British DJ Alex Sushon, AKA Bok Bok, is best-known for running electronic record label Night Slugs with partner L-Vis 1990. Sushon keeps busy hosting a radio show on RinseFM, producing other artists, and creating all of the graphic designs for the label.
Night Slugs is popular for its genre-crossing, undefined sounds, and how often it is imitated. The duo are hosting a party this week onboard the Holy Ship!!, featuring themselves, Kingdom, and GIRL UNIT, all in one room. Each is amazing on their own, but together, they create a magical vibe. We spoke with Sushon about basketball shorts, "gutter house," and free Night Slugs mixtapes to get you in the mood for sweating on the high seas.
New Times: Have you ever been on a cruise ship before?
Alex Sushon: Definitely. Never as an adult. I think once I went on a tour off one as a kid in my hometown of Odessa. I've definitely never DJ'd on a cruise ship.
Do you have swim trunks?
Nike basketball shorts are what I hope to be wearing on Holy Ship!!
You are the bossman at Night Slugs, correct? At least that's what the internet says.
Correct! Alongside my boy L-Vis 1990.
I remember your party fliers used to say "gutter house." Maybe they still do? I feel like gutter house would go well in a place like Miami, the home of booty bass.
[laughs] Yes! the posters for our parties don't list any genres these days, but at one point, we used to say we were playing "bass and gutter house." It was just a catch-all handy little phrase that referred to all the various styles of club/electronic music that came from working class or disadvantaged communities in various places, U.S. cities like Chicago, Baltimore, New Jersey, Detroit, Miami, and New Orleans, etc., and then places like South Africa and Angola. And of course, London.
You guys have a great mixtape series right now on your website, the most recent being other bossman L-Vis 1990s. How did that come about?
It came about this year. I wanted to start a series that would really connect the dots between the music we release through Night Slugs and the records we love to play as DJs.
With each installment, a new DJ gets to showcase their own tracks in the context of their own influences and passions. They get to really show you how their stuff is meant to be played and understood, and it's a taste of what it's like to hear a NS DJ in the club. So it's definitely a good warmup for coming to see us.
There's you, L-Vis 1990, Kingdom, and GIRL UNIT aboard Holy Ship this year. It's been a great year for all of you. Who are we missing from the label?
Most obviously Jam City is missing. He sadly couldn't make it this time. But he's an important part of the crew, and we will definitely be making up for his absence by playing loads of tracks from his Classical Curves LP. Also our newest and youngest crew member Helix would have been a good addition to the NS boat party, but maybe next time!
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