1. You were out and about, America on tour. How was that ? Anything crazy happened there ? Anything that made You go back there again ?
D Ramirez: I went over to the States in August but this time, rather than going for a long weekend of maybe 3 or 4 gigs I decided to stay in LA for the whole month and treat that as my base while touring the rest of America. This is my 5th or 6th visit to the States now and I always enjoy it loads but the touring is hectic as most of the time I have to go straight from one city to another with little or no sleep in between - this was no different! Toronto is always the craziest place I go as I know a few people there now and they are all serious party animals who insist on dragging me (kicking and screaming of course) to all the after-partys in town. This time I ended up in a mad place called film and it was one of those dirty holes where the music was dark and the people where loving it! I think I stayed in there till 8 am and then had to be at the airport not much longer after to catch my flight to Chicago after having far too much to drink - not nice. I played a club called Vanguard in LA and it was the night of my birthday - one of the promoters Beth had hand baked me some beautiful cup cakes which she brought out for me with candles on top for me to blow out - in the excitement and in front of the whole crowd I ended up knocking them all over the floor! That was a little embarrassing to say the least.
2. I have seen some pictures on Youtube, about Brazilian and American tour as well. But since You have "left Manchester airport armed with a video camera in tow", now tell me if You still have that camera and if so, give me a number or an average of how many pictures You got so far.
D Ramirez: I always have some kind of camera with me when I go anywhere - you never know when something funny or interesting might happen. Basically my girlfriend comes along with me when I do big tours and her job is to film the proceedings and edit it all together when we are back home. I think she has around 6 hours of filming just from the American tour alone. As for pictures i think she took around 1000!
3. Despite the tour, which I reckon was and still is something to shout about, is there anything else You coming up on nowadays ?
D Ramirez: I'm back home now and I'm back working in my studio on a few projects - I have my new single "Satur8" which is due for release on my label Slave in October. I have a remix of Max Linen "The Soulshaker" which is out on promo at the moment and of course I have the single with Mark Knight and Underworld called "Downpipe" which is doing really well, in fact we just made a video for that. I'm also doing a tour in the UK with a magazine called Mixmag which is going to be cool as the line ups are quit diverse. I'm playing with all sorts of DJ's spanning all forms of dance music.
4. So how is it going in terms of production ? Let's talk about Your latest project along Mark Knight & Underworld. What's it all about ? What's it gonna retail for ? Where can people pick it up ?
D Ramirez: The single is a collaboration with Underworld and it's actually the first time they have ever worked with anybody else which is a real honor! It's a big room track with a huge riff and it's going down a storm in the clubs at the moment. The single is currently available on Beatport as an exclusive and I think it's still in the top 10. You can buy it for £1.79 (I'll let you all translate that into your own currency).
5. Just real quick. How did that happen and who came up with the idea and initiated it ?
D Ramirez: Myself and Mark Knight are both huge Underworld fans and it's something we both wanted to do.
6. You have been working with Mark on some stuff, and Your name came up a few times within Toolroom. Would You be interested to collaborate with them in the future ?
D Ramirez: Yes, in fact we are in talks at the moment with Underworld about producing a few of their tracks for their new album - fingers crossed it will come off.
7. Speaking about it, is there anybody else You would like to collaborate with ?
D Ramirez: I would love to work with Dave Gahan from Depeche Mode or Phil Oakey from the Human League.
8. What can fans expect next from D Ramirez ?
D Ramirez: That's one thing I like to do is try and surprise people, so if I told you it wouldn't be a surprise would it -)
9. How's the support for one of Your latest track called "Satur8" lately ? Is there anything that You would love to share with us ?
D Ramirez: The track is doing really well, I have had plays from Pete Tong on Radio One, I have had loads of support from all my favourite DJ's and it's doing pretty well in Ibiza. When I made the track I wanted to do something a bit more melodic and stripped so it's quite different to a lot of the stuff out there at the moment.
10. What's the message You are trying to get across with Your music style ?
D Ramirez: I am really inspired by interesting sounds so my music always has to have something quirky in there, something where if I heard it for the first time myself my ears would prick up.
11. There's some rumors floating around that You are working on Your artist album. Is that true ?
D Ramirez: I tried making an artist album but got as far as track one and gave it up as a bad job! maybe one day I will be able to finish it but don't hold your breath.
12. Have You got any last words for the fans ?
D Ramirez: Thanks all for taking the time out and reading this interview, I hope there's something interesting there for you. Also, thanks for all the support for my music, it means a lot. Please feel free to visit my website, where you can download DJ mixes and see all the latest news from the D. Ramirez Camp.
Interview made by Cosmin Lukacs (TranceSound.net admin/founder)
Links:
D Ramirez official website
D Ramirez @ MySpace
Cosmin Lukacs official website
Cosmin Lukacs @ MySpace
