Bringing It Holm
So yet another release from you ‘Dactyl’ coming out in June on your very own Mad Eye label. Can you describe the tunes on there…
“Dactyl itself is a bit of an 80´s flirt actually; big tomfills and an almost rock sounding groove. I had it sitting on my computer for quite sometime thinking it wasn´t all that, but decided to get it mastered, played it out to great reactions so decided to release it. The b-side ‘Follow Your Eyes’ has a clearer techhouse approach but with dubby undertones and a bassline inspired from UK drum & bass.”
So born in Stockholm in 1976 and began DJing at the age of 12. What music were you listening prior that got you vibed up for a career in music?
“Well since I got involved at such an early age which was in 1988, I´ve been lucky to follow the whole revolution of dance since the early days. But my first big love was KISS. At the tender age of 5 I went and bought my first vinyl by them. Back then in Sweden you where either in to ‘Synth’ or hard Rock and I wanted to become a drummer so for me it was all hard Rock, luckily when we moved from the suburb to the city I found Hip Hop, Hip House, Acid etc. and that was it.”
What did your parents think of your choice of career?
“My father passed away from cancer when I was 13, so i was quite a troubled kid for a whil,e so my mother supported it 100% because she saw that it meant so much to me and that it kept me from doing stupid things, it made me focused.”
Can you remember what your first ever DJ fee you received?
“Not the first one, but maybe the first important one to me was playing a New Years Eve here in Sweden, maybe 90-91 or so, I got about 100 quid which was in my eyes a fortune. I went and bought a portable CD player with that money, it was my first CD player in fact.”
You have played in pretty much every major club in the world, where is the best club you’ve played at, what has been the best club this year and what country has the craziest clubbers?
“I had some of my best gigs at ‘Berghain’ Berlin, just because it´s so relaxed and you can easily play 8 hours and everyone will stay. The sound is amazing and it makes the people go there feel special about the club and the music, it´s very serious. I think you find most crazy clubbers in Germany. They have the culture and the clubs and the opening times and everything else you need to go crazy. I mean they have party-mesieter Sven Väth to keep up with…’Awakenings’ in Holland holds a very special plasce in my heart too, I have been playing there every year since 1998. The parties are held in an old Gas Holder (gashouder) and it´s just such an amazing venue and production everytime. It´s always sold out and it has a very educated cool crowd. They also do ‘Awakenings’ festivals in June every summer which is equally as good.”
You have released many, many tracks since the release of ‘Drum Codes’ back in 1995 on Planer Rhythms and have since brought us dozens of great tunes on Drumcode, Code Red, Mad Eye and various other labels. What do you think has been your best 4 releases?
“Tough one. ‘Drumcode 1′ I suppose ’cause it started something that has been lasting for 14 years. I still really like ‘California Gold’ on Mad Eye for it´s complexety. ‘A Walking Contradiction’ on Plus 8 was one of the first wood block shuffle things and was one of the records setting that trend off and my ‘Remanipulated’ remix of Ben Sims set the whole spanish/latin trend off about 10 years ago so I’d include those two tracks as well.”
What is the best and worst thing about living in Stockholm?
“Best: It´s beautiful, clean, relativeley friendly and a great place to work and live.
Worst: The club scene is a joke. With how hard some promoters try, it feels it´s never really gonna pay off. Scenes come and go but it never really gets solid and reliable. Stockholm is more about trends and fashion (which is really cool) but it´s also a bit stiff and people don´t let themselves go, they´re too worried about apperance and cred.”
You seem to be one the relatively small amount of labels who instead of churning release after out, take your time with each track, when it’s ready – is that how you see it?
“Well we have quite a high amount of releases, but I don´t let much slip through that I don´t belive in or see myself playing.”
Why do you think, for such a small country Sweden has delivered so many brilliant DJs and producers?
“This has been debated to pieces. Our usual answer is a combination of the weather (cold climate for big part of the year), a rich culture of music making and listening, very trendy and internationally aware of what´s going on. Lot´s of schools have midi studios and are supporting music production.”
The press release for ‘Dactyl’ describes the label equivalent of a good holiday – but when was the time you had time go on holiday?
“I get a few days off here and there, I had a couple of nice days in Miami, spent a few days on the slopes in Mayerhofen during snowbombing. I am gonna stay in New York for a bit after DEMF Detroit, that´s the good part of the job, you can stay and chill in places for a bit and you know people all over the world. But a proper holiday, hmm I don´t know, maybe two years ago.”
What’s next studio wise Mr Beyer?
“‘Mad Eye 10′ is ready, one track I´ve done with Alexi Delano and two for myself. I have a track coming up on the CLR 10 years’ package. Working on remixes for the likes of Slam, Phil Kieran and Pär Grindvik. I should do a Drumcode album really….”
What are the big 10 tunes you are playing at the moment?
Carl Craig ‘At Les’ – Christian Smith Hypnotica Remix – Tronic
Slam ‘Maffaking/Last Sonic Approach’ – Drumcode
Alan Fitzpatrick ‘Shadows in the Dark’ Drumcode – ALBUM
Nihad Thule ‘5th’ unreleased
Dubfire & Oliver Hunteman ‘Fuego’ – CD-R
Joel Mull ‘Krauthause/Duh Dub’ – Truesoul Album
Brian Sanhaji ‘Higgs’ – CL-R
Adam Beyer ‘`Dactyl/Follow your Eyes” – Mad Eye
Cirez D ‘Exit intro’ – CD-R
Kaiserdisko & Flavio Diaz ‘Jaune’ – Drumcode
Adam Beyer’s “Dactyl” is release on Mad Eye June 2010.
