Behind the decks with Toad

SoGlos.com goes behind the decks with DJ Nick Hughes, aka Toad, to find out what the psytrance resident at Toadstool has to say about a ‘Bathroom Incident’ and nuns with green faces.

Your birth certificate reads Nick Hughes, so where did your DJ name Toad, er, leap from?
It sort of came about from the name of the night that I help organise – Toadstool at Crackers Nightclub in Gloucester. It’s the first and last DJ name I’ve had since I began DJing around six years ago.

Where are you from?
I was born in Pontypridd in Wales, but have lived in Cheltenham for about 20 years now.

Apart from Toadstool, where else do play?
Well, I am resident at Toadstool, but have also played at nights across the south west – such as Twisted Magic, Tribe of Frog, Dark Tribe, Baraka, Twisted Toadstool and Impulse, as well as free parties. I will be playing in Lisbon at the end of May and at the psytrance Festival Offworld near Swindon in July.

Describe your style?
I started off playing euphoric and progressive trance, but after being introduced to psychedelic trance I got completely taken over with the energy this genre of music has – tunes to get people bouncing to! I like my sets to flow, to take you on a journey and leave you wanting more.

Laptop or decks?
Decks until I get my own music together then it will be a laptop too.

Vinyl, CDs or MP3s?
Like a lot of DJs, I started off with vinyl, but with psytrance its all on CD these days, so I ditched my record decks and got two Pioneer CD decks instead.

What’s the hottest tune that you can’t stop playing right now?
That will be Dickster v Zen Mechanic’s ‘Bathroom Incident’.

Your all time favourite track?
Again Dickster, but this time ‘Dizzy Drops’ – a track which means the most to me, as it was one of the first psytrance tunes I ever heard and it is still awesome.

A song guaranteed to get people on the dance floor?
‘Massive Activity’ by Astrix.

Something you would rather die than have to play?
Cricket!

Is being a DJ a great job to attract the opposite sex?
For some I definitely think so.

Weirdest request?
Someone once asked for ZZ Top. Weird at a trance night.

The most bizarre thing you’ve seen in a club?
A guy dressed as a nun, with a green face. Whatever floats your boat I suppose.

Career highlight?
Discovering psytrance for sure! It really opened up a whole new world to me musically. I would really like to get my own psytrance tunes out there now, which is what I’m in the middle of doing in my purpose built studio at home.

Career low point?
It was really hard to get gigs when I first started, so I nearly gave it all up. My advice for aspiring DJs as a result would be to keep practising and don’t get disillusioned. Play from the heart and not what you think others want you to play.

DJ heroes?
John 00 Fleming for getting me into psytrance originally and influencing my mixing style; Dick Trevor because he writes great tunes, is a nice guy and has helped me no end with the production side of things; the same goes for Anton from The Commercial Hippies.

Favourite club night in Gloucestershire?
Toadstool at Crackers, of course. We’re just about to celebrate four years of psychedelic success and it is such a fun night – everyone goes home with a smile on their face.

Catch Toad behind the decks for yourselves, each and every month at the psytrance night Toadstool, at Crackers Nightclub in Gloucester.