Dubfire Interview

Grammy award-winning (a remix of Dido’s ‘Thank You’) and one-half of Deep Dish, Dubfire is a valuable addition to the House and Electronic scene. His choice to go solo was risky, but brilliant, with resulting tracks ‘Ribcage,’ ‘Roadkill,’ ‘Emissions’ and ‘I Feel Speed’ brought to our senses. He owns innovative label SCI+TEC and co-owns The Bullitt Agency, which he runs from Barcelona, just a short trip from the island he frequents often – Ibiza. With 20 years in the biz, his expertise and wisdom certainly exhumed when we spoke to him about Cacoon.

You are part of an exclusive group of acts to be playing at Cocoon in Ibiza for 2013. What can we expect from your set?
I’m very happy to be part of this elite group and very excited to represent my particular style of music to the amazing crowds who come in and give themselves over to us for a few hours. It’s very liberating as a DJ to have that kind of trust with your crowd. And we all owe a debt of gratitude to Sven (Vath) who’s championed and represented techno as a viable musical movement on the island for more than 10 years.

Cocoon is one of Ibiza’s best loved underground parties, what are your views on dance music’s explosion into the mainstream and how has it effected the underground scene?
As somebody who’s always tried to eschew the blatantly commercial pop end of electronic music for the more interesting and esoteric, alternative, underground end of the spectrum, I was intrigued by how quickly dance music and culture had not only exploded, especially in the USA, but had been “hijacked” by a select cadre of music producers and DJ’s competing in the battle of who can least musically inspire. In the past year, I couldn’t speak to a promoter, attend a festival, drive past a billboard in Ibiza, walk past a newsstand, or see a flyer with the SAME group of DJ’s vying for everyone’s attention (or a spot on a questionable DJ poll) and their pockets. Having said that, I am extremely hopeful as the many who may get into “EDM” via these mainstream pop “DJs”, just as many will dig a bit deeper below the surface and discover that there is far more substance and creativity underneath all that gloss.

Are you working on any collaborations at the moment?
I’ve been working on and off on a number of projects for the past year now, with many finished or in some stage of completion. There are remixes of Marc Houle and Miss Kittin’s “Where is Kittin?” for Items & Things in May alongside the next installment in our Elements series with Oliver Huntemann called “Aire” with remixes by Minus-artist Matador. A remix of Barem’s “A” should be out in June on Minus followed by a mix I did of Medellin-artists’ Figueroa & Obando for my own SCI+TEC label in July. I’ve also nearly completed a deep house thing with Daniel Stefanik and tons of original music which i’m polishing off now for release this year.

What are your plans for the European festival season?
There are quite a few with many more pending confirmation. Among these will be the annual SCI+TEC showcase at East Ender during Sonar and Rock Island Festival in Marseilles in June. Welcome to the Future in Amsterdam. I’m coming back to Exit Festival in Novi Sad for the third time this year as well as Welcome to the Future in Amsterdam in July. In August there is Sunblast in Tenerife, Neopop in Portugal, Barrakud in Croatia, Electrocity in Wroclaw and Solar Dance in Bulgaria. In the USA I’ll be at EDC NY and Vegas as well as Wavefront Festival in Chicago. It’s going to be a busy summer!

BBM Live Dance Music Podcast