Interview w/ CAREY BRITT (from www.houseaddict.com)

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HouseAddict takes great pleasure in interviewing Toronto's very own Carey Britt. For those of you not in the know, this man is quickly becoming a household name within both Toronto and the world's Electronic Dance Music scene. The man is very tough to get a hold of nowadays, so we consider ourselves extremely fortunate for having him answer some of our questions. By the end of this interview, you should have a pretty good snapshot of this man's values within the business, his upcoming plans for 2006, and an idea of what the EDM business/scene may look like years down the road.

Carey, for those in both the local and international EDM scenes that haven't had the opportunity to meet you, could you please introduce yourself, along with occupation?

LOL... uh oh... I guess this is my chance to make a good first impression. Not much to tell really... I am just someone that is truly passionate about what I do. For those who don't know, some call me a promoter, a talent buyer, an event director... at the end of the day I am just a music lover that wants to spread the word that electronic music should be celebrated!

Before we get into the meat and potatoes of this interview, HouseAddict would like to know your thoughts on Toronto's status in the international dance music scene. Is this city on the map? Are we considered a great place to visit when people think of dance music culture?

Toronto is definitely on the map and is one of the biggest markets in North America in the EDM world. Toronto is actually a clubbing Mecca with more clubs per capita than just about any other city in the world. As far as the status of the EDM scene in Toronto, I personally think that it could use some work. The EDM scene has been stagnant for a number of years but it seems it is starting to grow. In order for that growth to happen and to continue there just needs to be more commitment across the board to quality. Quality music, quality clubs, quality sound, quality lighting, and quality people!

Are we considered a great place to visit when people think of dance music culture... well I guess to some degree... but we are no Montreal just yet! Over in Montreal they get people planning week long vacations based around festivals like Black & Blue, Bal En Blanc, Cream, amongst others. Plus they have Stereo, which definitely attracts a number of tourists every year for little weekend-long visits.

Our website founders were first introduced to your work when you were throwing Thursday night parties at Jai Bar a couple of years ago. We all loved those parties for several reasons: 1) The introduction of Sean Miller to Toronto, and 2) The introduction of Chus and Ceballos to Toronto. Was this an experiment of yours, or was it all part of a large scale master plan?

Ah yes, "DRUMS" nights... that was a special time in our lives, personally and for our careers. At the time, I was also working as a booking agent for international artists and really just wanted to do more. The idea for the Thursday night at Jai Bar came out of a last minute trip to NYC with Sean to see Danny Tenaglia on his b-day at Arc. Believe it or not, March 7th, 2002 was my first time seeing DT in person... and boy did that ever change things for me. Both Sean and I finally found the inspiration to attempt to do something that no one in Toronto was doing... and that was introducing new ideas, new music, and new artists to the city. It seemed to us that for too long Toronto lacked people with vision and commitment to grow the scene. It was a time dominated by big clubs and corporate sponsorship and quite frankly it was getting boring.

We decided that it would be a great opportunity for us to get our feet wet and really just wanted to do something that people would enjoy. It turned out to be a groundbreaking experience for us! Sean was reintroduced to the Toronto scene in proper fashion, we introduced new international artists such as Chus & Ceballos, Pete the Zouk, Low End Specialists, and we got to work with some other well established artists like Peace Division and John Creamer. I was able to establish great relationships as a promoter with these artists, and Sean was able to get his first official remix signed - Chus & Ceballos vs. Tedd Patterson's "In Stereo", which to date is Stereo Productions' biggest selling record. I will definitely never forget that time in my life.

No doubt the relationships you made through that first Jai Bar venture have helped all of you to forward your careers. You are yet again starting new relationships to kick off 2006. This time it's with GEM and Project Orange. Can you tell us how this relationship began, and where it's going?

This is also a really exciting time for me. As of January 2006 WeDance Events (my company) will be merging with GEM Events, and Project Orange to create a new organization called Clockwerk Events. In a nutshell, Ralf from Project Orange (also the co-founder of ZRF events, and part owner of Century Room), Craig Pettigrew from GEM, and I all have similar commitments to quality events. We all know each other really well from being in the business over the years and it just started to really make sense to join forces. This way we can bring all of our strengths together to produce quality experiences for different segments of the EDM market. Without going into too much detail, we are going to have a Toronto based Events division, an Artist Management division, a Flyer Distribution division, and an International Events division.

So Carey, with the grand opening of 270 Spadina night club, you've seen a few big names come through the club already. What are your plans for this club in the New Year? Will there be one/several nights a week that people can expect to party there?

Essentially, 270 Spadina thus far is only serving as an event space. We actually intended on using the space more frequently for one off events between November and January and then planned to shut down for the month of January to renovate and then open again as a full time space in February. With the addition of David Morales as one of the owners, and as the plans for the space developed they became increasingly more appealing. We all decided after booking three events (DJ Sneak & Mark Farina - Nov. 6, David Morales - Nov. 12, and X-Tend your New Year) that we wanted to keep the public and artists out of the space so that we did not send the message to anyone that the space had not changed much, or that this was the product we would offer in the future. In March 2006 this place will open its doors as "Sonic" with two brand new exciting nights per week. Both nights will present solid branding and consistent musical formats that will satisfy house music fans to the fullest. The space will also become more usable as an event theatre and will cater to corporate market throughout the week as well.

With every new/renovated club, you have to expect the following questions:

- Any plans for a unique sound system?

Most people already know the answer to this question; it is one of the only things that we have leaked about the space. The infamous soundman Shorty will be building a custom sound system similar to Stereo's. As the room is different than Stereo in MTL, this system will be tweaked accordingly and will offer some upgrades based on the system at Stereo.

- Any plans for a unique décor?

I think that this will likely be the big shocker to everyone! I don't want to spill the beans, but I can say that people can expect to be introduced to something that will likely make them say "I have never seen something like this before!" It is really important to everyone at Sonic to create a comfortable, safe, unique, and sexy atmosphere that will take people away from the norm. That is all I can really say without spoiling the surprise.

- How will the lounge fit into the grand scheme of things?

The plans for the lounge downstairs are developing nicely. It will be themed after the main room décor, but we are still playing around with a few great possibilities as to how we will put the lounge to use.

Understandably, a person in your profession has to be several steps ahead of the rest in order to provide top quality experiences. In saying that, do you have anything else in store for Toronto for 2006?

As we discussed earlier, Toronto is an important and big market in the EDM world. As far as Clockwerk is concerned, we have some major projects lined up for 2006 in Toronto and beyond. The company will be managing the marketing, promotion, and talent buying for 2 brand new clubs opening in Toronto late winter and early spring, and we will be looking to execute some massive 10,000+ person events outside of these venues.

Our goal is to step up the pace in Toronto and bring this city's "status" to the next level. It is time for Toronto to be #1 on the world map.

On a much more personal note, do you have any favourite DJs/producers at the moment?

I am really open minded to number of different genres of music so it is really tough for me to narrow it down to just a few. If I had to plug any DJs/Producers at all I would far prefer to send my love to some of the up and comers that have been working their asses off over the past few years such as Sean Miller, Demi, Damian Lazarus, and Chus & Ceballos.

What sets are currently getting a lot of play on your computer?

To be honest, I am not a big downloader... I still really believe in buying music... so as of late I have been really banging Lawler's 2nd CD of Lights Out 3 compilation, 1st CD of Nic Fanciulli's Renaissance and Lee Burridge's Everybody On Tour CD. I do have a couple of Demi and Chus & Ceballos sets from when they played for me during my time at Boa which always get a listen from time to time as well. Oh yeah, there is also an Essential Mix from Danny Howells back in 2002 that I just got my hands on that is absolutely incredible.

Being the workaholic that you are, you must love it when you can actually get away and take time out for yourself. In saying that, which do you prefer, ski slopes, or lounging on a hot beach?

LOL... time off... what is that? It is funny that you should ask... it seems that whenever I do happen to get away from Toronto these days I end up in places like Miami, New York, or Ibiza where I end up spending my time in clubs. Although I do admit when in Miami or Ibiza I find the time to soak up some sunrays as well. I have typically been a fan of the hot weather but right now I am considering taking Mondays off in 2006 and learning how to snowboard, but only time will tell how that goes.

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Last edited by DigDeep on Dec-30-2005 at 19:37