One of the biggest tunes from Miami Weeks gets us all vocal. ‘The Scream’ – massive…
Interview by Dan Prince
Robbie a massive welcome back to DMCWORLD…where on planet earth are you today?
Hi Guys! Today, May 20, I am in Barcelona chilling and working on music and trying to hang with friends!
Barcelona…this city is really on fire for house music at the moment right?
Yeah I played at CDLC, a small 500 capacity room for house music lovers. Great vibe!
The first piece of music you heard this morning after rolling out of bed…
U2 – I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
In true Rivera style at this time of year you always turn the heat up for summer…this time around it’s down to ‘The Scream’…please talk us through the history and sound of the track…
This is a special track for me. I’ve been touring for 16 years so I took 2 months off earlier this year. I started hanging out with my wife’s friend Jonathan in Miami, who is like an encyclopedia of house music especially from the late 80’s and through the 90’s. After many dinners and wine sessions I got inspired to go back to the studio and try to produce a track inspired by authentic sounds from the 90’s. I got inspired by many tracks from early pioneers in dance music like Shep Pettibone, David Morales, MAW, Justin Strauss and Lil Louis to name a few. It was such a fun track to do and finally I tested it in my new car with Jonathan and my wife Monica and we all loved it! When I got back on tour I started testing in various clubs in the US and the vibe was great. Obviously in America many clubs are still into commercial EDM so it takes like 30 minutes into my set for kids to notice this party is all about house music. This tune’s really a ride! You need to be in a dark club to feel the vibe.
As a Miami resident, how was Music Week for you? Some people came away saying it was the best yet, some industry folk exclaimed they won’t be going back as it has truly lost its magic. Your thoughts and highlights…
Well it has lost the business side of the music industry. I have been going to this event for over 12 years and yes, it is different. It’s all about who has the biggest party with the biggest lineup, and eventually what happens is many up and coming DJs and even established ones over play themselves and it can be overwhelming for fans. MMW has become a week for promoters, not so much industry meetings. I do meet with friends and industry peeps but we don’t sit down and shop tracks like we did before. However, if you want to party your ass off it’s a great week to come to Miami and enjoy the beach and parties. I did my Juicy Beach event with Bob Sinclair and we had a great time!
The 5 big records in your box this weekend…
1. Bob Sinclar Feat. Dawn Tallman – Feel The Vibe
This new track has great remixes including a cool mix I did!
2. Umek & Shark- Everybody Seems To Be Having Fun
I love the bassline on this one. Just makes want to shake your head!
3. Madonna – Ghosttown (Roger Sanchez aka Sman mix)
Roger is back with amazing tracks lately. I like the bass, beats and the vocal drop on this.
4. Beltek – Bora Bora
Happy summer grooves! I like to get some smiles when I end my set with this one.
5. Robbie Rivera – The Scream
A must, duh!
The last great…
Film you saw…
The Gambler with Mark Wahlberg. Great movie and pay attention to the music. Some M83 tracks.
Live band…
Unfortunately I haven’t seen any live bands but I did go see comedian Jerry Seinfeld with Monica in Miami and it was awesome.
Book you read…
I’m half way on a few on my iPad but I don’t seem to finish them!
Album…
Orchestral Manouvers in the Dark – The OMD Singles
This year has seen some of the biggest DJs in the world really come out and speak their minds on social media. Some really interesting issues have been raised by your counterparts, just wondered what your thoughts were on some of the topics they have brought to the public domain…
Seth Troxler at IMS Engage…“I’m seeing people float further and further away from the idea and the culture that we tried to create, and it really pisses me off.”
I am being honest here. I do not like how this business has changed, but it did. I don’t want to complain but just say that I hope it returns a little to the the way it was. It was a very simple business model. You produce a great track, dance radio supports it, you get gigs and repeat. Well now you have a million DJs from the age of 13 wanting this life. It’s very competitive out there and many people in this industry are really not that smart and just try to make a quick buck, and it damages quality. The lifetime of a track is so short that it’s pathetic. So now we produce many tracks and have the hope that one will stick for a bit and become a club hit.
David Guetta at Coachella…”My computer crashed… so I just had to put all my music in a random order on USB sticks… so old school”
I hadn’t seen this. Well USB’s can crash as well but maybe he doesn’t know this. I have a few CDs in my bag just in case. I don’t use computers to perform simply because I still like the feel of searching for music during a set. The anxiety between reading the crowd and searching music can make you find a special track that can transform the night to a very memorable one, which you just can’t do by playing the same hits everybody uses or just hitting “play”. I respect David’s achievements but I don’t think using USB sticks are old school!
Steve Angello and Carl Cox in Billboard…“The attitude is like, ‘we’re making great money, let’s milk it,’” a sentiment heralded by many including Carl Cox who believes that dance music now moves at such a pace that no producer has any chance of creating a future classic.”
Well yeah, many DJs have been milking promoters and agencies making loads of money these past few years, but also many clubs and promoters have lost money on them so there is a bit of a mess right now. I also run a record label and it’s just so difficult and sad to release great music and after 2 weeks it’s forgotten due to the amount of releases. Everybody wants to be a DJ.
Any up and coming DJ/producer to watch out for in 2015…
Frank Caro & Alemany from Barcelona are very talented and good guys! Also DJ Rooster from NYC, he is producing amazing new school house music with old sounds.
Some summer gigs you are looking forward to…
Pacha Ibiza, my favorite club! Mexico City, have not been there in a while. Also Montreal, NY, Miami, LA, Barcelona, Menorca, France and more!
And finally, what is coming out next from you studio wise…we hear some big guns are a-coming…?
Next track you will get is my new collaboration with the legend Todd Terry. I took his old classic “Sume Sigh High” and beefed it up with a killer bassline. You will get it soon. I am also working with a huge legendary UK producer that I will not say yet, but the vocals are really cool! I’m also almost done with a new track with Bob Sinclair. On Juicy Music I have a collaboration with Bernstein called “Deep” with big remixes by Funkagenda, Harry Romero, Wally Lopez.
CONNECT WITH ROBBIE RIVERA :
Website: www.robbierivera.com
Facebook: facebook.com/robbierivera
Twitter: @RobbieRivera
Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/robbierivera
