RS: What's it like working with your own vocals?
Roger Sanchez: A bit more challenging because I'm even more critical of my own voice than I am of anybody else's, and I've very critical in general. So I have to be patient with myself to get what I want, because I know what I want and sometimes I don't get it right off the bat. So it's a bit of a training process but, you know, I know what I want so it's kind of like 'I'll keep at it until I get it,' but I'm also very patient, so it's alright.
RS: Have you ever thought about doing the Sonique thing where you sing live while you're DJing?
Roger Sanchez: No, that's not my thing. I'm better at the spoken word parts and I'll sing the background vocals because I know the harmonies, I know the melodies. But the lead vocal thing, I prefer to leave that to other people, it leaves me free to focus on creating a sonic texture and landscape behind it all.
RS: Regarding vocalists, how did you find Freak, the guy from New York?
Roger Sanchez: Freak's been a friend of mine for years and he played a lot of instruments on my last album, First Contact, and he's just been steadily working with me in the studio. He's incredibly talented, I mean he plays guitar, bass, and I don't know how many other instruments, and he raps. So this is an album where I've got a chance to get him on guitar and bass, and I've got a chance for him to rap on one of the tracks. So it's really cool, I get the chance to expose all of his talents.
RS: I've also seen Katherine Ellis starting to pop up on some projects lately, how did you meet up with her?
Roger Sanchez: Actually, Katherine works a lot with Tom Stephan, who's managed by my manger. I love Katherine's voice, and she wound up being the background vocalist for Lost and we're definitely going to work together on some other stuff in the future.
RS: And I'm not sure if I'm right on this, Alejandro Sanz, didn't he also sing on the Shakira record?
Roger Sanchez: Yes, he was the male vocalist on that record. Alejandro Sanz was one of the biggest artists in Spain and in South America. Who could I compare him to? You can't call him Ricky Martin because that's not his thing, he's a very big artist. And I've loved his voice and his music for many years, it's just what he does on the ballads and all that other stuff. And my manager asked me who did I want to work with, and I said I would love to work with Alan Hans, not realizing that he is very aware of what's going on in the dance music world, so he knew exactly who I was. And he got sent a copy of the song I'd written and he loved it, and basically this was a first, it was the first song he'd sung in English, period. You see, he doesn't really speak English very much, he's learning it right now, so that
was the first song he'd sung in English and I'm the first outside producer he's ever worked with because he's always worked on his own productions.
