Not too unlike the accidents that spawn any superhero, DJ, producer and self-proclaimed Steven Segal fanatic SPRUCE LEE was created as a result of a drinking mishap when Mr Lee walked into a spruce tree in the dark at a mate’s 21st a few years ago. Of course, at the time, and under the influence, the hilarity of spruce tree rhyming with Bruce Lee was too much, giving birth to the master we know now. “It was also better than my current DJ name at the time: Mi Goreng,” Spruce feels. Glad we sorted that out.
These days, when he’s not running into trees or powering through Steven Segal marathons, the Modular superman can be heard over the FBI airwaves in Sydney, on a radio program with the rest of the Ro Sham Bo crew. By night, he’s a dance music trendsetter, making it his ambition to educate and excite clubbers with Future Jack. “My taste is really eclectic,” Spruce reveals. “One day I’ll be listening to some weird record I found in a pawn shop, the next day it’s west coast g-funk and the next – deep house.”
Spruce Lee had humble beginnings as a violinist in school bands from the age of six. It didn’t take long for the Sydneysider to move from classical strings to new jack swing, taking his musical prowess to production. “Ever since I was in high school and got my first crappy computer I’ve been into production. I used to stay up late in my room in high school recording weird songs with any instruments I had at hand,” Spruce recalls, explaining where his eclectic taste and interest in production began. “DJing kind of came in when I was about 19, when Sleater Brockman and I decided we needed music at our house parties that wasn’t Radiohead or Jeff Buckley.”
Since then, Spruce Lee’s music has found him signed to dance music heavyweight label Modular. The past year, however, has been a less thrilling journey for Spruce, confining him to his “little box of a studio” to bust out those amazing remixes he’s become so loved for and to work on his debut club EP. “I’m really excited about it, it’s almost complete. So you guys in Canberra will be the first to hear some of it in a set!” Spruce says of what he’s been cooking up in his little box. “As far as remixes are concerned, I’ve just finished official remixes for Orgasmic, Bag Raiders and Act Yo Age and I’m working on a remix for Paper Route Gangsters from the States.”
Spruce Lee’s Canberra show will be rife with killer originals and shiny new remixes. No overplayed, old hat tracks here. “Requests always drive me up the wall. If you want to go see a DJ who does requests, go to an RSL and put two bucks in the jukebox”, Spruce warns. “I’m sure now, with saying this, people are going to do requests just to shit me.” We wouldn’t want to make a liar out of him now, would we?
Spruce Lee makes his triumphant return to Canberra at Trinity Bar on Friday August 14. Supports include Shunji, Staky, RyFy and Cheese. Free entry!
