The main man behind Diffused Music and is sitting on a dancefloor smash
Hi Michael, thanks for talking to the worldwide DMC crew. Well let’s talk firstly about ‘Natural High’, the big single everyone is talking about in house music circles, it features Inaya Day and is coming out late February on Diffused Music. Inaya, what an amazing person to collaborate with, her vocals on such tunes as Mousse T’s ‘Horny’ alongside tracks with the likes of Michael Jackson, Al Green, Puffy and Big Daddy Kane – as well as written tracks for Randy Crawford, Bootsy Collins and Missy Elliot – what was it like working with her on this absolute superb tune and what’s behind the tune?
“Working with Inaya was so effortless! She works so fast and has an incredible voice. Some artists can be quite stuck in their ways but Inaya was well up for a little direction and pulled off the vocal superbly! I gave her the instrumental, she then told me she had an idea for it and would come back to me soon. This usually means the won’t come back for a long time. The very next day I had a file in my InBox which was the demo she had mocked up and I was blown away. I’m definitely going to be collaborating with her again.”
The remixers for the tune reads like a who’s who of clubland – Dino Lenny, Mickey Slim, Lee Haslam, Ant Brookes… what is your favourite mix?
“It’s really hard to answer that question because they all work really well in their own genres. I guess if I was hanging around the house and had to choose, I’d probably go for the Dino Lenny Remix”
So your family background is full of music, your father Guyanese and your mother from Argentina who both insisted as a child you learnt the piano, trumpet, guitar, drums and er, even the triangle! My own father bought me a guitar when I was growing up and I think it’s still in it’s case somewhere, was playing these instruments a pleasure for you at such an early age or a bit of a chore?
“At an early age to be fair it was a bit of a chore – because whilst all my school friends sleeping till 8am before school, I was up at 6am to make sure I got my hours practice in before school. As I became more advanced however and started to play music other than that given to me to practice for exams that’s when I really fell in love with the instrument and really appreciated the gift my parents gave to me.”
What were the first tunes from the dance music planet that first caught your ear?
“Now we’re going way back, probaby to around 1992 when I first started hitting clubs with my mates – and the tune that came on that we all loved was Robin S ‘Show Me Love’. Then the tune that really got me in to the more electro side of house was Grace ‘Not over Yet’ – ah the memories!. A big moment for me! That tune hit me the very first time I heard it in Vauxhall’s The Coliseum / Satellite club. That was the moment I knew I has to get in to this game and therefore when my life had changed forever!”
Tell us about the story behind breaking into your school music room…
“The music department for the school had purchased an Atari computer and a Korg M1 which allowed students to created their own songs. I had never seen this kind of thing before and loving both computers and music, I felt I had to be there for more than just the 1 hour per week allocated. Now the thing is the Head of Music insisted that this room be locked at break and lunch time so it was impossible to get in. Luckily my Music Teacher fancied me at the time and behind the Head of Music’s back, he gave me a copy of the key to get in to the room – so every lunch hour I would sneak up, hoping the Head of Music wasn’t lurking around, let myself in with my key and jam out some (very basic and primitive) tunes, I never got caught!”
You have worked with some incredible artists including Adele and Nate James – what do you think has been your best ever studio work…
“The mix I’m most proud of is the Energy 52 ‘Cafe Del Mar (Michael Woods Out of Office Remix)’ – and just behind that Adele ‘Cold Shoulder’ because both mixes flowed so effortlessly and sounded like they were ‘meant to be’. Sometimes you can be chipping away at an idea for days on end with little results but in the case of those tracks it happened so effortlessly…”
Pete Tong was all over your ‘Hands Up’ record, an Essential New Tune and Roger Sanchez creamed his pants over it too – a big tune huh?
“Yes – and the funny thing was I was sitting on that tune in my studio for ages because I wasn’t too sure about it! Ha ha.”
What has been the best club you have every played at?
“I judge this not by the magnitude of the club but the people in there and I recently played at a club called YU in Sydney – it was off the scale – the reaction from the clubbers was immense.”
What are your top 10 tunes in your box at the moment?
Out of Office ‘I Luv You Baby’
Wolfgang Gartner ‘Flashback’
Sharooz ‘Get Off (Miles Dyson Remix)’
Jose Amnesia vs Karen Overton ‘Your Loving Arms [Our Dubbing Arts (Instrumental Mix)’
Ant Brooks ‘Control – The EP’
Sunrider ‘The Bomb’
Deadmau5 ‘Reward Is More Cheese’
Dirty Vegas ‘Pressure’
Out of Office ‘Insatiable’
Energy 52 ‘Cafe Del Mar’
Best tune of 2008?
“Guru Josh ‘Infinity'”
You hooked up with Judge Jules in 2003 for your ‘Beautiful’ tune – did you ever think of having a word about his dress sense?
“I kept telling him to lose the shades but he never listened to me! Ha ha!”
So back to the early days – before you hit the motorway and headed up to places like Back To Basics, you performed at The Royal Albert Hall, how did that come about?
“I attended music school every Saturday and as well as your main instrument – in my case the pinano – you had to take up a secondary instrument too – so I played percussion in the Orchestra. We had a few events, one being at the Royal Albert Hall. This at the time was the only kind of music I knew how to play – Classical Music. Then my music teacher told me that to really enjoy music you have to play what YOU want to play – not what is given to you. So I started listening to all kinds of music and loved re-creating the tunes that I loved – which is when I started getting in to house and dance music.”
We hear you have a big 2009 planned, what can we expect?
“Lots of releases, lots of touring, and some secret exclusive label parties so stay tuned…”
Michael Woods featuring Inaya Day ‘Natural High’ is out February 23rd on Diffused Music.