Much like life itself, Paul Sawyer’s ‘Running EP allows no breaks
Paul Sawyer is a stalwart of the electronic music industry, dedicated, determined, and not afraid to get his hands dirty. In the early 90s, Paul dove in headfirst into the underground world of Hampshire, discovering and polishing his sound when the industry evolved from the rave to the club, and finding his way to Ibiza where he solidified his place as a skilled and passionate DJ. He played along some of the biggest names in the industry, and was named one of the Top 10 Resident DJs by Mixmag. With a life efficiently intertwined with the music, Paul launched Krafted Underground, releasing deep vibes of house, tech, and progressive and producing his own music that received global recognition, eventually partnering with Endemic Digital boss Darren Braddick to launch Krafted Music Group. Paul has continued to impact the music scene through his involvement in the industry, from crafting Krafted releases, to performing at some of the biggest underground events in the world and his radio shows on Frisky Radio and a number of stations; his dedication to the music is reflected in all that he does…
Interview by Dave Crane
For those that don’t know Paul Sawyer please tell us who you are and your influences?
I’ve been involved in the music scene since the early 90s after starting to DJ in 1993 and a season in Ibiza in 1994. I came back to the UK that year and was invited to be a co-promoter of the Menage a Trois brand which launched boat parties in Southampton and having all the big names playing at that time. I worked on Menage a Trois for 10 years, DJing globally and taking the brand to various clubs UK wide. After a five year gap from 2006, I started a label in 2012 and got back into DJing as well as producing. I teamed up with Darren Braddick in 2013 and created Krafted, which now has a number of labels, a radio station and promoting the odd event. My influences go right back to my childhood. I’ve always been a huge fan of electronic music and played keyboards from a very young age, copying Jean Michel Jarre and Vangelis. That grew after being old enough to attend clubs and raves, so listening to the DJs was a massive influence. When I finally had the chance to play myself, I was into Sasha, John Digweed and all the prog guys back then, hence my current sound. There’s elements of that proggy sound in what I play today. I didn’t really expect to be playing globally again, but I’ve managed to secure gigs in the USA, The Netherlands and all across the UK, including a number of festivals.
Krafted is currently doing very well. Tell us about the Krafted Brand and its plans for the future?
It’s really been amazing to see the progress over the last few years. It’s hard work and takes up a huge amount of time. We’ve recently been signing quite a few tracks to various compilation albums, including Toolroom, Café Del Mar, Tomorrowland and more. It’s been a great feeling having our releases licensed to such brands as these and also gaining support from people within the industry such as Pete Tong. As a label you constantly strive to have tracks played on Radio One etc, so its massively rewarding after committing so much time into your passion. We are planning more of our own compilations. We recently released Textures Volume one that includes tracks from Third Son, Tim Engelhardt, Darin Epsilon, Dale Middleton and many amazing producers. It took a few months to compile, but has proved to be worth the effort. So, working on the next one is a priority at the moment. We also have an EP from our US based partner Jason Miller, aka Redux Saints that includes remixes from Made By Pete, D Ramirez and MINTZ. For us, this is a big release that’s had a great deal of planning and investment, so waiting for the results is exciting. This hits the stores on 10th April. We have more events planned at Egg in London, every time we host an event there it seriously goes off. We love that club and always look forward to our visits to London, especially as so many people make the effort to travel to the club from our area in the South of the UK. Ali at the club is a great guy and we’re really appreciative of the opportunity to be hosting a room at such a great club.
With the amount of music being released these days how do you go about finding music for your sets?
I spend a lot of time sifting through promos. It’s gone mad with the amount of promos that are sent out these days and I’m lucky enough to receive a great deal that suit my style. I still go to the stores to search for artists that I love and new artists that produce the sound that I play. There’s a number of labels that I don’t receive promos from that I still buy, I think it’s good to support the industry when I can, as I would hope people would do the same for us.
Your latest EP ‘Running’ is out on Juicy Music how did this come about and was it a label you had always wanted to release on?
Yes for sure, I’ve been a fan of Robbie Rivera for a long time, so receiving the phone call confirming that he wanted to sign my EP was amazing. Robbie has also worked on a remix of one of my tracks in the past on my label and I played that to death for a good 9 months, so that cemented my love for his music a long time ago. Juicy is affiliated to Armada and distributed through them, so having that support on a release is brilliant. There’s a huge difference when releasing on a label of that stature. The support is second to none and the audience that they reach out to is massive.
https://soundcloud.com/paul-soultrak-sawyer/sets/running-ep-juicy-music-out
Running went straight into the UK Club Breakers Chart at #5 and topped the chart on 3rd April, how did that feel?
I was so over the moon when it entered the chart at number 5, amongst some huge artists and labels, so when it topped the chart the following week, I couldn’t believe it! I tend to doubt myself and my ability to make good music, I suppose everyone must be like that. I always wonder who will be in to what I’ve made, so to receive recognition like that is just amazing. I’ve got a great team behind me in terms of PR, I can’t thank Stimpy at Concrete Promo enough for how much he’s helped me and believed in what I do.
What other labels do you have your sights on for the future?
I’ve just had a track signed to Marshall Jefferson’s label Freakin’ 303 and they’ve asked me for another already, so I’m pleased with this result. Ideally, I’d love to have tracks out on Armada Deep, Anjuna Deep and I’ve been aiming at Silk Music. I play so much of their music, so having a release on these would be truly amazing. One day! I had my sights set on Pineapple Digital for a long time and have had a few collaboration tracks signed that I worked on with my good friend Simon Sinfield, so I’m looking forward to those tracks seeing the light of day soon.
How do you go about producing a track, do you work solo, have a plan or just go in and see what happens?
To be honest, a bit of everything. I like to work on my own and with others. I worked with Paul Moore for about a year and we were releasing under the name Soultrak. We worked on a remix for Foals, which was one of the best projects I’d ever worked on and we still have a release imminent on Nueva Recordings. I also collaborate with Simon Sinfield a lot on progressive house, as well as a track with Chris Schambacher from the States, which is also coming out on Nueva. The majority of the time I have ideas in my head of which direction I want to go when working solo and the sounds that I want to experiment with. It’s funny, as much as I may have a plan, it can easily change direction if I come across a sound that I want to use. The biggest bug bear is time, I would love to be able to dedicate more time to my production, but I expect most people have that problem!
Currently the scene is seeing criticism about sync DJs, ticket selling DJs and ghost producers. What are your thoughts on the current state of the Dance Music scene and these ever occurring topics?
It’s all part of the progression to be honest. You’ll always get those who see these things as a negative, but really ticket selling DJs has been around since the early days. When I promoted events in the 90s I would book local DJs to bring their friends, so pretty much the same thing really. I still do it now when we host rooms at some clubs, but we encourage the DJs to help sell tickets rather than make them sell a minimum number. Sometimes they sell a load and sometimes they don’t, but there’s never any pressure. With technology moving forward, the whole sync thing has opened up doors to more creativity, although it’s something that I don’t do when playing out. I prefer the old school way and play CDJs like I used to 1210’s. Ghost production has been around for years in all genres, it’s no secret that many of the top selling artists don’t produce their own music. It does make me smile when I see posts from producers/DJs who harp on about their music, knowing they had very little input! All part of the game I suppose.
What advice would you give to any up and coming producers and DJs?
The one thing that always sticks in my mind is staying true to the sound that you love. It’s pointless trying to create a sound just to be current, especially if it’s not your sound. I also think it’s very difficult to be a DJ without being a producer these days. There’s an expectation that if you’re not releasing music, gaining popularity as a DJ is very hard. Your releases have become your calling cards and give you more exposure. There’s so many things that you need to do if you’re serious about having recognition in the music industry, such as having a radio show, regular press coverage, podcast placements, regular releases and one thing that is worth pursuing is writing articles or reviews for magazines. It’s a great way to help others in the industry and help your foothold within
It’s the end of the world and your asked to put on an event. What is your line up going to be if you had to have 6 artists, DJs or bands playing?
Now this is an easy one!! Although not sure how they would all fit together haha…
Chemical Brothers
Ellie Goulding
Erick Moriillo
James Zabiela
REM
Jean Michel Jarre
Armada / Juicy Info:
www.armadamusic.com
www.facebook.com/armadamusic
https://www.facebook.com/juicymusicofficial
Paul Sawyer Info:
