Italian feel-good house merchant Riva Starr quite literally has ‘The Sound’. It’s the name of his new EP, marking a clear and conscious shift away from the mainstream excess of his previous track with Fatboy Slim – a certain ‘Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat’. Starr, the current, strikingly successful alias of DJ-producer Stefano Miele, is about to get back to underground basics….
He made his introduction back in 2007, when first EP ‘Bubble’ was snapped up by Claude VonStroke’s taste-making Dirtybird label. Subsequent tracks on Southern Fried, Made To Play and his own Snatch! imprint, as well as studio albums If Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade and Hand In Hand, have firmly secured his reputation as a global talent; one able to weave a distinctive 4-4 flow with everything from deep electronica to jack to techno to urban bump. Compilation work for Defected, brazen remixes for Armand Van Helden, Brodinski, Cajmere and London Grammar, and a never-ending slew of international gigs have extended that reputation, and then some.
Miele took his first industry steps as himself during the late 1990s. One may recall several spritely production outings for Napoli label Planet before a switch to the breakbeat stylings of alter-ego Madox during the early Noughties. All this before his Starr had risen. Miele brings a wealth of passion and experience to the table, far beyond his most recent manoeuvrings.
Mr Starr has an exciting new release on DFTD, then?
I really wanted to get a clear message across that this is the ‘sound’ I play, I make, I enjoy – hence the title. This is what I stand for. I had a big hit with Fatboy Slim in ‘Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat’, thanks particularly to Calvin Harris’ excellent remix. But that remix didn’t really reflect my sound and people started to associate me with EDM which I didn’t really like.
Did the success of ‘Eat, Sleep’ take you by surprise?
Totally, no one thought it’d explode like it did. The original track, which we cut with Beardyman, followed an amazing three day bender and had this raw old-school vibe but then, in turn, the release almost got too big. At that point, people start to try and define you which can be upsetting. But I’ve been there before. I’m used to it and just focus on my own music.
Describe that music to us?
I think you’d call it a feel-good sound. I just do what I want...what motivates me, and what makes me happy. Over the years, my audience has gotten to know my sound and now they tell me they can recognise my tracks anywhere. For me, that’s a big compliment. Sometimes, following your own path is good and sometimes it’s bad but I want to be free and creative.
Can you elaborate on that?
Well, the downside of creativity is that it doesn’t always fit in with people’s expectations. Today, there’s a lot of industry focus on brands and being marketable. It’s more difficult for artists to get recognised unless they have this marketing formula behind them. For those artists thinking in different ways it can be hurtful. But I’m happy. I’ve always looked up to people like Matthew Herbert who continue to think outside the box. I approach music in an old-school way. I just want to make music that I enjoy and that my fans enjoy because they can see it’s true to who I am.
Is enough good music getting through in 2014?
Most definitely. People still want to find the good things, the true music. It’s just a little harder to do that now, as it gets lost in all the bad stuff being churned out. It’s probably easier for me because I have my label [Snatch!] and friends are sending me great tracks all the time. If I was wearing the clothes of a young, new DJ then I would probably struggle. EDM, obviously, is big but I see that as entry-level dance music really. Hopefully some of the kids who are into it now will move across to the underground and that’s a good thing.
What’s next for Riva Starr?
I released my ‘Polaroid Beats 01’ EP back in June, which was a return to clubbier beats after ‘Eat, Sleep’ - much like ‘The Sound’. I’ll follow this up with a ‘Polaroid’ remix EP in November. I also have some remixes of London Grammar and Shadow Child due, and remixes of some of the kids on Snatch! who have been supported by the likes of Carl Cox and Loco Dice. Next March is Snatch!’s 5th birthday, and I’m planning a three-CD compilation and, possibly, a tour. There are lots of other EPs in the works which I can’t name right now, and things like the Snatch! ADE party with Ovum this October. It’s incredibly busy!
You’re testing some of this new material out now?
I’d say that two out of 10 new tracks that I play in the clubs are good to go as releases. It’s a real advantage being a DJ as well as a producer, because I am able to see crowd reactions to ideas and then tweak if necessary...things like sound quality for example. It actually helps when a new track is unrecognised as I get a pure response to work from. When I’m 100% sure about a release, then I hand it to 4 or 5 trusted DJ friends and watch, hopefully, the hype build. One of the best things about working in the studio is figuring out, and picturing, how people will enjoy the music. That’s priceless.
So what is Riva Starr’s ‘best bit’ so far?
It’d probably be the 2006-2008 period, when Riva Starr was first introduced. I was no longer feeling any inspiration as Madox, it felt like my breakbeat sound had run its course. I moved towards house and to get my first release [‘Bubble EP’] signed by Dirtybird was magical. That was a really inspired time; over those first two years I released about 70 remixes...I had so many ideas.
And the ‘worst bit’?
Probably 2012. I had a number of big tracks and I was all over the magazines. I should have been happy but I wasn’t. I was suddenly doing 200 gigs in a year, and facing all these distractions. I squeezed in the studio and ended up making strange music to please people and, I thought, myself. It was a hybrid of things and it wasn’t quite right. I ended up stopping for a couple of months, sorting myself out and going again. I think it’s fine to make mistakes, we’re only human. But you need to be able to learn from them.
What have you learned?
Music shouldn’t be about quantity. It’s fine if other artists want to work like that but I’m focused on doing what’s right for me, when it’s right. I get kids emailing me for advice and I tell them to be original above all else. I also tell them not to feel pressured into releasing something new every two or three weeks. Just make outstanding music - I know artists that are still drawing support from a single record released months ago. I think that if the some of the kids can start to see past all this bullshit about being ‘flavour of the week’, and start developing a proper, critical understanding of their sound then dance music will really benefit. This is a long-term game if you play it the right way.
Riva Starr The Sound EP is out 29 September on DFTD
