When Maxi Jazz declared, “God is a DJ”, he clearly didn't mean it literally. But when Argentine tech house colossus Hernán Cattaneo teamed up with Danny Howells to play inside Liverpool Cathedral for Freeze/Dig Deeper last April, the sight of his abundant head of hair behind the altar (from a distance at least) must have convinced a few out-of-sorts ravers that, actually, Jesus is a DJ. Needless to say, rarely will we get so close to a religious experience on a dancefloor.
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Hernán tells DJmag. “At first, it was a little bit strange, because people didn't know how to reach. They didn't want to go crazy. But after a couple of hours, people began to relax and really got into it.”
As well as bringing a baptism of electronic fire to one of Britain's most prestigious buildings, Hernan also brought his celestial beats to Creamfields, Global Gathering and SW4, as well as his bi-monthly residency at The Gallery, Ministry Of Sound, where he takes delight in playing to “a good mixture of Londoners and young students from all over the world”.
His recent tour of Japan - which stopped at Kobe, Fukuoka, Tokyo, Sendai and Nagoya throughout September - only served to confirm something he pretty much already knew; that Japan is his favourite place to play because “…people are very respectful, they will allow you to play what you want”.
These days, this consists of house, techno and deep house, always with generous lashings of decorative, flowery melody.
“If a track has a nice bassline or a groovy bassline and some melody, and I like it, it doesn't matter what style it is,” he concludes. ADAM SAVILLE