Hello : The Cooke

Grubs up! Going head to head with the Back2Back Battle winner and a thumping mix to boot.

Next up on the 1 More Mix menu we hit a hearty new course. A hardgroove feast across the house music’s strongest flavours. Our chef? Say bon appetite to The Cooke

New Zealand born and raised Dylan Cooke caters a crazy tale. The story beings with a trip to escape the trappings and frustrations of being a commercial club resident DJ. A moment to reflect, press reset and get away from it all on a backpacking trip around Europe. It’s now a game-changing opportunity for him to develop a whole new creative chapter as DJ.  

Winner of the Back2Back DJ Battle in November last year, The Cooke’s high energy, multi-genre performances scored him the most fans during the unique contest (which was founded by Faded Society) and has now led to a G Shock Radio residency, a festival booking with Riot Noise and many other cool things lined up for 2025. Having arrived in London with no plans whatsoever, he’s now in the city for the foreseeable. 

Currently working and living in a hostel, still loving the travelling life, he’s baked up this killer mix for us and no one can leave the table until every morsel is eaten. 

 

 

Yum. This is a sound that’s rooted in the same city Dylan finds himself in now but happening 25-30 years ago. Not long before he was born. Bulldozing 140 BPM four-to-the-floor funk, these type of groove smack like late 90s London hard dance and early hardcore at events like Trade and labels like Tidy Trax. Revitalised by a new generation and a fresh energy, the high energy club sound is The Cooke’s kitchen and he wastes no time throwing us around his spice cabinet. 

Tuck in!

You’re currently travelling over here….

Yeah I moved over just over six months ago from Wellington. No plans, I’m just making it up as I go along. I just know music and DJing is what I want to do with my life so I made sure I had my USBs and headphones and here I am. At first I took a bit of a break because I was resident DJ at a few clubs and my love for it all had gone a bit stale so I wanted a break from the music, do a bit of a summer in Europe travelling and this is the first place I stayed. I get along with people here. I needed a job and got one here straight away. 

Oh wow you’re living and working in the same spot!

Yeah it’s alright you know, I like it here. I do night reception. 

Getting busy with the tunes while working? 

Oh yeah for sure. The majority of the mix I’ve done was done sitting at reception at 4am. I’ll get on Ableton and fuck around and try to be as productive as I can. Actual work permitting! 

Haha. When I asked you for a mix I had no idea it was going to be put together in such a way. That sounds like it might have been a bit of a challenge? 

Nah not at all. I love putting mixes together. I take the art of a good set very seriously. I’ve watched countless hours of Tomorrowland live and Boiler Room live, seeing how the big guys do it – the wave, the fall, the flow. I love it. It was no chore at all and anything I can do to get though my 12 hour shift is good with me. 

You said the right word there… Art. What is the artform of DJing for you?

One of my favourite things about mixing is doing the unexpected. Working as a club resident, playing five hour sets, the majority of what I was playing was commercially leaning EDM so I’d see how far I could push that or surprise people – like play a big singalong set then flip it into a mash up of some sorts. Getting those type of ‘fuck off’ reactions keeps me going. Another thing that I really love about the art of DJing is opening up new musical experiences to people. So let’s say a friend says they don’t like a particular genre, I’ll make it my mission to find something they fuck with and get them dancing to that genre without realizing. I think a lot of that can be translated in the energy. I go ballistic when I play. It’s hard to put into words… 

I get it. To use your name as an analogy. A meal is tastier when you can see the cook is really enjoying the food. 

Haha yeah that works for me. If you’re not getting a buzz off your music then why the hell would you expect anyone else to buzz off it? I’ve seen some amazing high level DJs but they were so boring to watch. If you’re just standing there with your head down how can you expect people to dance? I know some people aren’t that outgoing but I think if you’re on such a big stage and people are looking up to you then you have an obligation to at least look like you’re enjoying it. 

You’re right, it comes more naturally to some more than others

Yeah and I don’t force myself to go ballistic when I’m playing. I move differently to different genres. Techno, D&B, dubstep are a lot more high energy so you’ll find me moving more but even 100 BPM moombahton, I would be moving. Because I love the music. 

Did you think that might have given you the edge on the Back2Back DJ Battle?

Yeah maybe a little. Looking back at the videos I was definitely one of the most energetic. I brought 12 homies who went nuts to my set, god bless their souls. But the job in that competition is to win over the other people. You’ve got eight DJs and they’ve all brought let’s say 10 friends. Each bout is two DJs so that leave six other DJs friends to entertain. They have no loyalty to either DJ so it’s my job to get them on my side. I tried to use that to my benefit and played to the crowd much more than I played to my friends. 

 

 

I hear your folks were present. Did they fly over just for this?

Ha! I’d love to say they did but no they were over this side of the world on holiday and made a trip of it. They used to live in London and I’d hit the final so they cut a trip in Norway short and visited. It was really nice, we went for lunch and stuff. It was a full circle moment for me. When I left New Zealand I was in a bit of a rut with the music. So for my parents to see me inspired was really nice.

Oh cool. So you’d become jaded with DJing?

Yeah I was. I hate to say that, too. I don’t want to do anything else in my life. I love DJing. I’d do a 9-5 to play what I want to play. But it has to be DJing on my terms

Rather than being a commercial resident

Yeah I’d been a resident in clubs for over three years. I got the job straight after high school so from 18 – 22 it was a dream job for a while. I learnt so much about DJing and had to overcome some pretty shitty situations. I had some horrible nights, people chanting at you saying things. It can be brutal. 

What?!?! So I guess this is the type of crowd who expect to be entertained rather than the type of crowd who go to see DJs because they love the music and culture…

Yeah it was mainly uni bars. You’ve got kids drinking and doing whatever for the first time. They’re not there for DJ at all, they’re there for the girls or the boys or the drinks or whatever. I want to be in a place where people want to come and see me play out of choice. Like ‘Oh Diplo’s paying at 9, let’s see him. Ah but The Cooke is playing at 9.15 so let’s check him afterwards.’

Yes! 

And to be honest I feel I could compete with that now. I don’t see DJs playing majorly technical sets. I could put down just as much as a technical set as any of those headliners. Anyone can mix the standard bangers, you know? 

Yes totally. There are two different styles of DJing… The commercial entertainer or the artistic performer, right?

Yeah absolutely. 

So you’ve found yourself while you’re here. How are you feeding that passion? 

It’s quite tough at the moment. It’s just been the stuff through the Back2Back competition. I gotta give a huge shout out to Cat and Seye and the whole crew there. They’re so nice and I’m so grateful for the opportunities they gave me. My life changed! But I’m not drowning in gigs yet. It’s a slow process and I want to do it right. The biggest thing for me was to network. It’s not what you know but who you know isn’t it? I’m thousands of miles away from home and I don’t know anyone here. So to win that competition, to do a G Shock radio residency, to have an interview like this – it’s all getting my name out there.

Yeah totally. You said it… It’s a slow process if you’re gonna do it right. Are you going to stay in the UK for a while? 

Well now I’ve won the competition I’ve got a bit of a schedule. I’m on a two year working visa which I can most likely extend so I’ll be chasing the music, putting myself where I need to be. I’m not overly stuck on England, I’ll go with the flow and I’ll definitely be here for the next six months for my G Shock Radio show and the Riot Noise festival booking. So we’ll see what happens. 

Sounds like a plan! Wrapping up, your mix feels very London influenced. Has your environment influenced you? 

I don’t know man. I’m an open format DJ, the mix I did for the Back2Back battle was 140 dub and I pay a lot of D&B as well. I’ve just been fucking with a lot of house and tech and hardgroove so I guess it’s more a case of showcasing what The Cooke sounds like rather than trying to please other people. But for sure my sound and taste has changed a lot in the last six months. Just being over here on this side of the world has influenced me. I come from a country that has just 5 million people so I’ve had a lot of exposure to so many other things now.  I’m just open to so much new music and culture and I would say that’s what you’re hearing in my mix. 

Yeah! So do you think you’ll carry on entering competitions? 

Fuck yeah! I am a very competitive person. I loved the lay out of the Back2Back Battle. When you’re doing a b2b it always gets a bit intense. It pushes you. Any competition – whether it’s football, dancing, marching band. Whatever. It pushes you more and really brings out your edge. So yeah if I  had the opportunity to do another competition, I definitely will. And I encourage anyone to do the same. I can’t recommend it enough. I met some great people, I’ve done things I never thought I’d do and got to play music in a way that I could never have imagined when I was a resident in a commercial club. So hell yeah, I’d enter them again and I would recommend others who can relate to this situation do it too!  

Relate to The Cooke

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