Rick Bull, aka Deepchild, is one of the most sincere and passionate figures in the Australian music scene, as well as being arguably our most recognisable dance export. Having recently returned from a six-month stint abroad that has seen him play alongside many of dance music’s biggest names and at some of the world’s largest festivals – for example, the likes of Richie Hawtin and Green Velvet at the Exit Festival in Serbia – Rick is home for the summer and as willing as ever to push and support quality electronic soundscapes that might not necessarily conform with standard templates.

“It’s more of a paradigm shift,” Rick answers in response to my opening gambit regarding any lingering effects of ‘traveller’s come-down’. “I have had some great gigs at The Box and for Deep As Funk and that’s really special for me, playing to the tight-knit underground community. But in general clubland here snaps you pretty hard, audiences are different, generally a lot younger and usually with shorter attention spans. It can be hard work at first unless you’ve steeled yourself for it,” he admits. “There’s a mission here, and I suppose that is to try to point to and support the people that are doing really exciting things. That’s been more important to me over the last few years, because it can be rough in Sydney.”

Attempting to stir the pot I offer some rather uncouth remarks regarding the general clubbing populace in Sydney, who actively display what I would describe - via euphemism - as ‘a fundamental lack of enterprise.’ Rick is diplomatic in his response. “I hate to say ‘back in the day’, but for the point of this discussion, when I started going out and DJing the community that I was involved with really started listening to music outside of a club context,” he recalls. “The fascination was really about a new sound and the culture that it represented. It had these political overtones… it was everything that rock and roll wasn’t, and it was a place to belong… Now club culture has become a little more accessible but in some ways removed from its cultural context. As Australians we are listening to this music from Europe and you could say that maybe it’s understandable that people aren’t fascinated in the same way because they don’t have the investment in the history and the party scene, it’s a little bit out of context.” Before Rick continues indulge me a personal interjection. For while his productions and DJing are hugely respected by Sydney’s dance cognoscenti I strongly believe that it is his work in pushing the more esoteric global sounds through more ‘unsung’ mediums like his blog, forum posts and his shows on community radio that are equally significant to his status in the local and international dance communities. In his own words, these often overlooked contributions “are really important in fleshing out the picture… hopefully with a little bit more context about the music and the clubs people will want to listen to the European music a little more because it represents and engages with a deeper story.”

Rick’s latest offering, Departures, is a showcase of a producer who has honed his craft with some of dance music’s elite over the past decade. “This is my fifth album and the others have covered quite different territory, so I wanted to try and make this album a little bit more upfront,” he says of the release. “I think I’ve got a slightly deeper appreciation of what is at the core of effective dance music and now have a lot more room to move around the edges in terms of trying new things. That experience has only come through DJing a lot more where you see how people are responding. Hopefully I’m nailing down the fundamentals and that’s clearing space for a little more experimentation.”

While featuring some luscious electronic cuts Deepchild productions cannot be slotted among many other more traditional ‘dance’ releases - particularly by Sydney standards. I suggest that aspects of local mainstream club culture are creating an unhealthy appetite for rather shallow peak-time floorfillers and perpetuating a desolate musical palette that people like Rick must attempt to counterbalance. The [clumsy] analogy I implement is that of a tennis player’s obsession with hitting the ball as hard as they can, as opposed to focusing on all the nuances of the match. Rick’s counter analogy is far superior – and salacious. “A good friend of mine said, ‘you’ve got to treat your music like you’d like to treat your woman,’ and as corny as it sounds it’s something I like to keep in mind,” he asserts. “If someone was going to take me out on a date, I wouldn’t like them to put Rohypnol in my beer or something!” he laughs. “What’s always impressed me with DJs and producers is the art of seduction… [with production] you’re saying to somebody, ‘come over here, sit at my candlelit dinner’, you’re not saying, ‘hey baby, let’s fuck!’.” As engaging as ever, even by Rick’s standards there’s no topping that…