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Bukem finds balance

Drum and bass legend, renowned MC return to Whistler
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Bukem, Danno MC Conrad and renowned drum and bass DJ LTJ Bukem are coming to the GLC.

Who: DJ Bukem and MC Conrad

When: Thursday, June 5, 9 p.m.

Where: GLC

Tickets: First 100 are $20, $25 afterwards

Danny Williamson, better known in the DJ community as LTJ Bukem, may be a veteran DJ, but he hasn’t lost any enthusiasm for the craft — when he talks about music, his excitement is almost palpable.

“I’m kind of just really buzzed up about the whole music scene at the moment,” said Bukem. “The music itself, for me, is better than it’s ever been in the whole time I’ve been doing this.”

And Bukem has been at it for a while.

He’s regarded by many as one of the founders of drum and bass — a type of electronic dance that emerged in the early 1990s — though he remains humble about his roots in the genre.

“I definitely carved out my own kind of style, not intentionally. That was just the music that I loved, you know?” he said. “…People kind of pinned me down as this musical guy on drum and bass, and I suppose I have seen that evolve and people do get excited to maybe hear something a bit different from the norm.”

As of Tuesday afternoon, Bukem was still in the UK playing a few gigs at outdoor festivals. But he’ll soon be coming to Whistler to perform with MC Conrad at the GLC.

He makes a point of coming to Whistler during every Canadian tour, though this is the first time he’s played in Whistler during the shoulder season.

“I normally kind of do a Canadian tour at the beginning of the year — I have for the past three or four years — but I’ve always kind of said I’d love to come back when it’s a bit warmer,” he said. “I’m always like freezing my ass off, basically, when I come there in January.”

Like many other musicians, Bukem was introduced to music at an early age. But he wasn’t just playing in the high school band; he played trumpet and drums, and was a classically trained pianist. An introduction to jazz-fusion led to the signature style that eventually carried over into his own music.

Bukem first met MC Conrad at a rave on a farm back in 1992, and invited him to team up after he heard Conrad performing with someone else. Now, over 15 years later, they still feed off of one another’s energy.

“I still phone him at like at four in the morning and say, ‘look, check this tune out!’”

While Bukem spends a lot of time touring around the world, he also devotes a considerable amount of time to work in the studio and on his label, Good Looking Records, which he launched in the early 1990s.

He seems to like to have a hand in all aspects of the business, whether through booking DJs, scheduling releases, recording, or even answering e-mails.

“I like people to kind of know exactly where I’m coming from and who I am, rather than hide behind staff and an Internet wall,” he explained. “People often get the wrong message, you know, depending on what mood your staff are in, you know?”

He also receives 40 to 50 demos per day, which he personally filters through.

“I listen to absolutely everything, and actually I can’t even keep up with the amount I get sent!” Bukem said with a laugh. “It’s actually too much — well, obviously it’s not too much, because I love music.”

Technology has helped make the process a bit easier; with instant messaging and e-mail he’s able to work while on tour. But after almost 15 years of devoting his time and energy to his passion, it was time for a bit of a holiday.

“I didn’t take any breaks or anything like that, so I was kind of working like an absolute nut and I thought, ‘you need to live your life sometimes, as well.’ Life is all about love and relationships, right, its not about how much money can I earn, how much can you achieve to a certain extent. It’s easy to forget about the importance of life.”

So Bukem took two years off from the label to spend time with friends and family. Now he’s ready to get back to business with a fresh perspective and a renewed energy.

“It totally revitalized me, and I feel now like more excited about what I do than almost when I first started,” he said.

Bukem got back to work on the label at the beginning of the year, releasing a new 12-inch with a tune with MC Conrad on the reverse, which was very well received. It’s gotten them both pumped to get back into the studio again.

Though he has big plans, like releasing a new live album and adding a download section to the Good Looking website, Bukem is definitely pacing himself now, cutting down to three or four albums per year, compared to the 12 he was doing previously.

Now, he’s trying to figure out how he can juggle all of his projects and still manage to fit in a new album of his own music within the next 18 months.

And he’s still keen on encouraging newcomers to the world of DJing.

“It’s so exciting, there are so many young kids that come through and are totally kind of making their way in the scene,” he said, adding that aspiring DJs shouldn’t just play what people want to hear.

“I always say basically do what you believe in, you know? Like most things in life, if you don’t do what you believe in, then you’re only going to turn around 10 years later and go, ‘I should have done something different.’” Said Bukem: “I think you have to go with your feeling and what you believe in.”