Nightlife

Producer/DJ Quivver experiments with guitars, but it’s all house for his Vegas return

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Makin’ some scratch: Quivver brings his underground sound to DCR July 28.
Deanna Rilling

The last time British DJ/producer Quivver played Las Vegas, “EDM” didn’t exist and the biggest nightclub draw was some celebrity hosting her birthday party. Thankfully, the underground exists for those looking to journey off the beaten path, and the artist born John Graham is finally returning to play Cymatic Sessions at Downtown Cocktail Room.

It’s been a long time since you last played Vegas. I can’t even remember the name of the place I played last time—I think it was Jet, actually. It was a long time ago, maybe eight years?

What do you think about the evolution of clubbing in Vegas? It’s pretty crazy. The majority of the places out there don’t cater to the kind of music that I play, which is why I haven’t been booked there in a while, but it certainly seems to have blown up over the past few years.

I’m really excited to come back to Vegas after all this time and hang out a little bit and hopefully play a good set to a decent crowd. It’s been so long since I’ve played Vegas and all I see is the super casino clubs. I’m just hoping there’s still a crowd there for the kind of music that I play.

You’ve been very busy lately. You worked on the soundtrack for the forthcoming American Ultra starring Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg, there’s a new Quivver EP about to drop on Bedrock Records and you’ve also recently released the Cold Sun LP as John Graham. [Cold Sun] is influenced by a lot of U.K. indie bands like Kasabian, Doves and Stone Roses and stuff like that, but it’s also got a lot of electronic influences from people like Nine Inch Nails or Depeche Mode or U.N.K.L.E., so it’s a combination of guitar indie rock and electronic beat.

Do you sing on Cold Sun? Every track! It’s 12 songs, and they’re all written and performed by me with a couple of friends playing guitars, including my friend Mike Hiratzka, who now lives in Vegas. I’m going to meet up with him when I’m in town. He played guitar on about seven tracks.

Will the Vegas gig be purely Quivver or will you work in any of the John Graham album? It’ll be strictly house music, tech house. The John Graham album is so different, it just wouldn’t fit into a house or techno kind of venue. It’d be the wrong sound for that kind of night.

Would you ever incorporate singing into a DJ set? No. (Laughs) I doubt it. It’s something that I’ve been asked to do a few times, and I’ve always said no. Recently I’ve started doing more vocals again in the Quivver tracks, so maybe it’s something I should consider.

Quivver With Nathan Clement. July 28, 10 p.m., $20. Downtown Cocktail Room, 702-880-3696.

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