4/23 Sasha Fundacion & special guest: Steve Porter @ Avalon Hollywood

[starstuff]

Friday, April 22nd

SASHA & STEVE PORTER

@ Element

332 Fifth Ave. N, SEATTLE

9:00 PM - 3:00 AM

$22/$27 www.elementseattle.com

Saturday, April 23

SASHA/STEVE PORTER

@ Avalon Hollywood

1735 Vine Street, LOS ANGELES

$35.00 advance

Fundacion is presented by Avalon Hollywood, GIANT and Liquified.

In Line for the Crown: Interview with Steve Porter

Everybody knows Sasha and his greatness. Especially Avalon Hollywood, where they secured the one-named legend for a monthly residency this year. With legions of fans and millions in sales, Sasha could easily sell out for a cushy career in the world of pop-DJing. Instead he keeps to his house roots, committing to pushing the genre forward and bringing in a few worth up-and-comers along the way. One such up-and-comer, Steve Porter, probably doesn't need help from the reigning statesman of house, but it never hurts to have friends in high places. He opens for Sasha on April 23rd at Avalon. When caught up with Porter this past winter, we dished about being on Sasha's speed dial, apple pie, and those dirty little secrets all DJs have.

STEVE PORTER: My mom baked the pie.

ZEL McCARTHY: That's what I read. My question is… is this because you're a big mama's boy?

S: Well, I would say mama's boy, hopefully in the most mature form of the term. My mom is a college professor and my dad was a scientist so I grew up in a house that was very much on a collision course with higher education. My mother gave me the grace to explore my creative endeavors in the home after high school that eventually led to some sort of high school which led to some sort of job for me. I started doing freelance gigs for weddings and bar mitzvahs.

Z: Were you spinning “Rhythm of the Night†and “Rhythm is a Dancer?â€

S: Of course! It's so disturbing that I actually have those in my record bag right to this day. I carry around all my Dance Mix USA CDs, just because at after parties when things are supposed to get really serious I try to really break it down and destroy anything that's serious. So I'll start playing La Bouche, whatever it takes, either just to make people go home or make people dance.

Z: I remember at a bar mitzvah once after playing Whitney Houston this DJ said, in all seriousness, “ah, Whitney, you send us.†It was the first time I realized that the DJ is not automatically cool.

S: Totally! It's also extremely nerve-wracking to have the entire family looking at you to make sure you're playing “The Chicken Dance†at the right time.

Z: So then after all that…

S: Eventually I started delivering pizza and working in a local record shop dedicated to underground dance music in Amherst, Mass. I got a job there working, basically for free just for discounted records. That's kind of when I honed in on a specific artistic direction. It's still kind of an unspecific direction but I'm just weeding my way through.

Z: Did you then get into the Boston scene?

S: There was a scene in Boston [in 1998-1999], but it was a little bit more uptight, a little bit more elitist. There weren't a whole lot of producers in Boston that I knew, besides Armand van Helden who has since moved from Boston. You have a lot of DJs fighting for timeslots and competing over their so-called integrity, and how long they've been in the scene for. The only way I could get into Boston was just working hard and producing music, and showing that I was dedicated to a higher standard of dance music. I'm not a competitive guy anyways. I'm the kind of person that has to compete with myself. So I worked hard enough to get my mixtapes and resume together and then started flowing it into Boston via the cracks in the sidewalk. I got a residency at this place called Rise in Boston that I still play at every month. It's a great afterhours club – it's the only afterhours club in Boston. Every month I go up there from New York. It's a testament to the owners of Rise… I mean, at the time I was just a young dork with tons of records. The first night I ever played was a gay pride weekend. I played the Saturday of the gay pride weekend in Boston for seven hours.

Z: So that's really when you broke out the “Everybody Dance Now?â€

S: Well, I only had the trancier stuff at the time, and I don't know if they were expecting it or not but I just pulled through. I wish I had a recording of the night. It was one of those career-defining moments for me because I had never played a set that long. Two hours was really long for me then. That was my first real big break in Boston.

Z: Ok, now part of the reason I brought us this pie is because of the album cover, but also because there is so much food on this album. You have song titles like “Fluffer Nutter†and “Beat N Potatoes.†They're comfort foods in a way, especially “Vodka Cranberries.â€

S: I think that food is very analogous to dance music. It's edible, it's appetizing; it's stuff you can do while you're doing other things. It's easy to relate to. It's bite-size. You can wrap it up into a hamburger bun. And also just to have some sort of word association with some kind of comical flair.

Z: The whole album sounds very cohesive. Hearing a lot of dance records, I can say they don't always feel that way. The tracks flow, but it's not a megamix or anything.

S: I appreciate that. If there's any thought to the Homegrown project it's to make things have that continuity. Well, what I should say is on the next project I'm working with a few more colors with a little more contrast. I look at Homegrown as a rainbow of pastels, and I think I'm looking for more of a true rainbow, to be more of an absolute replication of what I play as a DJ. Homegrown is a representation of what I played, maybe, two years ago. In the process of two years you change as a DJ, which influences your production sound, and vice-versa. I'm just looking to diversify but not derail the train.

Z: As a DJ do you have any particular records of other people's that you're digging right now?

S: I'm really digging everything by this producer called Rex the Dog. He's been doing a series of remixes and original tracks that are kind of new school electro-trance. It's got retro elements but it's got a really techno, 2005-type sound. It's a really cool fusion. Also, I'm into Tief Schwartz, a German producer.

Z: When you went to record the album, what was your intention?

S: Essentially to kill two birds with one stone. I had not put out a DJ-mixed compilation either. I had a few offers to do them in the past, and they weren't the right offers. And if there's anything an artist has to maintain, it's their integrity. So, call me selfish or call me smart, but I wanted to hold off. And eventually I think my production came around to the point where I felt like I could start producing my own mixed albums. So this is the direction I'm going forward with right now. As far as putting Homegrown together, it's sort of an arbitrary process. I knew were I wanted certain tracks to be in the mix, but ultimately it came down to finishing a group of tracks, filtering through those, and mixing them together to be whatever you thought the best mix of them would be. I look at this as the beginning steps of my artistic vision. I'm going to look back at it and say “ooh that was me way back then. I've come a long way.†It's the first bookmark, and the first chapter of me making albums.

Z: When you were making it, modesty aside, did you expect the kind of positive reception it's getting?

S: Not really, because I have such a weak ego in the first place. And I had kind of a selfish approach in the first place. I didn't really care what other people were telling me to do. There's no vocal on the album, and I didn't really care because I look at dance music as modern classical music. I view DJ producers in this era as the Mozarts and Beethovens of our time. I don't see the reason for me to put Britney Spears' mug on my cover. That's exactly what music doesn't need right now. Well, I shouldn't say so absolute, but in doing my part, I decided to tip the dominoes over in the direction of a more instrumental realm. I look at it as a more classical artform.

Z: Did you know that at the bottom of this hotel is Justin Timberlake's restaurant?

S: Is it? Is this the only one?

Z: Yeah. He owns it, but I don't think he ever comes to it.

S: Maybe he's embarrassed. Like, “hey you wanna go to my restaurant at the Hyatt?â€

Z: Well, there's music and then there's pop culture.

S: Exactly! And they mix. I think you just broke it down perfectly. For me, it was more of a sincere goal just to put out some music that people could go on a road trip with. They could drive through Oklahoma with the album on. Or they could do some dishes, or pre-party, or they could go on a jog. Music for experiences, music for life.

Z: When you do tours and live shows, how do you find that the tracks or the album itself change?

S: Well, the more you road-test things the more you get a better idea of how things work. Last week, for instance, I finished a remix on Wednesday, went up to Edmonton on Thursday, played with Sasha up there, road-tested it, it sounded great, and I'm ready to stand behind it. But there are other situations where I finish something and I feel very confident in it, but then you play it and it just doesn't have the right chemistry or how you envisioned people to react to it isn't exactly how they react to it.

Z: You mentioned Sasha… how did you first end-up meeting him?

S: I met him through the avenue of being at the same booking agency as he was. I think it was really when I first starting touring with him when his Airdrawndagger CD came out, but about a year before that was when I first really hung out with him. In Boston, he came through with John Digweed and I had a chance to meet him. I didn't have much to say. I just had a few tracks on a CD-R and just “Sasha†[mimcs a nervous genuflection]. Eventually, I think my balls dropped, and I could at least formulate a few sentences. He moved to New York recently, so we're in pretty close touch, and we're good friends now. I think he respects the fact that I'm trying my best to do my own thing.

Z: And it's something he can probably relate to.

S: Yeah, he can. We're similar in a lot of ways in that we're both kind of grown-up kids, or both kids in adult…or ….

Z: Are you saying “not a boy, not yet a man?â€

S: Or something like that. I mean, even when I'm elderly somebody's going to be pushing me around in a wheelchair with an X-Box controller in my hand. Or I'll be using a straw to mix on the turntables.

Z: I think if you could do that now, it would be a whole new side act for you.

What are you looking forward to about your couple of days in Miami for the Winter Music Conference?

S: It's going to be a fun year, not running around so much. On Friday night we'll be at State. It's a showcase of some talent from New England. We're looking forward to it. We just want a great vibe there, hopefully there will be a good turnout.

Z: That sounds appropriately “homegrown†of you, as your album cover would imply.

S: Well, I enjoyed the apple pie you brought. That's the first time anyone has done that and I bet it'll be the only time.

Z: Well, hopefully not the only time. I mean, your album cover says to me “Steve Porter likes apple pie.†Did your mom actually bake the disco ball in it?

S: This is the disco ball that I used to bring around to weddings and high school dances. It's really funny now that I think about it, that I sacrificed it. I told my mom I needed her to bake her best and biggest pie ever. So I came home, and I took the disco ball and kept shaving it and shaving it down to about a third of the dome, then strategically cut open the pie, gutted the apples…

Z: Did you eat the apples?

S: Oh, I ate all the apples! It wasn't a complete sacrifice. The whole thing was done in the course of an afternoon and then we took it around to a cornfield, a farm tractor. We took shots of it in weird places. The guy doing the visuals during the Porterhouse party is going to be using those visuals for the party.

Z: Is your mom proud?

S: Oh she loves it! For any orders you can call Mrs. Porter.

© 2005 Groove Tickets. All Rights Reserved.