RS: Who was the "someone else" whose record the DJ kept playing?
Michael M: Gosh, I can't say that in print. It was really two
records. I was at Mansion, when it was called Level when they were
doing their gay night and and this particular DJ was playing and he
just was playing the usual suspects and I was feeling bitter. I won't
name any names because they're all my colleagues.
RS: Your colleagues?
Michael M: There was one person, actually there really was two
people. There were two records that played back to back that I was
like 'oh yes, of course that's getting played.'
RS: Focusing from the song to the video, that was just off the
chain. What was the idea behind that one?
Michael M: Mike Mucci and Albert Camara, who did the remixes for
"Dear Diary" and "The Beat," owned Amplitude Recordings and we had
talked about doing a video with photography as Mike is very talented
with Flash animation. He said to come to the studio with your make up
really messed up and we will do different positions. That's all I
did, that was my part of the video. A month later I saw the video and
I must say it made me feel a little uncomfortable when I first saw it.
As it is, the original version of Dear Diary is a little different
than the remix. The original version of Dear Diary is more like the
comedown where you're coming home and coming down from a night out
whereas the mix is like when you get your first boost of energy and
you're going. Its funny, the person who does the snorting sound on
the record isn't me.
RS: It's not? Are we going to have a Yvette Marine/Paula Abdul
kinda moment?
Michael M: In the record when they go 'snnnf, did a bump,' it's not
even me sniffing. It's not your usual run of the mill video. Sure, in
the video I'm a cartoon dancing in the middle of a club, but it's not
Cher's "Believe" or a typical dance video where it's the diva in the
middle of a club and the boys in their go-go shorts. As much as it
opened up some doors for me, people were also like 'oh no, we can't
show celebrities doing that.' It sucks because had I been Eminem
doing that video, it would have been another story.
RS: Exactly, exactly. With "The Beat," whose idea was it to
sample Michael Jackson?
Michael M: That was my idea in one of my creative moments. I went
to Giuseppe and Mike and said we got to do something with the "Beat
It" riff, something with the a guitar riff. It really worked out.
RS: How hard was it to clear that sample?
Michael M: Actually we didn't clear the sample, it wasn't a sample.
They recreated it and tweaked it a little bit, so it wasn't a sample.
RS: With Downtown, how's the reaction been to the record so far?
Michael M: It's been great. It just got added to the Music Choice
dance channel, Ultimix picked it up and we're getting it out there on
all the pools. The Tom Sawyer mix is blowing up right now and
starting to get a lot of mix show play. The Demarco mix is going to
be featured on his Hustler Ball CD for Centaur. So I'm trying to be
everywhere with this record, I felt like I needed to do something
really big and wanted to have my hands on every genre possible - cover
the tweaker pots and pans scene, the minimal electro genre, the
electroclashers, the people that go to Space at four o'clock in the
morning, and, of course the soccer moms at the gym. There's a mix on
there for everybody, if you don't like it you're just a hater. Its
really blowing up here in downtown Miami. Oscar G has been rocking the
DMS12 mix at Space, Tom Sawyer has been rocking his mix at Nocturnal
and the DMS12 mix at the Pawn shop.
