"The best thing you could be in Detroit is a DJ" - Interview with Mike Huckaby, Part I
- Series: Ruhr Music
Mike Huckaby is a DJ and producer from Detroit and is considered an extraordinary talent of the Detroit Electronic Music. Besides lots of quality releases and touring throughout the world, he is also committed to teaching music production in the local youth benefit project Youthville in Detroit, that helps keeping children off the street. He also took part in a workshop about his hometown as a part of the international Shrinking Cities Project in Düsseldorf, that dealt with the phenomenon of shrinking cities as a result of economical and structural changes.
Detroit is one of the biggest cities in the Untited States and is facing heavy structural changes since the downturn of the local Automobile Industry. The city is affected by unemployment and the lack of perspectives, but also by initiative and commitment of the locals.
I met the Detroit DJ while he was in Bochum for the Funkloch-Party and we spoke about the role of culture, the perspectives on his hometown and the comparison between Detroit and the Ruhr Area after the end of the coal mining industries.
Have you ever been to the Ruhr Area before?
Mike Huckaby: I have been to Düsseldorf, for the Shrinking Cities Exhibit. We were discussing that phenomenon, and it was indicated, that Essen and Düsseldorf are shrinking cities, quite similar to Detroit and what is going on there.
The comparison between Detroit and the Ruhr Area, with the big industries going down, is quite popular. People in both cities are facing big changes. How did you experience that change in your hometown Detroit?
I think this movement in Detroit is not so new. You feel the effects of it very slow, because it is something that started probably twenty years ago, and has been happening since then. Now there are no jobs and people are making it whichever way they can. It can be quite devastating actually, for a lot of people.
In Detroit, it has been fucked up for so long that you just don't even realize it anymore, you pay no attention to it. It reminds me of this story I heard, when I was in Serbia. The people there talked about the Nineties, when they were bombed, by the United States actually. The promoter was telling me about it, and I said: 'Man, you lived through this? How did you survive?' He, as well as everybody else that I spoke to, said: 'We didn't even notice it, we partied like it was the last day on Earth. We didn't even give a shit. It was a seventy day party.' I asked: 'How did you keep up for food?' He said: 'If somebody needed something, you gave it to them, everybody helped each other out.'
All the shit you hear on the news in America, and in all of these magazines – you pick up a magazine, and it is telling you how fucked up Detroit is – you don't even realize it anymore.
What do you think about the comparison between the Ruhr Area and Detroit?
Well, I'm told that these cities here are shrinking cities, but since I don't live here, I don't know how true that is. I'm only told that so, but I don't see it, I don't feel it.
You see a lot of similarities and also a lot of differences between German cities and Detroit. The first difference that i noticed right away is this dog over there. A dog is allowed in most German restaurants – that's completely unheard of in America. You can not bring a dog in a restaurant. Everyone would look up, stop what they're doing, and you would have to take the dog out of the restaurant immediately. So I am always amazed by the freedom in Europe and especially in Germany, when I see things like that dog in a restaurant.
There has been a discussion lately, about „Creative Economy“ and its ability to replace the old economy in the Ruhr Area or possibly in Detroit as well. Do you think, that culture can be a way to establish new infrastructure?
The thing you need to realize about a shrinking city and how it will effect you, is that you can not hope and wait for the government or the system to solve the problem, because it's not going to happen.
For example, one day I went to aTemporary Agency in Detroit. You go there, and they will find you a job for the day or two, and you get payed on the same day. So one day, I went back up there to try to find some work – and that place was closed down. Right then I said to myself, if the place that can find me a job has also closed down, then it's time to hold my own. I knew it right then. You can not rely on the system, you have to take things in your own hands.
People have to come up with creative solutions and new economies. So, in one way, the Detroit economy is completely ruined. On the other hand it's probably the best thing, because the best thing you could ever be in Detroit right now is a DJ. A Detroit DJ has better hand than somebody who works for a big automobile company. You have a lot more freedom, although you could never convince anyone from Corporate America to believe this.
How are people in Detroit dealing with the challenges?
Most people feel like: 'If things are going to be unstable for me, I'd rather have the system or the corporation take care of me.' People still want to invest in that false sense of security, they still want direction in their lifes. But that's a myth: These institutions have failed, and they are not even interested in providing stability for you anymore.
Do you consider yourself a pioneer, someone who adjusts to a new lifestyle or way of thinking?
I guess my lifestyle describes that for me. I can't say it enough, that a Detroit DJ has best hand right now, with so much travelling, and seeing so much of the world. I am travelling four months out of the year, I've been to so many countries on tour, I can't even tell you exactly whereI have been.
Just recently, I saw a documentary about Detroit, and it showed a whole new perspective. It seems like there are a lot of people who have this amazing creative energy. They find abandoned spaces, fill them with culture, they do urban farming and everything.
Yeah, that is going on right now. It is taking place, but really slowly. Not as much as this documentary might have you believe, there's not that much going on.
There were actually people saying that Detroit is the place to be in America right now, because there is so much empty space to be filled with ideas, unlike New York, where everything is already developed …
… It's gonna come back in a while. Right now, these places are really good places to invest money in, because somebody is gonna pick up on that, and when it starts all over again, it's going to be too late. So, there are good things and bad things, plusses and minusses to everything. For example, if it rains on a day you are throwing a party – for a promoter that is horrible, but for a farmer it is great. There is always a good side and a bad side to everything.
Do you actually see the positive things happening, when you walk through the city?
Yeah, sometimes, but it only takes place in certain areas. There are certain areas where this is supposed to take place, and it's always the places that the Media covers. So that's kind of bullshit actually. There are certain areas in Detroit called Greektown, Eastern Market, or the New Center Area, where these things are happening. But if it happened on the Westside of Detroit, nobody would even talk about it. The Media always focusses on certain areas, because these are the areas that the magazines will always write about, and not on this other side of Detroit, where someone else might have done something exactly like this.
Part two of the interview is here.
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Detroit is one of the biggest cities in the Untited States and is facing heavy structural changes since the downturn of the local Automobile Industry. The city is affected by unemployment and the lack of perspectives, but also by initiative and commitment of the locals.
I met the Detroit DJ while he was in Bochum for the Funkloch-Party and we spoke about the role of culture, the perspectives on his hometown and the comparison between Detroit and the Ruhr Area after the end of the coal mining industries.
Have you ever been to the Ruhr Area before?
Mike Huckaby: I have been to Düsseldorf, for the Shrinking Cities Exhibit. We were discussing that phenomenon, and it was indicated, that Essen and Düsseldorf are shrinking cities, quite similar to Detroit and what is going on there.
The comparison between Detroit and the Ruhr Area, with the big industries going down, is quite popular. People in both cities are facing big changes. How did you experience that change in your hometown Detroit?
I think this movement in Detroit is not so new. You feel the effects of it very slow, because it is something that started probably twenty years ago, and has been happening since then. Now there are no jobs and people are making it whichever way they can. It can be quite devastating actually, for a lot of people.
In Detroit, it has been fucked up for so long that you just don't even realize it anymore, you pay no attention to it. It reminds me of this story I heard, when I was in Serbia. The people there talked about the Nineties, when they were bombed, by the United States actually. The promoter was telling me about it, and I said: 'Man, you lived through this? How did you survive?' He, as well as everybody else that I spoke to, said: 'We didn't even notice it, we partied like it was the last day on Earth. We didn't even give a shit. It was a seventy day party.' I asked: 'How did you keep up for food?' He said: 'If somebody needed something, you gave it to them, everybody helped each other out.'
All the shit you hear on the news in America, and in all of these magazines – you pick up a magazine, and it is telling you how fucked up Detroit is – you don't even realize it anymore.
What do you think about the comparison between the Ruhr Area and Detroit?
Well, I'm told that these cities here are shrinking cities, but since I don't live here, I don't know how true that is. I'm only told that so, but I don't see it, I don't feel it.
You see a lot of similarities and also a lot of differences between German cities and Detroit. The first difference that i noticed right away is this dog over there. A dog is allowed in most German restaurants – that's completely unheard of in America. You can not bring a dog in a restaurant. Everyone would look up, stop what they're doing, and you would have to take the dog out of the restaurant immediately. So I am always amazed by the freedom in Europe and especially in Germany, when I see things like that dog in a restaurant.
There has been a discussion lately, about „Creative Economy“ and its ability to replace the old economy in the Ruhr Area or possibly in Detroit as well. Do you think, that culture can be a way to establish new infrastructure?
The thing you need to realize about a shrinking city and how it will effect you, is that you can not hope and wait for the government or the system to solve the problem, because it's not going to happen.
For example, one day I went to aTemporary Agency in Detroit. You go there, and they will find you a job for the day or two, and you get payed on the same day. So one day, I went back up there to try to find some work – and that place was closed down. Right then I said to myself, if the place that can find me a job has also closed down, then it's time to hold my own. I knew it right then. You can not rely on the system, you have to take things in your own hands.
People have to come up with creative solutions and new economies. So, in one way, the Detroit economy is completely ruined. On the other hand it's probably the best thing, because the best thing you could ever be in Detroit right now is a DJ. A Detroit DJ has better hand than somebody who works for a big automobile company. You have a lot more freedom, although you could never convince anyone from Corporate America to believe this.
How are people in Detroit dealing with the challenges?
Most people feel like: 'If things are going to be unstable for me, I'd rather have the system or the corporation take care of me.' People still want to invest in that false sense of security, they still want direction in their lifes. But that's a myth: These institutions have failed, and they are not even interested in providing stability for you anymore.
Do you consider yourself a pioneer, someone who adjusts to a new lifestyle or way of thinking?
I guess my lifestyle describes that for me. I can't say it enough, that a Detroit DJ has best hand right now, with so much travelling, and seeing so much of the world. I am travelling four months out of the year, I've been to so many countries on tour, I can't even tell you exactly whereI have been.
Just recently, I saw a documentary about Detroit, and it showed a whole new perspective. It seems like there are a lot of people who have this amazing creative energy. They find abandoned spaces, fill them with culture, they do urban farming and everything.
Yeah, that is going on right now. It is taking place, but really slowly. Not as much as this documentary might have you believe, there's not that much going on.
There were actually people saying that Detroit is the place to be in America right now, because there is so much empty space to be filled with ideas, unlike New York, where everything is already developed … … It's gonna come back in a while. Right now, these places are really good places to invest money in, because somebody is gonna pick up on that, and when it starts all over again, it's going to be too late. So, there are good things and bad things, plusses and minusses to everything. For example, if it rains on a day you are throwing a party – for a promoter that is horrible, but for a farmer it is great. There is always a good side and a bad side to everything.
Do you actually see the positive things happening, when you walk through the city?
Yeah, sometimes, but it only takes place in certain areas. There are certain areas where this is supposed to take place, and it's always the places that the Media covers. So that's kind of bullshit actually. There are certain areas in Detroit called Greektown, Eastern Market, or the New Center Area, where these things are happening. But if it happened on the Westside of Detroit, nobody would even talk about it. The Media always focusses on certain areas, because these are the areas that the magazines will always write about, and not on this other side of Detroit, where someone else might have done something exactly like this.
Teaserphoto: Marie Staggat
Part two of the interview is here.
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