Chats remixes, keeping his fans happy, arcade games, Michael Jackson and Danny Tenaglia
Interview : Dan Prince
Monsieur Leger – welcome to DMCWORLD, where in the world are you today?
“I’m now back home in Amsterdam, back from an intense Canada & Mexico tour.”
A stunning new Sebastien Leger remix sending dancefloors crazy right now, your rework of Guy J’s ‘Lamur’ coming out on Bedrock. Please talk us through the sound of your steel drums and rhythms piece of work…
“I made that remix because I love the original, it got that special vibe which I like in my own track as well. these mysterious Balearic sounds when I’m doing some melodic stuff, but on this one I added my funky touch as well, so it’s a good balance between funky progressive sort of tech-house.”
An interesting cross fire of words on your Facebook site last week concerning your new “Diamond Bridge’ EP. One fan suggested it lacks the “craziness and weirdness” of your productions that he loves. You replied that you change your music all of the time, so deal with it! I suppose you can’t please everyone all the time huh?
“What artist in this world pleases their fans all the time 100% ? I’m a huge fan of Michael Jackson, but I did not like all his stuff, in fact, I never liked what he did after the ‘Dangerous’ album, but still I was my hero. I mean if Madonna would have recorded tracks that sound like ‘Holiday’ or “Like A Virgin’ all her life, her fans would have been bored very quickly right ? You need to move on, discover new sounds, you might lose some fans, you might win some new. My very first fans (I’m talking about the late 90s, early 2000) some are probably not even involved in house music anymore, they have kids, work, real life I guess…they moved on, their taste changed, my taste changes too. I get bored very quickly, I cannot do the same thing over and over until people get bored . If they don’t like what I do now, maybe they will like it in 1 year or whatever, people who didn’t like what I did 3 years ago may like me now etc…it’s called being an artist.”
I am a massive fan of original 70s arcade games like Pac-Man, Frogger, Defender and Space Invaders. I hear on the grapevine you have an entire room at your house filled with these machines???
“True, my living room is actually a gaming room (half of it), but the machines I own are Japanese candy cab (time for you to Google : New net city, Egret II, Taito Vewlix…) – they are not dedicated machines for just one game like Pac-Man or Space Invader but standard cabinets you can find in Japanese Games Center, you can fit in there old school but new school games in it, but I do play only arcade games, especially Shmups (shoot them up / Danmaku). I got a few world record on those, that’s another story Dan…”
Nice photo of yourself with Deep Dish and Danny Tenaglia at the Digital Dreams Festival. Come on dude, did it cross your mind to have a word with Danny about his bright orange jacket?
“I almost got blind by his jacket seriousl ! No I did not mention anything, having a picture with those guys were already a privilege, I started 20 years ago, and they were already big in the game back in 1993/1994, I was just a kid and I already owned their record on Tribal US/UK or Yoshitoshi. Legends.”
“I have this weird way of working that during my DJ sets I rarely play my own tracks. I feel that the best tracks that work on a dancefloor are, in many ways, the simplest and somehow irrelevant, not timeless.” Discuss..
“DJ tools that sells good on Beatport but last one month VS timeless piece of music that sell shit ? – the DJ tools have that instant and functional thing that work on any dancefloor as it’s simple, nothing too complex. I like to play that stuff, as you can do a lot more, mixing and technique wise than a full melodic super produced song. But we also need some timeless stuff that at first could be a little too difficult, but if you play it good at the right moment, it can change the whole night into something deeper than just a regular DJ set. This is where the real DJing comes to me, perfect technique and best programing.”
What is the current top 10 you are spinning?
“Can I be a little lazy here ?”
http://www.beatport.com/charts/s-bastien-l-ger-world-tour-pt-3/284408
What is your best ever festival experience?
“Without any doubt Igloofest in Montreal. Not much of a festival, more of a 10.000 capacity dancefloor with a “nice” temperature of -20 degres (Celcius). I dunno what happened that night, it was just phenomenal, it also was their first full sold out that night. I felt what rock band feels like when they perform in front of thousands of people and they are all there for you. I could feel the love, the energy, the craziness in that gigantic fridge. A fantastic moment of my life!”
Who is the best up and coming producer you have seen/heard recently?
“I’m gonna be brutally honest. Nobody. Same thing with DJs, but I played with Mendo at Sonar few weeks ago, and he was very good!”
Gotta say – France were a little unlucky to exit the World Cup this week, you started the tournament on fire!!!
“France was very lucky to go that far! We were not even supposed to play that World Cup, we managed to win 3-0 at the last minute to make it to the competition. So it’s already a miracle we ended in 1/4 finals!”
What is the record that…
…reminds you of your childhood?
“Michael Jackson ‘Thriller’.”
…always get you dancing?
“Something that has funk and groove, I’ll go for 80’s funk.”
…reminds you of being broken hearted?
“Michael Jackson – ‘She’s Out Of My Life’.”
…you wish you would have made?
“Surprise! ‘THRILLER’!”
What is on a Sebastien Leger rider in 2014?
“My rider is like the easiest rider in the world and yet people can’t get it right every time : 2 or 3 CDJ 2000 (no Nexus), DJM 900 (preferred) or 800. No other mixer is allowed. Good speakers. I don’t drink alcohol so just water, juice, Pepsi/Coke. That simple, no crazy champagne, Givenchy towels or floating boat shit.”
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 believe that most of this is true, but if you say this, you are becoming an old grumpy fucker that doesn’t live with your time. Which is also a bit true. I don’t care about laptop DJs as long as they don’t fuck around with my equipment and plugging their cables in front of me while I’m busy doing things already. Most of the DJs I’ve seen on laptop were just wankers doing nothing but sync two DJ tools together. If this is DJing in 2014, then yeah I agree with that superstar DJ’s sentence. I’ve seen some pretty lame DJ on CDJ (or vinyls) as well, playing terrible tunes too. So what’s the deal ? For me what you can’t get from technology is those years playing in front of different crowd, getting experience and music knowledge, to adapt your music for the night, that’s what a DJ is supposed to do in my opinion. Kids can by all their controller and toys, they won’t get this in one night.”
You have been travelling so much of late, are you a producer who can work whilst on the road, or is it a case of no place like home for your tuneage?
“No place like home to make music, I gave up a long time ago producing on the road…small screen, trackpad, headphone = shitty song back in the real studio. I play video game on tour on my laptop, where I’m a lot more talented.”
And finally, what is coming out next from you studio wise?
“I’ve got something in the pipeline which is not confirmed yet, but if it is, then it’s one of the biggest achievement in my career. Can’t say more about it but I’m really, really, really excited about this. Otherwise, I’m back in the studio after a very long time of no inspiration, took me a while to find my way back, I’m even considering buying hardware again! Synths and analog stuff! YES !”
https://www.facebook.com/sebastienleger
