The title Evolve doesn't just describe Victor Calderone's current mixed CD compilation or his DJ residencies, it's a description of his musical progression. Inspired by nights of freedom playing at Stereo in Montreal, Victor has expanded his musical tastes and pushed the boundaries of the New York club scene. What you hear on the CD is just a taste of Victor's marathon 12 hour sets because "seventy-four minutes cannot represent what I do live."
DJ Ron Slomowicz: It's nice to see you back in the production and remix role.
What was your inspiration for this new CD, Evolve?
Victor Calderone: The Evolve parties themselves inspired the album.
People are really looking forward to the parties and I was very
excited about it. For a long time I didn't feel so hot about playing
in New York and didn't feel the freedom that I did when I went to
places like Montreal and Portugal. The success of Evolve changed
things for me and inspired me to get back in to the studio and put out
the album. Getting all the eMails, positive feedback from people, and
kids asking me about the new signature tracks from Evolve made me
start to think - let's put together an album with some of these songs
that have been big for me at Evolve and get it out there to the fans.
RS: How do you think the sound of New York will translate to the
rest of the country and to the rest of the world?
Victor Calderone: That's a hard question to answer, I don't know.
Defining the New York sound right now is really hard to do and I can't
put my finger on a specific sound and say yes, this is New York.
Everybody's trying to find their way right now and getting inspired
from all different styles of house. I'm going more on the electronic
trip, a little bit more tech-y and not so tribal. I'm going to have
the signature of drum foundation that I've been known for, but it's
going to be done in a different way with different sounds. I can't
say that I'm the New York sound - I don't know if the scene has grown
enough to define itself yet.
RS: Then how do you think your sound, what you play, and the CD
translates to the rest of the country and the rest of the world?
Victor Calderone: From what I've witnessed from during my travels,
it's been well received. I think my sound right now more than ever
has opened things up for me. Before when I was in the circuit and
trying to do more of that anthem thing and remixing a lot of the pop
artists, like, Madonna and Sting, that sound really didn't translate
when traveling globally. When I noticed that, it struck me that I
want to do something that is globally accepted. I'm traveling around
the world DJing and I want my sound to work in the States, in New
York, in Montreal, in Israel, in Paris, and everywhere. It was a
conscious choice for me to make that transition and change my sound.
It was risky because I had this big audience and this following, but
it wasn't enough. The circuit scene is just a small bubble compared
to the world. I'm very happy with the results. I'm very proud of
what I've been doing in my live sets and in the studio and I'm really
inspired now - I think people are going to hear a lot more.
RS: I am not sure how to say this. There are artists and
groups on here that I wouldn't expect to see on a Calderone
compilation. I wouldn't expect to here a Skylark track or a Dennis
Ferrer track being played by Victor Calderone. Where do you find your
music and what inspires you to play these tracks?
Victor Calderone: Those are signature tracks from my Evolve and that
was my objective with putting this compilation together. Some of the
tracks were a little bit old by the time, because that's what happens
with compilations. By the time they come out, they're always caught
up in the label crap... I said to myself I don't care, I'm not going
to let that bother me, I'm not going to just drive myself crazy and
just mix where every track on here is new. I'm going to put tracks
on this album that were big records for me at Evolve and that's what I
did.
When they listen to the album I wanted people to say that this reminds me of a part of the night. I can't say that album represents what I do because it absolutely because it doesn't, seventy-four minutes cannot represent what I do live. I play sometimes ten to twelve-hour sets and it's a journey and to try and capture that on a CD is just impossible. So doing it that way, I wanted to put music on there that people would connect to and say yes, this reminds me of Evolve.
