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Dave Seaman - Q&A
Dave was kind enough to sit down and answer a few questions for us at Core.
CORE: Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to rap with us a bit, Dave. It looks like you’re racking up frequent flyer miles as steadily as ever. What have you been up to since the last time you came to NY?
D.S: I've been busy as ever with the touring. I've already hit every continent so far this year. Plus, I've been working on my own single under my own name for the first time, done Group Therapy mixes of hybrid and LoStep and am just starting to compile for Therapy Sessions 4 mix compilation which is due out later on this year. More than enough!!
CORE: Well you’ve been around the club scene for a year or two (or 25) now. Many New Yorkers wonder if the NY club scene can ever return to the days of Twilo, Tunnel, Limelight, etc. What’s your take on the current state of the NYC club scene?
D.S: It is pretty disappointing at the moment compared to those heady days of the nineties or indeed, the seventies and the eighties. But things go round and round in cycles and I'm sure it won't be too long before New York once again becomes a leading city of the clubbing world. Obviously there have been lots of factors involved post 9/11 and your Governor's recent legislation but who knows what's around the next corner. New York is too much of a big vibrant city to be off the clubbing radar for too long.
CORE: By the looks of it, Audio Therapy is still going strong as ever. The Spring/Summer compilation is getting some nice rotation with a lot of different DJ’s over here, probably because the range of genres on the release is so wide (with everything from minimal to breakbeat on there). What pushed you to put out such a diverse record?
D.S: As always when we come to do these samplers we just throw the net out far and wide to see what new electronic music we can gather and it just so happened this time that we managed to pick up lots of different kinds of stuff. We do have quite broad tastes at the label despite being pigeonholed as progressive a lot of the time which is rather lazy and simply wrong in our opinion, but you can't always control people's perceptions.
CORE: Ok, time for a little fill-in-the blank. “If I were to bet on one producer/DJ that was going to go from ‘also-ran’ to ‘lead pony’ in the next 12 months, I would bet it all on...
D.S: There is actually a group of Israelis coming through the ranks at the moment led by Guy Gerber and Shlomi Aber but also look out for Guy J, Roy Brizman and Itamar Sagi. They are all making some great music at the moment and I think there is going to be something of an Israeli Invasion - in the musical sense of course, you have to be careful when you mention Israel and invasion in the same sentence!
CORE: And for the millions of DJ’s whose hearts you just broke with that answer, tell us about your own journey through music-production, and how you were able to go from “that guy from Leeds” to internationally-known DJ Dave Seaman.
D.S: I was in the right place at the right time really having started DJing at school when I was very young and so when the DJing revolution happened in 1987 and I managed to land a job at Mix Mag the timing could not have been better. I had a series of lucky breaks meeting the right people but a lot of it is a lot to do with social skills and being bale to nurture and develop relationships - more so than ever these days. Once you've got your foot in the door you really have to be able to make that work for you. You may only get one chance. But with lots of hard work and belief, if you are truly talented its only a matter of time before that shines through.
CORE: More than a few critical listeners have noted that your mixes always put musicality first. In particular, The Masters Series : Vol 7 was a huge hit with critics in just about every essential EDM magazine. Now we know a magician never reveals his tricks, but tell us what goes through your mind when you’re putting together a mix.
D.S: Well obviously to try and make it as good AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE BUT YOU'RE ONLY AS GOOD AS THE MUSIC YOU MANAGE TO LICENSE. So there is a hell of a lot of work that goes into compiling fresh new or undiscovered music and then at that point the art of mixing takes over which can be both very frustrating and very rewarding. It's the luck of the draw. Sometimes you have a group of tracks that just don't naturally mix well together and you have to use every trick in the book to create the ebb and flow that makes a great mix comp. But like you said, I'm not going to reveal all those tricks!
CORE:Assuming you couldn’t end up as starting striker for Leeds United, where would you be right now if it weren’t for electronic dance music?
D.S: The ways Leeds United are playing at the moment I very probably could be a starting striker for them - even at my age! But outside of that I'd like to think I'd be doing something creative be it in literature or film or one of the other arts.
CORE: So now we’ve got the story of your rise to greatness, and your early pick for break-out artist this year. What’s your next step after you return home from your little jaunt to North America?
D.S: As I said earlier I'll be getting stuck into Therapy Sessions Volume 4 when I return and finishing up my first solo single. I've also got to play Glastonbury this year which is the biggest festival in the UK and I'm very excited about. Plus having recently become a father again, family life is keeping me busy too. The whole family is actually coming to New York with me this time, so batten down the hatches! ha ha....
CORE: Well Dave, we can’t thank you enough for letting us peek into your mind a bit. Safe travels, and see you in New York!
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Frank Chiarello
Official Website
My Podcast (techno): The H.I.N.T. - http://hint.podomatic.com
www.TeggnoRecords.com
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