RS: You just said something that made me think-- you said a lot of disco had male vocals. I know current dance music seems to be so female vocal-oriented. Do you think that's a change of the times?
Dave Lee: In the last year or so I've noticed a lot more male vocal dance music coming out in England. That's the stuff I've noticed being popular because I think there was an overkill of female vocal, especially that sort of screaming "diva-y" female vocal, which I've made quite a few of myself.
RS: (laughs)
Dave Lee: I think on the comp, there's been a dip for that sound in the UK. It was quite commercial, with a lot of crossover here, and now people have shied away from that. Female vocals are probably a bit more commercial, a little bit more frothy and bubbly. In a club situation they cut through a little better because they're in a higher range. They sort of flow above the track more than a male vocal which can sometimes be in the same range as the music itself. But I think, when it comes to female vocals and house, there have been more of them.
I'm doing a compilation album at the moment with Defective, which is mainly house as opposed to disco. There're a few disco things on there, but it's mainly modern music. I've noticed when I've been going through my records looking for things to put on there, I think God, I've got loads of male vocal but not that much female vocal, so I think that's maybe changed a little bit.
RS: Speaking about male vocals, have you seen the Seal GREATEST HITS album while you've been over here?
Dave Lee: I've seen it in the window of some shops, so I'm aware it's out.
RS: Do you know what's on there?
Dave Lee: I know it's got his version of "My Vision" featuring Jakatta. I did it with him and then he redid it for his album, his recent album, and I think that's on there.
RS: How do you react to having Seal choose one of your records you did with him as one of his greatest hits?
Dave Lee: It's great, it's cool. It's probably one of his most successful recent tracks, but yes, it's great. He's a good artist and it's nice to be on there with the others like "Kiss from a Rose." I think they're great songs.
RS: Going back to the disco complication, was there any competition between you and Dmitri to go more obscure than the other?
Dave Lee: Yeah, probably! (laughs) We didn't talk about it. At the end of the day, there's quite a few tracks of mine that aren't--well, they're obscure, but they're not particularly rare. They're on major labels, just unknown. To me it's about whether I like the record or not. If I had the choice of a great record I loved that was something really well-known or something that was really, really obscure that was just okay, I'd prefer to have the record I really liked. It's not just about it being obscure. I try not to get blinded by ‘oh God, this is really rare, there's only two other people who've got it.’
When it comes down to it, some of those things that are really obscure are obscure for a reason. You don't find many really obscure undiscovered twelve inches as good as the best twelve that the Fire have put out for example. Someone like Earth Wind & Fire or The Brothers Johnson or Clear, at their best, are probably the best, you know what I mean? The thing is, people like myself and Dmitri, we're a bit sick of those. I love EWF, I think they're brilliant, but I've heard their best tracks probably a few hundred times each, so you search for new music for yourself half the time and you don't necessarily find stuff that's as good as "Can't Let Go" or "September," the first and best Earth Wind & Fire tracks. I try to keep a level head on it, I think, ‘how good is this or is it just that it's obscure and I've not heard it before?’
