Clubbing Magazine

DJ Nukem - Italian deep trance
DJ Nukem has already taken Switzerland by storm – now he looks set to take on the rest of the world. As well as being a resident at Club Q in Zurich, he's played at many of the coolest venues there are and has an impressive set of production and remix credentials to his name. Nukem – real name Alex Custode – is Italian but grew up in Switzerland and lived in Neuchātel for 20 years. After attending high school he began training as a software engineer. Always a keen hip hop fan, by 1993 he had started listening to house music and by 1995 he'd taught himself to mix. 1996 saw Nukem play out for the first time at the Lovezoo club in Neuchātel and one year later he was resident. “Before electronic music,” explains Nukem remembering the story, “I was listening to hip hop which I have always loved. One time my brother took me to a house party and I was amazed by the DJ and the music. The day after that I bought my first records and three years later I started to produce. I was playing at Lovezoo one time and this guy came up to me and said, ‘Hey man, I loved your set and I want to produce with you!' The guy was Chab and I decided to give it a try. Now I have my own studio but my musical influences still include hip hop, African music and house put together to create something original.”
Words soon got round about Nukem's skills on the decks and by 1998 he was playing throughout Switzerland including Bern and Thun where Lovezoo relocated to. In fact, his innovative style of tough house grooves combined with the progressive sound coming out of the UK at the time helped give Nukem's sound a distinct identity. Around this same period he also made his first forays into the studio producing two tracks, ‘Dance in the Love Club' and ‘Come Together', which appeared on a Lovezoo compilation album. In 2000 he produced ‘Shaiva' with Chab – aka Moogwai – which came out on Dutch label Cyber Records. The record was a great success and was included on Danny Howells ‘Nubreed' mix album for Global Underground. The success of ‘Shaiva' propelled Nukem into the spotlight and dates at nights like Yellow-Club at the Supermarket in Zurich with DJ Gogo as well as Oxa and Rohstofflager in Zurich soon followed. There was also a follow-up single on Cyber, ‘Dayna', which proved another big hit. 2001 saw Nukem make his international debut with a tour of the USA in association with Renaissance where he played at famous clubs like Buzz in Washington. He also made the trip over to the UK to play at John Digweed's Bedrock night as well as releasing his first solo track, ‘Instinct', for new label Imago. He teamed up with Chab once again to remix ‘The Darkside' by Hypertraxx for Positiva Records and there were solo Nukem remixes of tracks by Moricoco and Sumantri. Since then there's been no stopping Nukem. As well as two further singles with Chab, ‘Forward' and ‘Wanted', there's been a string of solo singles including ‘Deepest Level', ‘Music Play', ‘Crash' and ‘Secrets' on labels like Cyber, Bedrock and Musiq. Also in demand as a remixer, Nukem has reinterpreted artists like Jon Creamer & Stephan K on ‘I Wish You Were Here' and ‘Sayna' by DJ Gogo. Not surprisingly plenty of his tracks have been licensed to mix albums and compilations across the world with DJs like Deep Dish, Anthony Pappa, Danny Tenaglia, John Digweed and Sasha playing his music in their sets. Nukem's DJ career has also gone from strength to strength, of course, with trips to Italy, Denmark, Japan, Mexico, Italy, France, Germany, Hungary, Spain, Portugal, Sweden and Finland where he's played alongside the likes of Dave Seaman and Carl Cox. He's played at just about every club, rave and festival in Switzerland too as well as securing a residency alongside DJ Gogo at the famous Club Q in Zurich. So, how would you describe Nukem's style? Well, it contains elements of UK progressive house, deep trance and tribal beats all mixed together in a highly original and innovative style coupled with an underground edge. It's a style that's put him in demand as a DJ all over the world and there seems no stopping his rise in fame. 2003 has seen Nukem busier than ever both in terms of DJing and studio production. Collaborations are forthcoming with Steven S and Titto La Rocka as well as several new solo projects. There's also the matter of his own DJ Nukem mix album, ‘Seduction', while his remix of DJ Gogo's ‘Sayna' has been licensed by Carl Cox for one of his mix albums. With all this lot under his belt, there's one thing for certain – the sky's the limit for DJ Nukem!
Audio part You can listen to the interview with DJ Nukem here, Sorry about the background noise, it was made backstage before DJ Nukem performed in Copenhagen at the Level CPH venue on the 9th of May 2002. Length: 20.26 min, mono 32kbps Size: 4791Kb Format: MP3	Interview by: Christian Almind