It has always been true that fashion and music are interrelated. Especially in places like New York, London, Tokyo, Barcelona and Paris, where the social scene is made up of savvy party people who take care of the way they look and the way that they live their life. If you live in the latter city, Paris, then you will probably be familiar with Micheal Canitrot. He is the 26 year old, good looking scenester that promotes the ”So Happy In Paris” club nights as well as being the resident DJ at The Mezzanine De L’Alcazar, Paris”s most fashionable restaurant and club. He is also connected to some of the world’s biggest fashion labels. He is also the presenter of his own house show on Radio FG.
So Michael, how did music come into your life…
“My family were the most important influence, my father was a DJ – he played at lot of disco as they were known back then. He also worked on Radio Skyrock – a very famous station in France and I went to work with him every weekend, this was around 83-84 when DJ’s weren’t very famous.”
So Radio FG – good times?
“I”ve been a resident for five years with a weekly one hour show. I try to introduce new music, a more eclectic mix than when I”m in a club, I play soulful house, also disco, funk, jazz and classic house. I got into it in the first place by listening to Dmitri from Paris and DJ Gregory on the station. It was a pleasure and an honour to work on the same radio station as those guys. Dimitri was a big inspiration, I”m still in contact with him and we still talk about records all the time. I worked with him two weeks ago on my new track ‘Desire’, it”s always good to have feedback from Dimitri on production.”
Which other French DJs do you knock around with?
“I”m friends and have respect with DJs like Gregory, Martin Solveig and Bob Sinclair. I also have a good relationship with DJ Yellow as he’s one of my partners in the studio on my own productions. I have learnt a lot from him – he’s also an inspiration. He is working in a very underground way at the moment, minimal Techno, but he’s always happy to work on a more mainstream projects with me.”
So how would you describe the Michael Canitrot’s sound?
“I try to be very positive with the music, music with lots of energy to make people smile. I play mainly house and I try to balance it with some peak time tracks like ‘I Swear’, also I love to finish the mix with some classic tracks, classic disco and house.”
What are your favourite tracks at the moment that get a good reaction in Mezzanine?
“I”m getting a good response from the new Julien Jabre track ‘Vicious Circles’, I think this is one of the best tracks from Miami this year. I”m also getting good feedback on my friend DJ Kaëlig, a very young DJ from Paris and his new track ”3 in the Morning” . It features vocals from a very famous French singer Jaheym from the nineties band Kojak who were around the same time as Daft Punk – it”s a track with very good energy. I also love all Yass’s productions. If I had to choose a classic, it would be ”Fantasy” by Earth Wind and Fire which I featured on the last Mezzanine compilation.”
What fashion designers are you working with at the moment?
Currently I’m working with a very famous French fashion brand, Louis Feraud. I”ve also worked for Christian Dior, Dolce & Gabana, not French but famous none the less. Louis Feraud was very famous back in the 60’s with Bridgette Bardot. Very excited about the new stuff with Gucci I’m involved with. I have arranged the music for the fashion shows, the website, everything, I guess you could call me their musical director.”
So tell us about ‘So Happy in Paris?’
‘So Happy in Paris’ is one of my biggest projects, its been going for 8 years now, it’s a party, very famous in Paris, we have a residency at Queen with DJs such as Simon Dunmore, Dennis Ferrer and Aaron Ross from Defected DJs have played all for us. It’s like a family affair. It”s a beautiful crowd who love the music, we encourage people with style to come to the club. It has been so good we have rocked it outside of Paris and now do more than 100 parties around the world a year. Catwalk in Barcelona, Italy in Bari, Riccione and Rimini, a lot of parties in Asia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Seoul and Jakarta plus a new party in New York starting soon.”
So your new record…
“Well, I hope that everyone will like the new record, it will do well in France but in the UK also I hope. If the people of the UK like the CD then I encourage them to come and see us in Paris. I”m working on my new production for this summer, one of these tracks will be ”Desire”, it’s going to be great and I hope you all like it. It’s a soulful house track but with an electronic edge. New Sanctities are on it I think it’s really nice because I’ve tried to mix some modern with classical, it has real strings and a real band. Coooool…”
