"But I'm glad to be alive/ and in the land of the living/ can't believe that I survived/ and I'm in the land of the living."
Those above prophetic words are the prose of a Kristine W. song. They are also the words that producer/remixer Rich Dekkard can live by as well. As Kristene W. is one hell of talented singer and songwriter, she has dealt with a lot of bullshit in her time. Dekkard's also rather talented, and beyond pulling the best remix of this particular song, can also take the lyrics to heart as he too has seen his share of problems in the name of the beat. Not that all of it has been bad. "At least I can honestly say that everything I've done thus far has been a learning experience" Says the recent Chicago immigrant. After moving five different times in as many years, going through more than enough production partners and two managers, it has all prepared him for the future as well as making him a stronger individual all around. As his name has recently popped up on the remix credits of many major-label promo 12"s, one thing we can promise; you're not going to be hearing too many more of those coming out of Dekkard's studio.
Dekkard grew up the son of an executive for the World Bank. "You can call me a bank brat" he muses, making a canny reference to "army brats;" the offspring of people who work in the armed forces and thus, continually re-locate every six months or so. The World Bank sent the Dekkards off to many different lands, including the Far East, Europe, middle America and then finally settling in suburban Washington, D.C. Purchasing his first keyboard, a Korg Poly-61 when he was 14, Dekkard immediately became obsessed with synth-based music. Instead of reading the manual or going to school to learn how to play keyboards Dekkard had an easier way. "I started copying the music that was coming out -- Howard Jones, Erasure, Thomas Dolby -- I learned how to play by emulating an copying their sounds." Once he mastered the art of his synthi-heroes, he knew that music production was where his future lied; much to the chagrin of his parents who wanted thier boy to become more interested in a corporate lifestyle. After high school, he went up to Boston to learn at the highly acclaimed Berklee School of Music. Unfortunately, Dekkard summed up Berklee as a waste of time. "It was stupid -- a joke. What they taught there was way too basic and simple and I found my entire time there to be extremely boring, because I knew everything they were teaching me already." While in Boston though, he hooked up with a local DJ named John Debo, who was impressed by the music Dekkard had done on a dance music-based TV commercial. At first, Dekkard was not interested in working on DJ/dance records, but not soon after, the then Billboard reporting Debo coerced Dekkard into working with him.
Since Debo was on the Billboard dance chart panel, remix and additional production stuff was always on offer, so he and Dekkard decided to tackle a few. Their first was for Warner Brothers' pop singer Sofia Shinas, a track called "Get The Message," which was handed to them as a remix contest with over 30 different people getting a crack at the song. Sure enough, Warners really liked the work Dekkard and Debo had done on the cut, and put it out. "That was my first experience of being ripped off in the music business" remembers Dekkard, as the bean counters at the Bunny never anted up the promised $1,500 for the completed work.
