Interview with world famous trance DJ Paul Oakenfold
Producer and well-known around the world trance legend of club music - Paul Oakenfold.
Journalist: Hey Paul…where in the world are you today?
Paul: I’m currently in Los Angeles.
Journalist: Arguably your first artist album since 2006, your brilliant new ‘Trance Mission’ release is a long player consisting of 12 covers of your favourite trance tracks of all time – not remixes, pure covers! How long as the album been floating around your head on the 'to do' list?
Paul: The Perfecto team came together to discuss everyone’s classic or favorite track. From that, I picked what I felt were 12 songs that meant a lot to me from real underground stuff like ‘Theme For Great Cities’ to commercial stuff like ‘Ready Steady Go’ and ‘Not Over Yet’.
Journalist: What a mission Paul to be able to whittle it down to just 12 tunes. How long did that process take, there must have been a lot of listening to old sets going on – and many memories!?!
Paul: It’s taken just about a year and yes, there were plenty of listening sessions and a whole lot of nostalgia.
Journalist: Please roll the back years for us and give us a few words on each of these seminal tracks explaining why the record had to be on the album and how you approached it…
Paul:
Theme For Great Cities: "Something I could open my sets with and be a scene setter. A great B side instrumental by the 80’s pop legends Simple Minds..."
Café Del Mar: "Voted as the #1 biggest electronic track by Mixmag and the biggest dance record of all time by BBC Radio 1. Had to take a tough trance route on this."
Dreams: "Used to hammer the original back in the day. It was on my second Essential Mix I ever recorded in 1994."
Barber’s Adagio For Strings: "Debated whether to do this one or not. I made this cover for the US scene as I spend a lot of time touring out here. I added a vocal to my new version and every time I play it, it takes the roof off."
Toca Me: "This was the first one that I said had to be on the final tracklist. I went for new school trance on this one."
Ready Steady Go: "One of my most successful tracks to date. Had to be powerful so I asked my favorite breaks producers to remix it, Beatman and Ludmilla. A bunch of new mixes are out now actually."
Not Over Yet: "Not Over Yet was my biggest record as my side project with Steve Osborne and Dominique Atkins. I wanted to make a pumping trance track with updated production, something for the Fluoro fans."
Awakening: "Used to play the original all the time."
Madagascar: "The Ferry Cortsen remix was a cream courtyard anthem. I wanted to keep it in a pumping, full on trance style."
Open Your Eyes: "I used the original to open my essential mix recorded live from Space Ibiza in 1999. I found this great male vocal that I added to the breakdown which really brings out the emotion."
Hold That Sucker Down: "I wanted to do something totally different so I decided to do a deeper spacey techno vibe."
Touch Me: "A timeless vocal classic. I love this record. I got Cass to re-sing the vocal and was very excited about it. It’s a completely fresh, exciting, and emotional charged take on the original record."
Journalist: “Let’s cut to the chase – fuck the boundaries, fuck genres and fuck the rules and regulations”: your sign off on the album press release. You have never conformed Paul, you have always loved sticking your neck out doing it your way. Is that how you felt taking on this project, has dance music (especially over in America) become too conformist for you?
Paul: Over the past 6 months, I’ve realized in America that there isn’t a great understanding of electronic music. The current and new generation has only just been exposed to EDM. I felt this would be a good opportunity to share this with the audience and my fellow new djs that never heard these the first time around.
Journalist: T’was great to see you at Miami WMC/Ultra in March, even if you did say I had the worst sunburn you had ever seen! Your party at Space was off the wall, what were your thoughts on the week in Florida…some people are saying there were simply too many parties on this year diluting the crowds?
Paul: I’m sure your tan is still there Dan! It was good to see you as well, always love seeing someone from your family. Yeah I do agree with you that there seems to be too many parties. That is realistically what the event has become now. Not as many people attend the actual conference as they used to. I think that week is now all about spring break and parties and dj’s showcasing their music and their record labels. As you can see with Las Vegas, when I started my residency in 2009 there was very little electronic music and now we have a hub in America where literally every week there is a main DJ with his nightly residencies and pool parties showcasing all their new music.
Journalist: You went along to pay your respects at Frankie Knuckles Way in Chicago after your show at Concord Music Hall last week…just how important was this great man for dance music and you in particular?
Paul: I felt it was really important for me to show my respects for one of our iconic DJs and someone I really look up to. This man is very important to dance music and I hope that we can share his memory with a lot of the new DJs who aren’t familiar with him and the current generation of clubbers who haven’t heard his music.
Journalist: Throw a couple of names at us, some up and up n’coming producers we should be watching out for this summer…
Paul: Beatman and Ludmilla on the breaks tip. Simon Patterson on the trance tip. Angry Man on psy trance. Joy Riders on EDM.
Journalist: I interviewed Dave Angel last week, an interesting thing he said…“I believe true DJing is actually an art, but it’s a dying art, as everyone is pushing the sync button…it’s a real shame when you see a ‘DJ’ plug his laptop in and call this DJing. Music will always evolve but sometimes not in the best way.” Thoughts on that little comment?
Paul: I agree with Dave Angel 100%. I don’t necessarily think its anyone’s fault. Technology has made it easier not just to DJ but to do most things quicker and easier. The producers who used to make records for the DJ now want to be the DJ, understandable.
Journalist: David Luiz to Paris St Germain for around £40 million – deal of the century for your beloved Chelsea?
Paul: If that’s true, that’s a great deal for Chelsea. Don’t get me wrong, David is a good player and would rather have kept him.
Journalist: The World Cup is weeks away, seriously…how do you think England are going to fare and who is your tip for the trophy in that sweltering heat?
Paul: Obviously hoping England will do well but realistically I see the last four as Germany, Brazil, Argentina and Spain with Germany winning it. I think with the main body of the German team playing for Bayern Munich, much like the last world cup where all the Spanish players played for Barcelona, I think Germany will be a very hard team to beat.
Journalist: You are in the middle of your Trance Mission summer tour that is taking in towns and cities all across the States. Are you still discovering new pockets of club scenes over there, places that you thought would NEVER get it on with us all those years ago?
Paul: I’ve been touring America for many years. I'm always looking for interesting places to spread dance music to. In the last 6 months I’ve been to Alaska, Charlotte, Cayman Islands, etc. Not the usual places you would find electronic music but I can certainly tell you its becoming more and more popular.
Journalist: What is the one big summer event that you can’t wait for?
Paul: I'm really looking forward to Tomorrowland where I will be headlining both Fridays on the trance stage. Also looking forward to coming back to England to play Creamfields and EDC London. A bunch of shows at my spiritual home, Amnesia in Ibiza, where as you know, it kind of started for me.
Journalist: Aside from Trance Mission, what is coming out next from you studio wise?
Paul: I’ve finished my long awaited artist album, Popkiller, which should be out at the end of the year. That was a real labor of love. The album is very similar to the last two, great singers, great songs and cutting edge beats. I think what’s changed however, is electronic music has become mainstream so I’m no longer left of center with my album.
Journalist: And finally squire, stick your neck out. What is your favourite cover on the album that you have created?
Paul: Adagio For Strings, it's something that strangely enough I’ve had a close attachment to. From when Orbit had a big hit with it, to Ferry’s remix, to Skip Raiders remix of it on Perfecto that went top 40 pop, to my interpretation which lends itself much more to the original composition where the second break is much longer using more of the original idea and then adding some soulful vocals that give it a different take. I’ve tried to cover a lot of different styles within trance music.
Journalist: Cheers Paul. See you in Ibiza at some point...
Paul: Thank you. See you over the summer...
Paul Oakenfold – ‘Trance Mission’
Release: 20th June - Pre-Buy Link: http://bit.ly/TranceMissionPO_iT
Further information :
Interview materials: http://www.dmcworld.net/
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