What do you think of the  Fantazia Twice as Nice album?
I like it, although to be honest I haven't listened to it much.  I like listening to lots of different things.

How did you make the move from Nottingham to London?
About 4 years ago, my wife moved down here to start working on Sky magazine, and I was spending 4-5 days a week in London, only coming back up to do The Leadmill on Wednesday, Fan Club in Leicester on Thursday, Hacienda on Friday another club on Saturday, so I decided to move here.  I like living in London, sometimes it gets me down -- generally the clubs down here aren't as good really as clubs North.   There are good one-offs and good parties, but your regular weekly clubs just aren't as good.

Which do you prefer - being a resident or a guest?
I like both, but I think in order to be a good guest you have to be a resident because you have to try things out, experiment, so that when you guest you have a good idea what's going to work.  One of the problems with a lot of good DJs, like Jeremy Healy, Danny Rampling, is that they don't have a residency, and I think that really reflects on the gig.  That's why you hear people say "Oh yeah, I heard so-and-so - he was crap, all he did was play big tunes" or "all he did was play crap tunes", whereas I can try things out, see whether they work, and then bear that in mind when I guest.

What do you think of the current "DJ Superstar" thing - where DJs are often more well-known  than the artists whose music they play?
Yeah, well, that's a case of magazines like DJ and Mixmag having to fill their pages so they blow up this whole kind of DJ superstar thing.  Some people play up to it like Jeremy Healy with his rather flamboyant dress sense.  I think it's pretty stupid really, cos all you're doing is playing other people's records.  You've got to try and give the crowd a good time.  Like if I feel knackered or I've got a bit of cold.  I've still got to go on, and people expect me to be good.

Do you still enjoy playing in clubs?
I really enjoy it, but only because this year I've really cut back on my gigs - like up until Christmas last year I was doing 3 - 4 gigs at the weekend, now I just do 2 maximum.  Summer of '89 I was doing, in a weekend, 7 or 8 gigs and I'd be like "Oh fucking hell, I'm knackered, and sick of the records".  So this year,  I've learnt to just say no.  It's difficult 'cos some of these promoters are really persuasive - they'll say "Look, I'll give you more than you want".  Now I just do Fridays as a guest and Saturday at the Hacienda.

Which other DJs do you admire?
I really rate Tom Wainwright, and not just because he warms up for me on Saturday, but because he's a really original DJ and a really nice guy.  I really like Marshall from Leeds, he's quite good, and two guys from Scotland called Ian and Trevor who do this Cool Lemon thing.

Do you ever get neighbours complaining about you playing your records too loud?
Yeah, there've been a couple of incidents.  I've been living in my flat for 2 years, and I was playing my records one afternoon when this guy knocked at my door.  He said "Do you want to turn your music down, I'm trying to sleep".  I said "Hang on a minute, it's 2 o'clock in the afternoon".   He said I'm a policeman on night shift".  I said "Look, I'll turn it down but when you get back next door I'll turn it up really loud, then you'll know what's loud" So I turned it up really loud, just for a few minutes, so that he could tell the difference.

Do you think music has become a bit static at the moment, there doesn't seem to be much original stuff around?
A lot of DJs don't play things that they like, they're not confident enough to stick their neck out and play unknown record, they play what everyone else is playing.  I think that some DJs are afraid that if they don't give the crowd what they want they won't get any more work.  That means that they play a bland, obvious, not very current set - that's say really, 'cos I think if you're playing in front of a big crowd you should use the opportunity to do something a bit different.  If you do it crap, it doesn't matter, people don't give a shit. Anyway it doesn't matter, what people say.  I never listen to what people say and I never read reviews.  I never look at charts and I never read letters about records.

What clubs do you go to?
I haven't been out to clubs much recently, except when I'm guesting - What always annoys me is the fact that DJs from other countries always refer to Britain as London,  but after a while Morales, Sanchez, Knuckles - those guys - they begin to realise London's a pretty small place, and  the best nights they had were in the North.  Like Roger Sanchez told me he played in London and he played in Leeds; in Leeds people said "Fucking hell, he was shit" - why didn't people in London say he was shit?  Because in London, he could fart and people would go "Oh man did you hear Roger Sanchez?  Best fart I've ever heard!".  Emma.

Graeme Parks Links to Fantazia

Graeme Park appeared on the Fantazia album:

Fantazia House Collection 1

As well as playing for Fantazia on there Australia Tour.   A copy of which can be bought here