Prolouge

Godskitchen, labelled by many in the UK as the finest club in all the land. In 2002 a track created by Gods regular took not just Code (former name of venue) but the entire clubbing industry by storm. GTR - Mistral. After weeks of charting it world number 1 Dj Tiesto returned to Godskitchen excited at the prospect of meeting the man behind his current favourite track, that’s how big Mistral became.

Until recently Gareth Emery (GTR) has been taking time out to build a new studio, now he's back with a whole new catalogue of tracks and ready to take his place as one of the UK's finest producers/Dj's of the 21st centaury.

Interview

Ricksta - How long have you been a producer in any form, and where/how did you start?

Gareth - When I first got into trance music properly in about 1998, one of the first things I did was buy a Yamaha DJX (more of a toy than a serious keyboard) and started bashing out some seriously shit dance tunes! However before that I did classically train on piano (which I played from the age of about 4), taught myself guitar, and had played in various bands etc, so music’s always been a big thing for me.

Ricksta - Which do you prefer, DJ'ing or producing?

Gareth - I love them both in different ways– DJing is amazing, you get a buzz from rocking a club that you don’t really get when you’re sitting in the studio on your own making a track. However once you leave the club, the fun’s over, whereas if you make a wicked track people continue to talk about it for years afterwards, so you get more of a long-term feeling of satisfaction.

Ricksta - Back in the days of Mistral you used pretty much all software and a laptop for producing. Have you advanced on since then and if so, do you think you've improved a great deal because of it?

Gareth - Yeah, I spent a lot of time learning more about production rather than just blagging it, and have a fairly tasty setup now. Getting some proper gear did mean a long break from releasing music as at first I had no idea of how to use it, but now I’m loving the new setup, and I think people will really see the results in the tracks I’ve got coming out this year.

Ricksta - Your promo DJ set uploaded on trance-addict last year was impressive, have you looked any further into building on your DJ career and getting more slots at trance events?

Gareth - I’m doing my best! This time last year I’d just played Godskitchen for the first time, since then I’ve played at clubs including Slinky, Passion, The Gallery, Tangled, Peach plus have travelled to play in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Sweden, Scotland and Ireland. Not a bad year on the DJ circuit proper I reckon but it’s always something I’m looking to build and hopefully 2004 will bring more of the same.

Ricksta - CERN - The Message was a very nice tune, exactly what input did you have on it?

Gareth - The Message was a CERN demo that Five AM had that was really good but wasn’t quite there in its original form. However, Alexis from Five AM thought it could be an anthem so he asked me to come along to CERN’s ridiculously nice studio for a day to have some input. Along with the guys from CERN we reworked the arrangement, remade the breakdown to give it a shit load of impact, and I changed the notes in the riff, stripping it down so it was a bit more minimal.

It was a strange one, after we finished the track I played it in every set for about six months and despite it taking the roof off every time, no-one really took much notice, then all of a sudden Tiesto starts ending his sets with it and the track just exploded! I keep meaning to get back into the studio with CERN to record an original track given that The Message was the first time we worked together and the results were pretty good, so that’ll happen this year at some stage.

Ricksta - Does the recent concern from Trance fans regarding 'formulaic' trance and the 'same old boring stuff' inspire you to create something different? And do you think trance will continue to be as big as it has been over the years?

Gareth - Yes, and yes. Trance has supposedly died so many times over the past six years and it’s still about and enjoying massive global popularity, so I don’t tend to take much notice to what people say anymore.

Ricksta - Being a clubber yourself back in the day at GK do you feel you have a better understanding for what people like music wise?

Gareth - I think so, definitely in the early days. In fact every now and again I try to have a night out as a clubber, get on the dancefloor and be subtly anonymous and just have it to the music – every time I do it I come away with loads of ideas and memories of what works on the dancefloor. I really should do it more often but it’s getting harder as more people seem to come up and talk to me now!

Ricktsa - What artists and musical influences have inspired you the most and who would you compare yourself with on the scene today?

Gareth - Musically I’m inspired from right across the spectrum, whether it’s the jazz and blues I used to listen to and play as a kid, the indie I was into in my teens, or the punk rock or (proper) hip hop I was into at uni. I’m also obviously influenced by a lot of dance music but I think of it in more in terms of tracks than artists so I’d rather not name check people.

Ricksta - How important does you see money-making when it comes to producing / remixing etc?

Gareth - Making dance music is expensive and takes time – simple as that. If you can’t afford the equipment you need or can’t give production the time it needs, the quality of the music will suffer as a result, so yeah, money making is pretty important.

Ricksta - What's your favourite dance track? And your fave track you have produced yourself or been involved with?

Gareth - My favourite dance track changes on a day-to-day basis, but today it’s Faithless – God Is A DJ. It was on the radio yesterday and having not heard it for years I’d forgotten quite how good it is.
My favourite track that I’ve been involved in would probably be Mistral, it’s hard not to like a track that’s done so much for me and brought a lot of happiness to other people too, closely followed by The Message.

Ricksta - What's been your favourite venue to play at?

Gareth - That’s really tough as there have been so many great venues, but two that get a special mention would be Godskitchen @ Air/Code and Slinky @ The Opera House, quite simply because they’re the clubs I used to go to most regularly. It’s always special to play amazing clubs and some of the international parties I’ve played at have been mind-blowing, but it’s that extra bit special to rock the fuck out of a dancefloor you were standing on yourself a couple of years back.

A big thanks to Gareth from all of us here at MPFS and best wishes for the future. Keep an eye out for his next release Reason to Believe which should be hitting UK shops shortly.

Gareth Emery official website