Laurent Garnier: ”Essentially I am selling people dreams, a little piece of a good time”
The French maestro went deep into his career history and the future of dance music in this Clubz Classic interview originally published on August 12, 2014
UNDOUBTEDLY one of the most respected names in international electronic music, Laurent Garnier is a man who’s been making the world dance for over a quarter of a century.
A true artist and real pioneer in every sense of the word, French-native Garnier is recognised around the world for his profound impact on dance music as one of the major players responsible for crafting the scene into what it is today.
Truly passionate about the past, present and future of dance music, Laurent Garnier’s energy, motivations and love for the music means his fans range from the godfathers of techno who’ve watched their music grow and evolve, to aspiring young DJ talents and producers creating their first tracks in their bedrooms.
Garnier claims that even at the tender age of 10 he already knew his destiny, “My bedroom looked like a nightclub. There were strobes, multi-coloured flashing lights, a disco ball, a DJ booth and a dance floor. I switched on my disco ball every night. I only dreamt of one thing: making people dance.”
And that dream is one the DJ master has certainly achieved, with sets that range from acid-techno to disco, jungle to dubstep, house to jazz and everything in-between.
Having moved to the UK in the 1980s, he made his name on the circuit, handing out mix tapes, leading to him becoming a resident DJ at Manchester’s legendary Hacienda club as acid house rose in popularity, before moving back to France.
It’s almost like more of a personal thing, for when I am travelling, and meeting my DJ friends. You meet a lot of people, and I never used to take any pictures, so now I take pictures of that. One of the most important things to do for me is to share articles in the journal that some people may not have seen, because now there is a bit of an information overload, so people seem to know a lot. But MOST people don’t actually go too in depth into each subject. I’m not just talking about techno or art but also about general subjects. It’s very rare that you’ll read a book about something, then research the related films and books.
At the moment, I’m reading a book about the Hells Angels and it talks a lot about films made in the 1960s surrounding the Hells Angels so I’ve been finding the films and watching them because I wanted to know more. It’s like people have this knowledge but only on a superficial level. And what I really wanted to do with the journal was to show the way we work with labels; to show people the way we work and build relationships here. You can release different sounds with different labels. To show the strong collections and relationships you create with the people that you’re working with.
What we’re doing is not just sleeping around, making different music with lots and lots of different labels to be trendy. We’re working with people we want to connect with and have complete interaction. The main thing of the journal is the correspondence between the labels, [showing] the way we work together. Working with different labels isn't just imposing unless you’re an arsehole. It’s nice to show people that we don’t work in the same way with 50 Weapons as we would with someone else.
I have a very strong friendship with some label owners, then some I have never met. I want people to see it’s not me going to the label and imposing my music on to them. People think a big name can impose their work on to smaller labels, but it’s not about that. It’s about collaboration and creating something special. We are doing five EPs at the moment, and something will come after that. We will never leave it at that because there is too much of an ending to that story, a conclusion.
The journal explains the fun and the funky people, but importantly it shows when we are working and crossing all these people that we are always pulling a lot of ideas together, working towards something together and collaborating, with work being built alongside a relationship.
It’s like with me releasing on 50 Weapons, I originally got in touch with Moneytown after hearing the Moderat album. They suggested I go over to 50 Weapons. I always thought 50 Weapons would only want new blood, fresh blood. I thought I was way too old for that.
I was very happy to hear that they’d been a fan of my music and since then there have been so many questions, building the relationship and changing things between myself and the label. And working with different labels also helps you to meet new and fresh people.
What is your set up of choice when DJing now days? Even with all of the technology it’s great that vinyl is enjoying a resurgence in popularity.
I tend the use the USB key, just because this suits my style and way of DJing the most, not because of technology. I switched from vinyl to CDs to do this. The USB gives me the chance to make longer mixes, make short tracks longer, long tracks shorter. Maybe I’m a bit old school because I love long mixes. I like to always tell a story and the USB allows me to do that. With vinyl I start thinking like I am being rushed, looking at records and thinking ‘only one minute left!’ – I want to take my time. USB key is perfect for me.
What DJs and producers have really got your attention right now? We love your remix of The Fall by Copy Paste Soul on his revived 2Swords imprint. He’s one to watch for us.
There are so so many. I mean usually when I do a remix I ask to do an exchange. I met Copy Paste Soul around four or five years ago in Ibiza when he was making much more techno than he is now. The music completely blew me away and so we always kept in touch. I asked him to do a remix for me for a little project I’m working on, so then I did that remix for him as an exchange.
There are so many young talents though - there are so many in France right now, exciting guys making incredible music. There has NEVER been such a quantity of good music than there is right now. I’m redoing my stick every single week and I have 50 new records – that’s eight DJ boxes! You were never, ever changing your DJ boxes every week. Now I have a new DJ box every week.
The other day I checked my stick and I had 950 records. I would have been LOST with that much 10 years ago. It’s good, very healthy.
Now with no money people can become producers. They can put their music on the net to distribute it. It’s no longer a matter of money and it has been a matter of money – even with the gear the distribution and vinyl was impossible. Now you can do it all yourself which is very interesting. If you like any style of music, all you have to do is dig a little bit and you’ll find hundreds and hundreds.