It is summer, it´s hot….and we almost envy Thomas Libal alias DJ Spag, who fulfils his dream and favours Ibiza with his music. Thomas has had all sorts of jobs already and has done many different things in his life, but he always returned to the music. True to his motto: “those who rock live longer!”

You started with your music just as a hobby, how seriously has this become to you now?
Well, MUSIC is just everything to me, it is a lot more than just a hobby. Music is my life… especially Afro, Funk, Soul, House and Techno.

How much time and effort do you put in it?
For sure about 8-10 hours a day, sometimes even more, it really depends what I am doing at the mment. At the moment it is more, with my Nightrider booking agency and my Nightrider record label, that I have geared up for the start I am really busy. In addition to that there is my Nightrider radio show on Play-FM that I have only been doing for the past 3 months and that has achieved quite a number of listeners. Furthermore I am producing together with Marcello Armetta, in who I have found a congenial partner. So there is not a lot of space and time for family and hobbies but at the moment for me there is nothing better on earth and time is not an issue.

In your opinion, what makes a good DJ?
A good DJ has to be able to deal well with all conditions in a club and has to be able to find his way even if there is a bad sound system for example, or no monitor speakers and despite all the difficulties is able to „bring the party to the boil“.He has to know which track works in the club and which doesn´t and he shouldn´t just orientate himself by the DJ charts of other DJ´s, but has to develop his own style. I don´t care if it is old or new tracks, for me there is only good and bad tracks and if a DJ works with vinyl or Cd´s I don´t mind either. I have been working with Traktor Scratch Pro with Timecode-Platten from Native Instruments for years now even though I have over 4000 vinyls at home. But with Traktor you can do things that you can´t do with vinyls, Loops etc for example and also the whole dragging around doesn´t have to be done, so especially for longer travels, such as going overseas I can recommend that. Nowadays it is quite rare to find someone who works with vinyls, all the famous DJ´s and acts such as Richie Hawtin, Dubfire, Marco Carola, Sven Väth etc are playing digital in the meantime even though they also could use vinyls.

Could you imagine to do something different?
I have done many different things in my life and worked in different kind of jobs, but I have always come back to music. It is not easy to live from it in Austria, however that hasn´t put me off, but has encouraged me. I have many good contacts within the music business, national and international and therefore there is no other way for me than to continue what I am doing now. I have tried everything else and now I will be doing music for the rest of my life, that is certain So due to this a a point-blank NO-NO WAY!

Who or what inspires you the most?
What inspires me most is when someone devotes himself completely to the sound of the DJ up to the point of exctasy and forgets his surrounding completely and dances as if there is no tomorrow.

Your personal life motto?
“Those who rock live longer!”

What comes into your mind when hearing the following terms?
Goals: To spread and make NIGHTRIDERMUSIC INC.famous all over the world
Dreams: To DJ in a cool club in Ibiza or to have my own club in Ibiza or Brazil
Fear: What´s that?
Ibiza: Party People, Party Island and DJ capital in summer, the place to be
Love: Music and my LUCIE, the best thing that ever happened to me, and I mean that literally!
Success: You have to earn it first and then enjoy it while it lasts, because it won´t last forever

At last: What project do you have coming up at the moment?

At the moment I have my own record label Nightrider coming up. For more infos please click here. My events will last during all August, always on Monday´s, beginning on the 2^nd of August until the 30^th of August with my international line up. For all the dates please look here. Furthermore I have several DJ´s and acts exclusively under contract, such as K.O.M.A ( Kudra Owens + Marcello Armetta – US-A) that have a brand new release called „The Way u b treat´n“, that is being remixed by different acts and will be released on vinyl and digital in Italy in July. More to be continued.

Many thanks for your time!

Music and more you can find also on:
www.play.fm/artist/spag
soundcloud.com/spag
www.facebook.com/NIGHTRIDERMUSIC.INC

Interview by Ünal Karahan