In a culture filled to the brim with up-and-comers, its hard to image a single 23 year old artist rising from bedroom obscurity to international superstardom in the space of 12 months. Yet, that’s what Southampton based producer and DJ Gareth Emery has done. His ripping track Mistral was produced entirely on a laptop during a two week holiday, and instantly gained the attention of trance Gods Paul Van Dyk, Ferry Corsten and Teisto. From there he’s played at UK superclub Godskitchen, Slinky and headlined Passion.
Emery’s musical influences are extremely diverse, from funky hip hop, to punk to house and breaks; yet it is his own brand of extremely intelligent and uplifting trance which has given rise to his universal appeal and recognition by both DJs and clubbers around the world. When asked what attracts him to trance, he replies “Nothing does for me quite like a truly awesome trance tune. Even though there are less of them about now, when an amazing riff tears through a club and every hand is in the air, there’s no music that can compare, and that’s why trance still has such a following, despite the attempts of the media to kill it off time and time again.”
Yet, the talent and passion for electronic music of Gareth Emery may never have been realized. “I hated dance music and was dragged along by my mates, but going to clubs like Manumission changed my outlook for ever. Then when I started going to trance nights around the end of 1998 and 1999 just as it was blowing up in the UK I became hooked.” Gareth initially caught attention of the dance scene in early 2002 with his remix of The Shrink’s Nervous Breakdown. The track found itself on to BBC Radio 1 after being supported by top DJs including Eddie Halliwell, Guy Ornadel and Dave Pearce. From there it was release by label Nutrition and featured on the Godskitchen Direct mix album. Gareth quips humbly “It’s amazing. It means a lot to me that guys like Tiesto love the music I make – plus it’s been a massive help. What blows me away most is when producers that I loved back in 1998/9, for instance Ferry Corsten and Lange, tell me that they like my tracks. I’d never have believed it a few years ago!”
The track that truly put Gareth on the production map was GTR – ‘Mistral’. Nevertheless, the sole CDR that Gareth sent to Paul van Dyk caused such a storm when van Dyk debuted the track live on radio from the Nature One Festival. Supported by DJs including Tiesto, Ferry Corsten and Armin, it not only had immediate appeal but also passed the test of time, and could still be heard in superclubs a year after it was made. It later went on to feature on a large number of compilations, including Ferry Corsten’s Washington World Tour chosen by Tiesto, to end CD1 of his acclaimed ‘Nyana’ album. When asked about the outcome for hom from this release, he answered simply by saying “when you finish a track like Mistral for instance, that really blows up and does well, you can listen to it for years afterwards and know that you’ve contributed a bit, if only a little, to the history of dance music, and made a piece of music that people love. It’s a great feeling.”
Apart from his major gigs in and around Britain with Superclubs, Emery tours regularly, displaying his talents to crowds around the world “my most memorable gig ever had to be playing to 1,000 Swedish nutters on my first trip to the country – I was doing the 4-6 set after Johan Gielen and knew I’d have to pull something out of the bag to keep everyone on the floor until the end. Fortunately my fears were unfounded, the crowd flocked back onto the dancefloor over the two hours, and by the end it was packed full of people screaming for more!”
Despite Gareth Emery’s ever-forward looking brand of trance, he is surprisingly down-to-earth and realistic about where he and the genre are going. “I’d like to expand the DJing, taking my sound to more countries and venues, whilst getting better in the studio. If people are enjoying my DJ sets and liking my productions, everything else falls into place.”
Trance, despite its enduring popularity has not returned to it’s to the halcyon days on 1998/9, where dance had reached its peak of popularity and commercialism, especially in culture hubs such as London. Gareth points out “It’s tough to pinpoint a general direction, but the fact that it’s not 1998 anymore doesn’t bother me. Things move on, and yeah, it was an amazing time, but music has to evolve. Also, there are people getting into trance now who are just as excited as we were in 1998. The music might not be as commercial these days, in terms of radio play, but if the scene becomes a little more underground as a result and producers have to work that bit harder to make big records, that’s no bad thing. I’m a bit against continually trying to predict trends – dance music is always evolving and changing, that’s part of the beauty of it, so I think you just have to let things happen and enjoy yourself in the here and now rather than getting bogged down analysing. As long as there are still people that want to listen to trance, which there are, and great trance records being made, which there also are, I’m happy.
You can catch Gareth Emery at the following venues in September:
September 13th, Resultion 01 @ Heat – Perth
September 20th, Progress @ Gas – Sydney
