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Who's afraid of Roger Sanchez?
RA has a nice, relaxing chat with Hollywood's latest tough guy.
Truth be told, Roger Sanchez cuts a rather intimidating figure in some of his press shots. If he ever gave up DJing, he could certainly get a job scaring away the riff-raff outside the door of a Miami nightclub. Hollywood has noticed Sanchez’ visual presence too – he’s set to star as a drug dealer in a new big-budget movie. But that’s just the movies: in real life Sanchez doesn't even smoke; he’s a health nut who goes to the gym every day even when he's on tour. When the real Roger Sanchez called me up, the man I spoke with turned out to be the polar opposite of the image: well-spoken, patient and, well, damn charming. Then again, perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised. Take a listen to the lyrics in Sanchez music (penned by the man himself), and you'll find tales of broken hearts and bittersweet breakups. Hardly the stuff of true tough guys, is it? Case in point is Sanchez’ crossover vocal pop house anthem 'Another Chance' from back in 1999, the video of which featured a girl carrying a giant heart through New York City. I gotta admit I swooned a little.
And while Sanchez' productions are sorry tales of unrequited and lost loves, as a DJ his sets are the complete opposite. From deep and soulful house to Latin and tribal, his intention is to bring the party, to make clubbers let go, or as Sanchez said in another recent interview: "to communicate with clubbers via emotions and seduce them on the dancefloor." There's a reason why his parties are named Release Yourself.
But Sanchez is not just about the party or the latest Radio 1 anthems; he also brings a musicality and depth to his mixes. Take a look at his latest CD, a mix for the raid-your-record-collection ‘Choice’ series, which spans the whole gamut, from house (Larry Heard) and afrobeat (Fela Kuti) to Italo-disco (Alexander Robotnick) to techno (Joey Beltram). First and foremost, Sanchez is a DJ, and there’s a reason why clubbers line up week after week around the world to get into his shows: He knows his musical onions. So without further ado, the S-Man had this to say:
You've been in the dance music business for a long time. How many records are currently in your collection? How do you keep track of them?
Well I had to cut down on a lot of them. I guess right now I have about between five thousand to ten thousand. I have a storage unit, and then I have a small space for my valuable records in my studio. Basically, I have two wall units where I keep the most valuable records and the ones I try to access all the time. If it's something that I think will stand the test of time, I keep it in my vault. What I do is, I go alphabetically by record label, and then within that subcategory, alphabetically by artist.
Your vault? It sounds like something out of a James Bond movie. How is it protected?
In my well gated home. I have a special key that no one gets.
So what are three records you have in the vault?
The Japanese pressing of Bruce Lee's 'Enter The Dragon' with music and movie dialogue on 6 LPs, Talking Heads "Zimbra" UK promo 12" and the US 45 of Skye 'Aint No Need' on ADA.
Did any of the records in there make it onto your 'Choice' compilation? Did any miss the cut due to licencing issues or just not being able to fit them in the mix?
No Bruce Lee for obvious reasons but I felt the other selections had top priority. I had at least 25 other tunes that I would loved to have made it.
Past DJs in the series have said that it's quite tough picking out the right records and making them fit on the album together. What's something else harder than choosing records?
Making sure you have clean copies of everything you choose for the compilation. It's hard for Azuli or anybody to locate the original masters of a really rare recording.
What are your plans for the WMC and Ibiza this year?
For the Winter Music Conference, I'll be playing at Mansion - I don't have the date on me, but it's going to be on Wednesday. That's going to be my big event of the conference, but I'm also waiting to find out about other stuff we're gonna do. For the summer in Ibiza, I'm always at Pacha every Monday night for Release Yourself.
I read that 1.2 million people tune in to hear your radio show and podcast each week. As a label owner, what are you thoughts on the legalities of podcasting? Do you think people doing their own podcast like RA should pay labels royalties if one of your releases is on the mix?
I do believe in musicians' rights. Everyone deserves there fair share. Royalties are essential.
You're going to be in the movie 'Johnny Postal' as a drug-dealing pimp. How will you prepare for the role?
It's kind of funny, I've been on a lot of character observations. In that particular role, they are all people on a trailer park, so I'm probably going to go by and talk to some people in a trailer park to kinda get a vibe on what living there is like.
How was your upbringing by comparison? You look pretty tough in your photos. Have you seen and done it all?
Tough indeed but always a gentleman. I still have a lot to discover.
Is this the first movie role you've done?
I've done bit parts in films before, but this is the first proper role I've had in a feature film. I'm excited, absolutely!
What are your views on the relationship between drugs and dance music?
Well, unfortunately, people being in the clubs and the music, we associate them. I don't think it's necessary. But, I think it's something that you really have to be aware of. And it's not just dance music. I think that it really has a lot to do with people's ignorance, which for me is kinda interesting in playing this role because I love playing the opposite of my own character sometimes.
'Blue Monday' is one of the best electronic songs about drugs. But, what, to you, is a 'perfect Monday'?
Wow! My perfect Monday, is to get up, go to the gym, come home, and relax! My usual Monday is to get up, go to the gym, come home, and then be in the studio all day.
Does reading relax you? What book is currently on your bedside table?
I read constantly. I'm reading a new book called Empire. Basically, it's about a possible disturbance here in America, where terrorists that are a part of the U.S. government are trying to destabilize the United States by assassinating the President and Vice-President-and it's people inside the actual administration that are doing it. It seems pretty interesting. I like political thrillers.
Back to the music, what have you been doing in the studio recently?
Working on new projects with Tom Stephan and Martijn Ten Velden.
Have you been working on the soundtrack for the movie Johnny Postal? What can we expect?
Well, it depends on what the director wants. I know he wants something off my Come with Me album, so it will all depend on what he's looking for in a particular scene. It could be a pop oriented track, it could be some dark house track, or it could be something more melodic and emotional.
Finally, tell me about that time, at that place, where there were a bunch of people.
Let's see...that time was not that long ago. That place wasn't that big. But, there were really a hell of a lot of people there and I had a lot of fun!
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Published / Wednesday, 07 March 2007
 2 Comments
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