Italian stallion DJ Pagano is back in the capital for his monthly residency at super club XXL at Pulse this Saturday. Here he gets you in the mood to hit the dancefloor for a pre-Christmas groove and reveal what he’s up to on the big day itself.
Hi Pagano, are you looking forward to being back at XXL on Saturday?
Absolutely and it is increasingly clear that I am not the only one looking forward to my monthly slot at this London’s institution. During the days preceding every gig the excitement of the punters is now palpable. This pushes me to bring my A game and to try and wow the crowd with new exclusive remixes, edits and productions every time I am on. I definitely never rest on my laurels!
How important is it for you to have a London residency?
I have many residencies and recurrent gigs around Europe. However I haven’t had a Saturday night monthly residency like this since my days at Heaven about 15 years ago. It really feels great to have a platform to push my signature sound in the London gay scene again. I obviously bring something very different from the sound that the club has seen through the years. I am very grateful to Mark and James at XXL for the support and the trust.
Are there things that you play at XXL that you don’t play elsewhere?
Coming from the Trade school, I always like to start with jackin’, groovy tech house. I then move the DJ set into my faster signature banging sound. This is my favourite way to build the energy and momentum and it works every time. At XXL I can do it because the resident DJ Paul Morrell knows how to open a room. I applaud him for that. It’s a team work and it works towards the benefit of the whole event.
What have you been working on in the studio?
The past two months have been dedicated to the development of my new mixed and unmixed compilation titled ‘Pagano presents Evolution Vol. 1’ and that will come out on my label KISM Recordings. This will be my 13th official mixed album since the beginning of my career in the early 90s. I am having a really good time with it. The compilation will include 15 tracks, eight of these will be new exclusive tunes I produced or from some of my favourite artists at the moment. These include original material from Carl Cox’s favourites Filterheadz, Mark Knight’s collaborators Tuff London (aka Hard House legends BK and Sam Townend), NYC’s Techno finest Agent Orange and Paul Van Dyk’s protege Chris Bekker. Compilation will be released on Christmas day 25th of December exclusively on Beatport and two weeks later on every other platforms including iTunes and Spotify.
It’s Christmas soon, what are your plans?
I am going to visit my parents in my hometown Catania for about a week, otherwise I would’t hear the end of it. I plan to numb myself with carbs comas. Also I will be super busy with the promotion and marketing campaigns to support the release of the new compilation. I am preparing a few surprises about it so check my social media during the festivities…
Can you talk us through a typical Italian Christmas?
Since I grew up in Sicily, so a typical Italian Christmas means for me up to 20 degrees sunny days, great food and gelato and loads of family drama! This might include loud arguments between the women of the family about whose tomato sauce tastes better and should be used as a base for the lasagna.
We assume you’ve been a good boy this year – what’s on your Christmas list?
I am never a good boy. You should know that by now! To be honest I am very content with my life and I really do not have any special wishes nor desires. I just hope the political wind will change soon because I am a bit tired of the divisive right wing craze sweeping around the world. So I guess Miss Italy here just wishes for world peace and gelato for everyone this Christmas… Oh and lots of sex and cuddles are always welcomed!
XXL is at Pulse, 1 Invicta Plaza, South Bank, SE1 9UF
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