RS: On your album, can we expect a lot of the electro sound that
you are known for?
Fedde Le Grand: I'm actually moving a little bit away from the
really, really electro stuff because I'm getting a little bit bored
with it. At the moment I'm mixing up house, electro, and hip-hop,
depending on what I use.
RS: On the hip-hop tip, what was it like working with the D12
guys who did a rap for "Put Your Hands Up for Detroit?"
Fedde Le Grand: Well, I didn't really work with them because they
used the original version, made it a little bit shorter and came up
with the lyrics. I was really excited because I thought it was really
cool that they managed to do such good vocals that you actually get a
new chorus to the song.
RS: About some of your remixes - what was it like working on the
Robbie Williams song Bongo Bong?
Fedde Le Grand: I'm quite pleased with the final result. It was
kind of hard because the original song is like 150 bpm, which is quite
fast, and his voice was not a real easy voice to fit into a house
song. His voice is brilliant for real pop music but in terms of
getting it into house, it was quite hard. We buffed it up a little to
finally fit it in, and I think it worked out fine.
RS: It seems like you've had your hands on just about all the
big club anthems of the past year, the Erick-E "The Beat is Rockin,"
Sharam's "Party All the Time," and Mr. V "The Bump." How do you think
you keep walking in to all the big tracks?
Fedde Le Grand: I don't think that I have a real good punch for
that, because I just try to do remixes that I think could work. I
think that's the only thing you can possibly do, follow your gut
feeling that you always had about music and stay true to that. As
long as you do remixes that you like, you'll probably make stuff that
a lot of people like as well. People will keep asking you to do
remixes if they're pleased with the result.
RS: With your song "Take No Sh..," was that aimed at any person
or situation in particular?
Fedde Le Grand: No, not really. It's about me and my label partner
making a statement. In the beginning, when we started the label, no
one liked our music. The "Take No Sh.." record actually was kind of a
statement that we don't care what the corporate side thinks or what
they think, we just do our own stuff. So yes, we don't take no sh...
RS: Nice. When you're in the studio what software do you work with?
Fedde Le Grand: Logic is my main sequencer on a Mac. I hardly use
any hardware anymore, especially at the moment because I'm traveling
so much. I'm actually working on a MacBook on the plane, I think the
Apple sounds great and I think that's the most important thing. If
you want a good mix it's all about your ears being used to the
speakers or the headphones.
RS: When you're touring, are you DJing with vinyl, CDs or laptop?
Fedde Le Grand: CD. I want to add some live laptop production into
the mixture, but I still want to do mostly CD.
RS: What would you like to say to all your fans out there?
Fedde Le Grand: Thanks for all the support. It's just amazing how
many reactions I've got on "Detroit," "The Creeps," "Take No Sh..,"
and on a lot of records, actually. MySpace just kind of exploded
within the last year and it's just crazy. So I just want to say a
real, real, really big thanks to everyone that supports me.