Crazy P on Playing Older Records Without Turning Backward

Crazy P have always approached DJing with the mindset of musicians rather than archivists. Their sets move fluidly between eras, not as an exercise in nostalgia, but as a way of keeping club culture connected to its roots while remaining present in the moment. Older records are never treated as artifacts. They are tools that still function, provided they are placed with care. With decades of record-buying behind them, the group carry a deep internal reference library shaped by early 90s house, disco, and the long arc of dance music that followed. That history informs how they program today, especially when deciding how and when to reintroduce older material to contemporary dance floors that may be hearing it for the first time. Ahead of their Brighton show at Quarters on December 20, Crazy P reflect on emotional weight versus musical fit, how classic records still disrupt a room in ways new releases sometimes cannot, and why honoring the past remains part of a DJ’s responsibility without letting it dominate the present. Interview With Crazy P When you play older tracks, are you thinking more about emotional weight or musical fit in the moment? It’s a bit of both really. For us, the best DJs are expert programmers, and playing the right tune at the right time is everything. Emotional weight matters because every record should take the listener somewhere, even if that place is simply a dark room and a groove. Musical fit matters too, although that does not mean a sideways shift in style or tempo cannot work just as well. Those moments can sometimes be exactly what a room needs. Do you ever worry about leaning too much into nostalgia when you bring back older material? We’ve been around the block, so the age of the material feels irrelevant at this point. If an old record still stands up today, there should be no limitation on playing it. We’ve been buying records since the early 90s, and there is a real desire to share what inspired us back then with a new generation of dancers. What might feel overplayed to us often lands on fresh ears. Older music forms the roots of club culture, so it deserves celebration, as long as it is not overdone. How do you frame or recontextualize older music so it feels relevant rather than retro? That is difficult to quantify because we are rarely thinking about context so consciously during a set. People who have heard us play know we move across styles quite naturally. It would not be unusual for us to go from an old disco record into something more contemporary and house-leaning, then into something tougher. Sometimes we stay within an older house sound for a short section to create continuity, since those records naturally sit well together, but we are always moving things forward stylistically. Have you ever had a moment where an older track completely changed the energy of a set in a way newer music could not? Definitely. On the house side, Dannell Dixon’s “The Way You Groove Me” always has that effect. It is an early 90s DJ Pierre production and a perfect example of the Wild Pitch sound. The long, hypnotic build, soulful vocal loop, and huge jazzy chords cut through because nothing like it is really being made right now. On the disco side, “Le Stache” by Blackjoy constantly finds its way into our sets. It came out in 2005 and remains a beautifully arranged groove piece. It works early or late and never fails to do what it needs to do on the floor. What’s the difference between playing a classic and honoring a classic? Playing it thoughtfully is honoring it in itself. It can be tempting to play big record after big record, and we understand why DJs fall into that pattern. It delivers instant gratification. At the same time, there is always someone on the floor who may never have heard that record before. If they leave with a positive memory, that matters. Part of the job is also digging for future classics, finding those end-of-the-night records that are not widely known and allowing them to create moments people carry with them. Are there older tracks that still challenge you or reveal something new each time you play them? You usually know your older records very well, so surprises tend to come from how they land with the crowd rather than from the records themselves. There is always that moment of hesitation before dropping something older. You start questioning whether it still works or if it feels dated. Then sometimes it completely surprises you in the best way. You have to take the chance and find out. How do you know when something from the past still belongs in your present? Often it comes down to the connection you have with the record. That alone can justify playing it. The other factor is simple. If the dance floor feels good, there is always space for it, whether the track was made yesterday or thirty years ago. The post Crazy P on Playing Older Records Without Turning Backward appeared first on Magnetic Magazine.