RS: So with NY2London, are you doing A&R for that or what's your
role with that label?
Mike Rizzo: Yes, I kind of do the A&R over there. I sort through a
lot of demos and they kind of leave it in my hands to say hey what's
hot, what's good, what do you think we should go with. I've been very
picky because you know how tough it is now, digitally to sell a lot of
units right now, so I try to be as picky as I can.
RS: You keep on top of things doing a lot of DJing. I heard you
did a big gig in Chicago lately?
Mike Rizzo: I actually did. DJing of course is where my heart is,
that's how I started a long time ago, twenty years ago in this
business. I just played Chicago Sound Bar two weeks ago with Too Kool
Chris and his whole Dance Factory thing in there, and let me tell you
that city and that station has got it going on. The energy in the club
from when I walked in at eleven o'clock and I didn't go on until 3
a.m. Chicago is to be reckoned with right now, they have a great,
great energy going on over there.
RS: Are you on Pulse 87?
Mike Rizzo: It's actually Pulse 87 in New York and I have my own show
every Friday called Area 51. Joel Salkowitz is at the helm over there
who was with the original Hot 97, if you all follow dance music you'd
know how great he did with that station. Every Friday, 12 a.m. to 2
a.m., it's been great because I get to play sort of what's going on on
our playlist and try to break new records, off of the import CDs and I
kind of do my own thing.
RS: Wow, so you do what a mixshow is supposed to actually do?
Mike Rizzo: Try to break new records, exactly. We all kind of get
pigeonholed sometimes into doing a mixshow for a station, we kind of
got to go off the play list and I don't know. I mean I don't mind
doing that and I did that for another station at one time. I didn't
mind, it's great for publicity and I was very fortunate to do that,
but I am definitely feeling comfortable with breaking new records.
RS: What's your internet presence like?
Mike Rizzo: You can always see what's going on at
www.djmikerizzo.com, myspace/djmikerizzonyc. We try to stay up to
date on what's going on – remix production, mix shows. Again I'm
grateful, I've got about seven or eight shows right now weekly from
iParty Radio, Party Radio USA, Music Choice, it's been a good year so
far I'm very blessed.
RS: What remixes do you have coming up next?
Mike Rizzo: We're working on currently "T-Shirt" by Shontelle for
Universal. "Moving Mountains" by Usher is coming next. After
"T-shirt," I'm going to focus on a couple of things for the
NY2Londonlabel right now and possibly an Alyson remix on her next
single.
RS: Very cool. What would you like to say to all your fans out there?
Mike Rizzo: I always wanted to say thank you so much for the support
because I can't do it without my fans and people that follow dance
music. I thank god and I'm very blessed to be in the business I'm in.
Posted August 28, 2008
