I’ve always connected Steve Porter with Chris Fortier who could be called the God father of his success. I met them both and during those first contacts I was surprised due to my previous assumptions. I don’t know why I imagined that Chris is big and well built while Steve is bantam weight. Well, it turned out to be exactly the opposite…

Sound Revolt: I heard I had to wait in line with the interview because of Pete Tong.
Steve Porter: Yeah, he just called me half an hour ago. We did an intro to my Essential Mix that will be airing in two hours. It’s my first EM and I was trying to sound as clear and punctuate as possible. I didn’t want to stammer and stuff.

Sound Revolt: Did you write it down before?
Steve Porter: points at a sheet of paper on a table

Sound Revolt: (laughs) How many tracks are there on the Essential Mix?
Steve Porter: 58.

Sound Revolt: Oh, that’s lame. You could have done better (laughs).
Steve Porter: Yeah, yeah. It’s really not a competition for me. I kind of take a page out of Richie Hawtin’s book or maybe a traditional techno book, and that’s using some tracks as tools and some tracks as full tracks. But I do really focus on getting right to business when I mix - that’s why I move so quickly. Usually when I mix, I prefer to go from bassline to bassline than from just mix in to mix in.

Sound Revolt: The funny thing is that for a quite a while I connected your tracks with the longest mix out parts ever.
Steve Porter: Yeah, yeah! That’s right! It’s probably why I am who I am now, because I listen back to my old music and it’s very like long drawn out. I just felt I could be making a point in a much more concise fashion.

Sound Revolt: Well, that’s a huge change really.
Steve Porter: Yeah it is. I wanted to speed up music rather than slow it down.

Sound Revolt: I think those tracks were really DJ oriented. Listening to them away from a PC was a pain in the ass. I always had to stand up and press “next”, because Steve Porter was finishing his track and there were still 3 minutes to go.
Steve Porter: Totally! You have it right on the button, man. That was my thing. Why not make a 4 minute mix out so I could mix mix mix mix? That was my motto.

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