France’s first ever superstar DJ Laurent Garnier started his career in the late 80s at Manchester’s epicentre of acid house the Hacienda, initially under the nom de guerre DJ Pedro. Becoming one of the club’s (and rave culture’s) first DJ heroes he returned to France to complete national service before returning to the decks to make his (real) name via a 3 year residency at Paris’ Rex Club. Starting out playing (and releasing) predominantly house and techno he soon became renowned for spinning absolutely anything he likes, whether old school jazz, underground hip hop or classic Detroit techno, as well as marathon DJ sets (usually no less than six hours). Alongside DJing, for years he has been also a radio DJ on stations including Radio Nova and Le Mouv. He has also composed music for contemporary ballet ( Preljocaj, Pietragalla) documentaries and movies and in 1994 co-wrote the book Electrochoc” since translated into Russian, German, Japanese, Spanish, Croatian (but not yet English). Laurent speaks at ADE for the first time ever on Friday October 18 when he’ll interviewed by fellow former Hacienda DJ (and nowadays acclaimed author and journalist) Dave Haslam.
ADE Pro:
Q&A with Laurent Garnier, October 17, 5pm - 6pm, The Dylan.
Hearing Laurent Garnier talk about music is like listening to a father talk about a newborn child. There is a fire in his voice; a palpable passion. Last month, DJBroadcast spoke to Garnier about what keeps him going, a special release project and lessons in life by Derrick May.
In 2013 Laurent Garnier celebrated his 25th year as a DJ. In all those years he gained a legendary reputation, forever pushing the boundaries of techno and himself as a musician and DJ. During his 26th, he reinvented himself yet again, releasing five EPs on five different labels in five different countries in little over five months time. The Parisian legend accompanied these with a set of digital journals (Le Journal de Garnier), to tell the story of how each release came into existence.
“My albums have always been filled with lots of different music and I found that people are quite monomaniac these days. They like one style, and don’t really like to stray. They think that Laurent Garnier is ‘Crispy Bacon’, or ‘The Man With The Red Face’. That is just a slice of who I am. An album is a representation of who I am. Techno isn’t the only thing in my life. I listen to loads of stuff, that’s why my albums are so eclectic.”
Garnier decided he needed to focus his music in the right places. He approached five labels he loves (Still Music, Musique Large, 50WEAPONS, MCDE and Hypercolour) and asked them to be part of his project. “You know, at first it was hard to convince them. Nobody ever asked to do something like this. I had to explain that their release was as important as the others. But after Jerome (Derradji, of Still Music) said ‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’, everybody soon followed. And it worked! Isn’t this just a better way to release an album? Those thirteen tracks together make an album, but I think if I would have put them all together in one home, it wouldn’t work as well as it has.” At the end of the year, a sixth (and for now still secret) release will round up the project.
Whistle
On the fourth release (on MCDE) he remembers the life of the late frankie Knuckles, one of Garnier’s biggest influences. “Without Frankie, playing that music to the kids of Chicago at that time, things would not have happened the way they did.” The Parisian says. “He helped to get people get released. Take Derrick May. He gave ‘strings of life’ to Frankie, Frankie played it and the crowd went wild. He said: ‘Derrick, you’ve got to release this shit man.’ He was like the key you put in the ignition; a centre of gravity, the first bricks that they put on the floor to build a House. A warehouse, haha!”
Read the entire interview in the ADE Magazine here.
Text: Rik Hermans
ADE Festival:
Laurent Garnier at HYTE Warehouse Welcome to the Future, October 16, more info here.
Laurent Garnier at Junction Presents: 50 Weapons, October 17, more info here.
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