The legend makes his long awaited to the studio! ‘Look For Me’ – massive
Interview by Dan Prince
Mr Scaravilli…welcome back to DMCWORLD – where in the world are you right now?
“India Dan!”
Cool! What was the first piece of music you heard this morning?
“FCL featuring Lady Linn – ‘Can We Try’.”
Such brilliant news hearing you are back in the studio…and what a way to return with your collab with NZ producer Jolyon Petch swinging our way on Positiva. Please talk us through the sound and history of ‘Look For Me’…
“While touring Australia and New Zealand I knew I had some days off during the week in between gigs. I suggested to Jolyon to make a studio session instead of taking me to a strip club (which seems to be a national sport in NZ). So he brought me to the studio of a friend in Auckland, a small home studio with handmade speakers and a good vibe. I plugged my laptop in and dropped a beat I was working on, we started jamming with vocals, opened up some organs and a piano and made some grooves. We played around all day and at the end of the afternoon we had something that looked like an idea. From there we kept on working every time we had a bit of time, in his living room, in a home theatre, on the floor – where ever! Sadly the tour ended with this project unfinished…so we basically worked on the session through a dropbox folder, adding layers and structuring from both side of the world. When we were booth happy with it I mixed down the track in my studio and two days after ADE started, the track got signed by Positiva…”
What most of the clubbers out on the dancefloor do not realize is that you are a complete music head – it’s not just house music where you rule the roost. You started in Hip Hop, love Drum & Bass and are trained in classical music…who are some of the artists you grew up listening to that were influences?
“I’m definitely a nineties kid as most of my influences come from this period. I grew up listening to hip hop like Pharcyde, Black Sheep, A Tribe Called Quest, Souls of Mischief, NWA and Public Enemy…but I also had a real thing for UK hardcore breakbeat and then jungle like Ray Keith, 4 Hero, General Levy, Andy C, Roni Size, Reinforced, XL Recordings, Rugged Vinyl and Congo Natty. Toooooo many to name them all…then I got into house and techno listening to a tape that a friend of mine made me listen to, I clearly remember it was a mix from Jon da Silva and one of the tracks kept my head banging. From that point I can’t say I fell in love with the music, but I started thinking as an over confident young kid that this music was good – but I could do something better out of it. My first heroes were Todd Terry, George Morel, Joey Beltram, Masters at Work, Aphex Twin, Josh Wink, Ron Trent and Lil Louis…”
An album in your collection we may be surprised by?
“Serge Gainsbourg – ‘Histoire de Melody Nelson.”
I love this quote from you : “Music is like a big playground, some days you like to play in the sandbox, the day after you enjoy the slide, and the next day you have fun kicking a ball about. I personally just love being in this playground, I have no real preference for activities I get involved in, it all just depends on the moment.” Do you think that there are too many young producers coming through these days too blinkered with their music, maybe too scared to deviate off their line…?
“Hmmm, you are probably right. But on the other hand when I was young I started by discovering first the sandbox, then slowly I climbed the slide to finally introduce myself to the kid with the ball…sometimes you just need some more time to discover the limit of the playground…let’s be lenient …we were all there once!”
Another tune everyone has been excited about recently is your bootie remix of ‘Sugarman’ by Rodriguez that has been a mainstay in your sets of late. Happy vibes in the house that Pete Tong recently played on the big BBC airwaves. The reaction from everyone must have made you happy?
“Yes super glad as actually for me, it was just a tool I made for my set. It was actually a friend of mine who suggested to me to give it away for free as I couldn’t release it officially…so making a gift always give you a happy feeling.”
What are the big 5 tunes in your box this weekend…
“Considering this weekend I play my last festival in India, it will probably sound like…
Little by Little – Bang The Box
A fresh new track I just received from Defected, perfect for setting up the vibe.
Dim Lebrun – Elvis
Super nice track from a new kid on the block, an un-definable piece of music, in between Kink and Sharam Jey..unreleased yet.
Christian Smith- NYC
An old track from Christian Smith, techno with a jacking house swing, love to play this track at the moment.
Ben Sims – Freaks (KiNK Acid Mix)
Definitely techno, I didn’t try it yet, but considering I’m playing a techno festival, I might give it a test.
Stavroz – The Finishing
If I got the chance to play till the sunrise I’ll close my set with this track, a small piece of sugar for the soul…”
Looking ahead to the year ahead…what are some of the club/festival dates coming up you cannot wait for?
“Pacha Ibiza, Ministry Of Sound and Egg London, Magazine Club Lille, Ageha Tokyo…so many places I can’t wait to play…”
Some producers doing it for you at the moment?
“Kink, Detroit Swindle, Ten Walls, Traumer, Dusky, Maceo Plex, 9 O’clock…”
True or false? The reason you are left handed when you DJ is all down to your combo tape/tuner/deck system you learnt on back in the day?
“Hahaha, yes totally true Dan. When you really want something and you have no choice you force your left hand to learn something that you would usually do with your right hand…just cuz the pick up on the combo was on the left side…”
Cannot speak to the mighty Kid Créme without touching on the whole touring with DJ partner Junior Jack which came to an end last year. Man that was some run dude! So what did it come to in the end…just time to do your own thang…?
“We‘ve been touring for more than a decade constantly together, then naturally we just thought it would be also good for each other to perform separately. It was a bit strange to travel and perform alone as we are so used to playing back to back, to share those trips together, but it actually brought something new and super fresh into my process and I love that. Also I think it released us from some kind of “expectation” we had from each other…I personally feel that it’s more like a new step of experiment and I also think we would be super happy to play back to back again whenever we are booked together. The roots of our relationship didn’t change, the form just evolved.”
When was the last time you pressed rewind and listened to a track over again because it was so damned good?
“Two years ago when I first heard Ten Walls – ‘Requiem’.”
Tell us 3 bucket list adventures you wanna do in your lifetime?
“Watching stars from the ALMA observatory in Chile.
Getting super drunk with the Dalai Lama.
Getting naughty with Yolandi Visser.
Ideally getting the Dalai Lama super drunk joining me getting naughty with Yolandi Visser under the stars in Chile, but this combo might be a bit more tricky…”
A tune nestling in your set that just won’t go away from last year?
“Cajmere ft. Dajae – ‘Satisfy (Tiger Stripes & Pleasurekraft Remix)’.”
And finally…what is coming out next from you studio wise?
“Many different projects on the go at the moment, some are already finished, some are still on process. Probably another collab with Jolyon Petch, also I’m thinking of wiring back all my analogue gear, putting the mouse, the computer and the plugins on the side just for an EP, and putting my hands back on some hardware. Let’s see what happens…”
