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Interview with Joshua Michaels (Iz) by Ryan Nance

Some Music While You Read!
Iz & Diz Live @ Grizzled - Play | Download

USA’s Joshua Michaels produces music under the aliases Joshua and Iz. At first closely associated with the record label ‘Tweekin’, Joshua has gone on to play a more than significant role in the history of house music. As such, I decided to broaden the scope of the questions in the hope of getting an individual perspective on one of the most important music revolutions of the last three decades.

Having been involved in the electronic dance music genre since its inception, how successful do you feel it’s evolution up until now has been?

First of all, I was not involved since its inception at all...electronic music has roots going back basically to the start of electricity. But the Musique Concréte movement in the 1940’s and 50’s somewhat solidified the ideas that we play off of now. After that, it was Jamaican music; most notably Dub that formed the backbone for all the electronic music you hear today. Without Dub and Reggae, we would have no house, techno or electro.

To specifically address your question - I think music evolves in an organic manner, very much like any other organism, but the cycles are much faster. In geological time, music is still very young. I feel like there is so much to still be explored and we [now] are only but a part of that. If we can make any sort of imprint then we have been successful.

To use a Fred Everything quote from an interview on this website, he mused that “as long as people want to dance, there will be house music”. Looking back on the history of popular music, it’s clear to see that people, in fact, will, and have been, dancing to all different styles of music. What vision do you have for the future of house music, or on a broader level – electronic dance music as a whole? Do you believe it has the longevity of say, the folk and/or rock ‘n’ roll genres?

What we think of as “House” music is a misnomer, there has always been House music, it is a primal rhythm that comes from the essence of being human - the heartbeat. I have been in rooms where everyone’s heart is beating at the same tempo and on the beat...that is a special thing. The tempo and basic beat is something so natural to us - like seeing red, blue and green or tasting sugar and salt... We naturally respond to the 4/4 beat without thinking - we just feel it. We all want change and excitement, so naturally other music evolves out of that. Yet as many styles come and go, House is always still there...like the tortoise and the hare...slow (sometimes), but always steady. Yet I would never limit the music we play into a category; Devo (American rock/synth-pop band) is House music, so is Frank Sinatra - it doesn’t matter, it’s how you play it. That’s why we are DJ’s. There is a future as long as people are creative and funny.

You began your DJ career spinning hip hop, while in college. Hip hop and House were both heavily influenced from the electro sound of the 1980’s. Hip hop exploded into the mainstream after a short ‘glory-day’ period, and has since been exploited and bastardized to the point where we have second-wave luminaries such as Nas claiming ‘hip hop is dead’. In other words, it’s lost its true identity, or soul. House music has always appeared in the top 40 pop-charts around the world, but usually only quite fleetingly. I’ve noticed in the last couple of years that this trend may be changing: Bob Sinclar’s ‘Love Generation’ seemed to signal a shift in popular culture’s music tastes. How does one put controls on the overall direction of a musical movement? How do we avoid Frankie Knuckles next album being titled ‘House is dead’?

This question is both easy and difficult to answer at the same time. The easy answer is the real people do what they do and don’t care about money, fame, charts, etc. But is it really that easy? ...actually YES! Play what you feel and feel what you play. I don’t care what sub-genre it is or what this magazine is saying or whatever - categories/names/genres are useless - at least I hope so if I (and the other people I respect) are doing their jobs. And we do that. And do it well...

I mentioned that you attended college. You graduated in Architecture. You were offered a job at HotWired, an internet search engine company (this at a time when e-business was in cresendo), which you turned down in favour of accepting an offer to move to Chicago to produce music with the likes of Derrick Carter and Mark Farina (it’s worth noting that you still utilized your qualifications, becoming the design director for the Cajual record label). Nevertheless, this choice to follow a creative outlet as opposed to a financially secure one is quite a common phenomenon. Why do you think this is? Could it suggest that idealism, of all kinds (e.g. political idealism in college’s), would have more practical longevity if people were given real-life opportunities to explore it?

I was an idealist and I still am. I don’t think that is mutually exclusive with being a realist. I believe in science and the scientific method, I also believe there are things that can’t be explained with science - at least yet. To live a life without asking the most basic questions seems pointless to me. Yet many people can’t live in a world without definitive answers; hence religion, cults, etc. In some ways, music has become the answer for some, yet it is just one part of the whole system. It is a very powerful part that affects people in a direct and physical way while also triggering emotions and memories. In this way, we as DJ’s have a power - we can really influence people on a direct physical and emotional level. That is why I always say this is serious fun. People at the club are there to have a party and let go, we are their guides. As such I take this job seriously - it is up to me to make everyone feel comfortable and have a good time. With that in mind, if I am not having a good time, no one else will either. I think just the opportunity to have free expression is a luxury, so I can fully understand why someone would choose that over financial security. I have and I can’t go back now....

Buddhists claim that karma is the phenomenon that decrees one’s destiny is determined by one’s actions. Various opportunistic sports-drink companies re-phrased this ideology for easy public consumption with, “you only get out what you put in”. I read that you are a teacher for the San Francisco not-for-profit organization, ‘TheDJProject’ - an outreach program that gives the youth of San Francisco an outlet to express themselves musically, through DJ’ing. You also co-founded AMP Collective LLC; a company which distributes house labels’ music catalogues to all the major and minor digital download websites. The focus is on ensuring quality music is made accessible to the new generation of music consumers. Both of these are very noble organizations. You have obviously given a lot of yourself to house music… what has it given back?

You get it back when you are playing and see the dancefloor jumping and everyone is having the time of their lives. There is a feedback loop with the DJ and the crowd: sometimes it is just on and those are the special moments. The music is free...we are just lucky enough to put our hands on it for a split second and direct it in a positive way towards the crowd. Still, it is a give and take and without the audience and dancers we couldn’t do what we do.

To address your question pointedly, I feel like I just have to give back what has been given to me. That is an impossible task but it is a good thing. It keeps me going and reminds me what all this is about. We [the DJ’s] are not the stars, it is the people that feel what we are feeling and let go who are the real heroes.

You met your long-time production and DJ partner, Dwayne Washington AKA Diz, in the mid 90’s, while you were both working in Chicago. An illustrious collaborative career has ensued. What do you believe are the key ingredients to the on-going success of your creative relationship?

We have fun and we laugh about everything. If you can’t do that you are fucked.

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