RS: Speaking also of non-traditional, your last single, I
Believe, was really big on satellite radio. How did you get your song
on to satellite radio and how do you think that has helped your
career?
Dee Robert: Satellite radio is an awesome venue. I'm frustrated with
conventional radio at this point, I can't even say that I really
listen to it that much. I think conventional radio is in a position
where they just want to play the same record for a year, they don't
want to try new things. If it's not researched to death they're not
going to play it. Satellite radio is an awesome venue because they
just play all types of good new music and it's not as political as
regular stations, so you get such a wide variety of great new music.
I got "I Believe" on satellite radio by promoting it and sending it in
to the programmers. They loved the record and they put it in.
Basically it's a national thing and it's everywhere, so you get
feedback from everyone all around the country and the feedback on the
record was awesome. Satellite radio stations played "I Believe" a lot
and supported it and they still do.
RS: That's awesome. Well that's a bit about your music, I want
to talk to you about some of the stuff you've done with other people.
First the new Veronica single "Just a Game," is that basically a vocal
version of the Tim Rex track "Relentless?"
Dee Robert: Yes, that's exactly what it is. Tim contacted me and he
asked me if it was possible to write a song over his track. It was
for a compilation - Louie DeVito presents Chris Moody - Deeper and
Harder. They were putting that compilation together and Tim asked me
if I could write something. He said that he would really love to use
Veronica on this because her voice would be perfect. So that's what I
had in mind, I pulled out all my old Veronica records and I just tried
to visualize her vocal over that track. And "Just a Game" is what I
came up with, it's a re-touring of Relentless with the song over it.
RS: That's a very British thing to do, because often times in the
UK and Europe there'll be an underground house or trance track, and
then to get the full commercial appeal of the record they'll add a
vocal to it.
Dee Robert: Yes, exactly. I love the record and I was lucky enough
to be in the studio with Veronica, cutting the vocals with her and
she's an awesome lady. Her vocals were just amazing and she was very
easy to work with. I really think that she's one of the vocalists
that I've worked with that really has potential to take it to the next
step. So I look forward to working with her again and doing some more
material for her in the future.
RS: Talking about the next step, I also heard you did a record
with Deborah Cox, "This House is Not a Home."
Dee Robert: Yes, Deborah, I think it was just released or it just
went to radio."This House is not a Home" is a song that I wrote a
little while ago, and I was fortunate enough to get it in to the hands
of Hosh Gurelli at J Records. He loved the song and really wanted to
use it. He played it for Deborah and he played it for Tony Moran and
Warren Rigg, everybody just decided that that's what should be
Deborah's next single. They just finished it not too long ago, it
just debuted on KTU as a worldwide exclusive and from what I hear the
feedback's been awesome. Deborah will be performing at Beat Stock in
August and she'll be debuting it there, and I'm just thrilled. In my
head, I heard Deborah over the song I wished I could get this song to
Deborah Cox, she would tear it up. Thoughts that we project in our
mind go out to the universe and then it really happened and came
together. I'm thrilled, she's definitely one of the artists I have
always dreamed of working with, and I hope it's a big hit for her.
It's not a traditional Deborah record where it's a dance version that
goes on the dance radio stations. The version that's out there is a
very mainstream, I would say mainstream R& B/pop, the same mix could
very well be played on a Z100 or a 98.7 Kiss, so basically the song
can translate to many different markets. We're very excited.
