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heres what oakie had to say about this, printed in 3dworld magazine
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A VERSATILE BLOAKEY
By Cyclone
Some superstar DJs are easy to pin down and pigeonhole. Others, Like Paul Oakenfold, are truly versatile, and often this confuses the critics who would prefer artists to stick to what the critics know. Does Oakey care? Not likely
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British trance star Paul Oakenfold may be a contender for the biggest DJ in the world, but it's not easy. Oakenfold has his legions of fans, even in the impenetrable US, but he also has detractors - music critics among them. In fact, in recent interviews Paul has suggested that the media didn't give last year's 'artist' album, Bunkka, a chance. Critics accused him of making a crossover album, a corporate LP, music for the masses. Understandably, Paul refutes this.
Either way, Bunkka was a bold LP. Oakenfold didn't predictably cut an album of polished trance, but instead explored his musical roots - from epic trance to ambient to hip-hop breaks. He collaborated with a diverse cast of vocalists, too. Paul roped in Ice Cube, Tricky and Nelly Furtado. Even rock scribe Hunter S Thompson put in an appearance. Today Oakenfold says he was not necessarily disappointed with the reviews. He didn't pay them much attention. He feels overall the public's response to Bunkka was positive - and that's what counts. Internationally sales figures stand at 700, 000.
"I think there's always an element of the dance culture that don't want you to develop as an artist and they don't really want you to grow, and I think initially they heard the record and expected it just to be trance, and that was it," he reasons. "But anyone who's followed me and knows my history - from working with Massive Attack to all the Def Jam rap artists to rock bands, Rolling Stones, U2 - knows that I do other things and I've always worked with songs, so I think it was some people who just thought I was a so-called trance DJ. But I'm really happy with it - especially in the US, it's done pretty well. I think it's harder to make songs and, as a kid, I always wanted to make a record that was song-based, I grew up listening to songs, so it was a very hard record for me to make, but I'm very proud of it and if I did it again I would do exactly the same."
Indeed, Oakenfold has long been versatile. He was DJing in his teens at a point when the profession didn't offer a viable income. Paul trained to be a chef but what he really wanted was to forge a career in the music industry. At first he worked behind the scenes - in record companies. Eventually Paul quit to focus on his DJing. Along the way, he promoted Balearic nights in London. As such, Oakenfold is now recognised as one of the key players in the acid house movement.
Early on Paul showed an interest in production, and he worked with The Happy Mondays on their album Pills 'N' Thrills And Bellyaches, which established the new genre of indie-dance. Oakenfold likewise remixed some of U2's biggest records. Paul was the official DJ on the Zoo TV tour. In 2003 Paul does it all - DJing, producing, remixing, soundtracks - and he presides over a successful dance label, Perfecto, with Germany's Timo Maas - who almost upstaged Oakenfold with his LP, Loud - on its roster.
This year Perfecto will bring out a new Timo Maas album. "We're trying to sign long-term artists who can perform live, they can write, and they can do artist orientated albums," Paul says. What's more, Oakenfold is venturing into the breaks market with recent Perfecto mix-CDs by Lee Coombs and Rennie Pilgrem. Lest you think Oakenfold's move into breaks is opportune, listen to his old Tranceport CD. He's always been into breaks. But, at the end of the day, what defines Paul's musical style is melody.
With Bunkka out of the way, Oakenfold is hardly taking time off. He's just turned his hand to Madonna's American Life, describing it as "a breaks-style mix". On the Hollywood front, Paul has completed music for the new Matrix: Reload, and is set to begin on the movie Deep, from the same team behind Training Day. "It's just making time, really. I just wanna choose very carefully what I do, rather than do everything that I get offered."
In the meantime, Oakenfold is issuing a new single from Bunkka, The Harder They Come, with novice singer Keisha White singing the part originally recorded by Furtado. "Basically the Nelly was really cool, but her record company didn't want her to have a single out at the moment because she's got her own album coming out shortly," he explains.
Not disconcerted by the mixed reviews of Bunkka, Paul is looking to commence a new LP - but it won't appear anytime soon. "I'm gonna do a mix album," he says. "At the moment I'm writing songs, to be honest, I'm in Los Angeles and I'm actually writing for my new album, but that won't be until next year. I really don't wanna rush it. I really wanna get good songs, and keep to the same format that I had originally, so I think I'm gonna do a mix album and there will possibly be one new single on the mix album."
As for the recession hitting the dance industry, which has undermined super clubs and superstar DJs, Oakenfold sees good and bad in the scene. The plus side? Increasingly, electronic music is being used in films and commercials - new outlets.
Yet Paul has his own theory about the downturn in clubland these last few months. It's not the commercialism that has led to the current malaise, but the music. Paul believes that the scene could do with more uplifting trance. "Why people went to clubs was to have a great time and to forget their troubles and worries and stresses of the week and enjoy themselves and I think that the music was a huge, important part of that, and music changed. It became dark, it became quite depressing, it wasn't melodic, it wasn't uplifting, there was no melody there, there were no songs that girls could sing along to, and I think that's what we need to get back to. We need to get back to giving people a good time - that's why people no longer wanna go, because they're not having a good time. If they were having a good time, they'd still be going. It's pretty straightforward.
"See, you have to look at what changed to make it bad, and it's the music that changed - in the UK, anyway - and that's why people stopped going to clubs and that's why all the major clubs, not all of them, but the majority of them, have shut down."
Paul Oakenfold plays Club QBH in Melbourne on Saturday, 5th April & Sounds On Sunday at The Greenwood in Sydney on 6th April.
Bunkka is out on FMG. |
Last edited by sash on Apr-02-2003 at 15:35
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Nice!
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