One of dance music’s most prolific producers giving the dancefloor his sonic boom once again
Dean welcome back to DMCWORLD towers. A massive few weeks for you young man, your ‘Tease Machine’ EP has been smashing up dancefloors everywhere for a while now, next up is ‘Restless’, a new collaboration with Cevin Fisher. I remember you used to hate collaborations, you were always the idea man, the mix engineer – everything. What’s changed?
“I started to realise it was actually quite taxing being responsible for everything in the studio (ideas, production, mixing etc.) and on the few early occasions when I ended up collaborating, I realised how much of a relief it was to be able to bounce ideas off somebody rather than sit there sometimes driving myself mad constantly questioning if something was ‘right’ or not. It was also a relief to relinquish control and let somebody be the ‘ideas’ person while I could just concentrate on the sonics instead of trying to be all things to all men. Now I love collaborating – with the right people of course!”
What is the magic in someone you look for when doing collabs?
“I only work with people who can bring something special to the table that I’m not necessarily that good at myself. In the case of working with Cevin Fisher it was quite cut and dried: I provided the music and he was responsible for the vocals and lyrics which he did beautifully. For example – when I work with Mark Knight he’s great with the arrangement of the track which is where I can get a bit lost as I’m usually concentrating on the sonics and whether the kick drum is right or not.”
You DJ’d with Cevin in July at Cielo in New York City. At what stage was the EP at then?
“I had a version of the track ready which in the end I scrapped. All the vocals were done and recorded, I just wasn’t happy with the direction I took it in. The version I ended up with is completely different to the version Cevin first wrote his song to – it ended up being a remix of the original so to speak.”
You relocated to New York for a while back in the Spring for some studio time. Who were you working with back then?
“I spent a couple of months in New York over the spring and summer and I thought it would be amazing to reach out to all the big New York producers and DJ’s who I’ve respected over the years and see if they wanted to do some work with me. To my surprise all of them did and I ended up working with Todd Terry, Harry ‘Choo Choo’ Romero, Jose Nunez, Cevin Fisher and Dave Darlington of Masters At Work fame. I remember being so nervous to speak with Todd Terry that I couldn’t actually call his cell phone! When he came to pick me up I didn’t know whether to shake his hand or kiss his feet.”
What is the current top 10 you are spinning?
D.Ramirez – ‘Tease Machine’ – Great Stuff
Bellavoid – ‘Moments’ – Free Range
Todd Terry and D.Ramirez – ‘Love Is Alive’ –
The Martinez Brothers – ‘H 2 Da Izzo’ – Real Tone Records
Jay Lumen – ‘Get Ready’ – 100% Pure
Rampa and Meggy – ‘Everything’ Argy Remix – Defected
Fabio Gianelli – ‘Maintain’ – Get Physical
D.Ramirez and Cevin Fisher – ‘Restless’ – Great Stuff
Joi Cardwell, Jon Da Silva, Maceo Plex – ‘Love Somebody Else’ – Ellum Audio
Hot Natured – ‘Benediction’ – Hot Creations
Let’s rewind for a while. Your motto has always been ‘the soul comes first’. Who were the artists you were listening to growing up that sent you down dance music avenue…
“I grew up with all sorts of music as a child – my parents were big Northern Soul freaks so I had to put up with them coming back from the pub on a Saturday night and dancing around the living room, knocking over the welsh dresser to my Dads 45’s. But when I got into my teens I’d been listening to Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode, ABC, Heaven 17, so I’d been heavily influenced by the New Romantic scene and it was those early influences that inspired me to buy my first synthesiser and start making bleepy dance music.”
The world’s dancefloors first discovered your sound thanks to the Lisa Marie Experience. When was the last time you played ‘Keep On Jumping’ in a DJ set?!!
“Haha – well, I haven’t played that record for so long now! Even when it was massive back in 1996 I didn’t really play it that much even though everybody expected me to. We did get the band back together for a brief spell in 2006 to do a new version and I guess I played that out a couple of times to test it out – but that was definitely the last time.”
You infamously hand delivered the record to all of the DJs whilst they were playing in their respective clubs. Can you remember who you handed over copies to?
“The first DJ we hand delivered the acetate test pressing of the very first copy of ‘Keep On Jumping’ to was Mark Moore when he was spinning at one of the infamous Chuff Chuff parties way back in 1995. I remember him playing it without even listening to it there and then and everybody went wild. It was a moment I’ll never forget!”
1999 saw you make a decision that you wanted to make some more techno influenced house records, who were the producers at the time that you were checking out?
“Back then the producer who influenced me the most and inspired the whole D.Ramirez thing was Timo Mass. I wasn’t ever really into progressive house as such but his sound encompassed it all: sexy techno with prog elements and a fat funky sound that just blew me away!”
Who are the producers in 2012 that you are giving high fives to?
“I’m really into Julio Bashmore, Kolombo, Jay Lumen, Subb Ann, Shadow Child to name a few…”
You DJ’d in London a couple of weeks back at Egg and The Gallery’s night at The Ministry of Sound. These are two of the only real high profile clubs/nights still saying anything in London at the moment. What has happened to the UK’s club scene?
“I dunno! I think that people must be bored of the whole super-clubbing thing, bored of paying silly money to get into clubs, tired of how commercial dance music has become, fed up with the over-flated egos of the DJs who have made one record and think they’re superstars. Or, there just aren’t any good E’s around anymore – who knows.”
What are your thoughts also on the the state of music production in the UK right now? Are we being left behind by our America, Italian, Australian, German, Spanish and French partners again?
“It seems to go around in circles – one minute the UK is leading the scene then Germany comes along and kicks our ass. Now it’s America’s turn to take the rains and spearhead the whole EDM thing which is amazing because ultimately it’s only going to reignite interest for a dying UK scene once again. Saying that, I don’t like how noisy and commercial the whole US thing has become – it’s going to implode rapidly at this rate!”
“You exemplify house music”. A message left on your Facebook site by an American fan. They love you over there. Where have been some of your big gigs Stateside this year?
“I love playing in the States and I’ve toured all over the country many times – my favourite places I’ve played this year have been Cielo in New York and Avalon in LA.”
I interviewed Dennis Ferrer last week. He came up with something interesting…”All the heroes that I grew up with are just not relevant right now because they’re not willing to change with the times. It’s just that most have forgotten what it is that got them there…kids. You want to make people go nuts? Pay attention to what’s happening, adjust and educate yourself and go create. Don’t get sucked into believing your own hype.” What are your thoughts on that statement – and who do you think he was talking about?
“Well, he definitely has a point and I truly believe that any artist that isn’t relevant anymore has nobody to blame than themselves – after all you have to move with the times and take notice of what’s going on otherwise you’ll be left behind. There’s no loyalty to old skool producers because there’s so many people doing it these days, and doing it well. Plus with the whole ghost writing thing going on, the young DJs who have no studio skills simply get the best producers to make their music for them. It’s a dog eat dog world, what with technology being so readily available now, where at one time studio equipment was only available to the privileged few everybody has access to a computer with all the cracked plug-ins so if you’re not careful there’s gonna be somebody younger and hungrier coming for yo ass!”
You said during an interview recently that “dance music has become like pop music in America.” Jay Z has just signed Sander Van Doorn to his Roc Nation label, the Dutch Sensation brand were offered $100 million by a certain US company – are these three facts a good pointer to perhaps how the Dollar is going to ruin the scene over there before it got started?
“There’s nothing more sure fire to kill any scene than money and commercialism. Let’s just sit back and watch the whole thing implode while it gets raped and bastardised and becomes something that nobody in their right mind wants any association with. We can’t turn on the radio now without hearing Rihanna singing over an EDM backing track and quite frankly, it hurts my ears and makes me want to run a mile from the whole thing.”
I also spoke to Norman Cook last week and we were talking about the new breed of superstar teenage producers who have been propelled onto the world stage before having any real mischief in clubland; “you can’t talk the talk without walking the walk. I would advise all young DJs to explore getting as high as their audience to understand what the crowd want. Getting mashed in some shape or form is part and parcel of club culture and should be compulsory for all DJs before they get their public entertainment licence. For fuck’s sake let your hair down while you still have enough…”. What are your thoughts on this topic?
“Well as somebody who has had their fair share of experiences in that world, I totally see where he’s coming from! I’ve had many moments being on the other side of the DJ booth wigging out to DJs playing some freaky ass grooves that nobody would understand unless they were in that frame of mind and I try and incorporate that feeling into my sets. Good House music is the most complex form of music I’ve experienced because it can totally hypnotise you with one solid groove and that’s some clever shit! It’s not about making everything as big and noisy and obvious as possible which is what the whole scene seems to have become now. But then myself and Mr Cook are old skool ravers that come from a different world.”
I was in the crowd in Ibiza to witness you playing for Toolroom at Space this summer. What are your thoughts on the island in 2012, has it lost any of it’s magic?
“I still love it and while ever they still want me to play i’ll keep going there. But yes, for me it’s lost some of it’s magic.”
You had a mad old time touring in Asia this year too, what is the scene in Bali and India like?
“I played at the Ku De Ta white party in Bali which is the biggest party in Bali for the whole year. It’s an amazing bar, restaurant hang out which totally gets transformed into a massive sound stage holding 2000 beautiful people all going mental and it’s AMAZING! Definitely one of my all time favourite DJ experiences ever! India is also an amazing place to play because it’s a new scene and they’re totally up for anything you want to throw at them.”
What was your tune of 2012?
“Pirupa – ‘Party Non Stop’.”
And finally, what is the plan studio wise for 2013?
“I’m working with all sorts of people in my new London studio and I’m also doing my own stuff continuing my relationship with Great Stuff in Germany. I’ve also got a new moniker of which I’ll let you know all about later. For now it’s secret and all I can tell you is that it’s something totally different to what you’d expect from me. And no, it’s not dubstep…”
www.dramirez.co.uk
twitter.com/dramirezmusic
www.facebook.com/dramirezmusic
