DJ Ron Slomowicz: So I hear you are currently working on a new artist album called
Pop Kills?
Paul Oakenfold: No, I'm currently on tour with Madonna, I'm touring until
September 5 and I have a CD out at the moment called Planet Perfecto;
well, it’s called Perfecto Vegas, the night is Planet Perfecto which
is my residency at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas.
RS: Why do you think Las Vegas is becoming such a haven for club music?
Paul Oakenfold: Well, it has been over the last two years, all the
casinos started to spring up in terms of having nightclubs, there's a
lot of pool parties which remind me of beach parties that they had in
Ibiza and I think there's more clubs now in Vegas than in Miami or LA
and certainly more than in New York.
RS: What's the scene like there club-wise?
Paul Oakenfold: Well, I think it’s pretty fresh. I got offered
options to play in other cities in terms of residencies and I thought,
well Vegas is the future. And it reminds me of how Ibiza was.
RS: Very cool. How do you program a night there, are you playing
stuff that you play on your regular tours or is there a specific Las
Vegas sound?
Paul Oakenfold: No, they're certainly tunes I break as a resident
wherever you are, whether it’s London, Las Vegas, or Liverpool with my
residences, I did certain records that are big for me that I play
every week, that I break and become popular. The album represents
more of the underground side of what we do, I didn’t really want to
put the real big tunes that we broke on it because those tunes date
very quickly and I wanted this album to have longevity and I wanted
this record to give people a real understanding of what we’re doing,
you know, I mean in this time and age it’s difficult to have a
successful club and we've all worked very hard at it. It’s certainly
not about me, I mean the management right down to the performers are a
big part of why we've done so well.
RS: I notice you've also built a really great stable of Perfecto
remixers, guys like Swedish Egil and Jeff, and of course Joey Modus.
Where do you find talent like that?
Paul Oakenfold: Well, those are just three of the great talent out
there, and America has got some great young DJs, and I live in America
and I want to support America and that's why I chose to do my
residency there. And I'm flying the flag from traveling, you know, I
was in Ibiza last weekend and talking about, you know, why it’s so
good. Electric Daze, he did so well, and they’ve worked so hard
putting that event on the map and I think that's one of the best
festivals in the world. So you’d find them through your traveling,
you'd find them through friends, and you'd find them through your
people that you work with. I mean, Kenneth Thomas, for instance,
recommended Joey Modus and he’s great at what he does, and Swedish
Egil has been a pioneer of the electronic scene and I've been a fan of
his, so it’s an honor to have him involved in what Perfecto does. And
I want to support those DJs and for me, they're the future and it’s
good to support, you know, to give something back, whatever you're
doing in life.
RS: Looking back at the past, you recently did the project with
Shannon - "Let the Music Play."
Paul Oakenfold: Yes.
RS: Great remixes by your team. What other classic song would
you like the Perfecto team to take a shot at?
Paul Oakenfold: That's a really good question, Ron. I mean that
track was like many others I was a fan of, I didn't set out to
actually take that record and get it remixed. A friend of mine had
said to me look, this track has come along, you know, it hasn't been
remixed and what do you think? And I was like well, you know, I think
that it would be a good record to give the new breed of DJs a chance
to remix a classic, rather than me going and doing it, let’s give
opportunities for the new breed of DJs to take a classic, a song that
has been tried and tested and that has been a hit and see what they
can do with it. And that was why I kind of felt that it was the right
thing to do. Are there a few others out there? I'm sure there are
but we, as a label we haven't set out to take those old tunes and redo
them.