“I turn 36 tomorrow,” reflects Arsenio Fabay when we meet to chat about his new EP as DJ Kuya, Abt Tme. His career started over twenty years ago and it is one which has seen him win three Victorian DMC state titles between 1998 and 2000 and the Australian ITF DJ title in 1999.
“I guess that whole process of finding your own voice has been important,” says Fabay. “Even when I was competing in the DMC and ITF competitions, I would take these ideas from what I was doing DJ wise in the competitions and turn them into music. But at that point I neither had the knowledge nor the expertise to do it. It’s a process of trying out different things and seeing what works and what doesn’t.”
Coming from a hip hop background and having a skill to utilise the turntable as an instrument meant that Fabay naturally saw that has his main production tool. “I used to limit myself but you are also limiting the music,” he reveals. “There is something to say for limiting the equipment for more creative output but you are going to hit a ceiling. That’s when I started learning how to write songs on computer. This was back in 2001-2002 when writing music with a computer was still quite frowned upon.”
Ever the perfectionist, it is only now that DJ Kuya tracks are being made available. “It’s taken a long time – just purely because of the type of person I am,” he admits. “I’m very analytical and self critical about what I do. I mean, I always knew that I had to let go but to actually do it I found really difficult. It’s just been in the past six months that I decided to hand out some tunes to friends and DJ’s to play them out and see what they think. And that’s where it all started.”
And it also came with a realisation: “Your music does no one any good sitting on your hard drive at home. And let’s be honest – you make music because it’s an egotistical thing and you want to hear it on a big sound system! I guess it goes with the hip hop culture – the battle mentality,” he laughs
About six weeks ago Fabay was contacted to play with US producer Samiyam. The promoter pushed him to get his tunes together and it proved to be just the motivation he needed. “I’ve been talking about this EP for ages – basically building my skills up in terms of writing music and getting to know how to do certain things. I had the attitude that I could wait until it was done but I realised that it doesn’t work that way.”
The timeline has been tight but focused and Abt Tme will be released as a digital download through Kuya’s own online store. “It was a case of limited time and budget plus all the kids are downloading these days!” he laughs. “I had four tracks but I had a listen to it and it didn’t make any sense. I know it’s an EP but there was no progression. I wanted to show as many facets as possible. I ended up writing a fifth track that rounded it out perfectly. And I like odd numbers!”
All the tracks have been written over the last few months: “I have been learning and writing since about 2003. I moved back from Sydney around that time and decided to start writing my own tracks. It’s a cumulative process but I guess all the EP tracks have been written in the past four or five months.”
It’s funny how things coalesce: “All that knowledge comes together and all of a sudden it clicks!” says an enthusiastic Fabay. “I have this process now where I can pretty much get ninety percent of a track done over a couple of studio sessions. Before it took me a week to come up with an idea.”
Fabay tells me about his process of creating a track: “I get inspired by light science fiction and some of the hard science fiction. The sound design in a movie like Terminator Salvation is out of control! I just like having it in the background then I can vibe off that and end up writing a tune.”
“It’s an integral part of the process for me,” he admits. “I like to visit certain websites like FFFFound! – all those images, as you click through them, subconsciously it enters your brain and you end up writing this stuff that comes out at the other end. The times that I have sat down and tried to mimic something don’t really work. It’s just like anything in life when you try to force it.”
And in terms of sound there is a definite hip hop lineage: “For me, the biggest influence was J Dilla. It’s just that sound – soulful and edgy,” says Fabay. “At the same time, there’s this one track on the EP that is very angry sounding. I think that is informed by my love of metal – people like Dillinger Escape Plan and Meshuggah. I get bored of listening to one thing all the time.”
Now that there, Fabay doesn’t want it to stop: “After the EP I would like to get some limited 7″ singles out or 12″s. I have already started writing tunes for an album – I’m in that zone and I’m focused. The EP is a major step for me and it shows what I am about. I hope it gets people excited for the album. It’s one of those things – I feel like it has taken too long to put my music out but at the same time it’s the right time.”
“You just have to keep working and one day you will decide the time is right. And that’s when you will start making stuff happen – at least that’s what I’m telling myself!” he laughs
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