PK: I agree, it's blowing up everywhere in the world. Now
let's talk about 2004 and how the year went for you. You released
your first Renaissance Master compilation and you've climbed up the DJ
poll to number six, how have you managed such a busy schedule?
Hernan Cattaneo: Well the only thing I did was work and work and
work. I did like a hundred and fifty-five gigs in the year, every one
in a different city, so that's been a lot of traveling and going on
planes every day and arriving in different cities and playing my
records, which was amazing. I got a chance to go, I did like five
North American tours, four Asian and Australian tours, three South
American tours, and then spent most of the year in Europe. So that
gave me the chance to play for loads and loads of different people.
And I think that's part of how I ended up on that position, I mean I
think if you have the chance to play more and more, you end up being
more popular, as long as people like what you do. I think there's
some really good DJs, that they don't take the time to do a lot and I
always learn, and I learned a lot from Paul Oakenfold who, for me, is
a person in the business that has so much knowledge about it. And he
always said to me 'you have to tour, you must tour, go every city you
can,' as we were talking earlier, 'not just the big cities, but also
the smaller cities. Take your time and go there, play, show who you
are, show what you do.' And I think it's been paving the way.
PK: I know, it's probably another reason, you know, why you
were so big in 2005. Now you are the only DJ who was asked to mix a
second Renaissance Master compilation, can you tell us a little bit
about how the mix varied or is different from the first series
compared to the second one?
Hernan Cattaneo: Yes, yes, it was great because it's the first time
they do a second Master series compilation with the same DJ, they've
always been choosing different ones. So, you know, it was kind of
rewarding to be asked to do a volume two. And the way I approached
the CD is, usually I approach the compilations the same way, I mean I
try to reflect who I am as a DJ at the moment of doing it. So that
would mean I like a big variety of music, or I like deep house, I like
big house, tribal stuff, breaks, a little bit of techno, not very
hard, I like different things and I like to reflect that on my CDs.
So on a CD, a set is like two and a half hours on a compilation, while
in a club the perfect set for me would be like five or six hours. But
still two and a half hours, it's a good amount of time to reflect the
different styles I like. And I always, if you pay attention to all
the CDs I've done for Renaissance or for Protector, I usually start
the CD very deep and slow, and then build it from there, and that's
the way I like to play, so I think that's the best way to as I said,
to reflect who I am as a DJ at the moment.
PK: So how's 2005 been going so far for you other than the
Renaissance Master compilation and this other tour that you've been
doing?
Hernan Cattaneo: Well it's been great touring a lot, you know, now
it's the middle of summer in Europe so it's been like, very, very,
very, busy over there. I've finished two weeks in America, I'm going
back to London tomorrow and on Friday I'm doing a whole week in Spain,
Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Tenerife, Canary Islands and then
Barcelona, then going to the United Arab Emirates, then back to
England to do the London thing, at the Gallery in London, and then
Saturday, end of July, Global Gathering Festival, a big, big festival
in Stratford. Then I'll be going to Ibiza to play Thunder or Pacha,
and then to another beach in Spain called Majorca, Port Abana. Loads
of gigs all over, you know, all over the Mediterranean and the beaches
like Spain or Greece, I'm doing a lot of Greece in the summer, and
many, many gigs all over Europe. As I said, it's a big time this
summer, so the record for July and August is going to be kind of crazy
really.
