Hi Cevin. October 26th 1963 – an important day for House music, when New Jersey welcomed a future great into the World. What a career – a DJ superstar and a producer who has brought smiles to millions across the globe on the dancefloor with such classics as ‘The Freaks Come Out’ and ‘Burning Up!’ What artists were you listening to at home growing up that urged you into getting into this world?
“First off Dan, thanks for the compliment, and yes it feels good to be able to move people with my music. Growing up, I listened to a wide range of music, everyone from Stevie Wonder to Earth Wind and Fire – my mom listened to Tony Bennett & Marvin Gaye a lot too. I also used to watch the Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert series every week with my older brother – he was well into Santana, Edgar Winter Group, Yes, and Canadian rockers Rush. So coming up, I was lucky to be inspired by all types of great music – without a doubt all of these genres moulded me into what I am today.”
‘Burning Up!’ of course featured the delightful vocal talents of Loleatta Holloway, the queen of gospel and Disco – I have never heard a Radio 1 DJ so excited about a tune than Eddie Haliwell who played it and played it and played it! I nearly had a heart attack when Sister Bliss played it at SW4 – how did the collaboration with Loleatta come about, old friends?
“Wow yes, Loleatta – she has an amazing voice. I used to spin all of the old Salsoul classics whenever I played out early-on in my DJ career. I’d also hear her on the radio mix shows on Kiss FM and WBlS in NYC sometimes – and I had a chance to meet her at Arthur Baker’s Shakedown recording studios when she was in town. I was always impressed by her vocal skills, so one day I decided to sample her and do my own production using her spun-in vocals – that’s how “Burning Up!” was born. I sampled the b-section from the track “Love Sensation” which was and will always be one of my favourite Garage tunes of all times.”
An incredible start to your career, you sort of stumbled into the scene, gaining early support from Tony Humphries and then playing for Whitney Houston at her warehouse parties – what was it like DJing for the first time when the sun started to come up?
“Yeah Tony Humphries was and still is a huge inspiration to me – I used to watch him play at Zanzibar aeons ago! He could really move the crowd. He played some awesome music – tracks like ‘Bra’ by Cymande and ‘Rock-It’ by Herbie Hancock – he’d also play gospel style vocals and lots of cool soulful house. He was and still is the kind of DJ that you can close your eyes and know that it is Tony Humphries on the decks. It’s a magical thing. And yeah I dated Whitney’s little sister and we became friends. Whitney was modelling for 17 magazine at the time – man, she was a piece of work, so tall and beautiful – I had no idea she’d become the big star that she is today. Anyway, she’d ask me to DJ at her house parties, and the parties were totally awesome. I got to play R&B, Hip-Hop, Disco – playing all of these different styles helped me become what I am today.”
What are your big ten tunes in your box at the moment?
1. Cevin Fisher ‘The Freaks Come Out” 2009’ (of course!) The Tenth Anniversary Mixes!
2. Paul Harris ft. Cevin Fisher ‘Losin’ My Mind”
3. The Singh’s ‘Beautiful Thing”
4. La Roux “Bullet Proof”
5. Michel Cleis ‘La Mezcl’
6. Ministers De La Funk ‘Believe 2009″
7. A Different Dimension ‘Full Body Workout’
8. DJ Simi & Master Keys ” In The Name Of K”
9. Shirley Davis ‘You Drive Me Wild’
10. Jack Shaft ‘What R U Waiting 4’
So away from the warehouse, loft and college parties, your first big break I suppose came via DJ Larry Patterson at Zanzibar on Friday nights. What were the tunes you were spinning back then?
“Yeah, Larry Patterson was another great DJ who used to play at Zanzibar on Friday nights – he gave me my first big break in the big room on that amazing Richard Long sound system! I would play stuff on Prelude Records, like Martin’s Circus or on Salsoul like Love Sensation, Sam Records’ Conversion – Dan Hartmans Relight My Fire was an all time fave – mostly early garage tunes.”
What has been your best ever remix to date in your eyes?
“My favourite remix hmmm . I would have to say ‘Take This Life’ by Mandalay – it was such a beautiful song and I really loved the vocals & arrangement of that remix. The best part was hearing Danny Tenaglia pick up on it and cane it on the regular at Vinyl in NYC . He really supported that one big time – thanks Danny!
One of my greatest friends is Paul Harris from Dirty Vegas, a total clown – you have worked together on tracks in the past, what do you make of him?
Paul’s Tall! Hey that rhymes! It’s been really cool working with him. I love his work too. He just gets the job done. He’s got a really cool sound and style. I don’t get to see him much unfortunately, only usually in Miami at WMC, but he always has a cool smile and this awesome energy – I think that shines-thru in the projects that we do together. We’ve a new one coming out soon called “Losin’ My Mind” for Seamus Haji’s Big Love label – I think it’s the perfect follow up to “Deliver Me” for sure, so be on the lookout!”
What is the BEST and WORST thing about living in New York?
“New York is and always will be my home. It’s an awesome place to live. There’s so much to do and so many places to go. Still after all these years, it’s all about Central Park – it’s my oasis and I go there a lot especially in the Summer. I ride my bike and free my mind – nothing compares to that. The worse thing without a doubt is parking tickets! OMG they will destroy you! So my advice to you is make sure you check the meters – and don’t leave your car for one minute, because they WILL tow you, believe me, I know!”
How will Barack Obama change the face of America?
“Well, I feel as though he has done that already, although of course there’s still a lot of work to do. Some people are saying that he’s being overexposed, but a large majority of Americans voted for that change, for him and what he represents. Part of the change was for him to let us know exactly what’s going on by being a lot more transparent than Dubbya ever was, and in order to be transparent you have to be out there engaging the population proactively. That’s what change is all about. He’s a major inspiration to me and millions of people, not only in America but all around the world – that’s gotta be a beautiful thing.”
Where is the best country to DJ in?
“I have a list of faves – Toronto, London, Japan, Italy, Greece, Switzerland to name a few, and of Course I love playing at home (Pacha NYC). I’ve been a resident there for a few years now, and it’s really cool to be able to get to work in 10 minutes from my New Jersey base!”
Which DJs today do you rate?
” I’m not really big on rating DJ’s to be honest, but over the years I’ve been into Larry Levan, Tony Humphries, Danny Tenaglia, Junior Vasquez, Louie Vega and Roger Sanchez. They’ve all been a big inspiration to me.”
I remember being at Groovejet at Miami WMC, must have been maybe 2000, when Danny Tenaglia played Freaks maybe four times in his set? I had never seen a crowd light up so magically for such a long time, everyone just came together – what do you remember about that night?
“Yes that was a special night for sure! I remember being in Groove Jet and it was HOT. I was hanging out with Pete Heller, Carl Cox and a whole bunch of really cool party people – I really loved it when Danny played Groovejet parties – he was definitely the one who broke “The Freaks Come Out “. I remember the next day people we’re asking me everywhere I went “When’s THAT record coming out and what label’s it on – GOTTA know???!!!???” It was Subversive of course.”
You are one of the few DJs out there who remain true to their roots, you aren’t all about wanting the front cover of Mixmag or getting to Number 1 in the DJ Magazine 100 chart – you do what you do and as James Brown once said, make it funky. How important to you is keeping out of the limelight and just keep on rolling out class music?
“Well first and foremost to me it is all about putting out quality music, and as my manager Martin at Subversive constantly reminds me, we can always use something to ‘leapfrog’ the pack. So it all starts with the music. I’ve never made it a mission to stay out of the limelight – in fact I realize how important it is to have a presence in the media etc., so I welcome it. Trust me – if one of the mags calls me to do a cover story any day soon, I’d most likely be all over it!”
What is Pacha NYC like these days, I hear it’s going off the hook?
“Funny you should ask – I was there last night for ATB. I was playing Pachita, which is located in Pacha – it was a madhouse! I mean the line was up the block all night. The place was totally rammed. I was really impressed and happy for my good buddies Eddie D and Rob F who run the place. They do an excellent job and it’s awesome for the scene locally, so whenever I’m in town most likely you’ll find me at Pacha. I get to meet all of the DJs that come through – it’s a real treat to be able to hear all the different sounds and styles.”
And finally, what’s next coming out of the Fisher studio?
“Up next I have some more collaborations coming out – firstly with the AWESOME Prok and Fitch on their excellent new track ‘Mundo’ thru Floorplay, one with Paul Harris as I mentioned, another with Dirty Players main man Eric Entrena which is his follow-up to last year’s hugely successful ‘Addicted’, and I’m working on another project right now with Pete Heller and Terry Farley – there’s even talk of getting together with Ricky Stone at some point soon – we’re BUSY BUSY BUSY! Then I’m out of recording for a few because I’ll be hitting the road shortly – some US dates followed by Central & South America, Barcelona Music Festival, then Asia, Bangkok, Tokyo, KL and Seoul… maybe NZ and Australia later in the year – so stay tuned for tour dates etc via my website,
Myspace at www.myspace.com/djcevinfisher
or Subversive at www.myspace.com/subversiverecords…”
Thank you Cevin.
Cheers Dan!