The sunshine loving superstar bringing the dancefloor Back Home
Interview by Dan Prince
Antonio welcome to DMCWORLD, where in the world are you today?
“Right now I am in my recording studio in Hollywood, where I spend most of the time when I am not out of town playing…I am currently working on a new project with a friend of mine, will reveal more details in a few weeks, very exciting stuff which is very different from what I normally produce but you know…music is about experimenting and pushing the boundaries…”
Congratulations on your brand new track ‘Back Home’, The Buzz Chart and dancefloors all across the globe have been all over this beauty for weeks now, please talk us through the sound and history of the track…
“Thank you! You know I have been sitting in the studio for months trying out different sounds to evolve from my previous sound…I didn’t want to drastically change direction but I felt the need to evolve into something still uplifting and with the distinctive “Giacca sound” – but yet moving forward to fresher ideas…I have to be honest, at the start I was a bit worried as it was a new direction and I didn’t know how my fans were going to react to it but it turned out to be just amazing and everybody is just loving the track at the moment. It’s being played by all the top DJs, even some that I never thought would play something this “retro”. That just shows I was right, DJs need something fresh to play as everybody has been doing the same thing and the market was getting stalled. It needed new ideas and fresh sounds!”
Check the video here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENPgcaASqIo
Let’s rewind for a moment. You were born in Rome where your father was working at a very popular club at that time…can you tell us more about that…music must have been all around you from a very early age?
“Yes, well the reason why I started DJing and making music was because of that…well, I was hanging out in nightclubs since an early age…I was 10-11 when I started hanging in the club DJ booth as I lived alone with my dad and he couldn’t afford a babysitter, so he would take me to the club with him at night. I also recall my dad playing house music all the time, that was pretty much the only music we would listen to at home…so that was love for electronic music from a very early age and he got me my first set of turntables when I was 12 and I started practicing 6-8hrs per day to compete in the regional DMC’s. I loved the art of turntablism back then but then when I got to the age of 16-17 I started to be more interested in the production side of it and I still believe there is nothing more fulfilling than hearing your track on the radio or played by a DJ in a nightclub.”
So in reality, your life was pretty much mapped out for you from way back?
“As I said, growing up from an early age in the club scene…I guess that’s all I ever wanted to do. I just love house music so making a living from it seemed the best thing I could ever go for…I love studio work a lot, so I produce for different artists and have side projects etc. – I guess making music is really what I love the most, even more than performing it…”
What took you to LA LA Land?
“Well I lived in 6 different countries (Italy, England, Indonesia, Spain, Denmark and now in the US) and ended up in LA as one thing I really love is the sun and I wanted to be based somewhere with great weather…but that still had things “happening” music wise…so Los Angeles seemed the best choice…”
How important was the man like Sasha to you in the early days?
“FUNNY you mentioned that as I have been a HUGE Sasha fun since an early age, I mean, I was following Digweed and Sasha since I was 10!! So inspiring, stuff like Global Underground…his Ibiza one was a milestone and something I still listen to this day. When I met him the first time at Space a few years ago I was so nervous, I felt like a groupie hahaha.”
When I told Guy Garret at Buzz Chart HQ that I was interviewing you today, he shouted across the office…”Ah the big noise from LA! Ask him about his old skool Inner City style stabs, does he have any influences from that era?
“HAHAHA definitely! Who doesn’t like Inner City?!? Again, this comes from me listening to house music since I was a young kid, so it’s something I just love…I wanted to try to recreate those amazing vibes (well, to me they are amazing because of so much great memories from early childhood…). It’s funny that some people told me “I love your new future house sound” and I am like there is nothing “future” about this… this is me going back to the roots and this is why I called the track ‘Back Home’.”
You have released music under several alter egos for quite a long time, however it was when you went a little more ‘mainstream’ with your productions that the breakthrough happened. Were you happy taking that route, were you frustrated at not getting the recognition for earlier material or was it just a case of it was the right time to move forward?
“Glad you asked that. Yes making music is something I’m very proud of, so I could never just make a certain sound because it was the right thing to do. So it took long time for things to take off because of that, but ultimately the market moved into a direction that I actually liked and this is when I went ahead and started making this kind of music. It was just the right time because I felt comfortable making this type of music. At the end of the day, what I ask myself when I finish a track and I just blast it in the studio by myself is… “Antonio, is this something you are going to listen to 20 years from now and be proud of?”
Great answer. What are the big 5 tunes in your box this weekend?
“Well ‘Back Home’ of course… everybody else is playing it so why not me? lol . And then 3 other tracks of mine there are not yet released but are followups to ‘Back Home’… One of them is called ‘Alright’ and it’s been on SiriusXM playlist for the last 6 weeks in a row, can’t wait for it to drop next month… I’ve got so many nice messages about it from fans and fellow DJ/Producers. And then there’s EDX remix of London Grammar… not out yet but I begged him to get a copy as it’s absolutely beautiful.”
“When it comes to playing in a club, well I’d much rather play as little vocals as possible so that the crowd can focus on the actual pieces of music.” Disucss…
“Call me “weird” but this new thing of playing 30-40 tracks on top of each other during a 1hr set that a lot of DJs are doing now-a-days sounds like a big mess to me. It feels like the set doesn’t have enough times where people can breath and enjoy the actual piece of music, the way the artist who created it intended to… For me, when I want to personalize my sets I get in the studio and produce remixes and bootlegs or I look for old school tracks or tracks that are just different and not overplayed by every DJ on the face of earth. Putting the same 5 or 6 acapellas on top of the usual tracks is not my thing…”
Who better to ask about the EDM scene in the States at the moment! It must be so refreshing to see the clubbers now happily opening their ears for other genres of dance music over there after getting a bit tired of their initial baptism of dance fire?!?
“Yes it’s great, when I first moved to Los Angeles there was barely any clubs playing electronic music and now you hear it even down at your local pub…It feels to me more of a trend of the moment than people genuinely liking house music but hey, you gotta start somewhere!”
Best and worst thing about living in Los Angeles – other than the weather and traffic!!!
“Ooops…was gonna answer weather and traffic lol. Ok then I guess best thing is the opportunities you get by living here, there is just so much going on you have no excuses not to make the most out of it. Worst thing is…sometimes people who live here get a little carried away and they all feel like big shots and they seem to lose touch with reality. Lots of faking it and lies, way too much for my taste at times.”
What has been your tune of the summer?
Gotta say ‘Back Home’. Not because it’s mine, just because before releasing it I was not too sure about how people would respond to this new music direction I just played it to death to see people’s reaction!!!”
Your best DJ show of 2014?
“Hmmm so many…Groove Cruise were pretty cool as it was first time I got to play on a whole cruise ship that turned into a massive club and also there was so many friends there with me. And of course Vegas, people party like crazy there and especially enjoyed playing at the pool party at Marquee.”
It’s that time again, the DJ Top100 Poll. Two years ago you claimed…“I don’t think promoters should take the DJ Mag Top100 too seriously. We all know there is way too much politics to really trust that’s what the crowd is really into.” There aren’t too many producers who speak out like this…do you still with your statement?
“Yeah I don’t think that poll truly reflects what people are into, more like who spends the most money for their name to be in people’s head at the time they go to vote.”
An up and coming producer we should be checking out in 2015?
“Cedric Zeyenne, amazing music and got such unique style…Also Mark Lower, same thing, making music with soul and not trying to do what everybody else is doing…”
What is the record that…
…reminds you of your childhood?
Wow so many… off the top of my head Sasha ‘Expander’
…always get you dancing?
Groove Armada ‘Superstylin’
…reminds you of being broken hearted?
Sander Kleinenberg – ‘My Lexicon’
…you wish you would have made?
Adam K and Funkagenda ‘Drift’
Tell us about your studio set up…
“I work with both Logic and Ableton LIVE on a MacbookPro with 2 x 27inch Apple Monitors and I have JBL speakers and an extra pair of Yamaha NS10 just for reference plus 2 subwoofers (my studio is pretty big, so I prefer to use 2 of them side chained). I have a Universal Audio Apollo sound card and use lot of their plugins, they do sound amazing. As a master keyboard I use a Novation 61 keys plus a separate piano just to put down ideas sometimes with singers etc. And of course, industry standard volume controller by JBL and I also have an ableton live midi controller, but I never use it…just sits there looking pretty with all the colored buttons etc. lol…”
Not many people know this, but Antonio Giacca is really good at…
“Cooking, definitely cooking. I am an amazing chef. There’s also other things, but my publicist advices not to say those ones…”
A recent quote from a certain superstar DJ…“I believe true DJing is actually an art, but it’s a dying art, as everyone is pushing the sync button…it’s a real shame when you see a ‘DJ’ plug his laptop in and call this DJing. Music will always evolve but sometimes not in the best way.” What are your thoughts on that?
“Oh my God, I hear about this one all the time. The art of DJing has evolved, just deal with it. Things change as the world evolves. I used to love playing on vinyl, yes that was way more fun and I was into turntablism, scratching etc. Yes, it is true that beat matching got much easier, it took me years to master that on vinyl and now every kid can just bypass that as there’s a sync button there waiting to be pushed. But hey, people forget that is not beat matching that makes a great DJ, it is the ability to play the right music at the right time to get the crowd going crazy. And most importantly, play your own music and make people go crazy with that. Nobody in the crowd cares that I have been doing DMC competitions whilst the guy after me doesn’t even know what a turntable looks like. All they care about is the music. So the art of DJing is still there and will always be there, it’s about the music you make yourself and you then go out and play, beat matching was just something that was needed to learn back in the days out of necessity and it’s just not needed anymore. Take it from somebody who been there and done that.”
And finally…what is coming out next from you release wise?
“My next single is called ‘Alright’ and will drop end of November, lot of you guys might have already heard it on my radio show, The Edge or on Sirius XM, it’s been on their playlist for the last 5-6 weeks…it’s getting great feedback so far and soon we will send the promo out and I’m excited to see this one dropping as looks like people who heard it just love it!”
Great answers young man. See you down the front…
“Thank you guys for this interview, always nice to talk to people who share the same passion for music, it was a real pleasure!”
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Email: antonio@antoniogiacca.com
Website: www.antoniogiacca.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/antoniogiacca
Twitter: www.twitter.com/antoniogiacca
YouTube: www.youtube.com/antoniogiacca
Soundcloud: www.soundcloud.com/antoniogiacca
