Music
I was always a clubber first before a DJ: Meet Amotik
Manaal Oomerbhoy profiles acclaimed British-Indian DJ Amotik for RedBull.com.
Amotik
© Paul Krause
Around 0700 hrs on a Sunday morning in May, relentless ravers in full-throttle leap around me on Berlin’s most revered dancefloor. The energy levels are peaking even by Berghain’s standards. A wide-eyed, dreadlocked Australian man who has been smiling to himself non-stop turns to me to inquire, “Do you know who the DJ is?” The man on the decks is Amotik, aka Anil Chawla, who is effortlessly deploying techno bombs in rapid-fire succession while frequently looking up to gauge the crowd’s reaction. There’s no stone-faced techno DJ stereotype here; he’s constantly smiling and clearly enjoying himself as much as my curious and ecstatic new friend.
In a quick chat before he takes over Berghain’s DJ booth, I find Chawla to be totally relaxed and unfailingly polite, a first impression that is reaffirmed when I call him up a few months after to engage in a more in-depth conversation. Perhaps that can be partly attributed to his English upbringing, as can his preference for understatement. In an attention-hungry industry of social media stunts and outrageous hyperbole, Anil Chawla seems to have slowly carved out his own winding path to success by keeping the focus on the music.
Amotik's journey started by listening to electro on the radio
© Paul Krause
Although born to Indian parents, Anil only visited India once before he moved here around the year 2010, living in Goa, Mumbai and finally Chennai. His journey through electronic music is similar to many other Brits of his generation. He was exposed to electronic music by radio personalities who bridged the gap between radio and club music, playing out bands such as The KLF and The Shamen. “As I was growing up in the early and mid-'90s, my brother, who used to drive me to school, would play a lot of jungle and rave tapes, so I was aware of all the ravey stuff." says Chawla, "I also remember when I heard Moby’s 'Go' - it was the first track that really struck a chord with me. Then I turned about 15 or 16, and I was just getting old enough, or I looked old enough, to go to clubs.” He recalls having an a-ha moment on a trip with friends to the infamous white isle of Ibiza aged 18. “That was my first exposure to these big clubs and feeling that energy in the air. After that holiday, I came back to the UK and moved to Southampton and realised that the music was everywhere in the UK, especially in the south of England and London. We didn’t need to travel to experience it.”
He started DJing soon after that and eventually honed his craft as a monthly resident at the now-shuttered legendary nightclub Turnmills. This was where he learned the elusive art of playing the right music for the right moment, as he was called on to play both opening and closing slots on either end of the night's headliners. “Having a residency in the club was so important because it really taught me the value of having a broader selection of music and being able to play at different times of the night," says Chawla. "I always enjoyed opening as well, as you get a chance to wander off into the deeper end of music.”
Opening sets allow Amotik to wander off into the deeper end of music
© Paul Krause
This particular ability was on display the last time I caught Chawla in India, at a festival after-party in Goa that outshone most of the festival itself. He chose the perfect moment to drop an edit of Larry Heard’s classic ‘The Sun Can’t Compare’ as the sun slowly rose over the coconut palm trees, prisms of light glinting off the Arabian Sea in the background. That moment marked a noticeable switch from the dark techno vibe of the first part of his set into a warmer sound much better suited for the dawning of a new day. The place erupted into cheers, with the characteristically loud appreciation that is on display when Indian dancefloors are at their best. The ear-to-ear smiles didn’t fade away with the tune.
For Anil Chawla, India was a stop-over of a few years, during which time he regularly played all over the country. He then eventually settled in the mecca of electronic music, moving to Berlin with his wife Tina in 2014. Five years later, the 39-year-old DJ with two decades of experience under his belt is, without much self-generated fanfare, a regular draw at some of the techno world's most venerated clubs including Georgia’s Khidi, Berlin's Berghain, as well as playing around the world from Europe to South America.
Unlike a lot of regularly-touring DJs and producers, he retains a strong love for being on the dancefloor. “It’s still very important to me to be on the dancefloor because it’s where I get all my influence from," he admits. "Before I was in Berlin, I was writing music that was somewhere in between house and techno, I guess techno as well, but I wasn’t a 100% confident in what I was writing and I think what was missing was that real inspiration from going to clubs and hearing DJs that I admire. Moving back to Europe from India, it was very refreshing for me to get that again. I was always a clubber first before a DJ - where I feel comfortable is on the dancefloor. It’s not necessarily about being on the other side of the record decks. That’s what I’ve known from the late '90s - when I started going out to clubs - and I don’t see that going away anytime soon. Perhaps now I don’t get as much time to do it as I like, but if there’s a free weekend in Berlin, I’m getting the itch to go out again." Chawla counts Developer, Electric Indigo and Vincent Neumann as fellow DJs whose sets he has recently enjoyed from the dancefloor.
Amotik released his first full-length album Vistār in September
© Paul Krause
2019 has seen Anil release his first full-length album, Vistār, in September via his eponymous imprint. The ten-track longplayer follows just as many EP releases. Hailed as “fabulously focused and autonomous big room techno vision” by Berlin’s famously laconic Hard Wax, the album is a coherent statement from a self-assured producer who has found his footing. Recent months have also seen him play out a new live set, partly drawn from the new album. Chawla has been vocal in the past about how releasing on big, international labels isn’t necessarily the right path for everyone, and he’s effectively proved this point with the consistently upward trajectory of his own career.
Later that evening at Berghain, I chat with a German woman who usually comes to dance on Sunday afternoons, as many of the club's regulars do. “I came early today to catch Amotik,” she confesses. Chawla’s clearly built up a loyal following in his adopted hometown of Berlin, no mean feat given the abundance of clubs, artists and parties in that city. At the end of my video chat with him, I am left with the feeling that Anil Chawla's inspirational journey as an artist is an affirmation of the importance of following your intuition and constructing your own path instead of desperately seeking validation from external sources.
Amotik's journey is a testament to constructing one's own path
© Paul Krause
