your funeral?"
Many "stars" would have been irritated at this point but Oakenfold's smile just widened. "Well, I won't be there so I won't be playing, What's New Pussycat?"
Earlier in the interview the former chef, motorbike courier, and A and R man, who has been DJing for 20 years, talked about working with Madonna and U2 and said it "was interesting to learn about the professional side of the business.
"They're all strong as personalities but also kind of humble because they don't need to prove themselves. They've got time to listen and they were open to me. Especially U2, they wanted to know the dance scene and we had quite a lot of talks about it.
"In the last two years I've taken a step back from DJing and have been doing more film work (Shrek 2, Collateral, Pink Panther with Steve Martin), plus a cutting-edge new actors' movie.
"For my next step, I'm gonna be doing my next album after Bunkka. I go to LA from here to record it. I'm looking for new singers who are not well-known. So, anyone here who can sing? As you know, I went to the KTV. I can't sing, that's why I'm looking for singers. ... I've signed artists from Russia, Germany, Argentina. If the right artist was from here and they worked hard, then of course I would sign them, too. Send me your tape."
The rest of the question-and-answer session covered the similarities of rock stars and DJs ("The great thing, though, about being a DJ is you can stay under the radar.") and unforgettable moments ("Playing on top of the Great Wall of China and in front of over 100,000 people at Wembley in London.") before ending with his coif and funeral music.
As for the gig last Friday, it was a packed MoS and the atmosphere was the best it's been for ages. There weren't so many gangsters staring people down and everybody was moving to the beats laid down by Oakenfold over the two-hour-plus session. A good night out.
Tonight: There's a bikini party at Plush and MoS; and not to be outdone, TU has a G-string do, too. At Luxy there's tribal house from Vertigo.
Tomorrow: At MoS it's residents' night; and the theme continues at TU with Mini Skirt Saturday. The main event this weekend, however, is DJ Kid Capri, the hip-hop pioneer from the Bronx. It should be massive. The guy has done so much for so many. The Beat Symposium presents its final "I Love South Africa" at Eden.
"This will be the vibrant sound of South Africa after dark," the promoters said, with Marc Kets playing everything from Miles Davis to Cal Tjader, followed by Hungary's finest, Zoltan, then Pierre and Chozie to bring the house down.
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