Interview with Jay West by TMD
Interview Syndicated from
What's the story behind Jay West? How did it all begin?
Well, I guess it all began when I bought myself my first guitar when I was 12… I formed a couple bands then, started playin keyboards and singin too… And after learning my ways with intruments I became a songwriter and lead singer, I was into rock then but my tendencies and influences were always funky types of music. Later on I started collecting old music and found myself really trapped into funk, disco and even rare grooves. We had a major crisis here in Argentina around 1998 with a lot of trouble getting jobs or even making a living, I had just finished highschool so I had to run to Spain like a lot others to search for jobs… Living there in Mallorca I heard house music in its full and started buying records and getting really into it… I´ve always been a music collector/fanatic…
Then I came back to Argentina and started spinning records (my friends pushed me into it), I got lucky and climbed pretty fast, there was almost no djs playin house here, and there´s still not many sadly…Music production began when I was able to buy my own computer, and I also learned pretty fast, it took me about a year to get something signed! I would say music gave me everything I have in life...
What's it like for a proper underground cat like yourself to live in Argentina, where shite and regressive seem to rule the clubs?
Its hard, really hard, when I started house music was a little bit harder, now it seems like the underground scene got really deep and musical for its best… I guess aging made us a little bit more ambitious… Anyway, whatever releases or success I may have in other parts of the world, don´t mean much here, it´s all ruled by agencies and big names which they mostly suck… Electro and Minimal are the new trend, and all the guys that were playin proggy crap now are into that…I guess that stuff will fade away soon… I´ve been in the game for a long time now so I´m able to take care of myself, I had a couple nice residencies and played some really cool festivals, even with mainstream artists like Massive Attack, Rinocerose, Pet Shop Boys, etc… Now I travel a lot and when I´m home I just concentrate in the studio and do some small gigs around. I´m always tryin to promote house music to grow around here, but it's a slow process.
What's the secret behing your productions? You have the gift to make tracks incredibly deep and extremely danceable at the same time, which is a rare quality in house.
Thanx man! Never thought of that actually, I just try to make every track sound different, I would hate to see all my tracks sounding the same… I guess the danceable quality is what I look for the most, but other than that I just try to make something different of every one of them, always tryin to put the most organic intrumentation possible and always browsing around for cool and clever samples. I take a lot of time sampling records and getting all sorts of music, I have lots of fun with it!
What tricks do you have up your sleeve for us? Wat new stuff can we expect from you in the near future?
Well, there´s two ep´s coming out later this year, one in Blockhead called “Power To Create EP”, with 4 tracks, one of them was actually my very first track that got signed and its goin in Johnny Fiasco´s and Justin Martin´s next OM compilation… And then a very different one, deeper, in this new label from Florida called Pilot Recordings which is actually an Agave sub-label: “Flying High EP”. I also have signed an EP with Drop Music UK that will come out in december or january and I think it could be my best work so far…And then some remixes here and there… Right now I´m working side to side with a friend called CPM, who is a very talented IDM and TECHNO producer, we call ourselves THE CANDY DEALERS, we finished some tracks and bootlegs that will come out soon, we are also working with an talented and sexy female vocalist from Buenos Aires in some full vocal tunes… I´m goin in a new USA tour in december on both east and west coast, and also working on a Southafrican and European tour for next year…I´ve been busy I know
Do you have any plans to set up your own label?
Well, actually we have our own label, we started Flavor Recordings with Matt Shrewd from UK early this year, the first 2 releases have been very well acclaimed, Kinky Movement and Shrewd “First Timers EP” and Manuel Sahagun´s “Summer Heat EP” which is out right now by the way! Next in line is a really big ep from Toka Project and Da Sunlounge called “Beats Crazy ep” which will make a good impact I believe. I´m also plannin to start a bootleg label soon.
What's the most ridiculous thing you've ever bought?
Mmm, I bought tons of crazy stuff when I was a rock singer, red leather pants, furry coats, all kinds of shades…I even have the dutch´s soccer national team jersey which I use to emulate Frankie Rikjaard on the argentinian fields ;). What the hell, I just bought a riddler costume for halloween!!!"
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Out Now by jay West:
Sahagun - U Can Sample (Jay West mix)[FLAVOR]
Jay West - Back South EP [BAMBINO]
Pushing Boundaries – Keep It Goin (Cosy Creatures mix)[GUESTHOUSE]
Joshua Reynolds - Drama (Jay West mix) [DAE]
Shawn Ward - Twilight (Jay West mix) [BLOCKHEAD]
Coming Very Soon:
Jay West - Flying High EP [PILOT]
Sahagun - Turkey's Wrap (Jay West mix) [KOLOUR]
Jay West - Power 2 Create EP [BLOCKHEAD US]
Jay West - Hear To Stay EP [DROP MUSIC]
Jay West – How Funky EP [KOLOUR]
Jay West - Music Can EP(Bon Johnson & Replika mixes) [HEADTUNES]
Matt Shrewd - Sounds Good To Me (Pushin Boundaries & Olivier Desmet mixes)[FLAVOR]
Sound Navigators - Shredded Groove (Jay west mix) [LINGO]
Jay West - Keep The Beat [FLAVOR SAMPLER]Pushing Boundaries – Shake Me [GUESTHOUSE]
Pete Da Feet - Moscow (The Candy Dealers mix) [HEADTUNES]
The Candy Dealers - Into The Land Of Funk EP [FLAVOR]
Jay was kind enough to offer us an exclusive live recording of a set he played in his hometown. Check the mixes section to listen to a master at work. Meanwhile, f ind out more about Jay West and his wicked productions here:
http://myspace.com/jaywestarg Share On Facebook This interview has had 1457 views
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