The New York don makes his debut on Brobot…’Asidose’ ripping it up worldwide
Interview : Dan Prince
Harry welcome to DMCWORLD, where in the world are you right now?
“Hey DMCWORLD! Currently I am in the recording studio here in New Jersey.”
An exciting week for you sir with the release of ‘Asidose’ on Brobot. Talk us through the tune, your debut on Jnr Sanchez’s imprint…
“Believe it or not Dan, ‘Asidose’ is a track I finished about 2 years ago. A big chunk of my new music was done months back. Timing was really the issue in bringing ‘Asidose’ to light. For me it was about having the proper label and platform to share ‘Asidose’ with the world and since Junior and I have known each other and have worked together going on 20 years, we have a good personal and working relationship. I played it for him here in my studio and he asked me right then and there if he could put it out on Brobot. I said absolutely. For me this release exemplifies a huge chunk of my early experiences involved with house music which was Acid. I don’t know but whoever doesn’t like acid house has a screw loose. It’s fun, it’s quirky, and it’s relentless.”
You were born in 1973 in New York’s Tri-state area and whilst the throbs of disco and punk were out in the street, your own household also reverberated to music. Your mother loved her Latin rhythms whilst your father, a former opera tenor loved to practise his scales and listen to Beethoven. What are your own musical memories from those early years?
“My early memories growing up was my dad playing records in the basement and really taking the time to explain the origins of the music. At the time it was probably some obscure cumbia or salsa music. The point was that at an early age he taught me to respect the writer/composer and the origins and influences of such. My dad is the original DJ in my house. Then came hip hop. My brother and I would stay up late on the weekends and listen to DJ Red Alert and Paco. We would record their shows and play them all week till the next show. It became a tradition between him and I. My sister was more into groups like the Go Go’s, Blondie and Pat Benatar so I had her influence as well. I remember her room was covered in posters with all the early 80’s pop acts. Point is, there was all kinds of music in my home growing up.”
At what age did a career in music pop into your head?
“I never really thought about making this into a career early on. I just did what I loved and the rest kind of happened organically. I was in college early on in my production career and I was working at a sandwich shop…and I vaguely remember peeling a 50lb bag of onions. At the time I was recovering from a broken hand and was in really bad pain and I remember saying out loud ‘fuck this shit…I quit’. From that point on I’ve been self sufficient making beats. So if I were to pick a pivotal moment, that would be it. I was 21 years old at the time.”
Presumably your family were fully behind you with your dreams?
“My parents always supported me in music. To be honest, I still think they really don’t know what I do. But they saw a passionate kid at home and out of trouble for the most part – and in college. What more could they have asked for? They never ever complained about the music and I love them loads for that. The only thing they asked of me was to finish college. And I obliged.”
How old were you when you first stepped into a nightclub, can you remember who was DJing?
“The first time I remember going to a nightclub was when I went to see Run DMC perform at some teen club here in New Jersey. That changed me forever. This was in their heyday and to us it was like seeing The Beatles for the first time. That was the point when I decided I wanted to be a DJ.”
Who were you big DJ buddies back in the day?
“When I started out DJing my DJ buddies were basically my older brother and his friends. They kind of showed me the ropes. They were DJing Sweet 16’s and High School dances and would take me and let me play for a little while. I remember playing Lil Louis ‘French Kiss’ at a Catholic High School dance and this was before I knew exactly what the record did in the breakdown. When the breakdown part came I remember a team of nuns running up to the DJ booth and telling us to change the music.”
True or false : Your ‘Choo Choo’ nickname may have something to do with a train conductors hat you have worn since childhood?
“True on the train conductors cap. BUT, I’m not using the Choo Choo anymore. I’m a grown ass man now! Lol.”
I love the way you approach a new track. If you spend more than 3 minutes trying to develop a sound you can it and move on to another idea for that particular part of a track. It’s all about spontaneity! With that in mind, what is the quickest and longest it has taken you to make a piece of production?
‘Lately most of the tracks that I’ve been doing take me about 3 to 5 hours. I always have an idea in my head before I get in the studio so it’s really all about bringing it to life. Technology doesn’t do it all but it sure makes things go a lot quicker in the studio. Back in the day we had to worry about all kinds of different technological aspects that would sometimes delay and or stifle the creative process. Everything from Midi issues, tape machines not synching up, samplers receiving too much info at one time would literally unravel your beats was the shit we had to deal with. But somehow I managed to get it done. ‘Night At The Black’ was the one track that had me scratching my head. I couldn’t get the beats to tighten up. I thought maybe it was polyphony so I went out and bought another sampler to lighten the load. That didn’t work. I thought it was my audio card. So I bought a new one. That didn’t work. Finally I said fuck it and bought a new computer. BINGO! That worked. So two weeks and a few thousand Dollars later, ‘Night At The Black’ was complete.”
Two years ago yourself Erick Morillo and Jose Nunez exploded into clubland with Sympho Nympho…will the project ever see the light of day again?
“As far as Sympho Nympho goes it was a great idea on paper but not everyone was on the same page. So for now you can count me out of that one.”
Tell us about your studio set up…
“My current studio set up is quite basic. All my mixing I do inside the box using Logic 9 with all the bells and whistles as far as plugins go. I use the Waves plugins a lot for mixing because in my opinion they sound the best. I use Metric Halo plugins a lot too for the same reason. I still use my Yamaha NS-10m’s for monitoring and rely heavily on my Genelec tops and bottom for all the grunt work. I have a bunch of old synths that I still use on the regular like: Moog Voyager, Juno 106, Juno Alpha 1 and 2, Casio cz101, Studio electronic ATC-x, and Studio Electronic se-1 to name a few. You can make pretty much anything with this set up and it’s been good to me.”
What was the last big present you bought yourself?
“The last big present I bought for myself was a new high tech bow and arrow. I love archery and it’s my fav thing to do when not working or with the family. I have one set up and ready to go in the studio as well.”
How difficult for a producer in todays wild dance music days is it to keep one’s ego in check when making music?
“As far as ego goes, please check that in at the door when you come to work on music. It’s about having fun and expressing yourself at the same time. You’re not curing Cancer, you’re not performing surgery. At the end of the day we want people to dance and have a good time. Making heart shapes with your hands….that’s ego. To each to his or her own. For me it’s about being in a creative space where you can make mistakes and keep it moving. The end all is creative music…”
Where are some of the confirmed DJ gigs in your diary that you are looking forward to in 2014…
“I have upcoming gigs in New York City, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Barcelona, Ibiza, Sao Paulo, etc etc etc.”
And finally, what is coming out next from you studio wise…?
“My next releases are…
Harry Romero ‘You Get Deep’ EP coming in March on OVUM RECORDS.
My remix of Reboot’s ‘SAMSON’ out soon on CIRCUS RECORDINGS.
My remix of Josh Wink’s ‘ARE YOU THERE?’.
My remix of Avon Stringer’s ‘MY GUITAR’ out soon on OneLove Recordings.
New EP on Steve Mac’s Black Rock Records coming soon.
‘HOTBEATS’ on Cr2 March 2014.
‘TANIA’ re-release on Toolroom in Spring.
‘SAN REAL’ on Toolroom in Spring.
New EP on Circus Recordings coming this Summer.
And my current releases are…
‘The Butcher EP’ on Circus, ‘I Get Droned’ on Size X, ‘Find Your Own Beat’ on Toolroom, ‘Survive’ on Juicy, ‘Back From Saturn EP’ on I’m A House Gangster and ‘Asidose’ on Brobot.”
www.twitter.com/harrychoochoo
www.soundcloud.com/harryromero
