The Italian dynamo on a mission with Dirty Session
Interview by Ian Fleming
Luca Bear is the Italian DJ/producer currently making great strides thanks to his output on his Dirty Session imprint. A DJ of some repute, he has played in clubs all around his native country, but from an international perspective it’s surely only a matter of time before he leaves his mark on audiences outside of his native country. His latest release has just come out on Mar-T’s WOW! label, so we decided to check in with him for a quick chat…
Hi Luca, thanks for catching up with us. So, how was your winter?
Hi guys and thanks for the invitation. It’s been a very positive winter so far. I’ve worked a lot – in the studio and in the clubs. One of the aims was to begin to bring the party of my label inside the clubs, and this winter we did a lot of very good gigs. Another one was to release some of my works from my new collaboration with the musician and singer Giorgia Angiuli.
How do you look back on your early years as a raver? How have your tastes changed since then?
When I think of my early years as raver, I always smile. Many years have passed and a lot of things have changed but the passion for the music is always the same, but with a musical background more enriched. If I analyze my “tastes” now, I realize that I haven’t changed anything…what I liked as a kid I like still now. But now I like many other things, which at that time didn’t know or I didn’t know well.
So what sort of music did you grow up with then? And when did you become interested in house music?
As a child I listened to different kinds of music, especially rock and hip-hop, then I fell in love with electronic music, and when I started to come to the clubs, my passion shifted to techno and it was then that I realized that my dream to be a DJ had begun. Later I started to listen to other genres, including house music, which I’m still deeply in love with.
Was there one moment where you realized this is what you wanted to do then?
Yes, the moment was after I started producing my tracks, and seeing them released on big labels and hearing them in the sets of big DJs made me think that I should believe in what I was doing and continue to follow my dream.
So how did you learn to make music? Did you take classes? Or just through trial and error on your laptop?
I started alone, for fun. I remember that version of Live 5 – I didn’t know how it worked but I tried to edit some songs that I wanted to play in my DJ sets with a touch of personality. Some days later I went crazy of all those digital buttons and I started to make my first beats.
How long did it take until you got to a stage where you were pretty assured with your sound?
I took me several years. Everything is based on the time that is dedicated, and with it the experience increases. In my opinion every producer needs several years to listen music and to produce too. Actually, I’ve been producing for about ten years, and sometimes I’m still not fully satisfied with my sound.
What other challenges are you faced with at the moment from a music point of view?
My next challenge is to grow my label Dirty Records Session more internationally, and bring the party, ‘Dirty Session Night’, outside of Italy and Europe.
When was the last time you heard a track that was really stunningly produced? What made it stick out for you?
It happens often. Sometimes it happens with old songs and sometimes with current songs, but it happens when I listen to a song with three fundamental elements that strike me: the drums, a synth and a vocal. When these three elements rock together, it’s the perfect song for me.
From that point of view, which track of yours was the biggest challenge to put together?
Surely ‘My Time’, a track I composed in collaboration with Giorgia Angiuli, an Italian musician and singer. With this track I think that all the three elements that I mentioned before came out on top.
And when you’re coming up with a new track, what do you start on? The samples? The bassline? How does that all work for you?
It depends on what I want to produce. Usually I start with a kick and bass and then I work on the music and the voice.
Sometimes, after the kick, comes the drums and I build my beat and then I put the vocal and other things in there. It depends on where I’m going. In the case of ‘My Time’, thanks to the vocal and synth played by Georgia, it was a real pleasure to take care of the drums and the structure.
So can you explain the album release to us a bit then? What was the vibe you were going for with it?
The track is part of ‘New Mission ep’, just released on the Spanish label Wow! Recordings, containing 3 songs composed several months ago with Giorgia.
What do you see as the future of your productions? Would you ever make music that’s not house and techno?
I see a future in which give freedom to the creativity, touching different genres, perhaps under a new alias, so as not to distort its artistic profile, but rather by creating and developing other.
And what else have you coming up that you’d like to shout about?
In May and June, I’ll do my second release on Dirty Session, the Dirtiest003 with James Mile, Weg, Marcman and Wooden Crate and Dsr004 Salvo Castelli with remixes of Regen. So very much looking forward to that!
Luca Bear & Giorgio Angiuli ‘New Mission’ EP is out now on Dirty Session Records…
