We speak to Poker Flat label boss Steve Bug in the wake of his Can You Feel It remixes
A legendary figure in electronic music, Chez Damier has played close witness to many of the pivotal moments in the history of house and techno and ‘Can You Feel It’ stands up against every house record ever made. Now re-released with remixes by Steve Bug and Supernova, we caught up with Bug to discuss his remix, still getting excited about DJ gigs and being unimpressed by the disco revival…
How's the year treating you so far?
Great! I played an amazing flying circus party on a beach in Playa del Carmen with Nicholas Jaar, Audiofly and Benoit and Sergio on NYE. After that I had almost a whole week off in playa and I went to a lot of parties at the BPM festival, drank a lot of mezcal and danced my ass off. Then on the 7th I played an amazing party on a hill top in Santiago de Chile with Phonique and after that finally got back home and went straight into skiing vacation with some friends. I got back yesterday, so I feel relaxed and prepared for a busy 2012!
You recently played in China for the first time...what was the experience like?
It was amazing. The vibe reminded me a bit of the 90s in Germany; such a good energy. People were starving for good music. I heard so many weird stories about gigs in China before, like there being tables on the dancefloor, local DJs playing commercial, cheesy stuff right before the guest DJ, people not really dancing and stuff like that. But luckily my experience was completely different. It might have to do with the people who run the Lantern in Beijing; they are doing a great job. These guys have really been pushing the underground electronic music scene over there for years and it finally seems to have paid off. I would highly recommend any DJ playing kinda my style to work with these guys instead of going to play for those who pay the most, which is usually a bad move anyway.
You've been DJing for 20 years or so now...do you still get excited about every gig or are some of them more 'business as usual'?
Yes of course I still get excited. Luckily there is nothing like business as usual in a DJs life. Every night is different, every club has a different vibe, and every crowd has a different energy. Of course there are some records that work in every club, but still the overall feeling is different and that’s what makes it so interesting. I think it also helps that I usually try to play only on weekends and don't fill up weekdays with dates as well. I don't like to overdo things, I need a balance between label, studio and DJ work, so everything stays fresh and interesting for me.
Finances aside, what's the hardest thing about running an underground dance music label?
To always find young talents that you can work with for a while and that people find as interesting as you do. These days it's getting harder and harder to support fresh, unknown talents as people just don't listen to their stuff anymore. So much music is being released every day that no one can listen to all these tunes, so people mostly listen to what or whom they already know.
Besides that people follow trends; nothing seems to be better than the new thing, even though it might be a revival. But like in every trend, after a while everybody is producing, releasing and playing the same kinda music. People get fed up and search for the new big thing and then it starts all over again. So for a label I think of course it's important to evolve and not stand still, but I think it's also important to stay true to your roots and keep your sound individual. You may sound a little bit unhip for a while, but in a long run people will always appreciate you staying true to yourself. Hypes come and go, but quality music is here to stay.
Let's talk about your remix...how do you view Chez Damier as an artist?
Chez Damier, what can I say? I have so many of his records and I still play some of the older tracks in my sets today. He is truly a legend of deep house music, his music speaks for itself. No words can do better than that.
What did you try to achieve with your remix? Was it a challenge considering the record's relatively high profile?
I’ve was asked to remix MK’s New York dub, which kinda already was a remix, but it is also one of my all time favourites, so I had to really think about remixing it or not. Some tracks shouldn't be touched I thought at first, but then I thought if I treat it with grace and honour original dub instead of trying to create something completely new it could work. So that's how I came up with the idea of doing a re-dub. I tried to keep the original vibe but make it sound like it was a track of mine, being produced today with the sounds that I would have chosen. I finally ended up only exchanging the organ signature sound and tried to re-produce the hi and lo strings and then arranging it my way. I hope people see what I was trying to achieve here, doing an update rather than a completely new thing, since I think the original New York dub still sounds stunning.
With the remix I was trying to do something else, changing the hook but keeping some of the sounds that I thought were important in the original. So I kept the organ and the hi strings and I also kept the original key, which was important for me and build a new simple hook which still would carry the vocals. Now I can't even say which version I prefer, but either way the original dub will always be in my heart and in my sets.
Are there any up and coming producers or labels that have particularly impressed you over the last few months?
Not really to be honest, the past few month were kinda in the hands of the funk/disco revival, something that in my opinion was originally started by labels like Permanent Vacation, Claremont 56 and a few others years ago. I mean, don't get me wrong, I like some of those tunes very much, also some of those being released on the labels that in people’s minds stand as the originators of that sound nowadays, or even some tunes by the copycats, but it is just not impressing me that much.
Nut maybe the question should really be what does really impress you in dance music if you are listening to house music for over 25 years already? Especially when you also have a collection of funk and disco records in your crate...!
What does the rest of the year hold for you?
Next month we are releasing a new poker flat compilation called Gunslingers and Greenhorns for which I did the DJ mix. Then there are a lot of remixes in the pipeline, a new 12" and I’m also working on a new album that hopefully will be released in September. Apart from that I will be travelling and playing gigs around the globe, but also try to focus on the labels since we have a lot of things coming up this year.
Anything else you'd like to tell us about...?
There will be a limited vinyl version of my two mixes plus MK’s New York Dub on Dessous to be released very soon, you better get one! ; )
Can You Feel It (Remixes) is availabe now from DStore and Beatport
