The man needs no introduction. On of the originators of the techno sound. KEVIN SAUNDERSON , who celebrates the 25th Birthday of Space Ibiza Club... 

For 25 years, Space Ibiza has been the world’s most respected nightclub. Consistently hosting the most popular nights on the island, the Platja d’en Bossa club has featured every single great artist in the world of electronic music. In the year of its 25th anniversary, Space Ibiza has been chosen as the global number one at three of the most important dance music galas; IDMA, DJ Mag and Vicious Magazine awards. In order to celebrate this 25th Anniversary, Space Ibiza and Cr2 have produced this compilation featuring three DJs who have become synonymous with Space in Carl Cox, MYNC…and legend of house music – Mr Kevin Saunderson!!

Journalist: Hey Kevin welcome back to DMCWORLD…where on the planet are you today?

KEVIN: Hello! I’m here in Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. I’m home today and travel to New York tomorrow, then I’m off to Ibiza next week.

Journalist: Another summer and as you mentioned, it’s all about Ibiza again. This time thanks to the Space Ibiza 25 Anniversary album that you have created with Carl Cox and MYNC. Loving your mix which includes some classics such as X-Press 2 and Paperclip People…but also some unreleased gems from your KMS family. Was it an easy mix to put together, you must have so many memories of this amazing club to help you…?

KEVIN: The mix wasn’t too difficult to put together, you have some history with some classics from over the years with some newer stuff as well as some KMS records too.

Journalist: Space wins Best Club Of The Year continually. What makes this such a special club for an artist to perform?

KEVIN: I have a lot of history with Space, going back to around 1989, some of those records date back to that time period, I remember my first time going to Space. I got on the island on the Saturday night, went to Amnesia, Pacha and then kept on going. It was the first time I’d been to three clubs in one night in a 12 hour period.  We went to Space after Pacha, and Space opened at 6 in the morning. I was amazed that a club would open at that time, with so many people lined up waiting to get in. It was animalistic, a great sound, it was underground, it was everything you could ask for from an underground club; the variety of people, just a great variety, loving and dancing to the music.  I lost my buddy for an hour, and I looked up and he was just dancing on his own on a podium near the speaker just in his own world and it just exemplified what Space was doing. It was one of his first times leaving America and experiencing this music like this and it was a moment for him and it was magical for me to see him entranced this way. This guy who never danced, dancing. The underground was truly happening. 

Space probably wins every year because it’s developed over the years, it has probably the best DJs in the world playing there, they understand the culture, what it takes, variety of rooms, the terrace, main room. It’s developed so much since the beginning but it still keeps its essence and people respect that. People aren’t going to go to Space and hear no bad music, maybe a different genre, but it’s usually very tasteful and underground. From my own experience of playing at Space, I’ve played with Carl Cox 2 or 3 times. I played last year on the terrace at We Love. I love playing the pre-party, gets you warmed up, the sunset, atmosphere, people are in a relaxed mood and they really take care of you there. It’s a fun environment to be in and many DJs return there.

Journalist: You are a rare breed of a DJ who actually loves to travel, most hate that part. So I am going to throw some cities at you that you spin in and you tell me what you love most about returning to that place…

Naples

KEVIN: Naples, I love the pizza and the vibe of the people, one of my best parties this year was in Naples.

London

KEVIN: London, the history of London. It was the first place I travelled when I left America in 1988. I love returning, it’s a pivotal place for dance music and has had so much impact on music in general. You feel that vibe when you get there, when you go to the clubs and the record company meetings, from every aspect. I’ve played everywhere there, from Ministry of Sound, to Fabric to Egg Club; there’s so many different memories of great events.

Miami

KEVIN: Miami I go to simply once o twice a year, usually in March. I always enjoy going there because it’s freezing in Detroit, the snow is only just starting to melt so Miami’s a good place to go then. I always love playing at Space, and the day parties too, and just relaxing there.

Dubai

KEVIN: Dubai is a very unique city and I always love going there, not so much in the summer but in January or February. I played a few events and I loved the resort, the way you can have everything that you need in the complex, it’s a great place to go. The parties have gotten better, at one point the parties weren’t what I was going for but now you get both, great accommodations and consistent parties like some of the others I play around the world.

Playa Del Carmen, Mexico

KEVIN: Playa Del Carmen, I got the spot there. It’s great place for tacos and Mexican food, the weather’s good and the BPM Festival; the day event and the night event. It’s not too crazy or too many parties it’s just the right amount.

Brooklyn

KEVIN: There’s many reasons why I love going back to Brooklyn, it’s where I’m from, where I was born. I love the pizza, I love the dirty hot dogs, I love the Italian icies and the coconut icies. A lot of my brothers and sisters still live there so I have plenty of family and it’s just always great to go back and play where I’m from, whether it’s Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens or New Jersey.

Journalist: We were down at Pacha on Friday for the Insane night which you rocked with MK, DJ Sneak and Shadow Child…how was that for you?

KEVIN: I love the venue at Pacha and the set-up they have because you’re in the mix of the crowd. The crowd is a new generation crowd: they don’t necessarily know all the music but they’re out because they’re on the island and they know history of Pacha and the other DJs playing, so I thought it was an education for the crowd. I could tell that they didn’t know some of the classics when I played them, which was fine, it was just one of those types of crowds that weren’t very educated on the music but they were enthusiastic and hopefully they left thinking I want to hear that guy again. Overall it was great to play with Sneak, MK and Shadow Child, it was a very good night.

Journalist: A question from the Buzz Chart department, ‘Ask Kevin if he still has any of the old synths and drum machines first used on the Inner City project from back in the day?’

KEVIN: To be honest I have nothing from back in the day, it’s all new, it’s all plug ins, it’s all computers. I’m rebuilding my studio right now because I moved back from Chicago to Detroit so nothing is in operation but hopefully within the next month it will all be back up and hopefully I can come up with a new sound that will replace the old Inner City sound, how about that?

Journalist: Okay let’s rewind as most journalists do when they are talking to Kevin Saunderson. Back to Eastern Michigan University and a young KS who played football and didn’t have much of a social life. How important were those early fraternity parties for you? Set the scene for us…

KEVIN: I get on the Eastern Michigan campus, I start playing football, I get the chance to go to a party. All the parties were given by fraternities. Most of the white fraternities had their own houses, like Animal House, if you remember that movie where they had this big house, big parties, a lot of beer, a lot of kegs and a lot of rock and roll, heavy metal and punk rock. Black fraternities didn’t have these houses but they rented this space up in Eastern Michigan that hold about a thousand people. So there were different fraternities Alpha, Sigma etc. and each week one would have a party. I went to my first event in 1982 and I really enjoyed the music and really enjoyed the DJ who happened to be from Detroit, his name was Dwayne Jensen. He was very good; he had great sounds and was from Detroit so he started this music even before me. I was inspired; I loved the music which was house related with some disco and some rock, a combination of music but still very good and closer to the dance genre. That was my first impression so as I fell into making music and DJing I needed an outlet, somewhere to play so as I pledged and joined a fraternity it wasn’t my main motivation for joining but at least as I was pledging Sigma, I thought I want to do our parties. And Sigma wasn’t doing many parties so it was a great opportunity for me, it was great for them, I had the chance to prove myself and get experience playing live events. I had to carry my speakers, I had a small car and had to do two trips to get everything there but luckily I lived on campus so I’d set up my equipment, mixer amp and that was it, I did that for a couple of years. It eventually lead me to do other fraternity parties at different universities because I started getting a little popularity and I was making music at the same time so it was hand in hand with that. Playing at the fraternities gave me the experience I needed to start playing in the Detroit clubs, which then lead me to play in the music institute until Inner City took off.

Journalist: You also gained huge musical knowledge from a certain Charles Johnson aka The Electrifying Mojo who’s radio show on WJLB was an inspiration to millions for years. I suppose in the UK we can associate him to the late great John Peel, Johnson was known for playing a record from start to finish and pushed many different genres, including Detroit Techno. What are your memories of those shows…?

KEVIN: When Derrick May moved in my house and stayed with me for about five months in our eleventh year of High School. I was going to bed, putting the lights out, Derrick slept in my room too, and he said “What are you doin? It’s time for the electrifying Mojo”. I said “Electrifying Who?” He said “Mojo” so he put the radio on, it opened with space sounds, there was this deep voice, and that was my first introduction to the Electrifying Mojo. He was very inspirational and gave me a lot of musical knowledge. I grew up in New York so I’d heard a lot of disco, my mother was from Motown so I’d heard everything Motown in the car with her, but Mojo was different. I heard Prince, Tangerine Dream, B52, Funkadelic, New Order, just a variety of different sounds. And I heard versions of songs that were longer than the versions I’d hear on the regular radio; those records were two or three minutes and Mojo would play a record for fifteen minutes. Sometimes the whole night would feature the artist and he’s DJ a whole album. He educated you on an artist and I started looking forward to hearing this music for example when Prince had a live concert I couldn’t wait to go because I knew his songs.

Journalist:What opportunities were there for you to start putting out records? How did you get established releasing your music?

KEVIN: My first record came out on Metriplex called Triangle Love, it was on Juan Atkins’ label. We all shared this building in Detroit on Seven Mile where I started watching Juan and Derrick and I thought I can do this, I can get orders from distributors, I can press my record, master it, put my artwork on it, so I said Juan I want my record back, I want to do it myself; it was a need and I knew that way I’d have 100 percent control. Once I started doing that, I got my feet wet, I re-released my record with remixes and I was on a roll, you could tell me nothing. I was dealing with distributors and record shops, different DJs, travelling to Chicago with Derrick to give it to all the guys out there, travelling to New York, giving my record to Larry Levan at the Paradise Garage. That was my early opportunities. Then I started getting calls about my record, people wanting the license to it and I didn’t understand what all that was about but I started to learn, and kept releasing records on my label and you start getting interest. Big Fun came out on KMS first and I couldn’t keep up with the demand because it was so hot, I was selling so many records, up to fifty thousand on my own and the record company kept going. I had many classics not just from me, other artists MK, Carl, Chris, Stacey, Kenny Larkin, always releasing music on either KMS or one of my genre sub-labels. So for me it lead to my success because I could release music and nobody could tell me I couldn’t release it. I released something I was proud of, what I wanted to play as a DJ and that was the most important. And KMS is still going.

Journalist: How would you say the music and scene of Detroit has developed and progressed over the last 20 years?

KEVIN: I wouldn’t say there was a lot of progression over the last twenty years, obviously there’s some new faces, new DJs people like Kyle Hall, Seth Troxler, some of these new cats have come up from the scene but Detroit has always had talent from the very beginning. From when we started releasing our music on to people like Carl Craig, Underground Resistance, Jeff Mills, all those guys came from that era and it continued to grow. It slowed down a little but with the younger talent we’ve seen a surge come back in. The biggest thing Detroit has is the Movement Festival which has been going for about eleven years now, it’s a great addition to the city and a great way for people to see Detroit, that weekend is a serious party weekend, you need a vacation when you leave because you’re worn out. So much good music, so much to hear, so many places to be.

Journalist: Where do you think it’s now heading and what’re the greatest challenges of the moment?

KEVIN: I think if you look at where the music is headed you have this commercial music being played in America in the same time it’s opened up the underground so America’s had more of an input in the scene now, you see more underground parties at the same time. The younger generation, even here in Detroit, are following music much more than they did back in the day, or even seven years ago. Kids are into it at a young age, they might not know what genre or what sound they like but overall I see younger kids start to make music. Everybody wants to be a DJ of course, and social media has opened up that avenue, it’s made the world even smaller. I think it’s healthy and I know there will be a future, I can’t tell you where it’s going but it’s not going to die.

Journalist: Best gig of 2014?

KEVIN: My biggest gig of 2014…? I’d say probably Naples, only a few months ago I played in Naples and it was outside, it had a beautiful sunset and it was just a great vibe, great energy, great venue in the open air. I played some house, deep house, tech house, techno; I just did my thing and the crowd followed right with it.

Journalist: Biggest tune of summer 2014?

KEVIN: Right now one of my biggest tunes is called ‘Into The Deep’ by Sergio Fernandez and it’s on the Stacy Pullen’s label Blackflag.

Journalist: You label KMS continues to put out quality material, what is coming out next from your beloved imprint?

KEVIN: At KMS we’ve got a few tracks coming out, there’s a lot of new artists, we’re putting out a lot of music, we’re probably putting out more than we’ve ever released before with a ton of artists coming not just from Detroit but around the world. We’ve got some young artists, obviously both of my boys are making music Dantiez and Damarii, we’ve released a track by Juan Atkins’ nephew, and the list continues. But what’s next is that Dantiez is working on an album, Damarii’s working on an EP, we got a track by Lionel Weets called ‘Don’t Fool Me’ which is an outstanding track, we’ve got a Chez Damier updated with some additional parts. We have a track by house of virus from the UK, and a great track called ‘313’ by John Norman. And there’s some stuff coming from me too.

Journalist: Obviously you’ve seen huge changes and progression within the Techno scene throughout your career. From a production & clubbing perspective. What are your views on its current state?

KEVIN: Yes the scene has changed, it went from analogue to digital, it went from vinyl to CDs to now using USBs to computers depending on what program you use. We’re using plug-ins more but it’s all healthy, technology has to move forward. It’s not like it used to be but it shouldn’t be like it used to be. We have to take how to used to be and incorporate it in the new way. As for the clubs, we’ve seen some great clubs around the world, some super-clubs and the club scene is still evolving and I think the sound is better, back then some of the clubs had a mazing sound but the sound could be mediocre but now you get much better quality sound.

Journalist: As a father, you must be extremely proud to see your sons follow in your footsteps and grow musically the way they have?

KEVIN: I’m definitely proud of my sons especially when one’s path was professional baseball and has turned into music and the other one Dantiez wasn’t quite sure what his path was and he found his love in music. Not from me originally, my boys travelled with me and went to some festivals but I was just doing what dads do. What inspired both of them, at least Dantiez, was his friends. They started saying “oh man we’re creating techno, we’re creating this, we’re doing that” and he had moved in with them and they were DJs also, so he stayed with them for two or three months and eventually moved back with me but when he moved back he said “Dad I’ve been practicing DJing, I’ve been working on music” and I didn’t take him seriously but then he started asking more questions and going to my studio and I could see he was serious about what he said so I started letting him travel with m around the world to London and Ibiza, Tokyo, so he got a chance to experience the scene. I’m proud because I know they’re both in it because they love it and because I’m their Dad they have that opportunity.

Journalist: It’s that time of year again, the annual DJ Top100. I interviewed Arthur Baker last week, he remarked…“there are too many DJs and genres for a realistic competition”. What are your thoughts on that?

KEVIN: I always thought the Top 100 is really about popularity, especially now. Back then it was more about the talents but it’s really about what’s popular and what music style is popular. A DJ should be considered because he plays great music and he has great skills and he knows what to play with the crowd at the right moment. That’s how it should be.

Journalist: A recent quote from a certain superstar DJ…“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.” What are your thoughts on that?

KEVIN: You’ve got to look at the old school. You take two vinyls and you mix them. You’ve gotta stick with the pitch and follow the pitch, it was a lot more work and your skill level had to be on. You don’t have to deal with that so much with sync and laptops. New technologies give you different options, but in saying that I think options are good. Does it make it easy for a DJ to play? Yes. But DJing is more than just syncing a record; it’s knowing what to play and how to read the crowd and take them on a journey. Can you make people dance? The bottom line is can you make the crowd rock, can you give the people what they want to hear or can you educate them in a way that they realise that it’s a great experience. I’m not knocking traditional turntable DJs or Sync DJs, I’ve seen many big time DJs come from the school of vinyl sync too so it depends on how you use it and your purpose because you’ve still got to mix, you’ve still got to blend, even with a sync.

Journalist: What is the record that…

…reminds you of your childhood?

KEVIN: Probably the Jackson Five, I used to always hear it when I was younger.

…always get you dancing?

KEVIN:  ‘ABC’ would always get me dancing, that and McFadden and Whitehead ‘Aint No Stoppin Us Now’.

…reminds you of being broken hearted?

KEVIN: Art of Noise ‘Moments in Love’ even though it was a nice, pleasurable track it also reminded me of the broken heart that I sometimes felt too.

…you wish you would have made?

KEVIN: ‘One Nation Under a Groove’ I wish I had made that because that is my vision for people dancing together with the music that we created in Detroit.

Journalist: Who is the last GREAT young DJ/producer you have spotted around the world?

KEVIN: The greatest new producer: I don’t really know because I don’t hear too many DJs, I play my sets and I might hang out for a second, recently I get to hang out a little more in Ibiza, but there’s many great young DJs I’m sure I just don’t know them all.

Journalist: The last non dance music album you checked out?

KEVIN: Probably something from Enigma, maybe their last album. That’s the last non-dance album

Journalist: And finally, what is the next studio piece coming out from the great Kevin Saunderson…?

KEVIN: The Kevin Saunderson studio is down but should be up soon. I moved from Chicago back to Detroit and I’m building a studio but I’m working on a track with Dantiez, I’ve got five tracks recorded for a new Inner City album, I’m working on a Kevin Saunderson e-dancer track, that’s what’s happening.

Space Ibiza 25th Anniversary is available on iTunes, Beatport & Google Play. Also, it can be acquired in the Space Ibiza online store. A Deluxe 3 CD package will be available from all good retailers.

Interview Materials: http://www.dmcworld.net/