SEB FONTAINE
PERFECTO PRESENTS: SEB FONTAINE
(PERFECTO)
Seb
Fontaine has risen to join the ranks of the elite DJ set by playing a mix of
tunes that showcases not only the massive floor fillers, but the next crop of
talent soon to be making their mark. It’s
this eye toward the future that shines brightly throughout his latest release
Perfecto Presents: Seb Fontaine, where he sticks to the formula that has helped
him to achieve such levels of success. For
those of you who don’t know (which becomes a smaller group daily), Seb
Fontaine has gained a huge amount of exposure by hosting his own Saturday radio
program on BBC Radio 1 and reaching literally millions more through rebroadcasts
of his show on the BBC website. In
addition, Seb has had the honor of being the only DJ to hold a residency at both
Cream and Ministry of Sound and has toured the globe regularly with performances
in the United States and Ibiza amongst many more.
In the closing months of the summer,
Seb will begin a tour that will see him touring Europe, the United States, and
ending on the white-isle of Ibiza.
Recently, I had a moment to speak
with Seb while he was in the midst of a weekend birthday celebration while
preparing for the tour in support of Perfecto Presents: Seb Fontaine.
So what have you been up to the
past week or so?
We had a big party last night round
the house. It’s my birthday this
weekend that has turned into like a three-day event thing.
I’ve just been really, I’ve been in Spain.
It took me a week or so to recover from Glastonbury.
Glastonbury was one of the best I’d ever been to and I think it was one
of the best ever this year. So that
was kind of the biggest thing we’ve done recently.
What made that stand out?
They had a great lineup, they had
loads and loads of people, and it was just a really, really cool weekend.
How has touring been for the new
Perfecto Presents album?
Well, I was in the states for the
whole of April and then I was meant to go back in June, but I couldn’t because
of Glastonbury. Because I had to
get all of the Glastonbury stuff prepared.
When I’m over next week (to the US), It’s the first time I’m back
for a while. But I’m over in
July, then September, October, November. So,
I’m kind of around quite a bit now.
Are you doing a club tour or larger
events?
Both really.
A bit of both. I just love clubs, I love nightclubs. I’ve done some quite big things.
Last time I did House Of Blues in Chicago, which was a really, really
good gig. But I think on the whole,
I’m a club person.
About the album, you’ve been
quoted as saying that you don’t like to put a lot of the massive tunes in
there. You kind of want tunes that
still seem fresh a few months down the road.
Yeah,…
How much of that actually comes
from your radio show?
Well, the radio show is different
because the radio show is the night. It’s
just that night and essentially, you know I think we have to try and pick the
biggest tunes. But I think if
you’ve got it on the CD. The show
has kind of two sides. The
beginning of the show is kind of more about like the big tunes at the moment and
then the show goes kind of more into either what I do or people that I’m
really into do. So the show covers
both those sides anyway.
How do you determine if it goes on
the CD?
Sometimes you just know a track is
going to be huge. And it’s one of
those tracks that you love for a month and you just hate it afterwards.
Or not even if you don’t hate it, you just don’t want to hear it
anymore. And I think the secret on
those things is just not to pick those kinds of records that are going to be
played in every single place you hear.
What do you look for, what kind of
sounds stand out to you?
I, I don’t know, ya know.
Is it a drum, is it a high hat, is
it a vocal that you really like?
I just, I think it’s, I would
describe it as a certain electronicness at the moment.
I mean, I don’t know how things are in the states, but certainly, I
think the progressive scene in the UK is pretty much not there anymore.
And I think everyone is really feeling kind of what I would describe as
electronic house music. And you
know, it’s tougher than normal house music and it’s much more electronic.
But there’s some really, really good music about at the moment.
And it’s a pretty underground sound really, so It’s not something
that you’d need to worry about, “Oh, I’m gonna hear it on every radio
station for the next…for the whole of the summer.”
Let me ask you, I was just
listening to the Perfecto Presents Seb Fontaine album, and one of the things
that stuck out to me was the Matrix vs. Goldtrix “It’s Trippin” with your
intro, what’s the story behind that?
They just did it for me.
I used to love the original. You
know what, I’m a big drum and bass fan as well.
And I saw Ed Rush and Optical and they had the mix, the Goldtrix mix of
“Trippin”, I think it’s his brother.
And they kind of gave it to me. But
I already had the “Seb Fontaine’s got me trippin”, they’d already done
that for me before. So that was kind of my end of the night thing.
When the tune was big and everyone would say “one more”, we kind of
put that on and everyone would go crazy. It
just kind of made sense really.
It’s an interesting way of
putting your own stamp on the mix.
Yeah, there’s nothing like having
the artist to sing it for you personally (laughs). You know, I mean, I almost didn’t put it on because I
thought it might be seen as being a bit flat.
But, you know, I was chatting to some people and they said, “No, put it
on. It sounds good.” But I did two endings because I was a bit worried it was a
bit kind of like, “Look, I know the band.”
In all fairness, I don’t know them really very well at all, but I
didn’t want it to be looked at like one of those flash things.
How long did it take to put the
track selection together?
It took me a long time on this one,
ya know. Not because there were
tracks that I liked that didn’t,…it didn’t work the way I wanted them to
work, so they went. And also, you
know what it was? I started doing
it before the Miami music conference and normally what I do is, I do it and I
just finish it, because I think that’s a good way to do it.
And I made the big mistake of having time with it this time.
And I know Sasha always does his, and he says, “Oh, I wish I could
finish them.” Because he goes
away and he’ll tour with it and listen to it.
And then he won’t like this bit and won’t like that bit, then you
change it. That’s kind of what I
did this time and so it took a little longer and it was just the time
constraints that that was just the way it had to happen.
Since you mentioned Miami, how was
that for you this year?
I think really good.
I had a really good conference actually.
I actually got some work done as well.
How much free time do you actually
have?
During the conference?
Yeah, during the conference, for
example. I mean, is it all
business?
In conference everything is
sandwiched into such a short amount of time.
I mean, when I’m over next week I’ve got a couple of days in Vegas.
I’ve got some family in San Francisco, so I’m going to hang out with
them and stuff. But in conference,
you’re either partying or you’re asleep.
There was no sightseeing.
When you’re on tour, what do
you do during the daytime before your show?
What would be an average day before a show?
I like to do a bit of record
shopping. You know, I like getting
to the hotel and having a little walk around.
It kind of depends on where you are really. I mean, if I’m in certain cities I know well, like San Fran
or L.A., we’ll just go see some shops or see some buddies or stuff like that
really. You know with tours it’s
hard, because generally in each city you’re looking at an airport, a taxi
ride, a hotel, a club, and you’re off again.
It’s hard to kind of get the vibe of the actual place really sometimes.
In your opinion, how is this
album different from the “Perfecto Presents…Seb Fontaine:Horizons” that
you put out earlier in the year?
You know, I don’t know that I
personally set out to make it different. You
know, I dunno, I think it does sound different.
I just think that it is different because things are different.
Now is different from then, if that makes any sense.
I think I was just doing what’s happening now as opposed to kind of
what was happening then. I don’t
think it was like I want this to be like this or this to be like that.
I mean, I do think the music,…I mean electronic music is a term
that’s been used in the states for a long time.
You see, it was never really used in the UK.
And now it’s being kind of used a lot to describe kind of a certain new
sound really and I think there’s a lot more kind of electronicness in this CD.
On the CD, you included the
Shagrat track “India”, how many tracks like are you putting out aside from
the mix albums?
I’ve done quite a few and I’ve
got about three or four ready to go. And
you know, I did the stupid thing. I
thought, I’m going to get everything finished before the summer, because
summer just goes crazy. I mean, I
leave on Monday and I’m not home for like five weeks.
So, I really wanted to try and get everything finished before the summer.
And I’ve got four tracks 90% finished.
You know, if I only had three days, I could probably finish everything.
But, I just haven’t got those three days. I do have a lot stuff ready to go though.
In the coming weeks, where all
will you be traveling?
I’m in Europe for a couple of
weeks, then I’m in the states for a couple of weeks, and then I’m in Ibiza
for two weeks.
Where are you playing in Ibiza?
Well, it’s the big Radio 1
weekend. Plus, I’m doing a Cream
thing, I’m doing the back room at Cream.
And something else as well.
What do you think had a big
impact on you wanting to be a DJ when you were younger?
I don’t know, because there were
no famous DJs. DJ’ing was
certainly not a money thing back then…it was just a love of music, love of
records. But, I was a hip hop DJ to
start. I was a hip hop DJ and
played reggae and funk. And that
was about three years and then I went in the back room.
I was playing in the back room at this big rave and I went into the main
room and there’s just like all of these great girls dancing on speakers and
like topless and swinging form the chandeliers and I just felt, “Fuck, I’m
in the wrong room!” And then just
kind of drifted over to house music. If
there was one record that completely changed me, it was A Guy Called Gerald
“Voodoo Ray”. And that record
completely, I was just like, “I need to be doing this.”
It was a gradual thing, but it happened that way.
But I’ve always had records and always been into music and the whole
thing so.
Why do you think dance music is
so big in the UK and not in the states?
In all fairness, I think that’s
changing at the moment. Because
when we got into dance music we didn’t want to be, I don’t mean for it to
sound like some kind of crap revolution thing, but we didn’t do it because it
was mainstream. We did it because
it was different and it was ours. And
we were kind of there in the beginning and we felt like part of a revolution,
the whole kind of acid house parties, the whole thing.
You know, illegal warehouse raves. It
was kind of anti, anti-mainstream and its just been kind of dragged into kind of
really shit advert music. And
it’s really hard for people that don’t understand, you know.
If they hear or see some awful advert with kind of rave music on and
they’re just kind of, “Oh, is this what you do?”
and you’re like, “No, not really.”
But for someone who’s not really into it, it would be so hard to
differentiate between that kind mainstream dance and what’s gone on.
But I did actually think that there’s a definable difference between
what’s going on. You know every
now and then you get a great crossover record, which serves kind of both
communities pretty well. But I’d
like to think that what we’re doing is certainly, I think, taking a step back
towards how it was when we started. I
think last year, you know, everyone was kind of moaning about the UK clubs and a
couple of clubs shut down, like Cream shut, Gatecrasher went monthly. And you know, I think everyone thought oh god, you know, this
could be the end of dance music. But
in all fairness, I think it was, I thing we were taking a step backwards toward
smaller venues, cooler sounds, you know, things like that.
I remember going to clubs that were just doorways off alleys, not huge
Wal-Mart sized venues. And I kind of think this has been a slight revival for
everyone. I think people are
excited about going out again and I think there is a slightly more underground
feeling about what we do again.
Well, I appreciate you taking
the time to talk to me, Happy Birthday.
Cool, thanks a lot. Cheers.