This weekend Joey Negro plays his first gig in Taiwan. With countless tracks, remixes and a slew of hit singles under his belt, the legendary UK producer (aka Dave Lee, Jakatta, Akabu, Doug Willis, Raven Maize, The Sunburst Band, Sessomatto and Z Factor) is not only a household name in dance music but also synonymous with high-quality music all over the world.
Vinyl Word: Why do you have so many different monikers?
Joey Negro: Nowadays four or five is enough — Sunburst Band, Akabu, Doug Willis, Joey Negro, and a couple of others. Often the various names are just about putting out lots of singles, sometimes quite close to each other timewise, so realistically it would be more confusing to release them all under one moniker. Musically, there is a big difference (to me anyway) between Sunburst Band (which is a live jazz funk sound) and Akabu (much more electronic and housey), but there are some tracks that could come out under one of a few names.
Photo Courtesy of Room 18
VW: What does house music mean to you?
JN: I love house music, but I loved the dance/disco music from the 1970s and 1980s first; house was just a continuation of that sound. For me good music is good music, there are lots of house records that bore me shitless.
VW: What are you saying with your music?
JN: Depends on the song. On the last Sunburst Band album I put a lot of effort into the words, tracks like Man of War (about former US President George W. Bush) and Days Gone By (about growing up and the loss of innocence). Though with many dance records the lyrics are banal and meaningless; I think that’s often what people prefer to keep them in a trancelike state on the dance floor. I try to avoid that myself.
VW: How do you see the progression of house music in the UK over the past few decades?
JN: House started off being very basic and mainly American. Now it’s worldwide and some of the productions can be much more complex. I think people can get misty eyed and think it was better back in the 1990s or whenever. Truth is there has always been a lot of crap around, as well as great music released too. Back in the 1980s and 1990s we had more cool dance records crossing over into our pop charts — that isn’t really happening much now.
VW: When you play in different countries and cities, do you approach audiences differently?
JN: Not just different countries, but pretty much every gig. You have to be flexible and try to get an idea what they normally play at the club and what they expect of you. Of course I always attempt to play the best music I can, but also I don’t want to go into deep tracks for an audience that isn’t going to be into that sound and kill vibe. I also don’t want to play commercial tracks if I don’t have to, but if I need to throw in a few to keep the crowd excited I will. It’s just a case of being pragmatic.
VW: Which of your works are most representative of you?
Joey Negro: Can’t Get High Without You, Must Be the Music and Make a Move on Me
Jakatta: American Dream
Raven Maize: The Real Life and Forever Together
The Sunburst Band: Moving With the Shakers and Until the End of Time
Akabu: The Phuture Ain’t What It Used to Be
Dou Willis: Doug’s Disco Dream
Joey Negro at Room 18, B1, 88 Songren Rd, Taipei City (台北市松仁路88號B1) tomorrow from 10:30pm to 5:30am. Admission is NT$700.
With the recent release of several of his tracks in international music stores, Kaohsiung native Eddie Hu (胡俊溢) has emerged as one of the brightest lights in Taiwan’s dance music scene. His label Revox Records is one of the very few dance music labels in Taiwan that regularly releases new offerings.
After producing rock music, playing guitar and singing in rock bands for almost 10 years, a friend introduced him to dance music. From there he went on to produce trance tracks under the name Enter Stereo and deep house under the name Fiveon, and now tech house under his real name, Eddie Hu.
Hu plays tomorrow from 7pm to 8:30pm at the EarthFest Revolutions Electronic Music Festival, Kunlun Herb Plant Tourism Garden (崑崙藥用植物園), 8-2, 1st Neighborhood, Kaoping Village, Lungtan Township, Taoyuan County (桃園縣龍潭鄉高平村1鄰8-2號). The festival runs from 8pm today to 11am on Sunday. For the full roster of DJs and directions, visit www.earthfest.tw. Admission is NT$800 before 11pm today and NT$900 after.
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