With the massive three-CD set "Defected in the House," frenchman Martin Solveig deftly mixes cutting edge house, classics and the best of his personal productions with a CD dedicated to each. I caught up with the globetrotting DJ/producer at the Amsterdam Dance Event right before the massively successful Defected party at the Sands. Watching him read and work the crowd so effortlessly proves how Solveig delivers life just as energetically as his production and mixed sets.
DJ Ron Slomowicz: I love your Defected in the House mixed set. There's
original tracks, new music and your "classics." What was in your
head when you put the CD together?
Martin Solveig: I tried to be complete and give a nice overview of
what I like, what I produced and what will come next. That was the
idea and the three CDs gave me the opportunity to be quite complete.
RS: How did you choose the older songs such as "Atomic Dog" and
"The Breaks?"
Martin Solveig: I have a large bunch of classic dance and funk tracks
that I play sometimes, and I made a large list and we asked for
authorization. Sometimes it was very hard to get because some of the
copyrights were like thirty years old and it's very hard to find the
maker. We managed to get those and I was very happy about that and I
tried to mix them together and that was it. They're definitely part
of my favorite all-time tracks.
RS: The newer songs you chose, like the Mr V track, where do you
find you music to put in a compilation like this?
Martin Solveig: It's really a combination of different things. I
asked all my friends in the industry if they had any new upcoming
stuff - the producers that I like a lot- like Mr V, Denis Ferrer, Bob
Sinclar, and some others. Some had some new stuff coming and some
didn't, so I was lucky with those. It's just the basic thing that I
do all the time for my sets, I collect and promote tracks. At the
time I was doing the compilation I had the opportunity to get those
tracks.
RS: You're part of a really great group with the Defected label.
It's such a classy, wonderful group of DJs and producers. How did
you become part of the group?
Martin Solveig: It all started for me with "Rockin Music" about
three or four years ago. That was my first UK success and Simon
Dunmore of Defected got interested in the track and he knew my work
from the past and so we started to collaborate on this one. That
collaboration went on very well so I chose to license my next album,
Hedonist, to the Defected label.
RS: The album spun some really great singles and some great
videos, how involved are you with the making of videos?
Martin Solveig: I am getting more and more involved in the videos,
the pictures and all the concepts because the impact is big on the
people. They now really associate an image to music. I think it's
really part of your artistic development of your message to be
involved in both, in the image as well as in the music. I had the
opportunity to work with some very interesting photographers and
directors, especially with "Rockin Music." I learned a lot from them
and now I'm getting more involved. Especially in the concept of the
Jealousy video, that was my concept. I'm happy, it's just another
side of what I do.
RS: The Jealousy video featured a live performance of Lee Fields
singing with a live band, and you're in there sort of like a joker.
How much is that your personality, are you the joker up there?
Martin Solveig: Sure, sure. I think when it comes to composition
and production I'm quite serious and I take things quite seriously.
Then when it's done and its time to perform and represent those tracks
live, I like to take it a little bit with humor and not to take it
too seriously. Dance music is for fun and entertainment, so it's
pretty much my place over here.