Las Vegas Weekly

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This is Norman Doray. The 28-year-old French DJ/producer holds residencies at the world’s most influential nightclubs, and his original productions and remixes are signed to prominent labels, including Steve Angello’s Size Records and Axwell’s Axtone. He’s about to take over XS on October 20, so the Weekly grabbed Doray to ask about opening DJs, great clubs and what he thinks of the Swedish House Mafia split.

What makes a club great for a DJ?

Everything. It’s starting from the taking care, when you land and you have a nice car picking you up, when you have a nice room, when you have nice people talking to you, when you go to the club, and the DJ resident is really good, not just playing all the hits. When you have a nice sound, and you’re right at home and all that sh*t. All the small things make a perfect night.

How important is the opening DJ?

Really important, sometimes more than the guest, because they build up the night, they create the atmosphere. Then my job is just to do it, and it’s f*cking easy when the guy’s set up everything.

What’s the reputation, in France, of the U.S. dance music scene?

For us, there’s no American dance music. There’s one dance music everywhere in the world, which is working really well in U.S. But there’s no American dance music. You don’t really have big U.S. producers in house music, a Daft Punk, for instance ... For now in the U.S., there’s nothing apart. It’s working and everyone’s going there and the parties are crazy.

Any concerns over the genre’s growth here?

Everything became big really fast, which is good for all of us. I’m scared that it’s gonna be down as fast. Electronic music appeared in Europe in the beginning of the ’90s; until 2005 it used to be really big, so it stayed for a long, long time. Here I’m a bit scared that in one, two years people are gonna go to another style.

What are people in the DJ world saying about the Swedish House Mafia breakup?

I don’t know, everyone has their own thing. Some think that it’s better because they were, like, maybe too much, too fast. And some think it’s sad, because they were doing great. But I think they’re not split up. I think they’re still doing their sh*t.

Like a Jay-Z faux-retirement?

Yeah, I mean, they’re clever, and I like that. That’s why I love them, because they’re clever.