The UK producer going all the way to the very top
Interview by Dan Prince
Alex a massive welcome to DMCWORLD…where on planet earth are you today?
“Today Dan I’m at home in Huddersfield working on more music up that is coming soon from me, including remixes and collabs with some great singers and songwriters. Had to get my part time job out of the way this morning and then it’s all music and this interview for me for the rest of the day!”
First record you heard this morning after falling out of bed?
“Kokiri – ‘Retrospect’. Got a lot of love for this tune, so mellow and yet so uplifting! If you haven’t heard it yet, you need to! Had it on full whack to work to start the day with a buzz! I’m a great believer in this, puts you in a good mood for the rest of the day!”
Well a stunning way to start the new year Alex with a mighty tune that has already smashed The Buzz Chart. Please talk us through the sound and history of your collab with Chris Lorenzo ‘Dreamer’…a 2015 remix classic!
“Such a long and classical story behind this tune, not sure if I should be admitting this but it was actually produced by the legend Chris Lorenzo and myself towards the end of 2012 and never really got the props it deserved. We made it from start to finish with a very tired and hungover Loz in less than 8 hours. The guy is a musical genius, I have a lot of respect for him and we just vibed off each others ideas for the track. Nothing around had the guts to go in so hard on the drops like we did. The amount of new sound design we did was crazy. Obviously it did the rounds locally in Huddersfield, Leeds and Birmingham but as I had just started producing myself around that time, it never got the exposure it should maybe have had and getting it heard was slow and tricky, no one had the time of day for me. Three years on I have a much larger audience, fan base and loads of remixes under my belt, plus Radio 1 and 1 Xtra’s DJ Mistajam started playing it on his show nearly every night during February…so I decided to give it the official release it deserved on Tutti Fruitti Records! The mad thing is it still sounds so fresh alongside current releases. The support it’s getting from such big players in the game is great too, I know Oliver Heldens, Tchami and Amine Edge & Dance like to include it in their sets.”
I can tell when a man is from Huddersfield when he describes a tune as… ‘it ruins dancefloors and makes women moist!’. How did you find that out?
“It just goes OFF every time I drop it, you can play it at any event young or old because it resonates with the older 90s clubbers who remember the original but then has that fresh jackin’, house and bass vibe that the newer clubbers like too. It’s a win win! And to answer the second part, well…you’ve obviously never seen a girl dancing on top of a bassbin whilst this track plays haha! That’s all I’m sayin!”
Sometimes I may ask a superstar producer what is the strangest place they have ever heard their music played. I have had refreshment shacks on jungle treks, boats taking scuba divers out to sea in the Indian Ocean and rickshaws in Bangkok. Never have I heard of on a mobile disco at Asda in Whitstable. What the fuck was all that about??!?!?!?
“You tell me! So this guy Lee Marshall, aka Discoboy, hits me up on my Facebook ‘like’ page saying “Hi mate, massive fan of your music. I used your track “Dreamer” to go and crash an Asda and throw a mobile disco.” Now obviously I had no idea what he meant. The next day he dropped me a link to this said video which had about 600,000 views within 24 hours. I pressed play and sat there in shock and awe. He basically has a little mobile DJ set up consisting of a mini disco ball, 15″ speaker and car battery all belted down to a trolley which he pulls along with him whilst dancing around wearing next to nothing, I think the general idea is to piss off as many security guards from the supermarket as he can in the process. He’s got balls put it that way (scuse the pun).”
Check it here…https://www.facebook.com/therealalexwhi…/…/10152565247142163
What are the 5 big records in your box this weekend…
“First one would have to be Blonde ft. Alex Newell – ‘All Cried Out’; such a great and fresh track, I love the Blonde lads’ work and this is just so infectious and nice! I have it on repeat!
Years & Years – ‘King’; love this track too! So catchy and well produced.
99 Souls – ‘The Girl Is Mine’; came out of nowhere and kills it! Would love to collab with this guy!
Blonde & Piano Man – ‘Cast A Spell’; seems these lads can do no wrong! Love this collab with the legend that is Pianoman from the 90’s! Such a cool guy too, I speak to him regularly, check this track out!
David Zowie – House Every Weekend; came across this around January, so raw and yet so powerful, goes off every set! A must in my sets!”
Some producers out there at the moment you are giving props to?
“Have to give props to Loz (Chris Lorenzo). I have admired him ever since working with him and before that too, such a top guy and its a really good feeling to see him smashing it after too many years just being humble with ghost producing. He deserves it more than anyone. As I mentioned above, I really like the Blonde lads’ work too, they don’t seem to make anything shit to be fair. Finally people need to watch out for a producer by the name ‘Curbi’, this guy messaged me on Soundcloud around a year ago asking my opinion on his music direction and sound, it’s very similar to the future house sound of Oliver Heldens and Tchami and I told him to keep going and practise like hell. A year later he has signed a music deal with Spinnin’ and is smashing it now! He will make something big very soon!”
Couldn’t agree more dude, we interviewed him today! So, what is next on the Alex Ross release schedule?
“A lot I can’t really say to be honest! I’m sworn to secrecy, but let’s just say a rather LARGE remix is due out before summer of one of the Atlantic Records’ artists. I can’t reveal much but….I Give Up, is a clue. Towards the end of last year I flew out to Barcelona to work with a label called S2N Records, I stayed there just over a month working on loads of fresh music for 2015 which is all being signed off and sealed ready for release. I worked with some great singers and producers, one of which was a British guy called Zack Knight, his toplines and vocal abilities are crazy. We have made some great tracks that I’m super excited to let people hear and can’t wait to get them out.”
3 bucket list adventures you wanna do in your lifetime?
“Never been to America! Really just want to go and experience the hype, if I were to do it I’d have to go all in! I’m talking Universal Studios, Disney World, Times Square, Vegas, Washington and everything in between! Maybe one day eh?
Safari in Africa. I love tigers, seeing them in the wild would be awesome.
The last one is a definite must for me…to either DJ in Ibiza as the sun sets at Cafe Del Mar surrounded by a packed out beach or play one of my own tracks in front of thousands at Tomorrowland.”
The last time you pressed rewind on a track and listened to it over and over because it was damned good?
“When I came across David Zowie – ‘House Every Weekend’. I couldn’t get enough, the drop is so unexpected and people just love it! It’s so moody and catchy, it just makes you nod your head!”
Tell us about your studio set up…
“Just recently endeavored to upgrade my main studio monitors to the Focal Solo 6s, cost me a fair whack too. I’m also using a 27″ iMac, Logic Pro 9, UAD Apollo Twin Duo, Akai MPK Mini and have a second monitor set up of Dynaudio DBM 50’s.”
Okay let’s rewind for a moment. What is your earliest memory of music growing up?
“Great question! The furthest back I can relate to would be in my mum’s car listening to the latest singles on tapes or CDs. Stuff like Dr. Hook, O-Town, Sophie Ellis Bexter (who?) and shit like that. I had no choice in the matter but it was properly constructed music with stories and full lyrics which resonated with me, it kinda constructed my musical ear from an early age. I also remember visiting my late grandad Whitwam regularly on a weekend. He ran a karaoke shop (the biggest in West Yorkshire at one time) and he used to show me all the latest gear he had bought to rent out that week. I was literally mesmerized by his shop, all the speaker components, amps, lights, mics, wires and CDs all just piled into this grungy shop with poor lighting. A soldering iron always on his desk, loads of speaker connectors and resistors laying all over the place, it was a sound engineers workshop dream. He would play me the latest instrumentals he had got hold of that week, and then one day I finally agreed to sing one whilst he recorded it to his brand new tape recorder. Embarrassingly enough, I remember it well. It was Aqua – ‘Barbie Girl’…and yes, I sang both parts…”
Geez, you’re brave admitting that pal. At what age did you first encounter dance music and who were the producers/DJs/tracks that grabbed your attention?
“I grew up in a house mainly consisting of me, my brother and my mum. My older brother used to blast out 2-step garage classics whenever my mum went out. As soon as I heard this I was hooked. I grew up when happy hardcore, the tail end of trance and garage were big. Artists such as The Wideboys, Artful Dodger, Monsta Boy, M J Cole, DJ Pied Piper, Shola Ama and Tina Moore caught my attention. I loved it. All my friends were into Boyzone, Westlife, Five and The Spice Girls whilst I was trying to find as much garage on Limewire as I could! I can’t be biased however as I literally do listen to and like lots of genres, I sometimes catch myself listening to BBC Radio 2 when driving home from a gig. You would need a bigger website server if I were to list all the different types, styles and artists of music I like! Through high school I wanted to learn piano and take lessons, something I could never convince my mum I was gonna stick at and learn. My mum didn’t have the money and in the end It never happened but that didn’t stop me and my mate breaking into the music department on dinner breaks and playing on pianos, drum kits and a huge glockenspiel with a ruler or whiteboard wipe! Haha, those were the days. I never got my piano lessons and I never even took music as a GCSE. Somehow though I’m still musical and love every aspect of it.”
When did the idea of a career in music first spring to mind?
“I remember it so well! I was in my dad’s van driving somewhere one Saturday morning (maybe to my grandad’s? I dunno). Armand Van Helden – ‘My My My’ came on the radio, I heard it and immediately said to my dad, I want to be a DJ! The thought of being able to play this stuff to people and see their expressions as I manipulated it with eq and fx made my mind buzz! A year later my dad bought me an Argos Homemix CD mixer for Christmas and birthday combined (coz it was about £200 at the time) and the addiction went from there. I borrowed a PA system from my grandad, got as much music together as I could and went on my way as a mobile DJ at the age of 14 all over West Yorkshire for birthdays and weddings…finally getting a few gigs in bars and clubs by 17.”
First break into the music industry?
“Would have to be when my manager Benji hit Atlantic Records USA up with a bootleg I had done of Clean Bandit – ‘Rather Be’ – and they loved it. Unfortunately it was too late to make official but it got my foot in the door and has secured a few more remix opportunities and original track signings with them since. It is this year when I’m truly hoping to ‘break into the music industry’ but only time will tell!”
A big date in your diary this year you cannot wait for?
“The release of this official remix I have produced, sometime between now and summer hopefully! The original artists are huge and I’ve had such good feedback from my remix with close friends and DJs that I just feel it could do well with the right promo and support. I’ll be sure to let you guys have a copy!”
What is on an Alex Ross rider these days?
“Yano, I don’t really have one. I’m not all about that demanding rider bullshit. As long as there are either a couple of drinks tokens or bottles of water at a gig, I’m happy. Obviously I’m not ruling out the offer of a Philippine Miss World entourage to escort me to my gig, but if the budget is tight, a bottle of ‘council pop’ will do me.”
Now that the dust has settled, what do you make of the whole Soundcloud business. You must have shit a brick when they closed your account?
“Shit a brick? I felt like committing suicide! 3-4 years of self promotion and my entire collection of music vanished in a click of a button. Every ‘Like’, ‘Favourite’ ‘Play’ & ‘ Comment’ gone. I learnt my lesson and won’t be bootlegging any more music from now on without permission! All I can say is a massive thank you to my manager Benji and more importantly a guy called Tim Grimes at Defected for having a word with Soundcloud for me so I could get my account back up and running! Which reminds me…I still owe Defected a crate of beer…anyone got an address for their office?”
www.soundcloud.com/alexrossuk
