Ray Roc: That's pretty much how I saw it and I approached it as more of a radio situation. But if I'm dealing with an independent label that does underground music, most likely I'm going to deliver more of an underground sound as opposed to if I'm dealing with a major artist, I'm more prone to give them a more mainstream mix.
RS: I noticed a lot of the tracks on the album say recorded in London, are you based out of the UK or are you based out of the US?
Ray Roc: I'm based out of the US but I travel so much over there that I have a studio and an engineer out there that I use when I'm in town, which is practically two weeks out of the month every month, and sometimes even three. On my down days, which would be like Mondays, Tuesday and Wednesdays, I would be in the studio working, so most of my developed tracks and songs came from writing them in London and then coming back here. There was a mixture in reality, I used three studios to do the album and to not get it wrong I just basically credited everything to all three studios. But most of the songs were written out there, with the London inspiration. Although they're pop songs, still that's where my head is at when it comes down to writing. So it's not like I just come from the club and get inspired to write an underground record. I come from a club and get inspired with the underground music that I've heard or that I was playing or the energy of the crowd and it makes me expand to writing whatever I feel in that moment. I like creating scenarios where I see something in the crowd and I come home with that thought and start writing the song, go into the studio the next day and start creating the track behind it.
RS: Speaking about mainstream, the video for "Never" is absolutely amazing, were you involved with the video, with the freeze-frame animation?
Ray Roc: Which one?
RS: The only one I've seen is the one with Tina Arena where it's like freeze-framed, similar to still photo animation.
Ray Roc: No, actually I was touring so I wasn't able to actually be a part of the video and the time schedule didn't permit me to be there..
RS: Well, you just mentioned videos, is there another video for the song?
Ray Roc: The second single is going to be "Deja Vu" which is coming out in January and we just cut the video for the second single. When you mentioned animation, there's an animated ghost playing a DJ from the past. Ironically, it was supposed to be a video for Never and it turned out to be a video for Dæô Vu which kind of worked in the same way as well.
RS: The second single and the rest of the album was with Tina Novak singing?
Ray Roc: Obviously I couldn't get Tina Arena to come and be featured on my entire album and she couldn't commit to coming here and supporting the album or supporting the single. So when we signed the single to Tommy Boy, they were definitely interested in doing the album right from the start, So I went more on a search to find a female that could actually be just as good as Tina Arena and build a real act behind the project. Originally it was supposed to be featured singers, but as I realized that if I was to have got five or six different guest singers, it would have been impossible to actually create a group - a band that I can tour with and have the support of all the singers.
RS: Speaking about big right now, last time you DJed out, what was your biggest record? What gave you the best club response out of your DJ bag?
Ray Roc: The best club response on my DJ bag, OK. Well, for Europe, one of the best records I had this year was Lee Cabrera "Shake It." It was a massive record that I played throughout the whole months of July and August in Ibiza for Pacha and Cream. Junior Jack "E-Samba" and Milk & Sugar "Let the Sunshine In" were both humongous records for me also. All those like summery vibe records were definitely big, big for me. Right now, what's huge right now for me is Superchumbo's mix of Murk "Believe." Obviously I'm pushing my own label Tommy Boy, but that is definitely a really happening record for me.
RS: Tamara Wallace has an amazing voice, I love hearing her sing.
Ray Roc: Yes, it's just ridiculous.
RS: In closing, is there anything you want to say to the people out there who listen to your music?
Ray Roc: Yes, please buy them. We have had over a hundred thousand downloads of "Never" for free. If you are going to download please go to your i-Tunes and support the artist because, you know, I'm no 50 Cent or Ashanti or Ja Rule or whatever. We don't make a lot of money, we're independent and sometimes radio supports us. I'd prefer to continue making music and giving people what they want. But the way things are right now, it's worse for us up and coming guys because it's a difficult market right now to break through. So, please support your artists.
Thanks to Kevin Graves and Gary Salzman for arranging this interview.
