Published
Thu, Mar 8, 2007, 05:30
- 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.
RA has a nice, relaxing chat with Hollywood's latest tough guy.