My first question is in regards to your “Balance” compilation. I must say this is one of my favorite records released ever. But do you also meet different reactions to this piece? Any disappointments?
This is not like I’ve made a CD completely different to what I’ve been doing. This music has been infiltrating into my sets more and more over the last year. Slowly but truly I was getting less and less away from progressive. It wasn’t even a conscious decision for me, so I’m not saying “I don’t want to play progressive house anymore”. I still listen to every record and if they have something interesting to offer then I’m going to play it. I am just looking for something different from what that I’ve already done. You know those label groups in England, where all the records are the same every month. One label released a tribal house record, and next month it was slightly different tribal house with a different vocal sample.
I also stopped my music going out, so I didn’t allow anyone to record my live sets, because I wanted people to be more surprised by the album. So in some places it was harder to people to understand my music, especially when they were very strict on progressive. Yes, some of them were really disappointed saying, “How can he be now playing this music?!”
I’ve also met those kinds of reactions to the album, but I was always saying “please sit down and listen to it 5-6 times more, and you’ll love it”. I think it’s because progressive is easier to swallow, due to all the melodies within...
But progressive house has never been composed of melodies. There was a movement that melody started to come back in and unfortunately every mediocre producer learned how to do a track with their soft synths to make a melody. And everybody started copying James Holden, like for example Luke Chable. Then all others started to copy Sasha’s melodies from “Airdrawndagger”. And in effect we have hordes and hordes of fucking the same music! You go out and hear people talk about progressive music and it’s like “Oh, I love this particular artist” and “I listen to this guy’s records and they all sound the same”. So I’m just continuing to try to look for new music. It’s at least funny when people are genuinely angry on you for not doing the same thing.
So to get new music you had to change the sources. Was it easy?
On the album there are some tracks older tracks. Global Communications comes from 1996 and that’s the records I had in my collection. When I’m hearing music I think “ok, this is good for a CD, or for a radio show, or for a live set”, and I build a stack like that. So when I started working on “Balance” I sat down and went through my collection from day one till then, looking for records that might sound fresh then or things that I could re-edit. I listened to every single record again. That’s how I found Carl Craig’s production, which is from 2002, and many different even from 2000. So I didn’t go to a store saying, “Give me everything you have that it’s not progressive”. So I do a lot of homework, I spend a lot of time and effort looking for music. I take it extremely seriously.
Let’s get back to your previous compilation “Audiotour”. I heard you playing nearly techno in Budapest last Spring and then you released the compilation which was again progressive house and trance. Why?
I don’t know... It’s got some trancey stuff at the end but it’s because it’s a label compilation. In the middle there was very techy kind of stuff. Basically the idea was to make a promotional mix that people would be sharing. Then they’d go to the shops saying “- Oh, I love this record! What’s this record? - Of course it’s Fade Records, we want to sell it.” So that was the concept. But then this label ZYX comes to me and says “We want to do a label deal with you”, so what should I say – perfect timing! So, what ended up happening was a compilation of Fade records that maybe missed the market first and didn’t really sell like I thought they would.
On Bedrock’s “Layered Sounds”, there’s no name on the cover so hardly anyone knows who’s the DJ behind. You have decided to put yours.
Because it’s not even mixed by really a DJ. Even John sequences the ambient version and the different things but he doesn’t sit in studio, it’s someone else. They have an engineer who helps them doing also other albums. So it’s not a proper DJ set, it’s just mixing to make a smooth progression from track to track.
I also didn’t want to put my name on “Audiotour”, I wanted this to be titled “Fade Records presents Audiotour”. It’s the record distribution company who needed to have my name on it. One more thing is I didn’t want to create a reflective album because I thought it could be boring. So there were some not yet released tracks included. For example D-Shake – I cleared the track because of this record. This was the number I was playing out with my own edit of it. And it fit the mix so I needed to license it and clear the samples.
“Layered Sounds 2” is boring indeed. Let’s get back to “Balance” and its third CD. This pretty much sounds like new electro, which is now being so chic all over the world. Also EQ label has now started a new “Electric” series with Gavin Keitel doing the first compilation. Do you think it’s a follow up of what you’ve done on “Balance”?
No, I don’t think so. I haven’t heard Gavin’s album but it’s more about electro, house, old-school, Miami bass, Three O Three... When I started doing this record I never intended to make three CDs. A lot of music that is on the third disc I was trying to incorporate into two discs format. I struggled whether I was happy or not with the outcome of it. So what I ended of doing this – because I was still leaving records out, there was stuff I whished I could put on – I returned to the label and asked “What if I’d do three discs?” They didn’t really say no at first. They asked me why, so I said because I was leaving records out and da, da, da. So they never really said no and we never really discussed it again. I said “I’ll give you three and you’ll make a decision on that”. Coming back to the question, I don’t think they followed me, they just saw an opportunity to do something more in electro which is very popular especially in Australia. This is music is growing all over the world.
But also house music is growing. You know who’s doing the next “Balance” compilation? It’s Desyn Masiello. We’ll have a house compilation then.
We’ll have a Desyn Masiello’s record whatever he’s into. I’m sure when I was doing “Balance” everybody thought it would be progressive house. And people still probably call it progressive house.
You’re saying he’s going to surprise us too?
What I’m saying it’s little presumptuous to go and say it’s going to be this, it’s going to be that, he’s this, he’s that. DJs who care about what they’re really trying to do are artistic in a wrong way. I mean they are not really trying to grow. Desyn Masiello started off just like lots of other DJs. I’m sure when he first started DJing out and getting some gigs it was progressive house and now you’re calling him a house DJ. My separations of music are good or bad and what I’m playing is just underground house in all forms of it. I always ask people just to sit in front of speakers and relax instead of figuring out what exactly is going on. Just relax, enjoy the music and let yourself get lost in it again.
But there’s a movement into different genres these days. Lots of DJs are escaping from progressive into house, electro and whatever. Did you hear the latest Kiss100 mix from Steve Porter? It’s a beach house set! Where’s old good Porter?
Steve obviously is growing up. When he was 18-19 years old he was making energetic rave styled records, because that’s what he was DJing, that was his world. But he’s always been into all kinds of music and he expands his horizons about what he likes. Thing is Steve has been playing a lot of house and funky house over the last 4-5 years but everything that he has done is still called the progressive house thing. Even “Homegrown” people call a progressive house record, but I don’t think it is. I don’t think Steve plays progressive house! I think he’s just a good DJ.
It’s all relative. I get stuff all the time from German labels that is chic here. Germany is a hot source for music...
But it’s also a very hermetic market. I live in Frankfurt where one can hardly find a party different from minimal, techno or electro. I think they don’t know about progressive at all.
Yes, but if I play a record from a German artists that no one knows who the producer is, then everybody call it progressive house. When I say it’s from Germany they say “well, it’s German house”.
Was it difficult to get gigs in Germany? It’s quite a big country but you’re not a frequent guest here, I suppose.
I used to come and play here back in ‘96 and ‘97. The guy who was doing those parties used to work for Intergroove. There was one place playing progressive music, and not techno kind of thing. What’s interesting, the club was really packed and the people were really into the music, but there was no one else in the country and the guy couldn’t go anywhere else. Yes, it has been tough. But the great thing about Germany is they have its own world musically and nothing is going to shake what they are doing. And they actually don’t need the rest of Europe or England or America – they don’t give a shit about that. They care of what’s going on in Germany and that’s great. In America they think the grass is green on the other side of the world. “Oh, he’s from England, so I rank him higher than I rank you”. Every American wants to say “cheers” and “mate” now - it’s the most annoying thing I’ve ever heard when Americans try to be British.
You’ve been traveling a lot. How does it look when you travel to Europe. Do you come back on Monday to the States after each gig in Europe and then fly back to Europe next Friday?
Yes, I have been doing that. Actually I come back on Sundays. I prefer it, because if I stayed I would get into troubles somewhere, like partying or whatever. Otherwise I’d be in a hotel spending all my money and loosing time. I use to run the Balance Record Pool, I manage Steve Porter and I have my own life and career. And I’m married, I own a label – that’s a lot of work. So if I’m not at home to do this... I’ve run the label over myself, I do everything with manufacturing records myself. We don’t send a CD-R to a distribution company and then all the records appear on my doorstep. I have to deal with everything. With Steve Porter’s career I was dealing with every tiny detail that he was working on. The Record Pool – obviously I had some help on that but I’m still consulting and talking about things every single day. And my wife...
How does it work with your wife? She probably works on weekdays and you play over weekends, so when do you meet each other?
We make the best of it. She is with me in Germany this weekend. She does go with me if I’m going to stay for two days in one city. Good if there’s a beach or something. But she won’t go during winter to Moscow in Russia for example.
How about holidays? Have you had decent vacations?
Well, we have Miami. So every year I get more and more of Miami trying to do fewer gigs just to relax and stay with my wife. I give myself some breaks. In the beginning of the year I took my first two months off. But usually I work too much.
You have been traveling to Asia too. How does an American feel in Asia?
Oh, it’s always culture shock everywhere I go. But I feel fine. Luckily in some places you have westerners there, like people you’re working with, maybe doing parties. You know what cities are offering to you and you try to incorporate that into what you do. The most culture shock I’ve really been in is in China – this place is really strange. It’s a different thing, the way they live their lives, what’s important for them and so on. I’m used to a lot of things that for other ones could be crazy or unexpected.
Let’s get back to the business. How does the Balance Record Pool work?
We have selected 40 DJs across North America that play at least twice a week. So we send the records to these particular DJs to get feedback from them. It’s been obviously 9 years of hard work with labels we like and believe in. At first it was the idea to help us, because some DJs were getting records that other DJs were not. There was no one getting the same stuff, so we thought “if you can get this record, we can get this record too”, so lets get connected to push good music forward and make it more popular.
Would you try to do the same thing in Europe?
That wouldn’t work in Europe. Basically the concept of the pool is not something I came up with. It’s a common thing in America that all major labels are sending hundreds of records to a pool for hundreds of DJs. If they want Janette Jackson’s remix to be played in all bars and pubs they send it to a pool and it works. In Europe the labels are used to pay to get the service. In America underground dance records are never going to make it into the charts. But in England it can, because DJs can play something, which can get popular and then sells in HMV finally to reach number 14 in the charts, like Steve Lawler. He would never make it in the top 40 in America! It’s too political, too controlled. That’s one of the reasons I’ve never felt to be able to charge a fee for the service. I always like to stay in the middle. We have a subscription thing for the DJs, we can be more strict in picking DJs. The DJs are never in fear of getting kicked out of the pool because they told the label that a record was bad. And the labels always get honest, real feedback from DJs to understand the US market a little bit better.
How many CDs do you have in your case?
I play records.
But you probably receive lots of new unreleased material to your mailbox. How do you feel not to play them, obviously if they are good?
I do play them. I just prefer vinyl and as soon as it gets out on vinyl I play them. I like it that way. But if I get a really good track on a CD I’ll play it. I have a small CD case of 24 pages of 4 CDs on each page, so it’s probably like 50-60 CDs. But a lot of stuff I have on CDs are my own re-edits.
How old are you?
34
Have you ever though of yourself being not a DJ?
I’ve never thought about it. My career has developed from doing student parties when I was at school to having four gigs in a week. So I’ve never thought of a real job, because I’ve been always able to pay my bills out of DJing. So it’s been growing and I want to do it more.
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