Creativity Quote by Eric San

Eric San draws a clean, almost defensive line: when he’s with a band or deep in personal projects, he wants the audience to hear a craft, not a gimmick. The repetition of “playing” isn’t accidental. It’s a quiet insistence that turntablism deserves the same verb as guitar or drums - not “scratching,” not “DJing,” but playing, full stop. That word choice is doing cultural work, pushing back against the long-running suspicion that sampling and decks are somehow less “real” than traditional instruments.

The phrase “strictly about music” signals a desire to be judged by musical standards rather than scene politics or novelty. It hints at a career spent toggling between worlds: the turntablist as technician and showman, and the musician as collaborator, composer, and listener. “Musical approach” functions like a passport stamp: he’s naming an ethos where the turntable isn’t a party tool or a hip-hop signifier but an instrument with its own vocabulary - rhythm, texture, restraint, dynamics.

There’s also subtext in what he doesn’t say. He doesn’t mention crowd reaction, branding, or spectacle, which are often expected of DJ-adjacent performance. Instead, he frames his identity around intention and method. In an era when electronic performance is constantly asked to justify its “liveness,” San’s statement is a claim of legitimacy: the point isn’t the gear, it’s the choices - and the choices are musical.