Keep On. It is a phrase which could come to define Nick Curly. When he broke through in the mid 00's, it would have been easy to sit back, ride the wave of hype and enjoy the rewards of 'very quickly' reaching the top of his game.
As it tends to be the case in all these stories, success did not come overnight but, instead, was the result of his younger years spent cutting his teeth as a DJ in the clubs of Frankfurt and its satellite cities, developing his musical ear and then unleashing his own talents on the world. In the process, he became one of the most talked about new acts in House music, whether it was for his killer productions, captivating DJ sets or the fact that he ran not one, but two of the hottest underground labels – Cécille and 8 Bit.
The latter half of 2010 saw Nick take his career to a next level through two unconnected Ibicencan events, firstly with his DJ mix for Cocoon's iconic 'Party Animals' Ibiza summer compilation (alongside Marco Carola) and secondly when he was installed as resident DJ at Space Ibiza's new underground 'Kehakuma' party series. Sixteen summer dates in Ibiza included the Space opening and closing and a packed out debut appearance for Cécille on the terrace at Amnesia, with Cassy and Markus Fix.
Fittingly, 2011 began with the Nick Curly 'Keep On' Tour, which opened in Sydney on New Year's Day at the 8,000 strong Space Festival and, happily for him, culminated in his hometown of Mannheim on April 1st at the massive Time Warp Festival, which gave him the rare chance to play to his home crowd at one the biggest dates of the European calendar.
In between these two dates, Nick hit the road for his most ambitious tour to date – eight sold out dates in North America, six shows across South America and seven in Australasia, including his much anticipated debut at Womb in Tokyo. Naturally, he also fitted in a string of dates across Europe.
Despite such a demanding tour schedule, Nick has been making music on the move and, as you would expect from spending so much time overseas, he draws on a range of new influences with a fresh sounding EP on Cécille – 'Azylum', which takes him back to his own label for the first time since 2009. There is also a trio of exciting remixes, all completed – the first one arrives on the new Japanese label Arpa, before his reworking of the Silicone Soul classic 'Right On' appears on the compilation '20 Years of Soma' and the trinity is completed by his reinterpretation of 2000 and One's hit 'Tropical Melons' on Cocoon.