New York born and Boston-bred, John Debo is undoubtedly a pioneer of underground dance music culture. His club nights at Venus De Milo, Axis & Avalon in Boston, carry legendary status, having laid a strong foundation for the now flourishing electronic music scene in the USA. Now, as a master manipulator of modular tech and having returned to the open-ended creative freedom of his original analogue roots, the maverick DJ/Producer is surfing an inspired wave of experimentation, making music where the beauty of simplicity is everything. With a career spanning more than three decades, he most certainly has a very important story to tell, so DMC decided to sit down and discuss a bit of history…
John, a huge welcome to DMCWORLD.
Thank you so much DMC. The pleasure is all mine.
It’s always best to start at the beginning…what are your earliest musical memories?
Music and my childhood have an unbreakable bond. Flashback to riding in the front seat of my mother’s Plymouth, I think it was a Roadrunner, NO! Plymouth Satellite… Blue with a bench seat, no seatbelt on, my younger brother wedged between us, windows down, with the radio blaring Led Zeppelin, The Who, Aerosmith, Eagles, Steely Dan, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Jethro Tull, Yes, David Bowie, The Doobie Brothers, Fleetwood Mac – I mean, I couldn’t have be more than 4 or 5 years old. The level of clarity and detail in these memories! I’m definitely a child of the classic rock era.
How did your musical tastes develop? When did dance music come to you?
Once in High school (1982-1986), I started listening to a Long Island based radio station, 92.7 WLIR. “Dare to Be Different” was their tagline, and it was here I was exposed to New Wave bands like Joy Division, New Order, Depeche Mode, The Cure, The Cult, The Smiths, Ramones, Sisters of Mercy, Ultravox, Yaz, Blancmange, and such. There was a nightclub in close proximity to where I grew up (Harrison, New York, about an hour north of NYC) called Krypton (later known as The Haven), with a wicked, custom built, disco sound system. The resident DJ there played extended mixes of songs from these bands, and others that even WLIR wouldn’t touch. I was fascinated by how the DJ at The Haven seamlessly blended the songs together – I was bitten by the DJ bug!
How did you first become involved? What are your thoughts on the art of DJing?
Well…I pieced together a couple of crappy belt-drive turntables & cassette decks, a Radio Shack mixer, a stereo receiver and a pair of larger home stereo speakers. I started “DJing” at friends’ parties, and quickly realized I had an intense passion for this – even though my mixing skills at the time were garbage! Aware of this issue, I went on a mission to learn how the DJ at The Haven transitioned from one song to another – always perfectly phrased, never missing a beat, keeping the dancefloor moving open to close.
Seeing as there was no YouTube, or online tutorials just yet, I parked myself in front of The Haven DJ booth, and eventually befriended the man himself. His name was DJ Ralphie, and fortunately for me, he was charitable enough to become my mentor. We started hanging out, and he taught me how to count beats and bars, how to phase mixes properly, how to use the mixer, and finesse the turntables (Technics SL-5100s). Once I started to get the hang of it, he would even let me throw down a mix or two at The Haven! It was here I met Greg Busch, Dave Dresden (yes, of Gabriel & Dresden) and Scott Marzullo. Greg was one of the doormen at The Haven, he and I became fast friends, and launched an event production company together called Mindwarp Productions.
Asylum Saturdays @ Park Row in Stamford, Connecticut
As Mindwarp, we hosted a weekly Saturday night party dubbed “Asylum”, on an underground street beneath the Stamford Mall in Connecticut. The owner of the mall ran a bar on this underground street and every Saturday, Greg and I would close off both sides of the street with these massive walls we built from 2x4s and sheetrock, set up the decks, and a massive sound system we rented from a company in Brooklyn. I was the DJ on the “street” and Dave (Dresden) played inside the bar. One night, Dave introduced me to Scott (Marzullo), who happened to have a recording studio in a building adjacent to his house. I was fascinated by what Scott was doing in the studio, and sat in at every possible opportunity, assisting him while learning about music production.
At what point did you get into producing? What tech gear did you use back in those days? Any standout favourite piece of kit that you miss now?
I dove in headfirst once I started spending time with Scott in his studio. I had already been experimenting with live remixing – flying an acapella from one song over an instrumental of another – on my turntables. Once in the studio, I would program beats on his 808, and fly an acapella over it, recording it to a cassette tape for my own listening pleasure. Scott had a vast arsenal of kit: Roland 808, 909, SH-101, Juno 60, Juno 106, Prophet 5, Prophet VS, Akai S900, S950, MPC60, Yamaha DX7, and plenty of other choice bits! Seeing this, I began my own small collection of synths comprised mainly of classic Roland synths like the MKS80, SH-101, Juno 106, as well as a Prophet 600. Once I got to Boston, I expanded this collection (and my power bill) considerably. Of all the synths I’ve owned, the two I miss parting with daily are the Alesis Andromeda A6, and the Waldorf Q-Rack. One day…
You spent your early years in and around NYC, what were some of the now legendary clubs like back then – Mars and Red Zone – for example?
Growing up in close proximity to NYC made it an easily accessible playground for my friends and I, and during that timeframe we had the opportunity to frequent legendary clubs like Limelight, Palladium, Tunnel, The World, Mars, Red Zone etc. It was pretty cool – one weekend we’d check out David Morales at Red Zone, followed by DJ Duke at Mars the next. Mars was sick because it had multiple floors with multiple sound systems. You could literally listen to Duke playing acid house on one floor, Jam Master Jay (RIP) playing hip hop on another, and Moby playing all kinds of stuff on the next. All this talent under the same roof! It was such a cool time for clubbing in NYC.
Where does Boston come into the story?
After many attempts to bring NYC to the suburbs, I came to the realization (albeit painfully obvious in hindsight) that I was pissing into the wind, and this was not the place to share my forward-thinking, intense passion for underground music. These people had no interest, and the ones who did would just head to the city for a night out. In the dead of winter 1990, with $1500 in my pocket, I packed up my turntables, records, clothes, plaid wool blanket, one pillow, and hitched a ride to Boston. I had visited Boston before, and was enamored by its international flair. It was the epicenter of education, with 500,000 college students from around the world studying there – universities aggressively recruited abroad. Compared to my small suburban bubble, it was a far more progressive, forward-thinking environment, especially with regard to music and the arts. As I spent the majority of the $1500 securing a flat (and a few cases of Ramen Noodles to tide me through winter), I set out to find a gig of some sort (February rent wasn’t going to pay itself). After a bit of research, I found a venue just across the Charles River in Cambridge called ManRay, which seemed to be struggling on Saturday. As no one in Boston was really doing what I envisioned musically, I set a meeting with the owner, and sold him on my idea.
ManRay in Cambridge, MA
How influential for you was the early UK rave scene?
Mega! The Stone Roses, James, Primal Scream, Happy Mondays, Inspiral Carpets, Chapterhouse, Andrew Weatherall, The Charlatans, The Farm, Candyflip, Blur and Saint Etienne; alongside 808 State, The KLF, A Guy Called Gerald, LFO and a plethora of other New Beat and Warehouse Rave tunes populated my record crates. It was a great time for club music. To keep it fresh, not only would I scour the shops of Boston (pretty much daily), but I also made a weekly pilgrimage to NYC (4 hours by train) to hit up Vinylmania, Rebel Rebel and a bunch of other shops.
You met a certain someone who was running the newly opened NYC office of DMC at a club in Long Island – remind us of that story?
Ha! I did indeed! At the Vinylmania techno store (just down the street from the main shop), I was introduced to a couple of NY DJs – Micro and Onionz – via Chris Tropiano (aka Troposphere, aka Trope), a mutual friend, who ran the shop. Micro and Onionz were DJs at this club in Long Island called Caffeine. We swapped up gigs at our resident club nights, and were often booked at the same events on the growing Northeastern US rave circuit. It was at an event hosted by Caffeine (‘Essence’, I believe) where I met an NYC-based, UK DJ called Guy DMC. Guy DMC (aka Guy Ornadel) ran the NYC office for the internationally recognized DMC. We kept in touch, and I eventually brought Guy to Boston for a guest spot at Venus, and he was pleasantly surprised to see what was happening musically in Boston, which apparently wasn’t that far different than what was happening in the UK (or LA and Orlando, for that matter).
Venus de Milo in Boston, MA
Then came that so-called legendary UK couch tour of 1992 where Dave Seaman and DMC’s beloved Stress Records came into the picture – best run us through all the shenanigans? What things happened that changed everything for you – your most magical moments?
Right! The couch tour! It was Guy who was responsible for my maiden voyage to the UK. (Cue Guy DMC voice) “Deeeeebo! It’s the G! You have to come with me to England!” As the story goes… Guy and Dave were longtime associates, and being such, Dave was kind enough to let us crash in the living room of his one bedroom flat. Guy took the couch; I slept on a few cushions arranged on the floor (thanks, Guy). Being a huge fan of both Brothers in Rhythm and Stress, you can imagine the excitement I was feeling – I mean, my first trip to the UK and I was sleeping on the floor of Dave Seaman’s flat, the same Dave Seaman who is one half of Brothers in Rhythm and A&R at one of my favorite labels – woohoo!
We tagged along with Dave to a bunch of his gigs, checked out Sasha at Soak in Leeds, Graeme Park at Renaissance in Derby. We hit up loads of record shops, label offices, promo companies all over the country. Pretty cool stuff, for a humble suburban DJ living in Boston. One evening, Dave was playing us a few of the latest BIR remixes. As chance would have it, I had a cassette handy of a new Mindwarp track entitled “One,” which I had just finished before leaving for the UK. We had a listen or two, Dave asked to borrow the cassette, and the next day offered to release my tune on Stress. Woohoo! How could this trip get any better?! EVERYTHING was changing!
You founded your Mindwarp record label in 1993 in Boston. What was running a label like back in those early days?
That first trip to the UK really sharpened my vision as far as where I needed to take things. Mindwarp (the label) was a natural progression. The idea was to create a vehicle to share the more progressive, underground sound of Boston with the world. Beyond NYC, there were plenty of others up and down the East Coast engaged in similar projects – still residing in Boston at the time, Armand Van Helden had his AV8 imprint; Josh Wink & King Britt were working on Ovum in Philly; there was Caffeine in Long Island; my proverbial brother from another mother, Chris Fortier, had some TPs floating about for his label called Fade down in Orlando… It was an exciting time for these small, DIY label projects.
Mindwarp Records MW01 TP – Boston Bruins “Raise Your Hands”
While it didn’t seem like a big deal at the time, the process of creating something in the studio, then having it manufactured into a commercially available piece of vinyl was pretty cool. The feeling when those first 20 TPs arrive in the mail! Logistically, I set the studio up in my bedroom, and ran the label from my dining room table. I would stack the boxes of records that weren’t drop shipped directly to the distributors in the hallway of my flat. This grew old quickly – tired of the mess (and noise complaints from my neighbors) – I found a studio space in the basement of the US Post Office in Brookline Village, only a couple of subway stops from the Fenway area of Boston (the neighborhood where Venus, Axis and Avalon were located) and Mindwarp HQ was established. The thing about a basement space… No windows. Talk about lost time?! Hours, days – sometimes weeks! You’d get stuck in a project, next thing you know you wouldn’t know what day it was, or how long you had been there. One time I almost missed a gig because I was so deep in it! Good times…
How about your Top 5 favourite early Mindwarp 12” vinyl releases?
Seeing as we only had 7 vinyl releases spanning 3-ish years, I’d say they were all favorites! Sales-wise, Boston Bruins ‘Raise Your Hands’ (MW01) was our biggest vinyl release – it was very popular stateside, most notably in Florida, Texas and California. I remember Edie Distribution in Long Island took the entire 1st pressing (2000 units), then came back the next day for another 2000. Talk about hitting the ground running! My personal favorite was the Fade Remix of My Friend Sam feat. Viola Wills ‘It’s My Pleasure’ – an absolute classic tune in its own rite, appearing as one of the closing tracks on the legendary triple CD, ‘Renaissance: The Mix Collection’ (mixed by a couple of guys called Sasha & John Digweed) – Chris (Fortier) and Neil (Kolo) really nailed it with their Fade Remix, all 14m30s of it! 14 minutes and 30 seconds? Yup. Not a typo. When I delivered the production master, I waited for the pressing plant to ring me with the news that I’d have to cut it across two pieces of vinyl! LOL!
What was it about Boston in the early 90’s that made it such a special place? You were responsible for some legendary club nights – join the dots for us between Venus De Milo, Axis & Avalon?
As I mentioned earlier, my first residency in the Greater Boston Area was actually in the disco room on Saturday nights in Central Square in Cambridge at ManRay. Initially I was playing a mash up of New Wave, Industrial, New Beat, and the earliest UK Rave tunes, with some House and early Techno mixed in. ManRay had this wicked, old school, 4 stack disco system. The booth was kitted out with a Bozak rotary mixer, Technics 1200 mk2 turntables floating on rubber bands, and a 4-band Richard Long style crossover across the entire system. Proper disco business!
As much as I enjoyed the system, I wanted a residency somewhere in Boston. Back then it was hard to get people who lived in Boston to cross the river for a night out in Cambridge. My persistence nearly paid off when I landed a meeting with the management of Venus De Milo, a newer venue on Lansdowne Street in Boston – Venus was operated by a hip, young management team. They already had a very forward thinking music policy, dabbling in some of the music I was playing at ManRay. While the meeting went well, it turned out all nights were spoken for, and all DJ slots filled. So back across the river I went… The good news was my Saturday night at ManRay was gaining some serious steam, even attracting a small crowd from the colleges across the river in Boston (no small feat, believe me). Apparently, the countless hours spent running around the city distributing flyers (which I designed) and some decent word or mouth, was beginning to pay off. I remember standing in the freezing cold at the top of Lansdowne Street from midnight until close (2am) on Thursday and Friday night, handing flyers to anyone who would take them!
As luck (fate?) occasionally turns in your favor, this one Saturday night at ManRay, a dude passed his business card over the DJ booth glass. His name was Ted Leibowitz, one of the mangers with whom I had met 6 months prior at Venus. “Oh, hey Ted!” A quick conversation between mixes revealed there would be a Thursday night vacancy soon at Venus. Their resident DJ was taking a job in NYC, and they were interested in giving me a “try out” to see if I was a good fit for the night. Turns out I was a good fit – I remember the grin Ted had on his face as he stood behind me in the booth during my try out. We did so many cool things at Venus, bringing in guest DJs from all over the US regularly, as well as live performances by Moby, The Shamen, Blur and The Orb, to name a few. We moved the DJ booth to the stage, added all kinds of intelligent lighting and lasers, decked the walls with floor to ceiling Day-Glo banners painted by local graffiti artists, and sold smart drinks, merchandise and tickets for other raves happening in the Northeastern US at our smart bar. A proper rave up!
Original flyer for Thursday @ Venus de Milo (Boston, MA)
With the success of Thursday at Venus, it wasn’t long before I secured the Friday night residency at her sister club Axis. Where Venus had a young, hip raver crowd, Axis was more of a dark, dirty techno outing. Now, unbeknownst to me, there was one problem with all of this. Where I saw these new residencies as an opportunity to entice more people across the river to my Saturday night residency in Cambridge, the owner of ManRay saw a conflict of interest, immediately terminating my employment when I shared what I thought was the greatest news possible! As I expected, the Saturday after my first night at Axis was the biggest ManRay had since I started my night there. Unfortunately for them, the music programming was miles off the mark, and their Saturday quickly levelled to the numbers they started with. Eventually, Venus closed for good (it would later reopen as Karma), and we moved our Thursday next door to Axis, making a point to keep a strong contrast between Thursday and Friday night.
Chrome Thursday at Axis (Boston, MA)
As underground electronic dance music culture blossomed across the US, so did our attendance, with the demand regularly eclipsing venue capacity (most notably on Thursday, the night we were bringing guest DJs in from around the world). John Lyons (Axis/Avalon venue owner and brains behind the EAW Avalon Series sound system) had an idea to launch a concept similar to Thursday, on Friday night at the 2000 capacity sister venue Avalon, located just next door. I was hesitant at first, because nothing about Avalon was underground – it was a well-known Top 40 music venue, with a strict dress code of collared shirts & shoes. “How on earth do you dance wearing such?!”, I always thought… Admittedly, I was curiously excited at the opportunity to expose the masses to our underground sound. I mean, what if people actually dug the music?!
Chrome Friday @ Avaland light box transparency (Boston, MA)
Always one to push the music forward, “Avaland” was born. Now, we had Chrome (Axis on Thursday) – the dark, dirty, underground, all about the music night – and Avaland (Avalon on Friday) – the mega sound, blinding light, 40-watt laser, crazy circus performer, ultimate super club experience. In time, the night grew so large that we decided to open the doors between Axis and Avalon, putting DJs in both venues weekly, successfully cannibalizing what we had been doing at Axis on Thursday night. C’est la vie… It was a new time… Super Club concepts were popping up in cities across the US, and we were one of the earliest pioneers.
Avaland @ Avalon (Boston, MA)
As someone who witnessed the evolution of the underground scene in the USA, how do you view it now? Is it healthy? What could improve things?
It’s definitely a different animal now. While music is still important, it seems to be a box or two down the list these days – such an emphasis is placed on marketing and branding. I never had to think about post engagement, number of plays, generating likes, re-tweets or press campaigns. Music was all that mattered – it brought us, the DJs and the people, together. Today, the underground scene sometimes feels a bit segmented, even cult-like, dividing, instead of uniting, at times. Having been around a while, I realize that everything is cyclical, and much like the uncontrollable, evolutionary process of the music itself, each generation culturally evolves at its own pace. While some of us are bold enough in thinking we have an influence over said evolution, in reality, we are all along for the ride. The universe demands balance, and things tend to work themselves out in the end.
Mindwarp had a hiatus in the 90’s. What’s the story?
The wheels definitely fell off… There was a point during the Axis/Avalon era where there literally weren’t enough hours – 1999-2004 was non-stop. My day started between 4-6am, and ended between 8pm-2am, depending on the day of the week. Sleep? WTF was that? During this period, I was grinding away in the studio, maintaining a heavy touring schedule, curating talent for each of the 3 Avalon branded venues (Boston, NYC and LA), holding down co-residencies at both Axis & Avalon in Boston, flying between Boston, NYC and LA weekly, AND somehow finding time for the gym. Something had to give, and it was the label. This insane schedule took such a toll on me physically and mentally; I woke up one day with absolutely no desire to continue. I was over it… I had to pull the plug. In January 2004 – after a NYE event featuring a massive video screen satellite link between the 3 Avalon venues, featuring Sasha in NYC, John Digweed in LA, and Ferry Corsten in Boston – I submitted my resignation, literally walking away from everything I had a hand in building for 13 years of my life.
Phew! Ok, lets talk relocating to Florida, the Orlando scene, the relaunch of Mindwarp, and yet another classic night for you at Sound Bar Orlando?
After leaving Boston for Orlando in January 2004, I completely dropped off the radar – I’m talking turn off, tune out, drop out. Fortunately, a dear friend, and long-time partner in crime showed up out of nowhere, and helped snap me out of my funk. My first couple of years in Orlando consisted of a great deal of reading, and loads of French Press coffee. I got a dog. I sat on the porch. I went to the gym. I worked on music here and there, but artistically lost my way. I went from 200+ MPH to a dead stop overnight – I was lost…
As the distance grew between my DJ “friends” and industry contacts, I fell into a deep funk. In the midst of this downward slide, I randomly bumped into Neil Kolo at the gym one afternoon. Turns out, the girl he was dating at the time taught a spinning class I took occasionally. Random! After catching up a bit, he mentioned they were hiring within his department at Full Sail University, and thought I’d be a good fit. With nothing else happening, and fully digging the idea of shaping the minds of those with whom I shared similar dreams, I jumped at the opportunity and shortly thereafter I was hired.
I quickly emerged from my funk, and while I really enjoyed working in education, it still felt like something was missing… Towards the end of 2008, the phone rang – it was Chris Fortier calling with news that he and his family were leaving NYC for Orlando. Woohoo! Chris and I saw each other constantly in 2009 – it was cool having someone around who got you. Our talks spurred the digital re-launch of Mindwarp, with Chris giving me tracks for the first couple of releases. The topic of a weekly club night often came up in conversation – I mean, two longtime DJ friends living in the same city, it’s bound to come up, right?! Problem was, while there were plenty of venues in Orlando, there were an equal number of shit sound systems… There was this one venue called Backroom, which oddly enough, happened to have an amazing EAW Avalon Series sound system. Yes, I said Avalon Series, named after the same Avalon I worked at for years in Boston. Meant to be? Perhaps… Backroom was very small (capacity 100), and lacked a dance floor. It was set up for VIP service, bottle sales, and such.
Sound Bar Orlando (Orlando, FL)
With the deck somewhat stacked against us, Chris and I embarked on a weekly Saturday night party at Backroom. Our success over the next few months prompted a full venue renovation to suit our needs. Six weeks later, in early summer 2013, Sound Bar Orlando opened. VIP booths were replaced with a dance floor. Not coincidentally, the room had a distinct by the DJ for the DJ feel – an Allen & Heath Xone 92, 2x Pioneer CDJ2000 Nexus, 2x Technics SL1200 mk5s, and a wicked monitoring system adorned the well-positioned DJ booth, now the focal point of the room. Given the intimacy of the venue, the well-appointed sound system, and off- the-beaten-track location, it goes without saying – the vibe was THICK. There was something so fulfilling about a playing a room where the crowd pander factor was zero. They knew their music, and wanted it underground, which I’m certain our guest register would willfully concur – Hector, Bill Patrick, Julian Perez, Fur Coat, Nick Monaco, Jozif, Simon Baker, Troy Pierce, Someone Else, Harvard Bass, Livio & Roby, Alex Niggemann, Sabb, Maher Daniel, Satoshi Tomiie, DJ Boris, Funk D’Void, Silvie Loto, Konrad Black, Maayan Nidam, Dave Seaman, Bella Sarris, Kimball Collins, Francesca Lombardo, Chad Andrew, Randall M, David Gtronic, Matt Tolfrey, Boris Werner, and Franck Roger – all graced our decks before we were forced to shut our doors in December 2014, due to lingering building code violations between our landlord and the city. Short-lived? Yes. Sad? Yes. Looking back now, albeit short, this period completely reinvigorated me artistically. Being behind the decks week in and week out playing other people’s records, undoubtedly made we want to make music of my own again, and at the same time, sparked a newfound passion and energy for Mindwarp.
So many great releases from you over the years on Bedrock, Selador, Fade, Sound Avenue, Stripped, We Are Here Music, Mindwarp and many more labels – which ones stand out as marking particularly great moments for you?
The relationships I forged during the Axis/Avalon years blessed me with the pleasure of sharing the DJ booth (and meals) with some incredibly talented underground electronic music pioneers, leading to releases on some incredibly prolific labels. While I have enjoyed working with each and every one of them, for obvious reasons, the releases on Stress & Bedrock have a special place in my heart. In my brain, these labels are iconic, game changing labels, and to have had the opportunity to be part of their histories will be cherished by me always.
You’ve already mentioned that you’ve spent time in recent years passing on your studio and technical knowledge to the next generation as a Sequencing Technology Instructor at the prestigious Full Sail University in recent years, how has that experience been?
The way I see it, I have been blessed beyond my wildest dreams. I grew up poor, and music has taken me around the world, allowing me to share the DJ booth with many of my heroes. What better way to give back than by sharing your experience and experiences with like-minded creatives, who have similar dreams and passions as you once did? There’s something so cool about helping a student recreate a sound they heard in a song they love; or demonstrating how to properly dial in a compressor to get that “pump” just right on their sidechain compression; or to tell them about that one time you opened for John Digweed at Space in Ibiza; or the time you closed the night at Twilo when Sasha & John had to bail early to catch the Concorde back to the UK for their headlining set at Creamfields… The youth are the future and their dreams aren’t far different than the ones we had. As an instructor, you are someone they look up to, for both knowledge and guidance, so you have the unique opportunity to nurture such! Being a creative is difficult enough, you are constantly told to grow up and get a real job. The world is constantly slamming doors in your face, so it’s not for the faint at heart. Having the opportunity to say, “Relax. I did it and you can too! Are you willing to work ten times harder than everyone else in this room? In your program? Do you want it badly enough? Are you willing to log the hours? You can do it!” is priceless. There really is no better feeling.
We hear there are some other highly rated producers teaching alongside you there? Do you get to make music together?
It’s crazy! I spent the last 18 months teaching a Sequencing Technology course with none other than Mr. Lee Coombs! Prior to, I had the pleasure of working alongside Neil Kolo (½ of Fade with Chris Fortier), teaching two Pro Tools certification courses. Lee and I had never met before, and having played a bunch of his records over the years, it was really cool to meet and have the opportunity to work with him. Neil on the other hand, I knew for 20+ years… Both are incredibly talented artists, the real deal, for whom I have the utmost respect. Regarding collaborations… Lee and I do have an idea we started working on towards the end of last year. Given our busy schedules outside of teaching, it hasn’t quite come to fruition just yet… Keep an eye out though – both Lee and Neil have releases forthcoming on Mindwarp in the second half of 2017.
You’ve recently purged yourself of masses of studio software to return to your original analogue roots – has that been a liberating experience?
Big time! While not the first time, I found myself getting incredibly bored, incredibly quickly – I was stuck in a creative rut – same tools, same sounds, same tired ass workflow, blah, blah, blah… My good friend Beaumont Stanford was telling me about this modular synth he had been building over the last few years, and how it radically changed everything for him, essentially making the writing and production process exciting again. His studio is a short, 3.5 drive from Orlando, so I popped down to Fort Meyers to check out this beast. I spent a few days rocking out with him and Matt Davis, pounding espresso, while working on ideas based predominately around patches created with his modular synth, and I was mind blown! The process is so organic! Typically, I write melodies, then dig around until I find a sound that is close, and tweak from there. With the modular I patch up some sort of something first, and somewhere during the sound design process, melodies seem to reveal themselves. Down the rabbit hole I went!
As soon as I got home I started building my own, purging myself of loads of dust covered hardware, and software that I hadn’t touched in years. What I really dig about this new instrument is the workflow – sometimes I write melodies the old way, using a keyboard (and midi-CV converter), sometimes I sequence them using a eurorack sequencer, or sometimes they are completely generative, using modules to alter timing, and constrain the pitch values, keeping the voltages musically relevant to my composition. Regardless of the how, something clicked, forcing me out of my comfort zone, changing my thought process not only about the creation of sounds, but the entire process. I track entire passes as audio, sometimes 8-10 minutes long, tweaking in real time as I record, then listen back in search of the gold. The odds of me patching the synth the same way twice is highly unlikely, constantly keeping things fresh.
Even with this new hardware based workflow, my recording process is still very DAW-centric, moving between Ableton Live and Pro Tools quite a bit. Expert Sleepers Silent Way, Native Instruments Reaktor Blocks and Spektro Audio CV Toolkit (all software), along with Expert Sleepers & Intellijel eurorack modules make the integration between my DAW and modular synth seamless. Anyone looking for a gateway down the rabbit hole of modular synthesis should peep Reaktor Blocks. Native Instruments have created a very cool collection of blocks (modules) that you can patch up within the Reaktor 6 environment. Equally as cool is the massive number of high quality, user created blocks available for download (for free) in the NI User Library. Doooooo iiiiiiiiiit.
https://soundcloud.com/mindwarpdigital/sets/mw55-john-debo-brain-overload
We sense a development in your musical style? For example, your recent ‘Ode To Jack’ / ‘Shifty’ release on the Atlant label, and your remix of 3LIAS and Ali Ajami’s ‘Audio Culture’ on Mindwarp are really bold productions – is this a new path you’re taking – a new journey?
Absolutely. Every project starts with a clean slate. I never know where the patching is going to take me. Whereas my old workflow was very paint by numbers, I find myself spending the majority of my time experimenting with ideas. There is a lot of trial and error going on. Sometimes, as many errors as trials, but I am finding that patience, and the willingness to explore, and push the boundaries, tends to lead you down a path of very interesting, unexpected results. In a strange way, it feels like I am finally making the music I’ve been yearning to make, not stylistically, but meaning that it’s for myself, and no one else.
https://soundcloud.com/johndebo/sets/ode-to-jack-shifty-atlant
If you could remix any track by any artist what would be at the top of your wish list?
Depeche Mode. Anything. I listened to ‘Violator’ start to finish for the first time (several times, actually) in a long time the other day. Hands down one of the best electronic albums of our time, IMHO.
What plans have you got for the coming months?
After nearly 13 years in Orlando, my family and I are trading eternal sunshine and Mickey Mouse, for crowded subways and the frigidly cold winters of Boston. The move is more personal in nature, than professional. Obviously, I’m over the moon to return home to the city, and culture, which I had a hand in laying the foundation for. The majority of my dearest friends are there – friendships conceived by a mutual passion for music. It is here, my home, where I’m looking forward to beginning the next chapter in the book of Mindwarp, most fittingly, in the city where it all began.
Out Now – John Debo – Brain Overload / Gone Off Kilter (Mindwarp) MW55
Beatport:
https://www.beatport.com/label/mindwarp-records/19568
Further Info:
