One of the hottest producers on the planet right now blasts us away with two dancefloor anthems
Interview : Dan Prince
Paul welcome to DMCWORLD, where on the planet are you today?
“Currently in my new studio in Southampton – listening through music for this week’s radio show.”
Loads of cool music coming our way from yourself at the moment, let’s kick off with the lovely but sad story behind the Artful & Ridney’s ‘Missing You’ production that has been soaring high in The Buzz Chart. This was to be the next remix for Frankie Knuckles to get his teeth into…please talk us through the whole story…
“The terribly sad news of Frankie’s passing has left the dance music community with a heavy heart over the last few months. Both Artful and I were honored when we saw Frankie supporting “Missing You” in his DJ sets and Traxsource chart last year and when he added that he wanted to remix the record – it was just an amazing moment! It’s a great honor for us that Eric Kupper still wanted to go ahead with the remix as a Director’s Cut tribute, and the paragraph he sent us encapsulates how he saw the remix…
‘I have been regularly playing the original version of this amazingly beautiful record since I first received it last year and I was originally scheduled to do this mix with my musical partner-in-crime, Frankie Knuckles. After his untimely passing, I still really wanted to remix this record – in the Director’s Cut style we had carefully honed over the years – with his guidance from above. “And I’m Still Missing Him”…forever. I love you Frankie’ – ERIC KUPPER (JUNE 2014).”
I am sure you have been asked this in interviews but here it is again, what did Frankie and his music mean to you?
“He’s been a huge inspiration in how he approached music, DJing and how he produced music for so many years. He always stuck to what he loved and what made his dancefloors work. As you grow as a DJ (over 20 years now!) you learn more about the craft of DJing and house music, and realise just what a huge part he had in its history.”
What was the inspiration behind the original?
“The original “Missing You” was a track written by Mark Hill (Artful), Terri Walker & Donae’o. I heard the demo (a UK garage track) during a trip to Mark’s studio and always thought [from the first moment] it would work better as a house track. After pestering Mark during the studio visit and many cups of coffee, he bounced the parts he had (which included an early demo version of the vocal), I took them away and that’s how my version started.”
How do you and Mark compliment each other in the studio…must be amazing working with someone classically trained?
“Mark has sold millions of records (as half of Artful Dodger and producer of Craig David’s first album) and has oodles of classic riffs that he busts out without thinking twice. Writing stuff with Mark compliments how I write, I’m more of the new age of writing using a modern DAW. I like to quickly sketch ideas together in Ableton where he’s more traditional, plugging in his guitar and finding grooves.”
Another track that has been a firm favourite in your sets this summer is your ‘Everything You Do’ anthem…which has FINALLY been given clearance! Talk us through the sound, the samples and history of this beautiful piece of music…love it!
“I’m a secret Fleetwood Mac fan, as a kid my parents always played “Tango In The Night” in the car on cassette and later I raided their vinyl collection for copies of “Rumours”, “Tusk” etc. One of my best friends Dad kept on at me for years about reading “My Life with Lindsey Buckingham” by Carol Ann Harris and that in turn fuelled my further interest in the band – watching documentaries, digging back through their music and eventually got to see them live in Dublin last year. Fast forward … one night a year ago I was struggling to sleep, so went into my old converted spare room studio, fired up the laptop on headphones and randomly picked “Oh Daddy” from “Rumours”. I liked the idea of taking something which was originally recorded as a more downtempo track and turning it into a club record (as Roger Sanchez had done with “Another Chance”) and so spent a couple of hours sample chopping in Ableton, flipping the sample and layering the basis of “Everything You Do”. A few weeks passed and I started to drop it in my DJ sets and people would ask what the track was! I was approached by Great Stuff to clear the track. At the time, I wasn’t sure it would at all be possible; it had been done purely for fun and something exclusive for my own DJ sets, but sure enough they got hold of the relevant people and its ready to go! To be honest with you, I still can’t quite believe we achieved it!”
Why are you right when I’m so wrong”…when was the last time you told that to a someone?
“My wife – when I forgot to empty the dishwasher yesterday. It was my turn.”
We saw you spinning in Ibiza a few weeks ago, last week some superstar DJs including Paul Oakenfold, Afrojack and Steve Angello announced that “Ibiza is too expensive”, and that the “mystique of Ibiza isn’t there anymore”. Do you agree?
“Ibiza’s what you make it, I don’t think it’s lost its magic. I just think people should go and look for it a bit more rather than expect it to appear in front of them. Ibiza is more than nightclubs – it’s the hidden coves, local restaurants, ambiance, sunsets and good music. We hired a car back in June and saw Es Vedre for the first time. It’s things like that which make Ibiza magical. Es Vedre cost us nothing! Is it too expensive? Yes, it probably is, but I would say on balance that if Daft Punk were playing a venue in Ibiza, it wouldn’t matter the cost of the ticket – I’d pay it! And I guess that’s the thing with clubbers coming to Ibiza. If they get to see a few acts they love, they’ll pay the entrance fee. I remember seeing Aphex Twin at Space last year (maybe year before) and was seriously blown away, I don’t know where else I would have seen his show – and that’s the amazing thing about this little island.”
Throw 3 reasons at us why you love Ibiza…
“Sunsets, great people and great music.”
Sunset at Mambo…the perfect record is…
“I finished a sunset DJ set back at the end of July with a stripped down piano cover of Disclosure “Latch” which finished just as the sunset disappeared and got a full round of applause! Spine tingling stuff! I don’t think I’ve got it so perfectly spot-on like that before…
Hear the full set >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=413spxQXzU4]
What are the big 5 records in your box right now?
CLUB
1. Ninetoes – Finder
2. Krankbrother – Thank You Baby
3. Ridney – Everything You Do
4. Ten Walls – Walking With Elephants
5. Jamie XX – All Under One Roof Raving
SUNSET
1. Royskopp & Robyn – Monument
2. Ane Brun – Big in Japan (Andy Kidd Sunset Mix)
3. Artful & Ridney ft. Terri Walker – Missing You (Artful’s Missing Ibiza Sunset Mix)
4. My Dear – Standing In This Dream
5. Part Time Heros ft. Jono McCleery – Realise
You have just finished building your new studio and are now settled in. What new little toys have you bought yourself for the new set up?
“Its almost there, on the new toys front I’m currently picking up all the compressors, broadcast mixers etc. to add the facility to broadcast my weekly radio shows from the studio (I currently use the Voice FM studios in Southampton). Am hoping to get it all finished in the next couple of months.”
You are a Southampton born lad…any interest at all in your local team who have sold everyone this summer?
“I think football’s a subjective thing and to be honest I really should keep off of Twitter reading speculation of who’s leaving and who’s staying. Its a shame that influential players from last season have moved on, but hopefully we can spend the money wisely and stay in the Premiership this coming season. That’s all I want, Premiership football!”
It’s that time of year again, the annual DJ Top100. I interviewed Arthur Bakerthis week, he remarked…“there are too many DJs and genres for a realistic competition”. What are your thoughts on that?
“I think there’s some amazing DJs that never seem to make the Top 100 (DJ EZ for one!) I’d rather just get on with making music and performing. I just hope clubbers do their homework and dig to look for new and exciting DJs.”
Your favourite ever festival moment of 2014?
“I’ve played a few boutique festivals this year which are just amazing. A smaller, intimate vibe with good music and always a knowledgeable crowd, I hope there’s more of these in 2015.“
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?
“I started back in the mid 90s with vinyl, moved to CD, memory stick and as much as I love DJing on CDJ2000’s, I prefer to use my laptop with Ableton. For 2 reasons …
1. When touring I found you can’t guarantee the equipment being correct when you arrive at a show. I’ve had CDJ2000’s on my tech list for years but have turned up at gigs with much older kit! And in some cases the equipment isn’t always the most well looked after – to be honest that’s happened a lot less in recent times, but during the initial 18 month cycle the CDJ2000 (and later Nexus) was released, it certainly could get interesting …
Secondly, I have a configuration I’ve worked on for a long time which allows me to remix live on-the-fly, keeping beats from 1 track, with parts of my own track. I dont like the old vinyl way of playing one record into another, I could have a couple of drum breaks from different records playing at once, with a synth part of my own, using an acapella to create something new.
Ideally, no two DJ sets are the same. I know that laptops can be frowned upon, but I try to look back at where DJing came from, the digging of records, finding grooves, extending grooves or drum breaks. Taking old disco records and warping them to become something relevant on today’s dancefloor. I guess we don’t always need to look forward to the latest release, there’s plenty of old vinyl stuff I have in the studio that I can rip, warp in Ableton and quickly edit into my own exclusive version.”
What is the record that…
…reminds you of your childhood?
Ultravox “All Stood Still”
…always get you dancing?
Stardust “Music Sounds Better”
…reminds you of being broken hearted?
Sébastien Tellier “La Ritournelle”
…you wish you would have made?
Whirlpool Productions “From Disco to Disco”
Who is the last GREAT young DJ/producer you have spotted around the world?
“I love the stuff Friction Machine are doing right now, their production sound and their live shows.”
The last non dance music album you checked out?
“I’m a huge Boards of Canada fan, and they take over a huge portion of my music listening, I’ve also been listening to John Martyn’s “Solid Air” album loads recently.”
It’s your birthday. Who are the 3 DJs you invite to play and what 1 singer dead or alive do you get to sing you Happy Birthday?
“Thomas Bangalter, Guy-Manuel De Homem-Christo & DJ Falcon with Alan Braxe singing Happy Birthday through the vocoder.”
The most dangerous DJ to go out on a night out with?
“I recently spent a couple of days in Ibiza gigging and stayed with Nathan Cozzetto. I can honestly say it was the most random few days in Ibiza I’ve had over the last few years, meeting lots of different people and producers randomly, not to mention still being at Clockwork Orange right before my flight home(!). These kind of visits to the island spark great friendships which I’m sure will last for years to come. Not to mention raving all night!”
And finally…what is next on the agenda release wise?
“Everything You Do” gets a Traxsource exclusive on 24th August with all other stores getting it 2 weeks later. I’ve also got new 3 track EP on its way, featuring a new track with Lovely Laura & Ben Santiago plus another solo single in September – a collaboration with the legendary Roland Clark.”
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For further information on Ridney…
Web: extradry.tv
Twitter: @ridney
YouTube: extradry.tv/youtube
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