Jolyon Petch | Cocoon Beach Club – NYE

Jolyon Petch is New Zealand’s busiest house music producer and world touring DJ. Starting his career in the electronic music world in 1998, he’s risen to having Beatport & Itunes chart hits plus Billboard and ARIA club chart hits in the USA and Australia. Jolyon has become a part of the future of house music. His sound has been supported around the globe from some of the biggest names in dance music like Oliver Heldens, Afrojack, Tiesto, Pete Tong, Bob Sinclar and Don Diablo to name a few playing in their radio shows and in their sets. He’s DJed around the globe in hot party locations like Cyprus, Berlin, Russia, Dubai, Thailand and UK to name a few. Jolyon’s touring schedule as well as his consistent productions have grabbed the attention of many clubbers, promoters and artists alike. He now runs two major record labels out of Melbourne, ‘Club Luxury’ and ‘House Life Records’, with UK producer eSQUIRE. Cocoon will be hosting Jolyon on the decks for their New Year’s Eve festivities so we thought we’d check out what he has in store for the punters on this grand occasion!
Hey Jolyon, where are you writing to us from and how was your last gig?
Hi guys, nice to meet you. I’m currently in Melbourne. I was in New Zealand last week performing at Highlife Entertainment’s Fiesta Del Sol’s sold out party at Villa Maria Vineyard. Over 1600 party goers dancing into the early hours.
Nice. Can you tell us a little about how you got into DJing?
I used to play the drums in a band and when we broke up I still had the passion to be involved in music one way or another. A friend of mine used to promote some big parties so we started a little DJ team. That didn’t last long before I went out on my own and started getting solo gigs and building my profile around Auckland, NZ. That was back in 1998 when I picked up the headphones for the first time.
When did the production part of your career start? Before or after DJing? What was your first piece of hardware?
I was in a band so I guess making music started in school as I had learnt to play the piano and drums and then spent five years making music with the band and recorded in music studios. I wrote my first piece of dance music in 2002 for a trance project called ‘J’s Project’ which ended up on a CD mix that I officially mixed for a promotions company in NZ. I guess my first piece of equipment would have been my M-Audio speakers and my midi keyboard.
Can you name one of the best parties you have played at during your extensive travelling as a DJ?
That’s a tough one as there have been so many great events, but I guess some of the gigs I used play in Cyprus were pretty special. Being driven out with my crew on a speedboat to meetup with the fantasy boat party to play an hour set to a packed cruise then back to shore and then play to a packed club at Ayia Napa’s most famous clubbing institution “The Castle Club”.  Also one of my other special gigs was playing at the famous KOKO (Kamden Palace) in London to a packed theatre. It’s where Madonna and Charlie Chaplin have also graced the stage.
What kind of software do you produce with? What are your favorite instruments?
My main workstation is Logic Pro X, but I also work with Ableton Live too for creating drum grooves or for collabs. My favorite instrument has to be the piano.
Have you got any tracks in mind that you might like to tease your audience with before your gig at Cocoon?
I do indeed. I’ve just put together a mini DJ mix of some of my own produced remixes and singles plus a few of my favorite tracks to give you a little taste of what’s to come for NYE: www.mixcloud.com/BoutiqueArtistManagement/jolyon-petch-fiesta-del-sol-dj-mix/
What other genres are you comfortable with producing or DJing apart from house music?
I pretty much stick to house as that’s what I play in my sets. But I have been writing more poppy stuff and a few months back I remixed one of my songs ‘U Sure Do’ as a Drum n Bass revibe. I actually quite enjoyed it so maybe in 2017 I’ll write a drum n bass track for an album.
Imagine an empty dance floor with a crowd looming on the outskirts, what track do you play to fill the dance floor?
Depends on where I’m playing but my own remixes and bootlegs will bring the girls on the dancefloor. I’m all about creating a party experience none of this chin stroking boring deep stuff and no banging EDM. Just keep it fun and vocal.
What is new in the life of Jolyon Petch? Do you have any upcoming projects you’d like to share?
I got back last week from a studio session in the Gold Coast writing some new hits with The Potbellez. Plus I’m working on a new single with legendary Belgium producer Kid Créme and the vocalist from Kosheen – Sian Evans. Also working with US Vocalist Ron Carroll who’s collaborated with the likes of Axwell & Bob Sinclar to name a few. Then I have other collaborations with eSQUIRE, Vandalism (Andy Van, Madison Ave), Bombs Away, Andy Murphy & Mind Electric. So pretty busy to say the least.
Give us a sentence what we should expect from your set on New Year’s Eve.
Fun, vocal and loads of my own productions. Can’t wait! See you there.