RS: What's the difference between a Gabriel and Dresden track and a
Dave Dresden track?
Dave Dresden: That's hard to say really, since the bulk of my work
has been done with Josh. I'd say the biggest thing that separates us
is
my desire for a bassline that eventually changes notes. Josh and I
would normally argue about this part of the creative process, but we
usually made compromises to make each other happy. Fans may remember
my "Attention Deficit" guise from a few years ago. It was a
collaboration with myself and LA-based Ryeland Allison. These tracks I
did with him are a good indication of what my own tracks would sound
like. I love live drums and interesting sounds that you don't hear
every day in dance music. I think Rye and I did a good job of keeping
the sounds and ideas fresh.
RS: I've always wondered if the name Attention Deficit was a inside
joke of some sort.
Dave Dresden: The name Attention Defiicit really came about because
Ryeland's last name is Allison and mine is Dresden (AD). Also, we
both have attention deficit disorder.
RS: I've read on your blogs that you also struggle with Asperger's
syndrome. Is this related to attention deficit disorder? How does it
affect your DJing/producing?
Dave Dresden: Well I have a dual diagnosis. I have bipolar disorder
and Asperger's syndrome. What those two things do is help me feel
emotional music more easily and deeply than someone without them. It
has helped me write lyrics and form songs that would help people with
problems feel something because being a person with this problem, it
helped me, and knowing that I was helping people with the music I
helped create gave me a sense of purpose and that feeds itself in a
lot of ways and gives me the courage to go and make more music and
understand a lot of what people are feeling on the dance floor and
elsewhere.
Sometimes when working with people who are not afflicted with these diseases it makes them question you, because they don't live with these problems. They don't quite understand what I and people with these afflictions are going through and can be mistaken for rudeness and selfishness, when in fact, all I want to do is just do better and help people through the best way I know how: music. It's been my driving force for many years. I didn't know I had these problems until 2006, but there's a thread to it all from the music I liked as a kid, how emotional songs would make me get chills and sometimes cry for both my condition, the feeling of being misunderstood and for those who would be on the receiving end of the music that was made. I am medicated for these conditions, but that still doesn't stop one from feeling these feelings, but also the memories I had going through life with these problems.
RS: Tell us a little bit about Organized Nature...
Dave Dresden: Originally it was a label Josh set up to promote his
debut single "Wave 3" which is the song I heard at WMC 2001 and was
able to turn Pete Tong onto. We agreed that we loved the name and set
it up to release our own music and the music of artists we liked. We
were very selective on our releases and only released 12 singles and
our debut album on it. We were planning on releasing our one album
signing, Christopher Norman on the label (we put out his debut single
"Going Down" when he went under the alias "Retrobyte") and we also
were planning on releasing any of our album output on it. With majors
only interested in surefire mass appeal artists, we wanted to build
our own stable of artists the way past luminaries like Berry Gordy did
with Motown or Puff Daddy did with Bad Boy. We had big plans for the
future.
RS: Going forward, are your future solo releases going to be on
Organized Nature?
Dave Dresden: Not sure what will come of ON, we are presently
discussing what the future holds for many things regarding us.
RS: When you tour, what exactly do you do with the music? Are you
using software, are you using CDs?
Dave Dresden: I started spinning on CDs back in 1989 when Technics
made the SL 1300 CD player, and have used Pioneer equipment since
1994. Josh and I have been using Ableton as a duo for the past 3 years
and I really enjoyed working on it with him, but when I go back out as
a solo DJ, I'm going to go back to using CDs - I really like the new
Pioneer decks and I feel really comfortable DJing on them.
Eventually, I may incorporate Ableton into my sets, but for the time
being I want to go old school and mix on mylar with lasers.
