Hi Erick, an amazing career, a true gentleman and a brilliant DJ. A quote sticks in my mind about Creamfields Argentina in front of 65,000 people. Wanna reveal…
“The rush that you get from playing in front of a massive crowd like that, especially when it’s going off, when you connect, it’s kind of like having an orgasm, it’s a high, it’s like sex.”
What do you think about worldwide dance?
“You take somewhere in Europe, or specially in England where dance music has been dominant since the late 80’s early 90’s and it hit the scene really early on. Everywhere else around the world it just seems to be growing and growing. Take Eastern Europe where they are just coming out of, I don’t want to say communism, but they have very constrict lifestyles and they’re accepting this music and are unbelievably in love with it. Places like South America, where it’s coming through and a lot of clubs are coming through. In the last three years in Brazil they have opened three Pacha’s which is phenomenal. Even in America its not commercial, it’s not on radio, its not on MTV but the clubs are more packed than ever, its not just the big cities anymore. Now it’s your Ohio’s, your Denver’s, places that are not necessarily cosmopolitan. Big cities have big clubs pulling in over 2000 people every night so it’s really taken off.”
Where do you spend most of your time now?
“I spend most of my time on a plane. In the summer time I live in Ibiza, from the beginning of June to the end of September, then in the winter I go back and forth between New York and Miami, but Miami is my base.”
In Miami and in New York, who would you say are you biggest celebrity friends, you have quite a lifestyle…?
“I hang out with a lot of different people. I’m not really a name dropper, I’ll just say that I have quite a colorful cast of friends, especially in Miami. The good thing about Miami is that everyone is in Miami sooner or later, whether it’s models or celebrities – everybody is always coming into town. I kind of live a dream type lifestyle because it’s late nights and there is always something going on. You know, pool parties at like 3 or 4 in the morning, then waking up and making music. I’m like a big little kid. My lifestyle, is, well I’m a very lucky person. I’m living what they say is the dream. I started DJ’ing when I was 11 because I loved music and then it turned into something that people actually pay me for. Now I travel around the world having reached a level of success where I can travel on private planes and own homes and really live the dream. I guess that’s the best way to describe how I do it.”
What do you think about the current state of house music…?
“I really think that house music is growing as a genre in the sense that all the kids that were listening to trance when they were 14, 15, 16, when trance was the biggest thing. They have now grown up and have jobs. You can’t really listen to that music all the time so a lot of their musical tastes will grow and what they will grow into is usually either dance, or now what they are calling it minimal. And its all come together, whether its trance, house, minimal, its all come together and at the end of the day it is house music, using different elements of those styles, whatever you want to call it.
Do you think it is more of a universal global sound now?
Absolutely, even in America its not commercial, its not on radio, its not on MTV but the clubs are more packed than ever, its not just the big cities anymore. Now it’s your Ohio’s, your Denver’s, places that are not necessarily cosmopolitan. Big cities have big clubs pulling in over 2000 people every night so it’s really taken off.
So Creamfields Argentina, a big gig, the biggest?
“That was probably the second biggest crowd that I have played to. The biggest crowd I ever played to was actually in England. It was at the Leeds Love Parade. They did it in a park and there were 75,000 people in front of that stage and that was pretty amazing. At first it’s very nerve racking, you’re nervous with butterflies in your stomach, but once you get out and connect with the crowd it’s absolutely phenomenal. Everybody was jumping up and down going crazy, I was walking on air for the next two days.”
What would be the first record that you would play in front of a crowd like that?
“That particular night I played a new remix of Calabria, it’s really edgy, very techy, it drops out and all of a sudden that horn comes out and the place just went absolutely ballistic. And from right there I was like ok, I got ’em, lets go! Truly, when I play I always like to start with a big record, not an obvious record, something that is going to catch them and get them right away. Once you have them then you can play with them.”
So how have you got where you are?
“It’s definitely hard work and I have been a workaholic since I was 21. Since ‘I Like to Move it’ and the success that that record had and not having a manager and not having an agent, I take that on upon myself and manage the group and the band and make decisions. It is sort of overwhelming. Taking on the DJing, travelling 52 weekends out of the year, leaving on Thursday night, coming back on Sunday night, Monday morning being in the office and running a business, it’s definitely hard work. I always believe that my attitude has been always about rocking a party. Back when I started in 92, especially here in England it was about being cool and about playing the coolest, latest records. All the magazines were about the coolest DJ’s who played the latest records. For me, that was not what it was about, for me it was about rocking the crowd and being consistently good at every club that I would play. I made sure that people would go wow! What a party. This played a very key role in why I am still at the top after 17 years of DJing. Not many people can say that. Many DJ’s can say they have been around but they can’t say that they are still at the top after this many years. A lot of DJs have come and gone, faded into the background. That’s why I am playing main stages in big festivals, not just doing the dance tents. I have always walked the fine line between what is commercial and what’s underground. Just like when I make music, when ‘I Like to Move it’ first came out everybody was playing it, every DJ no matter how underground, they were playing it. Granted, once it took off and your grandmother knew the song that wasn’t cool anymore. For me it’s possible to go back and forth from the commercial to the credible without being cheesy and keeping your credibility. That’s the secret of my success.”
How do you feel about ‘I Like to Move it’ today?
“I can’t believe its still going, 17, 18 years down the line. It’s in the Madagascar movie, McDonalds just picked it up for a national campaign in the US, Chrysler just picked it up for a national campaign, and it’s just going and going. It’s generated so much income in the last two years that I am flabbergasted. It’s one of those records that you say in the music industry ‘you need one record and if you have one record you have it made – it’s that record’. For me it has opened so many doors, it has introduced me to the DJ culture in the UK, it brought me here and got me to play at the Ministry of Sound. I am a very lucky person to have created such a masterpiece as you will. So every time I think about it, it makes me tingle.”
Let’s talk about Strictly back in the day – what are your memories from the label?
“Strictly was the first label that introduced test pressings and vinyl promos. There was no such thing as that before Strictly Rhythm. It was the only label that back in the day you didn’t need to listen to the record, you went into the store and saw Strictly had a new record – and you would take it. People like Louie Vega came through there, Todd Terry, Kenny dope. It was the label if you were into house music to be on. For me, it was the first label I wanted to be a part of when I started making house music. Its image with the Bricks and Graffiti, it was about what house music was. Until Strictly came along there were many different labels especially from Chicago, Strictly was the one label that pulled it all together for the masses around the world. Before that it was a very niche scene, New York, Chicago, Strictly Rhythm just pulled it all together. It is the model that I tried to recreate when I started my label. It was about creating an identity and winning over the hearts and the confidence of the DJ’s, and the stores. Strictly was how I wanted my label to be.”
Did Subliminal come out of the Strictly Rhythm?
“Absolutely, Mark Finkelstein who is the owner of Strictly Rhythm is my business mentor. I would literally go into his office and sit there for four hours at a time while he is taking care of business and just watch. I was this 21 year old kid; all this success, ‘I like to move it’ was taking over. I couldn’t get a manager as all the big managers were like ‘you’re a one hit wonder’ and all the little managers were like – ‘what do I need you for?’ He was my mentor and Strictly Rhythm was the label to be. Mark Finkelstein pushed me to starting a label. I was like what do I need a label for? But at one point I was managing different DJ’s, DJ Sneak, Junior Sanchez, Harry Romero, Jose Nunez, so I thought maybe it was time. So I became engulfed in a model that followed a Strictly Rhythm way of doing business. I think we achieved what we wanted with Subliminal, we didn’t create disco filtered house, but we certainly took it to the next level to where it was called ‘The Subliminal Sound’. It was like we created our own genre of music within what we were doing, the filtered disco thing, sneak was more known for that but we kind of took it and started putting vocals on top of it. Once we grew to that level, everyone started to give us records and we were doing 4 records a month, and for us that were a lot of records. To this day we have the Subliminal logo and the Subliminal brand that still attracts people to our events. It’s one of the brands that people recognize in dance music.”
Tell us about your Strictly Compilation…
“It’s very sexy, I am really happy with the selection of tracks. For me normally when I do a CD, the first CD is mostly vocally and housey, then the second CD gets tougher and darker, but now the music has come all together, its like house, mixed with trance, mixed with minimal, it has a little bit of everything. It’s my favorite compilation I have done – since probably Subliminal Sessions 9. There are about 4 exclusives, there is a love dancing rework that is an exclusive, Harry Choo Choo Romero did a remix of Deep Inside – Hardrive that is another exclusive, there are some upfront tracks that will be released about the time of the compilation. There are some remakes of classics, a little bit of everything, really sexy, and I think that is the key. It’s one of those CD’s the girls are gonna love as well as the guys. I’m really happy with it, and I think everyone will love it. For me it’s the best Strictly compilation to date, hands down and I’ve heard them all. This is not a catalogue CD, the ones in the past have really focused on what strictly was, this takes that and kind of remixes it, and then its allot of upfront tracks, so its kind of not what Strictly was, but where Strictly is going.”
What else is coming out of Morillo world…?
“I have a single coming out with Deborah Cooper which is called ‘I Get Lifted’, and that’s coming out right after music conference. It’s a record I produced with Harry Romero and Jose Nunez. Then I also have a record with Duane Harden called ‘I Feel Love’, that’s out around the same time. I also have a record out with Richard Grey. There are a lot of projects on the go, if anyone wants to know what’s going visit my website (www.erickmorillo.com) or my Facebook page, only if you’re a hot girl, only joking! No I’m not!”.