Breaking through in the music industry at a time where there wasn’t such a thing as social following, where those likes and shares didn’t impact the gigs you were booked for, it leaves all your motivation and drive to focus on the important factors. For French producer, DJ and label owner DJ Deep it has always been music first. Online trends didn’t matter or exist at that time, as a DJ you wanted to provide the best selection of music for your audience and that meant having your own unique collection of records. This is what makes artists such as DJ Deep stand out from the rest. Over the last 20 years, DJ Deep has become of the leading figures in the Parisian scene as his knowledge and passion for music seeps into every set, moving between house, techno and everything in between and further immortalising classics whilst playing new hits in a different way to those around him. You can witness this magic in his latest In Session for Mixmag. Also running the established Deeply Rooted label, DJ Deep uses the platform to shine a light on those harder to find gems from the likes of Kerri Chandler, L.B. Bad, Terrence Fixmer and Mike Dehnert as well as recruiting Marcel Dettmann to rework those records.
Further cementing his highly regarded status, DJ Deep has been enlisted alongside Roman Poncet to edit Detroit classic Drivetrain ‘Soundtrack’ for local record label Syncrophone which is out now.
You started your career with a residency supporting Laurent Garnier at his infamous ‘Wake Up’ parties, how do you think that experience shaped you as an artist today?
Opening for Laurent was truly a great experience and privilege, having for instance Ludovic Navarre or Shazz and many other friends come and check the music we’d play at almost each party was definitely super exciting too! Laurent actually kindly let me play with him at La Luna, Boy, Palace and Power Station before he actually started his wake Up parties too. It was a very unique moment when both house and techno were truly exploding in France.
As it took quite a while for techno to break through in Paris, do you feel this restricted you creatively when you were first starting out?
To be honest, I don’t think it took too long for techno to break through in Paris. Paris and Detroit (which is actually a french word) have a really strong connexion, sometimes it feels to me like history tends to be re-written. I remember Derrick May lived in my Parisian flat for over a year, I also remember Soofle Acid Eiffel on Fragile records, Ludovic Navarre remixing Suburban Knight on Transmat in 1993.
Laurent and I had a strong connection with the likes of Jeff Mills, Mike Banks, Carl Craig and many other Detroit artists. I think having the chance to have Derrick around and being able to hang out with Mike Banks in Paris when the whole Underground Resistance crew invaded Rex club for the Wake Up parties etc. gave us a strong understanding and connection to their music!
You’ve been enlisted to remix a Detroit classic by Drivetrain called ‘Soundtrack’, what was your inspiration for the edit? Why did you decide to do a dub version too?
It’s a record Laurent used to always play, as well as many of us too but I have to say I had him in mind a lot when working on the edit. As for the remixes with Roman Poncet, we thought we’d try to take a complete different direction from the original. There was no point trying to ‘touch up’ a classic record, so it was better to try something different out of respect to the original.
The remix is a collaborative effort with Roman Poncet who you’ve worked with quite closely over the years – why does your musical relationship work so well? What do you enjoy the most about working with Roman?
As time goes by it seems that we need to speak less and less, there is a strong connection between us and I’m super happy about this. I learn a lot from him, he has a great energy and talent and I think our collaboration may work because we tend to let the other do what they do best. There is no ego involved, and I have to be honest, we laugh so much, we’re both always happy when working together in the studio.
When you go to do a remix, do you have a goal in mind of what you would like to do the track? Do you try to make it suit a different mood or cater to a different genre?
Yes definitely the concept of what the remix should be all about is really important to us. In this specific case, we wanted to make sure we were doing something very different from the original which in our mind is a masterpiece of it’s style. So in a sense, we felt a little ‘free’ so to speak when working on the remix.
You’ve also created a Detroit themed playlist for us, how has that scene influenced over the years and who are your key Detroit artists that you admire?
Definitely. As I mentioned I feel a really strong bond with Detroit’s music and I admire so many of their artists! There’s a long list, but some names include: Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, Juan Atkins, Carl Craig, Kenny Larkin Jeff Mills, Mike Banks, Robert Hood, Claude Young, Anthony Shakir, Moodymann, Theo Parrish, Omar S, Dj Bone, Mike Huckaby, Rick Wade, Marcelus Pittman, Rick Whilite, Kyle Hall, Jay Daniel, Patrice Scott, Wajeed, etc.
If you were to have any Detroit legend remix one of your tracks who would it be?
Oh wow. That’s almost impossible to answer… but I’d definitely try and ask Carl Craig, or and Kenny Larkin and Robert Hood, or Kyle Hal. Man… that’s so hard to choose!
In a recent feature you said you’re currently making your way through your record collection to digitalise everything. What are some of your favourite gems that you’ve rediscovered by from doing this? And what have been your favourite new additions to the collection?
There have been so many, it’s crazy. It’s honestly like I’m completely re-discovering my collection again! I’m working on trying to put a compilation together to feature some of the forgotten classics and amazing records that I’ve re-discovered.
As for classic gems, there’s honestly so, so, so many available to check out I wouldn’t know where to tell you to start. However, if you listen to all Transmat and Fragile, Retroactive/Planet E, UR, Axis etc. you’ll be on the right track!
Why do you feel that there’s two worlds in house and techno today? You mention that there’s one side for the the touring artists and headliners and then the other side is the music loving, record diggers.
I guess it’s because at times artists are not booked because of the music they play, but because of the ‘fame’ they have. I see some trendy DJs making a fortune to play absolutely horrible cheesy trance hits from the late 90’s and no one seems to have a problem calling this techno or letting it be… In my world you don’t get away with things like this, there’s a bit of a difference. I also have too much respect for both music and for the audience that I share music with to have any consideration for those kinds of trends, I come from a time where it was music first – this is what I was trying to get at.
What are some your favourite labels to dig through at the moment? Do you think these labels are influencing your sound and DJ sets currently?
Definitely! Some labels that I like include Acting Press, Livity Sound, Firecrackers, NDATL, Fit Records (from Fit distribution), KDJ, Rekids, Music From Memory… there’s loads! In Paris, Syncrophone is always coming with nice releases and Yoyaku records have some dope releases – the Satoshi Tomiie projects are awesome. Betino from Betino’s store is also re-issuing some dope music, there’s so many sources of inspiration all around!
What have you learned from 2018 so far? And what do you hope to achieve in the last quarter of the year?
I have learnt to try and stop stressing for not being able to do everything at the same time. I sometimes panic with trying to take in and digest all these releases that are dropping, and in turn trying to do monthly radio shows that feature all of this music plus further records that I’d like to put in there. Combining this with the touring DJ life and a production schedule can be a little stressful, but I’m learning to take things one step at a time! 🙂
In terms of releases, we just finished our remix for Scan 7 on Elypsia, and I’ve also just wrapped up a remix of Klauss and Craig on Planet E with my good friend Roman Poncet. I’ve also done a remix of DJ Bone and produced a new track for Slice of Life, plus much, more to come over the coming months.