Jay West Interview with Our House Mag
Jay West was recently interviewed by the excellent Our House Magazine. See what he had to say below…
Jay West’s first EP release appeared at the end of 2004 on the relatively unknown Spanish label Huron Records. That EP made a big impact, however, and Jay soon had labels such as LowDown, Agave, Bambino, Stupendous and Lost My Dog knocking at his door. Fast forward five years and Jay is one of the most well known and prolific creators of deep, funk-infused house music around. Alongside his own labels Flavor and Candy Music he has gone on to appear on Drop, Guesthouse and Conya amongst others. He’s also an extremely busy DJ; a premier name in his native Argentina, playing the biggest parties the nation has to offer, while also touring the world rocking underground clubs. During a short break from his hectic schedule we caught up with Jay for a chat about the past five years, his thoughts on the industry and what the future has in store.
1. Thanks for talking to Our House and happy New Year! Where are you and what are you up to?
Hi and Happy New Year! I’m actually on the beautiful Atlantic coast of Argentina, doing some summer gigs, it’s the best time of the year down here, people go nuts! The weather is too warm to be locked inside the studio but gonna have to drag myself there since I have a lot of unfinished projects before starting touring again.
2. Argentina is famed for having an amazing nightlife and club culture – how was it growing up surrounded by that and how does the scene in your home country differ to the other countries you’ve visited?
Well, back when I started DJing the scene was really underground and we’ve lost a lot of that intimacy nowadays, but club culture is very strong and we probably have some of the best parties in the world around here. The main difference between S outh America’s scene and the US and western Europe is that the dance scene is not divided by genre here, all the clubs hold diverse styles of electronica, and you can find house, minimal, techno, progressive or trance acts playing the same circuit…While up in the US and Europe there’s a small underground house scene and parties are fairly small and more intimate. People are very open here and you can really play whatever you want as long as you make them shake it!
3. Your first records started appearing almost exactly 5 years ago and you’ve become one of the most well known names in the deep, funky underground house scene since then. What have been the highlights of your journey?
Probably getting to travel all over the world through all these years has been the biggest blessing, as well as seeing my name in the cover of records. It’s like living a childhood dream again and again with every release. Also making new friends in every tour, it’s really been an exciting journey for me.
4. The music industry has experienced some major changes over that time, which transitions have had the biggest impact on you?
The arrival of the digital era was a huge impact for everyone; I still think the industry is trying to figure out the steps to handle this. For producers it’s been hard to adapt, music is a lot more ephemeral and it’s hard to face the fact that you spend so much time working on a song and then its only good for a couple of weeks before everyone forgets about it. I deeply miss vinyl, but I have to admit the transition to CDs has made touring a lot less painful for those with tendency to injure their backs!
5. How do you expect the industry to change over the next five years?
As I said, I think the industry needs to figure out how to make the best of the new era. Piracy is the most important issue and I hope they find a way to eradicate it, as hard as that sounds. Its quantity over quality these days so I see a lot of talented producers sticking to formulas to sell more downloads and music losing a bit of originality, but on the bright side its easier now to discover new exciting sounds, especially when you live so far away.
6. As a prolific producer and remixer do you prefer working on your own original tracks or reworking other people, and do you approach these projects differently?
I find it a lot easier to remix other people’s tracks, if the parts are inspiring everything comes naturally and it’s a pretty fast process. When I start my own projects I usually need a source of inspiration and ideas so it’s a bit harder, I always try my best to make every track sound different, I hate sticking to formulas.
7. You’ve collaborated very successfully with fellow Argentinean Christian Malloni as The Candy Dealers. Do you plan to keep that partnership going and do you have any other collaborations that we should look out for?
Christian is an extremely talented producer and a close friend as well so we really enjoy spending time together in the studio. I’ve found myself working more and more with him in the last couple months, he is very open and he successfully produces almost every style, so we learn a lot from each other. We are also working on putting together a live show and lately we’ve been collaborating with a lot of talented singers like Morrisson or Alexander East as well as some musicians.
8. What’s your current DJ set up and does travelling the world have an impact on this?
I usually prefer 3 CD players and that’s it. Travelling with just CDs has been really comfortable and so much easier than carrying cases of vinyl. I like to carry a lot of CDs though, you never know what the party is gonna be like so I like to have all my options right there.
9. What’s in the pipeline for Jay West in 2010?
As far as releases go I have a single coming out any time now on Lost My Dog called ‘Call The Boss’ that’s been getting great reviews, an EP on Adaptation Music (with some fine remixers including Schmoov, Pablo Fierro and Random Soul), some releases on my own label Candy Music, one of them featuring Alexander East, and other singles with Morrisson on Bambino and So Sound. And a lot of remixes! Im really looking forward to this year, I have a lot of music I wanna put out for sure! I will also do some more touring starting in March around the US, Europe and Australia so I hope this year will be as busy as the last one.
10. As we stand at the start of a New Year and new decade which artists and labels do you tip to go on to big things?
Christian Malloni, Manuel Sahagun, Mr Morning, Ronan and Leo Portela, a lot of people are really making awesome beats and I’m lucky to be close to them as well…I certainly wish them the best for this year and I think we are all meant to do big things very soon. I’m working hard on my label as well so hopefully it will be a year full of Candy flavors.
