Carl Cox - Back to His
Whether it be club residences, remixes, solo albums and mix CD's or touring, movies, cameos or his own radio show, this veteran of all things dance music has certainly carved out a name in the industry over the past 34 years. This November is his first DVD release from the recent live show in Rotterdam, "Carl Cox and Friends" and will be followed up by his next album "The Second Sign". RA caught up with Carl Cox and spoke to him about what he's been up to lately and how things are going with the his latest and 19th addition to the Back to Mine series.
"Well, I've got a new album out called 'Back to Mine', It's something that I really want the people to know about. The history of the music that I've been involved in for many years is represented on this album. With that, it certainly makes it interesting for people to see that there is a lot of history with Carl Cox. I always tell people that I've been around along time, they don't realise that I was buying these records when they came out. There are some tracks in there from 1976. That's what makes it more exiting when people hear it, because for me when I went out and bought music, it wasn't necessarily house, techno, funk or jazz, it's just when I heard it I said "Wow check this out!" and this is what I ended up playing."
You'd think with a Back To Mine soon to be on shelves Carl is far from slowing down in the production front. He goes on to explain that this far from all that is on the horizon. "I'm also in the midst of my next album 'The Second Sign', with help from the likes of Josh wink, Roni Size and the list goes on really with the collaborations on the album. "
Carl is also soon to release his upcoming DVD saying "it's called 'Carl Cox and Friends' and with it is a great chance to introduce local DJ's plus people who also helped on the album, percussionists and such. I've also got Jimi Page from Led Zeppelin playing with us. I've done three shows already, Rotterdam, Space earlier this year which was amazing, and last week I was at a party called Radical with 10,000 people which was a Live show also."
"I'm really looking forward to coming over to Australia", Carl said after his last oz tour was in the last quarter of 2003, "and chatting about the new Carl Cox album and bringing the show, which has a lot of live elements to it, it's going to be really good."
Carl Cox is involved in a new movie that is soon to be in cinemas around the States called 'LA - DJ'. "It’s another cameo role as 'Carl Cox' which is very funny because they use my last name with certain connotations - it's a right laugh. Not being the first movie I've been involved in, the first one was of course Human Traffic, they saw my performance in that it is all a bit of carry on but when I went to the premiere all the people seemed to like it. Based on the club culture in America, I've found myself luckily enough to be involved in something that's very, very funny - it sort of falls into the same light as American Pie and features some of the actors from those movies."
Carl is infamous for his extended sets throughout the summer clubbing season in Ibiza. He gives us a lowdown of where things are at with that and said "I've just finished my season at Space which I've prided myself on. I’ve held the residency for the last three years now and turning it into a very good working concept based upon me taking over the Space Club on a Tuesday night. It has been working really, really well, and with that I'm here at Space at the moment just chilling out in the after hours because it was a hell of a season. I'm just trying to recuperate a bit before I go out touring on the road again. Next up I'm off to Frankfurt then to Munich where I'm doing a party in a huge swimming pool with about 2000 people it’s should be very unique."
With his show on Global radio Carl is constantly churning out sets that incorporate his style. It get a lot of exposure as Carl mentions it "goes out to about 15 countries worldwide with about 2,000,000 visitors every Friday night listening to my vocal chords on the radio, and of course supporting the music that's out there."
"A lot of other radio stations are missing the point of trying to get the music across, it's all for people to enjoy and my show at least makes them aware of what's out there and being able to produce my show lets them know how much "good" music is out there (Laughs). I think it's also on its way to Australia (The Carl Cox show) so between all that, yeah! I've been pretty busy."
Your DJ sets are tech house orientated. How is DJing going to play a role in your future releases and what reflection has this shown through the latest 'Back to Mine' release and upcoming album 'The Second Sign'?
"DJing for me is very high profile. There are still many countries for me to play in and a lot of places for me to go back to. It's very important jump between the two (DJing and producing) and being out on the road a lot of the time. So creating this album has actually taken a lot longer than I though it would but it needed to be done in the right way and I needed to give it the time to nurture itself in the way that was required.”
"When you're making an album in such a way sometimes it's very difficult to juggle the two, but I've managed to do this with a lot of support and it comes back to the point that I just love performing live. I love getting out in front of people and I like what I'm doing. Even with my record label, Intec Records, I still love the challenge of doing remixes of some tracks (for other record labels).”
Between your label and DJing, is it more a personal choice DJing and deciding what is played rather than producing on a grander tech-house scale for Intec?
"Yeah, it is because Intec Records when it started was basically about signing new records and new artists from a tech-house point of view. It is really great for the music but it's about specific tech house for that label.” Carl is obviously not one to be confined by specific genres and goes on to say “if I find something has nothing to do with tech house but is good music then it’s going to come out. "
How does 'Gimme Your Love', your new track of the Back to Mine compilation, reflect what's to come of your next album 'The Second Sign'?
"It gets very soulful, vocal and very funky. It's not the usual style of music that I portray but it's more of a series of tracks that when you listen it's undeniable that each one is great! With the Back to Mine I'm making head way and the fact is that I love making music weather it be house, funk, jazz, soul, or latin and the fact that I didn't do it for commercial purposes but I do it just because I love it, I thought it was great." Carl also goes on to say that " this record has been very well received and I'm able to put it out on my own record label independently and sell it to independent record labels worldwide."
Carl Cox is set to join Pete Tong in playing at the Ibiza United party at Pacha London on November 11. His current top 5, and tracklisting for the new Back to Mine are below.
Carl Cox Current Top 5
01. DJ Sneak - Que Pasa
02. Dave Armstrong - Make your Move
03. Joey negro - Rockster
04 Carl Cox - Gimme your Love
05. Jim Masters & Phil Barry - Swarm
Back to Mine mixed by Carl Cox - Tracklist
01. Spring High - Ramsey Lewis
02. No One Gets The Prize - Diana Ross
03. Grooving You - Harvey Mason
04. Everything is Gonna Be Alright - Sounds Of Blackness
05. New Jersey Deep - Black Science Orchestra
06. Feel The Heat - Bill Summers
07. Hard Work - John Handy
08. Stay A Little While - Loose Ends
09. Why Cant We Live Together - Timmy Thomas
10. Long Hot Summer - The Style Council
11. 21st Century Poem - Leftfield
12. You Go It - Jodeci
13. Dan Solo - Groove Armada
14. Summer Rain - Coco Steel & Lovebomb
15. Mission (Give Me Your Love) - Carl Cox
16. Pacific (Justin Strauss Remix) - 808 State
17. After The Love - Jesus Loves You
(Source: http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature_view.asp?ID=511)
