Dave Aude is one of the busiest guys in the electronic music world. Recently achieving his first number one single as an artist, he has also had 25 number ones as a remixer. Working with everyone from the Pussycat Dolls, Beyonce, and Nelly Furtado to the Gorillaz, Tall Paul, and DJ Dan, his music can be heard in clubs and on the radio around the world.
DJ Ron Slomowicz: Congratulations on your number one record with the Jessica
Sutta record. In the eMail, it said that it was your first number one
in fifteen years and that didn't sound quite right.
Dave Aude: "Make It Last" is my first number one as an artist. To
date, I have had 25 number ones as a remixer/producer.
RS: Fifteen years dates back to the beginning of Moonshine, is
that correct?
Dave Aude: That's correct, back in 1991.
RS: Were you doing dance music before Moonshine or was that your
first introduction to dance music?
Dave Aude: I wasn't, I was doing pop and electronic music in my
bedroom. I was just going to clubs and stuff before that and I helped
start Moonshine in 1991 around my first band, Lunatic Fringe. We put
a single out in '91 called "I Believe" and Moonshine was sort of
formed to release the single and then ended up putting out a couple of
compilations and it just took off from there.
RS: Moonshine really had that legacy, probably the first
independent label that licensed European dance music for the US
market. Were you involved with that?
Dave Aude: Absolutely. Moonshine was the first techno label that
that really had a bit of success in the United States and they were
also the first label in the world to really start the DJ mix. The
first mixed CD featured two DJs you might know – Sasha and Dave
Seaman.
RS: Yes, I was just thinking of all those great Journeys by DJs
that Moonshine put out.
Dave Aude: That was a guy named Tim Fielding out of the UK and he
put a lot of those together. Keoki did our fourth CD which really
helped propel the label in to huge success because he was blowing up
at the time.
RS: There was also that awesome Hooj Choons compilation as well.
Dave Aude: And the Stress Records compilation which was really good.
It was kind of about the early 90s when techno was just and
all-embodying dance music.
RS: Moonshine wasn't like most of the dance labels because y'all
did a variety of genres – hardcore with the Speed Limit CDs, and acid
house.
Dave Aude: Ambient stuff was really big actually, the United States
of Ambience series did really well and that was before chill out.
Law of the Jungle was our first jungle CD back in '95. We definitely
pioneered the new genres that came out of techno.
RS: So a music policy like that that's very open and diverse,
was that led by you or what was the actual music policy of the label?
Dave Aude: Well, the driving creative force behind the label was a
guy names Steve Levy who owned the label and I was the in-house
engineer/producer. The first few years were really spent putting
together mix compilations and licensing a lot of things from music
coming out from overseas, in London mainly. Once the label got some
money, which was a year or two later, we started signing artists and
Keoki was one of the first signings quickly followed by Cirrus. Then
we started putting artist albums together.
RS: You were involved with Cleveland Lounge, correct?
Dave Aude: Cleveland Lounge was three guys that Steve found making
acid jazz and they had this girl singer. We recorded a whole album and
got ready to release it and the lead singer went and signed a deal
with somebody else, a major label. So the band didn't have her on
contract and that was a bit of a learning experience for Moonshine,
the label, because they lost the album which just got trashed. A few
years later, I resurrected the single "Drowning" with a drum and bass
mix and it was a huge success. That was the only drum and bass mix
I've ever done as well as one of the best songs I've ever done.
