The legend from the of USA talks to the main man from The Swedish Maffia
Erick Morillo Speaks To Steve Angello
Steve Angello, the guy behind the re-rub of Robin S’s ‘Show Me Love’ (Graeme Park’s favourite ever record at The Hacienda) with fellow producer Laidback Luke which went ballistic across every European national chart, he’s part of The Swedish House Mafia – the too hot to handle bad boys of Dance music who have just ripped up Ibiza all Summer. As a solo artist, Steve’s talents didn’t go unnoticed by superstar DJ Erick Morillo who quickly became his number one fan. After a great deal of chasing, Erick finally got his man to produce an album for his beloved Subliminal label – and here they are, one on one…
Hi Steve, when you first started out making music and DJing, did you wish you could be me, Erick Morillo?
Ha ha. Erick, you’re a big inspiration for a lot of DJ’s. You can see a little bit of yourself in everyone, from David Guetta to us and so many other people. You’re a really big inspiration to House DJs.”
At what point in your career did think ‘this is it, I’ve made it!’?
I still don’t think I’ve made it yet. There’s still so much more you can do and you can always achieve and accomplish more than what you’ve done. So I’m still waiting for that moment.
Tell me about your passions outside of music.
I’m definitely into cars and watches and food!! I have 5 cars and 11 or 12 watches.
What’s the difference in your sound when you’re playing a stadium to when you’re playing at an underground club?
When you play a stadium you can play the bigger music, you can drop the classics such as The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers and you can do boot-legs and mash ups. I think when you play clubs you can go a lot more intimate and sexy and more bass-line based, more so than you go do at festivals.
Describe the style of your set.
The style I like is to go up and down and left to right with the music and I just try and make the people enjoy themselves, and I think the way to do that varies from different clubs and different cities and different parts of the world. In South America, you have a certain sound, the same goes for America. I think in Europe you have to be more picky because the dance music culture has been there for a much longer time, so I think the crowds in Europe are more educated than other places.
What’s this thing with Pharrell? Why are the big Hip Hop stars looking to top European DJ’s all of a sudden?
I think America has recently seen just how good dance music is. There’s a lot of energy in it with a lot of people having a good time. Myself and Sebastian worked with Pharrell, and I worked with him again after that and I think they are trying to explore new genres to get involved in because everybody gets bored of doing whatever they do. So as much as they come to us, we’d like to work with them because they give us something that we don’t have and vice-versa.
Who would be your ultimate pop/rock hook-up?
I don’t set goals on artists. Madonna would be an achievement but there’s so many big acts around that you just have to find the one that fits you rather than just going for the biggest ones.
What is it about the Subliminal sound that you’re so attracted to? What have they got right?
Subliminal has been a label that since we started DJ-ing had the biggest output of music that we actually liked. It’s had a big impact on us as DJ’s because when we started out, all the big records were Subliminal records with yourself and Harry Choo Choo Romero and Jose Nunez, so I think Subliminal has had a big impact on House DJ’s careers’ generally rather than the sound.
Can you outline some of the labels and tracks that have inspired you over the years?
I get inspired from everything from Techno to R n’B to Rock – so it’s a very broad spectrum that we’re looking at. I think that the tracks that we’ve done such as ‘Leave The World Behind’ and ‘Show Me Love’ inspires me for my next record because they’ve been such big successes.
You’re about to release a new mix compilation on Subliminal. Tell us about it and its vibe.
The vibe of the mix is pretty much what I do – I take a 7 hour set and squeeze it down to CD size. It’s like my business card to the scene and I’m just showing what I’m doing. I think it’s pretty much like my set in a club – but obviously a shorter version.
What tracks and producers can you tell us about that feature on the mix and are any of these guys inspiring you at the moment?
I get inspired by a lot of people, Dirty South is one of my boys from Australia and then we have Joris Voorn, Cyrus D on there which is Eric Prydz and I’ve got some stuff on there. I get inspired at certain times by different artists, I just tend to move on all the time and at this point, these guys are inspiring me.
Are there any exclusive tracks on the compilation?
Yes, we’ve got Gel Abril’s ‘Marir’ which is an exclusive and we’ve got my track ‘Tivoli’ which is also an exclusive. There’s another one of my tracks called ‘La Candela Viva’ which is exclusive. So yeah lots of exclusives!
You’re playing with the Swedish House Mafia this November in the Brixton Academy. What’s so special about this?
The biggest achievement with the Brixton show is that we’re actually doing it. The fact that the Swedish House mafia have managed to sell out a concert in England is a big achievement. It’s going to be fun to do and we are going to give the crowd something they won’t forget.
You are the Chief A&R guy at Size Records. What records do you think have put the label on the map and what can we look forward to in 2010?
We’ve got a lot stuff coming out, look out for my little brother Anton. There’s also tracks from Kym Fy? and a track from Christian Smith. There’s a lot of good stuff coming out…
I’m assuming you’ve seen the new CDJ that’s coming out in November, and I know that you’re one of the DJ’s who have resisted from leaving using CD’s. Do you think it’s only a matter of time before you start to use the computer based software?
I think you can still play the CD’s and I like the fact of having a CD because I don’t want to have to pull up a screen and find the track. But the thing with i-Tunes. It gives you more than just a CD, you can prepare a whole set and you can prepare loops, you can set cue and loop points etc…I think the CD is going to disappear but it’s going to take a while because guys like me are still going to stick around with a case.
What is it about tattoos that you really like?
I love tattoos. But I do regret some of them now!”
