Interview Ewan Pearson

La raccolta di Ewan Pearson su K7 è stata paragonata per personalità stilistica e tenore del lavoro (e forse anche per qualche coincidenza editoriale) ad un'altra celeberrima raccolta, pubblicata qualche anno fa dall'etichetta tedesca, ossia quelle Sessions che valsero la meritata ascesa di notorietà dell'accoppiata di djs Kruder & Dorfmeister. Auspicando per il bravo Pearson che quest'analogia sia di buon auspicio, va riconosciuto che le abilità nel programming e nel marchiare il restyling di un brano con un personalissimo imprinting sonoro l'hanno reso famoso al punto di essere corteggiato da molti producer e musicisti di diversa estrazione, che hanno affidato alle sue sapienti mani i dat con i campioni di alcuni loro pezzi al fine di farli ritrattare consapevoli di ricevere in cambio nessun feedback deludente in fatto di qualità. Nel 2001 già giunse la prima consacrazione dell'arte del remixing di Pearson con una raccolta di suoi remixes per la Soma Quality Recordings, adesso serviva la consacrazione definitiva che giunge puntuale dall'etichetta berlinese, che ha sta dettando il trend di molti club europei. Piece Work ne contiene solo alcuni, spalmati su 2 cd, tra cui alcuni celeberrimi in cui Ewan riesce a ricavare serafici profili stilistici di alcune delle pieces più celebri dei repertori di artisti come i Depeche Mode, Moby, Seelenluft, Chemical Brothers, Franz Ferdinand, Closer Musik, Pet Shop Boys, Goldfrapp e Ladytron (tanto per citarne alcuni). La sua hype è tanto angelicata quanto uplifting e forse proprio in questo formula che combina stimoli "divergenti" il segreto per cui il make-up di questo dj inglese seduce tanti musicisti. Consigliando ai tanti djs che ci leggono di accostarvi al suo stile e di proporlo alle proprie audiences, vi proponiamo una simpatica chiacchierata con Ewan. Rimandandovi al microsito pubblicato per l'occasione per i pre-ascolti, vi auguriamo buona lettura! Ewan Pearson "Piece Work" (K7!, Distribuzione Audioglobe) CD1 01.Seelenluft ft.Mixmaster Michael Smith "Manila" (Ewan Pearson Remix) 02.The Chemical Brothers ft.The Flaming Lips "The Golden Path" (Ewan Pearson Extended Vocal) 03.Futureshock "Pride's Paranoia" (Ewan's Sticking Plaster Remix) 04.Silver City "Shiver" (Ewan's Bari Girl Remix) 05.Fields "Song For The Fields" (Ewan Pearson Vocal Remix) 06.Playgroup "Make It Happen" (Ewan Pearson Remix) 07.Freeform Five "Perspex Sex" (Ewan Pearson HI NRG Remix) 08.Slam ft.Dot Allison "Visions" (Ewan Pearson Remix) 09.Goldfrapp "Train" (Ewan Pearson 6/8 Vocal) 10.Closer Musik "One, Two, Three - No Gravity" (Ewan Pearson 2004 Remix) 11.Franz Ferdinand "Outsiders" (Ewan Pearson Remix) CD2 01.Mocky "Catch A Moment In Time" (Ewan Pearson's Memory Blissed Remix) 02.The Rapture "I Need Your Love" (Ewan's Stay In School Mix) 03.Pet Shop Boys "Psychological" (Ewan Pearson Mix) 04.Alter Ego "Beat The Bush" (Ewan Pearson Slow NRG Edit) 05.Royksopp "49 Percent" (Ewan Pearson Glass Half Empty Remix) 06.Goldfrapp "Ride A White Horse" (Ewan Pearson Disco Odissey Parts 1 & 2) 07.Ladytron "Evil" (Ewan Pearson Radio Edit) 08.Moby "Raining Again" (Ewan Pearson Instrumental) 09.Cortney Tidwell "Don't Let Stars Keep Us Tangled Up" (Ewan's Objects In Space Remix) 10.Depeche Mode "Enjoy The Silence" (Ewan Pearson Extended Remix)

Hi Ewan. You're very well, aren't you? I'm not too bad, thanks.

What do you think about question tags? :) Fine with me!

While I was looking for some photo - you know, it's a routinarie work before an interview sometimes -, I found one picturing you dressed in an unusual way for a dj. A pink shirt, a well fitting light-blue jacket, even a striped tie! (Photo attached) Were you going to a marriage on the sands of Tenerife??? Or maybe you were celebrating your diploma! I was actually at a wedding. In Norwich (in eastern England), though rather than Tenerife. That background was a poster that they rigged up so people could pretend to have their picture taken somewhere exotic! I think I looked rather smart.

A propos of wedding days and witnesses... I've read you were born in Kidderminster, the same town of Tony De Vit, a famous house dj which got famous playing for weddings! What about you? Yes, that's where I'm from. And yes, the same as Mr Tony De Vit, who I never met sadly. It's strange to think that he died almost 10 years ago now.

You're one of the most renowned dj and you build your fame for great manumissions of important party-rockers such as Ladytron, Chemical Brothers as well and so on and I have to say that a lof of djs revealed to me they envy your phonebook as well as your photo albums... Just to acquaint with this! :)

You made some prestigiuos selections such as Fabric (nowadays a sort of Grammy award for a dj!) and the first volume of Sci-Fi-Hi-Fi. Now K7've issued this collection of your remixes. A path which reminded to me Kruder & Dorfmeister path... After some selections, K7 issued their masterpiece, those sessions which are still considered a masterpiece. Are you ready to become a sort of legend? :) Erm, I think it's unlikely. A legend is someone like Larry Levan or Carl Craig or someone that really changed things. I'm just happy to make a living doing music and that is much as I could ever have wished for.

How could we define your style? Let me think about it... do you like stirred-electro-shoegazing? Any suggestion? It's very hard for me to say. It's the hardest thing to try and define your own style. I try to change the records I play as much as possible, and keep things dynamic in relation to the new records I hear. Ivan Smagghe once defined his style as "downlifting" in an interview which I thought was rather good.

A routinary question... what about your emotions while djing? Does your dj "attitude" change while djing in biggest clubs or narrow and bad-smelling ones? Well, sometimes I guess. But it's more in relation to the crowd and the people I meet. If people are nice and the crowd are up for it, then I enjoy myself whether it's a small club or a big one.

Do you remember your first steps as a dj? And do you still remember the first record you proposed to an audience? I can't really remember. I started DJing when I was at college. All I can remember is that I was very bad indeed. In fact I remained pretty bad for many years. It was only when I started doing it a lot that I improved.

"When people ask 'So you're a DJ?' I'm like, 'Well, sort of. It's like my fourth or fifth job" you declared so. What about your other 3-4 jobs? What about your tax forms? :))) Well, there's record producer and remixer. And occasionally writer. That makes 4 altogether. And yes, tax forms are complicated. But we have to do them, in order to keep old ladies alive, and people in hospitals and children in school. So I don't mind.

Do you have any strange habit you consider a sort of rite? Not really. I'm not particularly superstitious. I used always to try and buy a new record on the day that I was DJing. I always have a couple of clean T-shirts with me. But that's not superstition; that's just common sense.

Talking with a friend which loves djing about his dreams, he revelead he still dreams about playing records in a crowded boulevard of some big European city, inducing a gigantic orgy with thousand of people drawing a big body texture! What about your dreams as a dj? Wow. That's some dream. Erm, mine are a bit more prosaic. I am usually just wishing for a couple more hours sleep before I have to get out of my hotel.

When are you going to gig in italy? I am playing in Florence in December and Milan in January actually. Hooray!