Photo: Loren Wohl

This is the third in a series of 10 interviews with our favorite electronic music artists, celebrating the Arrival of Thump and made possible by the new Heineken Star Bottle. In this edition: JDH and Dave P. For more
Arrivals, check here. 

When I first moved to New York, I thought every party would be like The Misshapes—full of sexy, grim-looking people toe-tapping to French house. Very quickly, I realized it was more like a game of Avoid the Booby Traps. One wrong turn, and you’re smashed against a girl’s armpit as she fist pumps to this month’s biggest “banger.”

Thankfully, we’ve got good people like Josh Houtkin and Dave Pianka, better known as JDH and Dave P. The two boys have been throwing their FIXED parties in clubs all over the city for nine years—which is basically nine millennia in New York nightlife years. 

I think part of what’s helped FIXED ride the waves of this city’s fickleness is that Josh and Dave are extremely open to all kinds of music. To them, an underground Romanian DJ like Cosmin TRG is on the same level as an indie pop act like Tanlines. Josh and Dave’s democratic approach means that they don’t draw lines–and they definitely don’t send you home if you don’t look “right.” 

I’m a sucker for stories about New York’s clubbers fooling around back in the day. So I called up Josh one night and got him to reminisce about FIXED’s early days, and the inspiration behind his anything-goes approach to having a good time. 

THUMP: How did you and Dave first meet?
Josh Houtkin: I was friends with the Soulwax/2manydjs guys, and was driving them from city to city on one of their first US tours. And one of the gig was in Philly, with Dave.

When did you guys start doing your FIXED parties?
I was already throwing parties in New York, and I invited him to join me. We started doing parties together, which turned into FIXED—and it’s been nine years running. At first we were just alternating records, but then we decided to start playing sets together, and it just evolved from there.

When did your parties start taking off?
We started in the basement of the Tribeca Grand hotel in New York, and we were doing parties down there for a year or so. We booked Bloc Party to play during their first US tour. Within the next month, we had Vitalic, Mylo, and on our one-year anniversary we had The Rapture play there…it was pretty crazy.

Photo: Loren Wohl

Are there any specific parties that inspire your approach to nightlife?
We modeled our party after the Optimo party in Glasgow, and Erol Alkan used to do this party called Trash in London. We would go over there a lot, and really liked how you could hear a band play next to a DJ, and it was totally normal. So we thought, “How do we make this happen?”

Now that you’ve established yourself as key figures in the New York night scene, how have your feelings towards it changed?
New York has gotten more and more amazing. I mean, I love New York. I think it has such a strong scene with all different kinds of music. When we first started, we were creating something that didn’t necessarily exist. But kids have gotten more open. They’re more willing to go out and dance all night.

So you think people have broadened their tastes?
What’s cool about New York is that people are willing to go to different kinds of parties. I know in other cities it’s like, “I’m only going to go to parties in my scene.” But in New York you can do anything, and if you’re bored of it you can just do something else!

Has your DJing style changed over the years?When we were younger, I was more erratic with the way things work. Now, I’m more comfortable going with the way the set goes. We’re into building out vibes—we never just play the same songs. It’s all on the fly, and based on reading the crowd. That’s half the fun.

How does it feel to have arrived on the big festival scene? You guys just got back from Coachella, right?
It felt completely unexpected! Obviously we’re very excited about being able to do things like Coachella. It’s nice to be able to play a big event like that with so many other great artists.

Listen to JDH and Dave P’s Spring 2013 mix here.

@MichelleLHOOQ

The Arrival series is made possible by the new Heineken Star Bottle