Man on the Mic
When Todd Wilkinson, the dance-music lifer better known as Liquid Todd, is asked about his all-time favorite spinners, he starts off by dropping boldface names along the lines of Carl Cox and DJ Harvey. But then, he pauses to philosophize.
“You know, a lot of people get stuck in this framework where they just like who they liked between the ages of 17 and 21,” he says. “That’s what they think of as their music, and they kind of stop paying attention to anything new. But in the business I am, we’re forced to keep an open mind—which is kind of cool, actually.”
The business he’s referring to is radio: The New York–based Wilkinson has been one of the country’s leading electronic-music gatekeepers as an on-air personality for over two decades. His long run began on terrestrial radio—notably, there was a pioneering eight-year run, beginning in 1996, as host of the Solid State show—and later on SiriusXM, where he’s currently the man on the mic for the BPM channel’s drive-time show, as well as for the new-music #betaBPM slot on Tuesday nights.
It’s a job that’s enabled Wilkinson to keep his finger on the EDM pulse for longer, far longer, than that acronym has existed—but that’s only half of his story. He’s also a club and festival DJ of note and serves as Paul Oakenfold’s opening spinner of choice. He’s an off-again, on-again producer, too: His early efforts include a late-‘90s collaboration with the now-infamous Dr. Luke under the Wide name (“I guess things have gotten kind of… wacky with him,” Wilkinson says), and he’s remixed Oakenfold, Groove Armada, Fatboy Slim and Freestylers, among others.
But lately, his recording-studio activities have shifted into high gear. Since last year, he’s been working with the Disco Killerz duo, with the fruits of that collaboration—last year’s “Satisfaction,” and the just-released “Stellar”—finding favor among fans of full-throttle, pop-tinged electronics. Insomniac recently had the pleasure of speaking with Wilkinson; in conversation, he’s as chatty, warm and good-humored as you’d expect from the veteran radio jock.
As somebody who’s been one of America’s leading dance-music tastemakers for over two decades, have your tastes ever let you down?
Once in a while, something new comes up, like dubstep… I remember thinking, ah, that’s never gonna last. [laughs] It’s just a fad. But dubstep is still around! So, there you go.
You didn’t predict how big it would get?
Anybody that says they can predict what’s gonna last, or what’s gonna be big, is full of shit. If someone could do that, they’d be running the whole business. It’s really hard to know what’s going to work; there are just too many variables, too many moving pieces.
Do you ever give advice to young producers who are struggling to navigate their way around those variables?
I always tell artists, “Don’t even try to write a hit song.” Whatever you think is going to be a hit now… well, by the time the track actually drops, it could easily be too late. Even though the time lag between production and getting a song out there can be pretty short nowadays, things just move so fast and people may have moved on. But if you make music that makes yourself happy, then you can never lose. Even if you don’t have a hit, at least you have something that you can be proud of, rather than something that you fabricated in order to please other people.
Does that kind of advice apply to your own career?
I try to make music that I really care about. And I try to play music on the radio that I really care about, too.
You’ve worked with Paul Oakenfold a lot over the years. How did that relationship come about?
There’s actually a funny story behind that. Remember the Area:One festival that Moby did [in 2001]? I played at that in a tent, and Paul Oakenfold was one of the headliners. I think he had just been named the world’s number-one DJ. I had played my set, and he’s pulling in on this tour bus—but apparently his tour manager had left his records back at the hotel in New York City, which was like two hours away. So, he’s asking all the other DJs if they would go up there for him till the records came, and everyone is telling him, “No fucking way!” But I said okay, and I go up there, and half the people are yelling “Get off the stage” while the other half are going “Don’t listen to them—you’re doing a great job!” It was the battle of the good ravers against the evil ravers.
The event actually hit the curfew before the records got there. But Paul was so appreciative; he knew that most people would have loved to see him fall on his face. So, I got to play with him some as a kind of payback, which was a great learning experience at the time. It’s just gone from there, and he’s a good friend. He was even the best man at my wedding.
As a DJ, you play in support of him a lot, and you support a lot of others as well. Are you happy in that role?
There’s that Dirty Harry quote: “A man’s gotta know his limitations.” I know what I’m good at. They trust me to do that, and it’s an amazing privilege to have that chance. I mean, I’ve had the chance to play in front of 25,000 people, and that’s so much fun. And I’m lucky that I’m doing as much as I do, without having put too many songs out.
But you seem to be getting more active on that front through your collaborations with Disco Killerz.
I’m really proud of the work we’ve done so far. That song “Satisfaction” that we did last year got something like 1.1 million plays on Spotify, and the new one is doing pretty good so far. And we have remixes on the way. There’s one from TyDi, Morgan Page is about to deliver one, and there’s one from Dzeko & Torres. Pretty good, right?
Right! Does this mark a new production-heavy phase for you?
I don’t know about that. I’m happy with the role I have, being able to break bands and being able to interview them. I love doing radio. Still, there’s always that urge to make music. And the Disco Killerz guys… They have a great studio, they have great ideas, they’re ambitious, and they’re really easy to work with. I’m not trying to be an EDM superstar or anything—if I can put some music out that I’m happy with, then that’s good enough.
But, really, I have a pretty full plate already. I’m a producer at Sirius XM, I have a lot of gigs, I have my afternoon drive show on BPM… but yeah, if I could drop a good song once in a while, that would be great. Full time, I don’t know—but I’m really happy with the way things are right now. I can tell you this: It’s really fun to drop your own song in a set—especially if people like it! [laughs]
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