We Interviewed Hodor
Two of my great passions—dance music and Game of Thrones—were gloriously united this past Wednesday evening when the much buzzed-about Rave of Thrones tour hit ExchangeLA in Downtown Los Angeles.
For the uninitiated, Rave of Thrones stars DJ Kristian Nairn, who plays Hodor on the show and has been DJing for two decades. Clubland met Comic-Con for the set, with much of the crowd dressing as various GoT characters. There were Joffreys, Melisandres and Little Fingers, dragons, direwolves, Daeneryses, and at least four Jon Snows. The set even began with a staged sword fight. It was so fantastically dorky, and I’m not the only person in the audience who was squealing with delight as Nairn dug into some dark house while flanked by dancers who looked straight out of Petyr Baelish’s brothel.
Rave of Thrones hit much of Australia before bouncing to Los Angeles, the tour’s first US stop. We talked to Nairn about taking his show on the road.
How has Rave of Thrones been for you so far?
It’s been beyond anything I’ve ever hoped it would be. Obviously, I’ve been DJing for a very long time, and when you’re a resident DJ, you have a nice regular crowd. But with these gigs, the crowd is so amped, and it’s a real mix of people. There are house music fans, and there are also Game of Thrones fans, and to me that’s the way clubbing used to be—a real mix of different kinds of people. That’s what I like about it. Not everyone is into the same stuff.
The whole costume thing, I think, helps people break down their walls and barriers that they sort of hide behind; the costumes sort of help people get rid of their inhibitions. The dress-up part is definitely fun.
What are the most hardcore costumes you’ve seen?
People obviously do slutty versions of characters. You’ll see sort of stripped-down Cerseis and that sort of thing. I think the craziest thing I’ve seen was someone with a real fire-breathing dragon. She had a pyrotechnic dragon on her shoulder, and she was dressed as Daenerys and at various points was fire spinning and singeing people in the front row’s hair. It was impressive. We also had a White Walker with real glowing eyes.
And people must dress up as you.
Oh, yeah. I’ve seen drag Hodors and girls coming as Hodor, which I really liked. Usually the costume involves someone getting into a sack and spraying their hair gray and slinging a girl over their back. That’s how you dress as me.
It’s not a terribly hard costume.
It’s not, really; just go to your local Home Depot and get yourself a sack.
This must all be extraordinarily fun for you.
It’s a dream come true.
A wildling-type dancer at Rave of Thrones in Los Angeles
Why was this the right time to do the tour? I know Hodor isn’t appearing in season five; did you just have an open space in your schedule?
It’s funny, because we had already started to put this together before that happened. [With filming], I had more time than I thought. Instead of doing the odd date here and there, it came together as a tour. We sort of rolled with the punches, and it was a happy coincidence.
But actually, I’ve never stopped DJing. Even in the middle of Game of Thrones, I would work the night before I’d go on set, or after. It was pretty intense, actually.
What kind of music are you playing?
I like a lot of different music. I’m a mad heavy metal guitar player as well; that’s how I started my journey into music. But with DJing, it’s definitely house. I don’t like to stick to one genre, but there’s definitely an element to it that carries across. There’s a dark edge to it. Very solid drums and very throbbing, rhythmic bass is important to me. I’ve definitely come from a classicist DJ style.
I do like EDM. I’m not a huge lover of the term EDM; I’m not sure that there’s any house music DJ who does like the term. I do like some of it and maybe sort of head toward some of that a little bit in the set, but I definitely like my pianos and vocals. It’s all about the vibe. I like it to be very vibey.
What vibe are you trying to create?
There’s a remix group called the Freemasons; they remixed for Beyoncé and produced Kylie Minogue’s album. I did some work for them back in the day, and they described my sound as a “sinister camp villain.” There’s a really dark edge, but it’s theatrical in a way.
Rave of Thrones at ExchangeLA
Do you have quintessential jams that you work into every set?
Yeah, and “quintessential jams” is fun to say. There are some really amazing producers out there at the minute, like Grum from Scotland and Andre Sobota. He’s a really talented guy, and he, like me, covers house music. Some of it’s progressive, some of it’s quite funky. That’s really where I see myself as well. I’m a house music fan, not just of one genre. Eric Prydz, too. Those are the producers I favor more than any single track. Aside from that, Aqua’s “Barbie Girl.” [We both laugh.]
What do your castmates think of what you’re doing?
A lot of my castmates have been very supportive. A lot of them have come to my shows. We had a little group there for a while. Dan Portman, who plays Podrick, and Finn Jones, who plays Loras Tyrell, came to a few gigs over on the East Coast with me. I remember they were wearing wolf hats so people wouldn’t recognize them. When I had my residency in Belfast, a lot of the cast would come out to where I was playing. I’m really grateful for that, actually.
Kristian Nairn at Rave of Thrones in Los Angeles
Who would Hodor’s favorite DJ be, and why?
Hodor’s favorite DJ would probably be a guy named Kristian Nairn, which is me, obviously, because he likes nepotism and likes to support his own.
What genre of electronic music would be best suited for Winterfell, and why?
Winterfell isn’t really the most lively place; it’s kind of depressing. It’s been burnt to the ground and is basically a graveyard, so I’m going to go for darkwave or really moody ‘80s synth, like Depeche Mode. It’s a bit emo there at the moment.
What DJ should get a chance to remix the Game of Thrones theme song, and why?
I’ve thought about this before, and I’ve tried remixing it myself. It’s sort of in waltz time; translating it to four-to-the-floor is doable, but it’s such a beautiful piece of music. I have a version of it that I’m going to play tonight that’s just a bootleg that me and a guy called Jupiter Ace did. I just think the original is such a fantastic piece of music that it doesn’t need a remix. Definitely not dubstep. That’s just terrible.
What’s scarier, no one dancing during your set, or dragons?
Definitely, definitely, no one dancing during the set. That is terrifying. It’s probably one of the worst feelings in the world. I’d much rather take on all three dragons.
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Katie Bain is currently rewatching season four. She’s on Twitter.
