We have the pleasure of speaking with one of the pioneers of chic sexy french house GIOM. we find out more about his latest Supremus release, the inspiration behind it and an insight into his studio…
How are you, what have you been up to recently? Can you explain who you are to any of our readers who might not be so familiar with you?
Hi DMC! I’m good thanks, currently in Los Angeles working on some new music with my buddy Lonely Boy while I’m on a 3-week tour of North America. I am a French musician, producer and DJ that has been releasing music for over 10 years on labels such as Defected, Toolroom, NeedWant, Z Records and countless other ones. My first ever club gig was opening for DJ Sneak at Ministry of Sound in 2006. I think remixes are my specialty and this year will be putting out my 90th. I have had joint releases with Joey Negro and Fred Everything, toured b2b with Riva Starr for an entire summer season, including headlining Privilege in Ibiza, have had a Beatport Nu Disco #1 (Dr Zapp – Loulou Records 2014), started my own label Supremus Records 2 years ago which is currently preparing its 17th release and yet, I bet none of your readers will know who I am. Sometimes that’s how things work!
Talk us through your vision for house music – what should it be?
No vision. It just needs to speak to me somehow, and produced to a certain standard. Also, it’s nice when stuff sounds fresh, as opposed to retro. Retro is boring now. So let’s leave the 90s in peace and move on to new shit please.
Should it be social and political? Should house music engage on that sort of level do you think?
Yeah I think it should, because right now it can. Dance music has really evolved over the years and because of its main placement in today’s music industry, I’d like to see it say more interesting things and engage more. Having said that, I haven’t written any tunes as such (yet) and also love simple raw bangers with a 1-bar disco loop, so it really depends of the context. Let’s just say I’m not against a certain degree of sophistication in our music.
Do your DJ’ing and producing relate to one another? Are you making tunes to play in your own sets?
Not always. For me producing isn’t just an excuse to play stuff out at gigs, I want to release the best music I can, and I try to. I love experimenting in the studio so I tend to go where the music takes me and sometimes it isn’t really for the dance floor, there’s always too many chords or melodic elements in my tracks, even though there’ll always be a prominent kick drum on every beat.
And what is your role and style as a DJ – do you like to entertain and inform or edify? Are you a quick mix man or long and slow?
I am all those things. It really depends on the crowd, on what time I play, on how my head is feeling during the gig… When i try to inform too much it’s time to switch to bangers, and vice-versa. But in general it tends to be long, smooth mixes. I also like to introduce contrast while playing, so that means lots of melodic tracks going into more simple tech house and then back to melodies. Plenty of ups-and-downs also.
Tell us about your new release for Supremus Records – what inspired or informed that one?
So it is my newest single, on my own label, so that was an easy deal 😀 I started it a little while ago and only earlier this year I felt it was finished. I think it sounds very “me”: It has this sexy chord progression, a very simple bass line that you’ve heard before and a catchy little vocal riff too.
And what gear did you use to make it? What do you have in your studio, do the tools matter to you?
About the track: It was made using a little bit of analog and digital, and all sequenced in Ableton Live. If the DMC readers are interested in finding out more, I’m actually about to record a 3h-long video tutorial on how I created the track. It is done exclusively for Warp Academy, an electronic music school based in Canada. I’ll be explaining the whole thing step-by-step, there’ll be a Q&A and you even get to keep the whole Ableton session and every sounds. I’m so looking forward to it.
https://www.warpacademy.com/shop/source-code-with-giom/
Being French, do you think you have a certain style that comes from your home country’s sound? Are you a fan of French touch for example?
Absolutely. The French Touch sound of the mid 90s was actually my personal introduction to house music. Daft Punk of course, but also Etienne De Crecy, Alex Gopher, Demon, Pepe Bradock, Buffalo Bunch, 20000st, Sebastien Leger, the French Fried Funk compilations and so many others… I have many of these on the shelves at home and I still collect records of course. I always add a little 90s French section in most of my sets towards the end, it’s fun.
And why did you move to London, does the city influence your sound at all?
I moved to London to study full-time music back in 1997, and am still based there today. Since I graduated I became a session drummer and then my DJ career “took off” back in 2006, the irony ha ha! I still play the kit, actually I’m doing a few summer dates with Alice Russell, so feel free to come say hello if you’re at a UK festival. And yes London still is the best city in the world.
What else have you got coming up or are you working on?
I have plenty of tracks that need finishing and releasing, the usual stuff. I also have a new side-project which is starting to do well called PREP. There are 4 of us, co-writing and producing. We only have 4 tracks out but already gathered millions of Soundcloud and Spotify plays. If you’re into Berlin techno I doubt you’ll be into it, but please be my guest and have a listen. It is very commercial, but so smooth…The second EP is coming out in November.
(https://soundcloud.com/prep)
Love / Hate is out on the 21st July 2017! Pre-order it here:
