ZD: What are the major influences that started you off producing and what started you into the scene?
Sharaz: Well I think a lot of people who are in this particular style of electronic music were influenced by (DJ) Icey's music at the time which back in the day. He was pretty much the predominant guy releasing releasing breaks, at least here in Florida.
Then there were a couple of moments along the way with people like Friction & Spice. You had those guys and we had Rennie Pilgrim back in the day. So those were all influences for me when I was when I was starting out.
ZD: How long has 941 Electro been around?
Sharaz: 941 Electro in name has been around since late '99 / early 2000. Of course the label's original name was 420 which we ran into a trademark dispute for. No, actually, let me rephrase that. I ran into a fellow who owned the trademark for that 4:20 for calling it 420 out of San Francisco who was running a different type of business and we got a cease and desist order. So instead of causing any trouble, we decided to change it and went from 420 to 941 Electro to just 941. It's not predominantly an electro label, so we just dropped the electro off of that.
ZD: 941 is the area code of where you live?
Sharaz: Yes, that's the area code. But then again, that's just a lack of creativity on my part, but that's why it's called what it is.
ZD: How many people were on the labels roster when it began?
Sharaz: Well, just myself, I didn't know any better so it was just me.
ZD: Who was the next person on it…?
Sharaz: We added Infiniti, after I think it was around the year 2000 before his "Children of the 80's" record was released. Everyone really recognized that the guy had a lot of talent so, it was something that I wanted to be associated with. He's got somewhat of a different sound and it's good, at least for our label, to have some kind of variety with the sound that we're releasing rather than just hyping my own stuff. I like to have a little variety. Then, of course, we've gone along to other DJs, DJ Rose is a good example, DJ Rose has a lot of good ideas. He wasn't really all that experienced with the engineering in the beginning but he has a lot of good ideas so I love to have him working with me as well. So he's also on the label and then there are a couple of other guys, we have Viro and Frequenz, who are up and coming as well.
ZD: And everybody on the label's a producer?
Sharaz: Yes, everyone on the label is pretty much self-sufficient.
ZD: How do you like remixing other people's tracks as compared to doing your own?
Sharaz: Well, they're a lot of fun depending on certain things. You have to pick and choose the project wisely because people can send you stuff that's just so awful that nothing that can be done with it in the first place. So, you really have to be careful and have something of a vision when you originally hear the mix of it or the parts, where the project can be taken and if it can. For instance, if a vocal is so off-key that no amount of work is going to fix it, but for the most part it's a lot of fun, I enjoy it. You deal with other things on remixes, such as deadlines. When people have deadlines, they want things done on a certain timeframe and, as far as I'm concerned, the more time one has to digest the parts, the better the production will be. I like to work with in my head, before I even sit down, like this will go here, this will go here, and this will go there. I like to have a little time with it, but in some cases you don't get that because if someone's on such a tight schedule with their release that if it doesn't work out, you don't have that opportunity. Some of the best remixes, I think, and some of the best remixes I’ve done were things that sunk in over a period of time.
ZD: Is there an artist that you'd like to work with in the future?
Sharaz: That's a tough question. There are a lot of artists I'd like to work with but specifically, off the top of my head, I really can't think of anyone.
ZD: It's a rather broad question.
Sharaz: Yes, really, when you're a fan, you like everything.
