The house music main man getting all Physical on the dancefloor
Interview by Rob Chadwick
Sandy a big weclome back to DMCWORLD! Looking back over last year, what were your highlights coming into 2015?
“The release of BANG! ft April was great to get out on Ultra as I always wanted to have a tune on that label. Releasing something on 20/20 Vision was also a great 2014 moment for me too.”
Now electronic music is more accessible to everyone, what makes a the aspiring producer stand out to you?
“There’s so many people doing it digitally with pre-set sounds, I think when you hear some real unique analogue sounds in tunes it gives the producer a much better chance of standing out in a very crowded place.”
Can you talk to us about your new release Love & Other ‘Physical’…
“I made the beats on the Elektron Octatrak and Ableton. The bass was made with the Virus 2 with some additional pads. The main riff on top of the bass is from the Nord Lead 2 and I really had to play with all the setting to get it to pop out. I had one sound from the Moog that is more of an efx to fill bits in. The main vocal riff is from me saying “What you wanna do right now, do you wanna get physical”. I find it fun doing things like that at times.”
You’ve opted to step away from the classic vocal idea on this one, what was your thoughts on that?
“I keep seeing things saying Sandy’s new sound, but honestly throughout my career I’ve done all sorts of house music…bass heavy club tracks have always been part of my output.. i love the way that bassline sound has come back more now though…I know the UK especially always love fat bass! I actually played a rough version of the tune back at ADE 2013, mashed it up with the accapella from my track Freak – from that moment I knew it was gonna work, just took me a while to get round to finishing it!“
And the inspiration, it’s a strong warm cut, would you agree?
“Hell yeah! I am inspired by all music and have alway made various sounds, down to a chill out album. It was really Freak initially I was thinking of a track that can smash the dancefloor like that and like I Can’t Stop, but more underground than both of those with an updated bass heavy feel.”
Tell us about Love & Other and what its been like to work with the guys there?
“They’re a great team. It is really nice to be part of a good new label that are making big waves and the response is huge. I feel like I am making music for myself again. It’s great to be musically free again.”
Other releases you have coming on Pokerflat and Play it Down too, can you talk to us about those also…
“The Play It Down release is something I’ve done together with Hector Couto also featuring a longtime vocal collaborator of mine LZ Hall, more collabs coming from me and Hector soon too. I am actually still working on the Poker Flat tunes, need to get another mix done for Order & Kaos – and the other is a cover of one of my own tunes and I need to get the sounds closer to the original. I don’t have the two synths with me at this moment or I would have the original sound already. We got the beats perfect, but it is just the main riff. I am on it! I’m gonna have to go to my storage and pick them up…”
How did the hook up with Hector come about in the first place?
“We’re fans of each other’s music and there was one of my many ideas sitting on my computer that we felt could benefit from someone else jumping in – so we reached out to Hector and got it moving – planning to do some more music together soon too…it feels like a good musical connection.”
I also hear you’ll be re-launching your labels again, whats your idea behind the re-launches and when can we expect them?
“Well I have a stack of 40+ tunes I have in my computer and it’s time to share them with the world! And we’re gonna separate and define the sounds. People really need the sounds separated these days. Deep Visionz coming back is great and we have 6 ideas ready and it’s all vocals only! That’s the vibe with DV – it’s all about the songs. And Blackwiz is all about the club tracks. We’ll be signing some music from other producers too – got a couple signed we’re excited about which I will remix too. 2015 is gonna potentially be my most prolific year ever – stacks of great music coming…!!”
Finally, where can we say you perform in the near future?
“Italy – Naples, Rome and Donoma on 6/7/8 Feb…heading to the UK in March – Glasgow and Nottingham on the 7th & 8th…and lots more in the pipeline! Look out for Visionz events coming soon!”
