Dean Marriot born in Sheffield, UK is best known to us as House/Minimalist/Techno Deejay/Producer D.Ramirez.
With 5 top 20 hits under his belt, an appearance on Top of the Pops, the creation of his own record label Slave Recordings, Ramirez has also earned himself an Ivor Novello Award nomination for his remix of Bodyrox's smash hit Yeah Yeah.
Performing under names such as Finger fest, Cordial & most famously as The Lisa Marie Experience, his partnership with Neil Hynde, D.Ramirez is a man of many talents & a well respected & accomplished artist in his own right.
His latest release from Tool Room Records 'D.Ramirez & Friends' is out NOW!
Thank you Dean for taking time to answer these questions. Can you tell us about your first experience with music, & did you know from then that you wanted to make a career out of it?
DR:While I was at school I started to play the drums, I was also quite a decent singer so I started my own band with a few of my mates doing cover versions. I then joined a metal band where I was the frontman but we didn't get anywhere. I then joined a band with Elliot Kennedy who went on to write and produce most of the Spice Girls first album. He's now writing and producing for everyone. My love of house music came about in the 80's when I used to go and listen to Graeme Park at the Steamer in Sheffield, that was 1988. It was then that I started to produce house and my first track was released in 1991. I was called Cordial back then and the track was titled 'Candlelight'. A friend of mine lent me the money to cut 500 white labels and I literally had to hand deliver them to the record stores myself. I also hand delivered promo copies to the DJ's personally following them around (that's how it was back then) it was hard work but it paid off when I was spotted by Pete Tong doing a live PA in Venus nightclub Nottingham and he signed me to his FFRR label. I always knew that I would have a career in music, it was never a question for me and I never thought it would be any different.
Your style over the years has varied, epecially releasing tracks under your variouspseudonyms such as The Lisa Marie Experience & Finger fest. Where does your inspiration for these & your solo projects come from?
DR: I love all types of music so I just use my influences and name my projects accordingly. The Lisa Marie Experience for instance was born from the fact we sampled Michael Jackson back in 1993 when he had just married Lisa Marie Presley. Finger fest Inc came about as a collaboration between me and Barry Gilbey. I was Dino 'Fingers' Ramirez and Barry happened to look like Uncle Fester one day wearing a suit from a certain angle - you can work out the rest.
What is your favourite thing about touring? And what is your favourite thing about coming home?
DR: I used to hate touring because it dragged me away from the studio and I resented it. Now it's totally different and I love it. In fact there's been a roll reversal for me and I consider myself more of a DJ than a producer these days. I'm also single right now and it's so much easier when you don't have the guilt of leaving somebody behind for months on end. I love coming home so I can get back into my studio as it's in my house. I have so many ideas when I get back so I get straight in there to lay them down.
You work quite a lot with Mark Knight. How well do you think you compliment each other, and which other British DJs do you admire?
DR: I'm more of the tekkie guy in the studio whereas Mark is good with the ideas and looking at the whole picture so we compliment each other in that respect. I'm good at synthesising sounds, he's good at putting them into the arrangement that's a great team as we both have our strengths. Other British DJ's I admire are guys like Nic Fanciulli, Carl Cox, Justin Robertson, James Zabiela.
What do you feel about the cross over between House music, R&B/Hiphop and Trance nowadays? And in what kind of way does it affect you as an artist?
DR: In a few words - I hate it! But not to say I wouldn't produce something like that for the money.
I have a couple of questions from Dave from Merseyside ① When you will be playing in Liverpool/Manchester next? ② On FB/Twitter you say you use the train alot. Do you drive and if so, what type of car do you have?
DR: Don't know when I'm back in Liverpool to be honest. I usually play at the G Bar but I've not been there for a while now. And yes, I take the train a lot, not because I drive a shit car, more because I can get work done on the train and it's a bit less stressful than driving. And just because you asked I drive a BMW Z4 Coupe (Hard Top) it's the M4 version and it's a beast so there.
And lastly what advise would you give to someone who wanted to start out as a deejay/producer?
DR: The best advise I can give is this - just stick at it and when it feels like you might not be getting anywhere, keep going. Always believe in yourself, never doubt your ability and just know in your heart that one day it's going to happen. The power of positive thought is your best ally so use it to your advantage.
Editors note : Thank you so much Dean for taking the time to do this interview, its been an absolute pleasure =) I wish you all the best in everything you do, & hope you do make your way up to Liverpool one day again soon...we miss you up here ( or should that be down here lol!)
Since I started my blog in March this year I am very proud to say I have interviewed some of the greatest DJs around & I thank them all dearly for taking time out of their busy schedules to let us into their extraordinary lives.
But it doesn't end there! I have been busy networking for more exclusives & just want to give you a *Sneak Peek* at what's still instore :-
Dean Marriot born in Sheffield, UK is best known to us as House/Minimalist/Techno Deejay/Producer D.Ramirez. With 5 top 20 hits under his belt, an appearance on Top of the Pops, the creation of his own record label Slave Recordings, Ramirez has also earned himself an Ivor Novello Award nomination for his remix of Bodyrox's smash hit Yeah Yeah.
Performing under names such as Finger fest, Cordial & most famously as The Lisa Marie Experience, his partnership with Neil Hynde, D.Ramirez is a man of many talents & a well respected & accomplished artist in his own right.
His latest release from Tool Room Records 'D.Ramirez & Friends' is out NOW!
Edward Maya, born Eduard Marian Ilie on 29th June 1986 in Bucharest, is the Romanian DJ/producer/songwriter behind the 2009 hit phenomenon Stereo Love. As well as reaching #1 in 4 countries & over 111 million hits on YouTube, Stereo Love was awarded 'Longest song at #1 in "European Top hot 100" chart history' accumulating 47 weeks!
Edward's debut album 'The Stereo Love Show' (available through www.mayavinstore.com ) will include Stereo Love, This is my life & Desert rain, his hits with Vika Jigulina. This perfect pairing has proved very successful & we hope to hear more from them in the future, one of the questions I asked Edward about!
Successful UK trance producer & Deejay, Matt Darey has many strings to his bow. His weekly podcast has over 500,000 subscribers worldwide, and his radio show, Nocturnal has an estimated 3million listeners, & is broadcasted on 116 FM stations around the globe.
Matt has remixed some of the greatest tunes ever such as Binary Finary (1998) and Agnelli & Nelson's El Nino. Matt is also a founder member of Lost Tribe along with Red Jerry (creator of record label Hooj Choons), who we have the spine-tingling choon Gamemaster to thank for.
Born in 1989, Nicky Romero grew up in a small village called Amerongen, a province of Utrecht, Netherlands. From an early age, Nicky showed an interest in music. Joining a marching band at the age of six, Nicky played the snare drum & by the age of 12 bought his own drum kit. This was his passion for the next 3 years before he traded in the drums for turntables & the rest, as they say, is history.
Nicky has remixed top tracks such as Ian Carey ft. Michelle Shellers - Keep On Rising, Dirty South- Alamo, Sidney Samson & Tony Cha Cha - Get On The Floor & Fedde Le Grand ft Mitch Crown - Rockin' High, as well as releasing his own productions like My Friend which reached #4 in the Beatport overall chart, & #1 in the progressive chart.
His latest track Play 'N Stop is out now on Beatport.com.
Fadil El Ghoul, born 2nd April 1986, is a Tech House/Minimal DJ/Producer from Breda, NL & is better known to the music world as Deejay R3hab.
Working closely along side fellow Dutch Deejays : Addy van der Zwan, Afrojack & Ferruccio Salvo & studio partner Hardwell, R3hab has built up quite a reputation for himself with superb remixes, & his own productions such as the massive dance hit Mrkrstft, & most recently The Bottle song, released on Spinnin' Records in April.
Hope you as excited as me about these fantastic exclusives, & if there are any DJs that you would like to see me interview please do not hesitate to ask =0)
*Deejays not available for interview : Afrojack, Armin Van Buuren, Mark Knight & Steve Aoki (sorry I did try)*
*Still no answer : Axwell, Basshunter, Carl Cox, Dave Seaman, Deadmau5, Ferry Corsten, Funkagenda, Judge Jules, Laidback Luke, Mark Ronson, Markus Schulz, Paul van Dyk, Pete Tong, Sasha & Wolfgang Gartner*
