Nick Hayes, aka The Last DJ, is something of an internet phenomenon. Since retiring from the auto industry in 2023, the 67-year-old has embarked on a second career as a producer and DJ of tough, dancefloor-ready techno.
His posts across social media – where he creates and performs tracks using a simple hardware setup, mostly focused around Elektron’s Syntakt drum machine – have seen him amass a combined total of 360,000 followers.
We’re big fans of Hayes’s videos, particularly of the way he wrings as many ideas as possible out of a single hardware instrument. Following our recent interview, we asked Hayes to boot up his trusty Syntakt and break out his famous notepad, and talk us through how he creates his tracks. His biggest tip – never stop listening to new music.
“If you're going to create music, listen to as much music as you can,” Hayes tells us. “What you can do is you can listen to internet radio. I go to the gym, I go for walks. I put on internet radio. It's 24 hours a day. It's completely free. You don't always know who's actually playing the music, but it creates an input, and with that input, you get a great output.
"The real key behind inspiration, I believe, is just getting stuck in.”
“Before I actually start any music, I listen to quite a lot of techno music, just to give me some inspiration. But the real key behind inspiration, I believe, is just getting stuck in.”
Part of what makes The Last DJ’s videos so popular is Hayes’s obvious enthusiasm and how much he’s visibly enjoying himself. It’s this attitude, and a willingness to bend the rules of techno, are at the heart of his approach to making music.
“[For this track ] I've gone at 145bpm for techno,” he explains. “Now some people say that techno is 128bpm to 135bpm. But I go with what I like, and I'm not afraid of breaking the rules. The main thing is just to enjoy yourself.”
In the video above, Hayes shows us how he sketches out an idea using the Syntakt and how he develops a handful of patterns into a full arrangement.
Follow The Last DJ on Instagram or subscribe to his YouTube channel.
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