At what point in its history was Italian clubbing and what are the scenarios that come to mind when you remember those years?
I start with a phrase I often say when this subject comes up, I consider myself lucky to have lived through certain moments, the 90s and 2000s of clubbing in general, they will never be repeated, the most beautiful years musically and otherwise.
The scenarios that come to mind are different, however Riccione in 1995 until the beginning of 2000 was something incredible, the European cradle of a movement that we all know today, between promoters, DJs and clubs were all MASTERS of what exists today, so I’ve said practically everything, you can only imagine what it was … A FILM!
I started to fall in love with house music in 1995 because some local DJs were having private parties and playing house and Italo disco, so I started to buy vinyls and I didn’t understand anything anymore, I was addicted to all that movement, then I started to go to certain clubs with older friends and meet other DJs and everything went uphill because I was in love with one thought in my head, that of becoming a good DJ and making as many people as possible dance in my life.
Leafing through your scrapbook of memories from this period, what are the most evocative ‘frames’ for you?
They were golden years, there was so much energy around, among the artists, producers, promoters, prs and all the clubbers, it was a very big community that was shaking the whole social system of those years, creating parallel movements in fashion, in art in general in the cultures of all of Europe, because people were moving, the club was not only the weekend, it was not only in Italy, it was also London, Ibiza, New York…
I started playing with friends and for friends, then always going to the right places like Riccione, which was the mecca in Europe, Ibiza and also London, I started to make important friends who began to give me opportunities and slowly, with many sacrifices and especially without taking a penny, I played and I earned a certain reputation, so I had a good following of people who moved to hear me play, that’s how I got to Cocoricò, making my bones in a well-known club at my home in Teramo and touring a bit in the Romagna Riviera and beyond, I was always seen, I was always at the console, they went around with cassettes with my mixes…
I’ve been playing records at the Cocoricò for 20 years 🙂 🙂 The most evocative frames are the ones I’ve seen.
The most evocative frames are the first steps inside Titilla when Dj Ralf was playing and making crazy music, sometimes I cried while dancing, when I was in Ibiza with Danny Tenaglia in 2001 and I heard him play for 12 hours, when I first heard Laurent Garnier, when I set foot at Turnmills in London where Danny Rampling was, at the Sound Factory in NY or at Space in Miami! Wow …
How did you manage to bring your music under the eyes of Steve Lawler?
When there was the Minimal period, exactly MINUS I stopped getting excited and went into a depression, for at least a couple of years I stopped despite the good turn I had taken, I said to myself what the fuck is going on, I can’t be myself with this stuff, I didn’t like it, I found it without soul and body, it was also quite understandable, I was coming from a period 1995 to 2005/2006 where electronic music had kicked out its best stuff ever, so it was hard for me to accept that everyone was out of their minds for Minimal, so I went into the studio and realised that the only way to get excited again and turn my life around was to produce, it wasn’t easy, the programmes were difficult to use especially if you didn’t have any help, but in the end with a bit of time and sacrifice I made a dozen tracks, I sent them to everyone practically, without realising anything, I felt lost, without a plan,
a strategy, without anything, but they were played by everyone and they all started writing to me, loco says, Luciano, Ricardo, and it was at that time that Steve Lawler during the WMC in Miami contacted me to tell me if I wanted to start working with him because my tracks were among the strongest in Miami and that everyone was playing them, especially when Pete Tong live from Miami in his radioshow on bbc radio1 put “in da factory” as “essential new tune” that is the strongest record of the conference! My first track on VIVA MUSIC is history and it revolutionised the way of making music, the house samples came back, the hip pop vocals, the scratches, there was a lot of NY house in that stuff, there was a lot of ghetto, a lot of street, I’ve been going to New York since 2001 exactly, my second home!
DJ MAG said ‘in da factory’ was one of the tracks of the year and it turned the tide and a lot of people went back to house music and moved away from minimal, you can imagine how that changed my life in no time!
Then there were releases on Cecille, Cocoon, Saved, Defected, Soma and more.
Some more and some less, in life we all face moments of difficulty, and in most cases they leave a mark. Was there a moment in your life when you faced an obstacle that marked you?
Unfortunately yes, a very difficult moment, I was young and full of ideas, strength and will to achieve my dream, but a bad family situation destabilised me and like a cold shower it changed me, I still don’t know if for the better or for the worse because it was not an easy situation to handle especially at the age of 22/23.
The only thing to do was to leave everything else behind and devote yourself to your family, to solve a big and serious problem, one that makes you sleep little at night, that takes away your appetite, that makes you think a lot, that puts you to the test with the people you love, but through that moment I found a lot of courage and strength to be better and achieve my goals, I swear to you, it was a life experience that marked me a lot, but I knew how to seize the moment and take the suffering and transform it into something else, something for me, to make myself better.
Marco, or whoever, how did they contact you? What are your memories of your first evening with Music On?
I was the first to be included in the Music On project when Carola and his team decided to do it, I was honoured, I had been working with him for 12 months so it was something exciting and special for me.
I joined Orbeat, Luca Piccolo and Marco’s agency the year before, and I was travelling with Marco all over Europe doing warm ups for him, Marco was looking for a DJ to open for him in the best clubs and festivals in the world, Sunwaves, Sonus, and much more, I remember that Marco took me with him the first time to the Rex in Paris and he came to listen to me and apparently he liked me and that’s when it all started, we got in tune because we love music too much, I was there by his side observing him, and I loved seeing him play, creative, perfect in technique, never banal, then many trips together, chats, advice, all very nice I would say.
My first Music On in ibiza on the terrace at amnesia was crazy, I remember we were all quite tense, you know the first one is always the first one, it might not have gone well, but it was a great success and we immediately realised the magic of the party!
The rest is history.
Why do emerging Italian DJs have to have broken through abroad before being taken into consideration in the Italian scene? Do they not have the same visibility? What do you find are the main mistakes made?
The post covid situation is out of control, I do not have precise answers to these questions, there is an absurd confusion around, I can however say that today our djs/producers are among the best ever, in tech, proggy (many come out and work for afterlife, innervisions, dynamic) and above all in the underground (see outcast, after caposile and many others)
This is important more than ever because the music reaches everyone and if the music is good and liked then you get called to perform and as it arrives on the other side of the world it arrives here too, the problem is perhaps that the mechanism is wrong, because the mentality in this mechanism/circuit is a bit ‘closed and before someone comes to call you to play in a club or festival you will have to be noticed abroad, in the Line Up of a certain level, in the club of a certain level, with a certain level of social content, etc. etc. …
(I don’t want to discourage anybody but unfortunately nowadays in most circuits it almost doesn’t count for shit the musical quality but only how you are on social networks, unfortunately, it’s so absurd) … In short, the machine doesn’t work well here in Italy but it has always been like this and honestly after so many years I still can’t find the answer and I’m also quite fed up, in my small way when I could I tried to help, I did many collaborations with young djs/producers as I did several b2b with artists who just left home, I have a label where I give space to many Italians and I’m very happy about this … but I can’t do more, I don’t always find open minds and doors! !!
maybe I can write some key words about it like annoyance, envy, ignorance, recommendations, friendships, hypocrisy…
Is d-Floor a closed project as of today or will it remain so in the future? What prompted you subsequently to launch Futura and what differentiates it from what the market offers?
Dfloor old project with Pirupa and Nice7 … a good time, just think that the first production on the market by Patrick Topping was on DFLOOR!!!
Today there is FUTURA which besides being an open label as sonority is also a touring party, with dates in London, Ibiza, Amsterdam, New York and much more, an ambitious project and not simple but what is simple is not so satisfying!
I worked my ass off for 20 years facing sharks and crocodiles and now nothing scares me anymore, so with FUTURA I do what I want, after a career like this I don’t have to justify or explain anything to anyone! I like everything that comes out on the label and I propose it in my sets, there are no recommendations nor do I use the label to ask for favours, I invest in what I like and I have goals to achieve, step by step, with the right time and the right people … I’m not in a hurry, those who are in a hurry in art simply do not make art
Can you reconcile Leon with Roger in relation to your loved ones? Do you think Leon has limited you in living your personal life?
I reached an age where I got a bit fed up with taking planes, staying in hotels, living in restaurants, being alone a lot, before the arrival of my son, Alice and what is now part of my family I didn’t mind travelling the world every month, living under pressure all the time, at night, but especially with the birth of my son everything changed, this job, like all jobs, is made up of positive and negative things, but the latter are more pronounced and complicated compared to someone who does anything else for a living, I’m always looking for a vision, a dream, I’m always on the phone, I’m constantly working, between music, labels, gigs, management… so living a life with me even though I’ve slowed down a bit is still difficult.
The fact that I am Leon has not limited me so much but anyway children grow up, responsibilities increase, expectations also, and so since I want to be a good father and I try to be a good lover too, I had to slow down a little bit with the gigs, just for a period of a few years if anything, so I will be close to my boys at their most difficult but most important age for me, also because physically you get tired twice as much, because when you come back home you do not have much time to rest, my routine, my daily life is full of things to follow, you run, I used to leave on Friday and come back on Sunday or I used to leave for 2/3 weeks on tour but when I came back I had time for myself to rest in a secluded house without anybody and without a noise … today all this is IMPOSSIBLE but it is ok, in life love is something incredibly important, having a person or children to share emotions with is absolutely necessary, family is the biggest and most important reference point in your life.
