The superstar from Vancouver gets the dancefloor fucked up with ‘Bonk’
Interview : Dan Prince
Rich welcome back to DMCWORLD, been a while. Where on earth are you today?
“Hello Dan, always look forward to interviews with you!!!!” I am sat on my sofa in Vancouver, trying to get through all my emails and promos before I drive off to my gig in Seattle tonight!!”
Another day, another massive piece of production. This time around it’s your new collaboration with Hot Mouth that is causing mayhem everywhere. Please talk us through the sound of the brilliantly named ‘Bonk’…
“Jon came up with the title actually, I was a bit against it at first but I think it fits! As I’m sure you’re aware the Melbourne Bounce sound is taking over at the moment, and we wanted to make a track that would appeal to the masses while at the same time bringing in elements of tracks that got us both into the scene in the first place. I first started DJing during the funky house boom in the UK back in 2000, and so this is a sound that really appeals to me. I think the two styles fit really well together!”
How did the collab come about in the first place?
“If you remember we did a collab called ‘Flash’ which came out on Mau5trap earlier this year, and as it was so successful a follow up was essential. Jon and I have been friends ever since a gig we had together in Hawaii a couple of years back where we spent a romantic couple of hours making sandcastles on the beach.”
Cute!Loved your remix of 3LAU’s ‘How You Love Me’ earlier this summer…your remix back catalogue is the stuff of dreams with the likes of Lady Gaga, Fatboy Slim and Porter Robinson tucked under your belt. Is there a Lazy Rich rework process in place before you start work on each project…some producers strip everything back except the vocal, some are happy to have their signature ‘sound’ all over it…some take it each track as separate projects. What’s yours…?
“I think a remix needs to be the version of the track you would have made if you had come up with the idea first – I usually pick through the parts and only use those that I like and write a brand new track around those. If there is a vocal then that’s a must, but I usually try and write my own chords for the breakdown and of course make my own drop.”
What are the big 5 tunes in your box this weekend?
Bonk, obviously.
Holl & Rush – Napoleon
Joel Fletcher – Bounce Baby
J-Trick & Henry Fong – Scream
Sander van Doorn & Oliver Heldens – THIS
Nice to see you still hands on with your social media. Most producers have a team of people monitoring and answering their fans questions, you dude still answer them one by one?
“I’m too cheap to pay for a team! But yeh, if someone takes the time to ask me a question and is actually interested in my music then of course I’ll try to answer them. Except if they ask me for feedback on their track that is, once you start doing that then you wont have time for anything else.”
Saying that, you have had a few haters on your recent productions. It’s all healthy right?
“Who was it who said that unless you have haters you aren’t doing it right? I was actually suprised by how few people were upset with the change in style for Bonk, it’s the first track I’ve done in ages that doesn’t have the usual Lazy Rich bass drop. But unless you’re able to keep up with current trends you aren’t going to last long in this business.”
“This track either needs more bassoon or more oboe, can’t decide which”. Most people’s biggest dilemma at work is what to have for lunch! What did you decide on in the end?
“I actually settled for a slightly detuned sarrusophone.”
What was your tune of the summer?
“I would have to say Merk & Kremont’s remix of Pinball – it’s a great track that has worked both for my VIP gigs and even for festivals.”
“Gigs are a million times better when you get to perform alongside your mates.” Who are the DJs you FUCKING LOVE spinning with?
“I was talking to a couple of people about this, instead of letting the general public vote for the Top 100 DJs we should let the actual DJs do it, meaning that we would get a list of whoever are the nicest people to hang out with. My picks would have to be Hot Mouth, Lucky Date, Botnek, Overwerk and Revolvr.”
What is the record that…
…reminds you of your childhood?
Pump up the Jam by Technotronic
…you wish you would have made?
Unison by Porter Robinson
…always gets you dancing?
Kid Creme’s remix of Shakedown
…reminds you of being broken hearted?
Young Hearts by Kings of Tomorrow
You just mentioned the DJ Top100. Arthur Baker on these very pages said there are too many DJs out there now and it needs to be split into categories. Thoughts on that?
“I don’t think categories would work as most DJs make more than one genre of music, and there would be a huge uproar as most people can’t the difference between dubstep and light jazz anyway. The contest does of course interest me, but purely so I can make fun out of the people that have obviously paid there way to be there!”
An up and coming producer to watch out for out for next year?
“Holl & Rush have really impressed be recently, and I think Joel Fletcher is gonna really blow up soon!”
DJ gig of 2014?
“Club Octagon in Korea everytime, love it there!”
And finally…what is coming out next from you studio wise?
“I think another collab with Hot Mouth is in the works, and I’ve also got one lined up with FTampa. More bounce for sure!”
Thanks chuck.
“Thanks mate, catch you next time, thanks as always for the support!!”
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http://www.lazy-rich.com
http://twitter.com/#/djlazyrich
http://www.soundcloud.com/lazy-rich
http://www.bigfishrecordings.com
http://www.label-engine.com
