This weeks Secret Bali Soundboy is Dean Dixon. Dean has been on the Island for just over a year now and took a leap of faith, deciding to abandon his career as an emergency nurse and go for it as a fulltime DJ in a place he had never visited! Potato Head spotted his talent though and offered him a residency and he has not looked back since. A really nice guy, super good DJ and a great little story which you can check out here…
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN BALI AND WHAT BROUGHT YOU HERE?
I’ve been in Bali for almost two years now, about a year and eleven months to be exact. I made the move to Bali to take on a DJ residency at Potato Head Beach Club. I’d never been here before, so it was a bit of a roll of the dice so to speak. But yeah, the only reason I’m here is to continue with my residency at Potato Head and to see where that takes me.
WHERE AND WHAT WERE YOU UP TO BEFORE YOU LANDED ON THE ISLAND OF THE GODS?
Before jetting to Bali I was living in Sydney, Australia and working as an Emergency Nurse believe it or not. I was also simultaneously running the event company HAHA Industries on the side, we were hosting events in various venues and off the beaten track warehouses and touring artists around Oz as well as helping the odd festival curate their artist roster.
WHAT'S YOUR GET OUT OF JAIL FREE RECORD - NEVER FAILS TO LIFT CROWD?
In all honesty I don’t really have one specific record. I play so much different music and so many different venues that I’d say it’s more of a certain succession of records played in a timely fashion that helps to lift a crowd up…but I suppose if I had to pick one…it’s always fun to drop Joubert Singers – “Stand on the word”. It’s a classic that always works well.
WHAT'S BEEN YOUR MOST NIGHTMARE MOMENT AS A DJ?
I’ve had it happen a number of times here, the whole emergency loop thing or suddenly the CDJ’s stop reading any of your files…. It’s a bloody nightmare when that happens! You automatically look like a muppet and there’s little you can do aside from resetting the cdj…I never had that sort of trouble before til I came here because before that I was pretty much only playing vinyl…so it’s been a nice learning curve trying to rapidly fix problems like that on the fly. Fun times indeed.
WE UNDERSTAND YOU HAVE A MEDICAL BACKGROUND, WHAT MADE YOU CHOOSE DJ'ING AS A CAREER AND WILL YOU EVER GO BACK TO IT?
Well, it wasn’t an easy decision by any means. The fear of a lack of reliable income and proper career path sort of made me evade it for many, many years, until a certain set of circumstances caused everything to come to a head and I figured I should just give it a shot because if I didn’t do it now I’d have a much less chance to do so the later it got in my life.
So I was like, screw it. Lets give it a whirl. Hahaha It’s not easy to start from almost scratch again and it’s daunting as hell let me tell you. It’s not a walk in the park just dropping everything you’ve built up but I’m glad I did it now for sure. I’m happier and healthier for it. I had to get off the hampster wheel.
As for whether I’ll go back to the Emergency Nursing stuff again, I’m fairly certain I won’t but I can’t say with any assuredness that I’ll never end up nursing again in some capacity or another. I will however, say that I will not go back to working in a hospital again to the best of my ability. I did that for enough years of my life. Perhaps consultancy or community based work but yeah I’ll do my best to stay away from Hospital based care.
WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE SECRET SPOT IN BALI WHEN YOU NEED TO RESET AND RECHARGE?
I don’t’ really have a special secret spot really. I generally just go check out new places when friends come to visit. But I suppose that if I take time away I usually go down the coast to Uluwatu and stay somewhere on the cliffs overlooking the water. I find that quite peaceful and relaxing or I go to Ubud and stay somewhere nice for the night. But in all honesty I don’t really take much time out and I suppose I should do so more. It’s very easy to get caught up in working as often as you can simply because there’s no certainty with this type of work. It’s not like a regular job like nursing was.
IF YOU HAD TO LISTEN TO 3 TRACKS ON REPEAT FOREVER AND A DAY WHAT WOULD THEY BE?
Hmm tough question….there’s so many I’d want to..hahaha
Idris Muhammad- Could Heaven ever be like this
Arthur Russell – This is how we walk on the moon
J.J. Cale – Right Down Here
WHO WOULD BE YOUR 3 ULTIMATE DINNER GUESTS DEAD OR ALIVE?
Larry Levan, David Mancuso, Arthur Russell
IF YOU COULD CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT BALI WHAT WOULD IT BE?
I’d like to change the waste epidemic. It’s so brutal here and it’s not only the plastic it’s the waste in general. The lack of recycling facilities here as well as on the nearby islands- the Gili’s, Lembongan Island etc…it’s so sad to see. Things are already being done to help reduce the waste but it’s such a massive problem and more needs to be done quickly or the tourism will fade as a result quite rapidly. Not to mention the impact it’s having on the environment and future generations.