Ahead of his next appearance for Defected presents Glitterbox this Saturday 02 August, Defected's Ben Lovett talks edits and amour with the Australian disco favourite.
Aussie vigilante Late Nite Tuff Guy was conceived not under the transcendent, nocturnal sparkle of a mirrorball, as the name might suggest, but at humdrum breakfast with his flatmate. The beginnings of Carmelo Bianchetti’s blistering alias couldn’t have been more innocuous. “It was back in 1990 when I was living with a close friend of mine in Adelaide” he vaguely recalls. “She designed clothes and I made music; we were often both working into the early hours. One morning I came in for breakfast and she casually referred to me as ‘late nite tough guy’. For some reason it stuck with me.”
However, Bianchetti was already igniting the trail along which he would subsequently blaze Australia’s fledgling dance scene. Bianchetti’s propulsive sets as DJ HMC (short for ‘House Master C’), a lean mix of dark and soulful 4-4, dovetailed pivotal early Nineties releases for influential Adelaide techno label Juice such as 6AM, LSD and Phreakin’ and quickly earned him the additional title ‘godfather of Australian techno’. He cemented his reputation with further HMC releases right up until the end of the decade including Dark Matter and Hot! Only one production, on 1993’s Mothership EP, was credited to Late Nite ‘Tough’ Guy – Winter.
It is in recent years that Bianchetti’s funkier moniker has warmed up and found its swaggering stride. Bianchetti’s over-arching transition from tech to disco has been an unequivocal success, best typified perhaps by the popularity of his edit work. Late Nite edits of Sister Sledge, Prince and Janet Jackson have demonstrated a rare ability to repurpose vintage soul, disco and pop licks with both contemporary bite and reverential finesse. There have been edgier, no less inspired forays into the work of Michael McDonald (I Keep Forgettin’, as famously sampled by Warren G in 1994), Kate Bush (Running Up That Hill) and Roland Clark (the house vocalist’s underground hit with DJ Le Roi, I Get Deep, enhanced as I Get Deeper), the latter earning plaudits from Steve Lawler and Ellen Allien next to Bianchetti’s closer disco kin Todd Terje and Dimitri From Paris.
Late Nite Tuff Guy has also monopolised the DJ booth effectively, his edit output specifically tailored for roof-raising sets of house, funk and disco that have, for now, put the heftier rumblings of HMC on the backburner (though HMC does still play). Bianchetti is seriously, globally in demand today, as his confirmation to play several dates for Defected’s new summer Glitterbox residency at Booom! Ibiza indicates; so too upcoming gigs in London and Dublin, and recent ones across Asia. “The Defected thing kinda just happened” he quietly riffs. “Simon [Dunmore] introduced himself as a fan of my music and I was well aware of Defected’s standing. I’ve never been to Ibiza before so I’m looking forward to the experience probably more than anyone can. You hear so much about the atmosphere, the parties and the people. It’s going to be fantastic. The closest thing I can compare it to right now is Bali, which is kind of viewed as an Antipodean Ibiza. But clearly Ibiza is unique.”
The question, crucially, remains as to why Late Nite Tuff Guy has only now started flexing his decks being that the alias was conjured over coffee and croissants so many years ago? HMC’s prior Nineties momentum had a delaying effect but one must also consider Bianchetti’s extended sabbatical in the early Noughties. Just over 10 years ago the DJ-producer faced a perfect storm of problems - personal issues mixed with deep artistic frustrations and a highly restrictive fear of flying. His only option was to take time away from HMC and dance music in general.
“I didn’t feel motivated. I felt tired and like I wasn’t going anywhere. The motivation just dropped” he confesses. “At the same time I had a variety of other issues which I needed to get through. I started working at my parents’ bakery. My father had a bakery in Italy before we emigrated; it’s where he established himself as a pastry chef. He’s retired now but he brought those skills over to Adelaide and, at the time, it felt good to be working alongside family again in a normal job, as a normal person.”
What prompted his return to clubland? “Well, there was something my mother said to me one day, which I won’t repeat, and things kinda like clicked” he cryptically reflects. “A friend also came to see me and asked if I’d play a one-off gig for him, as a favour. It was 2004 and the club was called Sugar – I reluctantly agreed. Of course when I played so many people, new and old, had turned up to see me, and it was simply an incredible night. I suddenly realised that this [music] was truly what I was meant to be doing...this was my life.”
During his time off, Bianchett, moved away from house and techno – to the point of virtually ignoring it – and focused on classic soul and R&B by the likes of Earth, Wind & Fire and Marvin Gaye. Bianchetti had grown-up with these records. He started to buy vinyl in 1977 when he was 13, enthused by classic disco, soul, funk and jazz. In turn, one of his first DJ residences at Adelaide club Metro pivoted on a broad fusion of the soulful downtempo and upbeat electronic. “I’ve always been a versatile and passionate DJ who likes so many types of record” he asserts. “So the Late Nite stuff isn’t really such a switch. At the same time, yes, I was listening to those classic records during my time away and rediscovering a passion and that probably helped push Late Nite Tuff Guy to the front.”
Mr Tuff Guy was soon a Sugar resident, further fuelling his revived sonic interests by intentionally playing across the (soulful) genre board. Come 2007, he was releasing the top-draw edits that had formed the backbone of his sets - outings on Tribute and Disco Deviance flanked a series of killer EPs for Dessert Island Discs (Sugar’s in-house imprint). Within the past year or so, Bianchetti has launched his own label Tuff Cut imprint as another platform for his stylish restorations. He’s already up to six releases, and the first release of new downtempo offshoot Soul Cut.
“I’ve had a great response [to the label]” Bianchetti says. “There’s a lot of demand and, ultimately, that’s all I want... I want people to enjoy the music I make. I’m an emotional person so I really, really love it when people dance to what I’ve made or might be playing. It really gets me. I give 150% with everything I do and if any music doesn’t strike the perfect chord then I won’t pursue it.”
Beyond swish gigs and EPs, Bianchetti is also preparing a Tuff Guy debut album. He’s been taking his time writing and recording it to ensure everything is just so. “For me it has to sound natural and have the right flow” he elaborates. “This album will be an entirely original set of disco-house tracks but those tracks need to work with one another. I like to plan and lay out all of my ideas when I’m in the studio but I don’t like to over-think them. I can only liken the process to that of a painter creating a piece of art; the best pieces of art have some framework beforehand but then the real creativity just happens.”
Is Bianchetti worried about being able to make his first extended sequence of original tracks as Late Nite Tuff Guy as compelling as the edit work that his alias has so far thrived upon? Original cuts are, after all, a different kettle of fish to re-edits that, however skilfully and majestically applied, based themselves largely upon the masterstrokes of others. “I have over 31 years of experience as a DJ and countless as a producer, particularly as HMC” he explains. “I’ve enjoyed a lot of success as HMC so think I know how to approach things in the right way. At the end of the day I love making music, and I trust myself to find the right ideas...let the music speak for itself. I’m unfazed by it [the attention]; and, really, I see Late Nite Tuff Guy as a fun alias. It’s an upbeat, fun thing, based around feel-good music that I’ve grown up with.”
Bianchetti’s rapidly exploding online following neatly reflects his confidence and composure. Late Nite Tuff Guy’s various edits have generated over 1.5 million plays on Soundcloud to date, and the figure continues to rise. What does Bianchetti think about social media and the role it has to play for artists? “It has its flaws” he slightly surprisingly counters. “I can’t stand the way it has become a platform for DJs and artists to bicker and fight. It’s bullshit...such a distraction. But then I use it to promote what I’m about and what I’m up to and that’s actually really useful. These things are fine if they’re applied in the right way.”
Bianchetti, of course, remains grounded; still based in Australia too. What does he have to say about his local scene? “It has changed quite a bit over the years” he offers. “I remember buying records from my local shop, Soul Man, in Adelaide in 1987. They were these weird records coming over from America and, at first, I didn’t get them. But then the sound clicked for me, records by Model 500 and the like simply astounded me. Lots of interesting nights and scenes started to appear soon after. But today, the scene is fairly stagnant. Adelaide is still a small city, with a small group of people pushing good underground music. The rest of it, like the wider country, is commercially-focused. There’s so much commercial music. Australia is a great country, though, and I love playing here and being around like-minded friends.”
Immediately, of course, Bianchetti only has eyes (and ears) for Ibiza. “I like being out of my comfort zone, and Ibiza will definitely be that. I can’t stop thinking about it, he beams.”
For the boy who emigrated from Italy aged three (back in 1967), clung to his father’s Italian 45s during the disruptive switch, and always dreamed of a life in and around music his current position is a dream come true. “It wasn’t easy in the beginning” he concludes. “I learned keyboards and played my way through a number of fairly bland pop-rock bands before the DJing took me onwards, but the drive to do something I truly loved was always there. I’ve had highs and lows but the journey has been worth it so far. No time to stop now....” Tuff talking indeed....
Words by Ben Lovett
Glitterbox is at Booom Ibiza every Saturday throughout the season - click for full event listings
Defected presents Glitterbox Ibiza 2014 is out 17 August (digital) on Defected Records
