DJ, producer, director, artist, radio show host and all round genius Grant Smillie. For those that don’t know Grant Smillie, it’s time to come out from the rock you have been living under. This Australian house music icon has cemented his position on the local and national scene and now he’s got his sights firmly set on global domination.
Grant has already earned himself the respect of many internationally renowned artists, from Armand Van Helden through to Pete Tong. Having just release his latest mix CD, the second in the Onelove series, Smillie spared some time to speak with ITM.
The multi-album deal you have with Sony BMG is phenomenal. Do you think that this will allow your more creative freedom or has the label restricted what music will come out on your first album?
The guys at Sony have been really good. Obviously with all mix albums distributed by the majors there are going to be some more obvious records on there to generate sales, but at least you are able to use interesting remixes of them! The challenge as always is ensuring that you get the freshest records you can so that the release is relevant for months after it is released.
What is your opinion on the commercialisation of dance, and more specifically, house music? Do you think it has been to the benefit of DJs and producers, or has it had a negative effect?
That is a subject of much contention. I think that the quality of house being produced at the moment is great and as such the product in the marketplace is getting noticed. This translates into people liking it and therefore eventually being ‘commercial’. It can certainly benefit us if we make good records, but you need to balance the big gigs with the underground ones and the same in the music we make so that you are not labelled under any one banner.
You present the Nova radio show “Fusion” with John Course. Are you planning on doing anything else with John? You to seem to have a very good relationship and on-air chemistry with him, what do you put that down to?
John and I are good friends and at some point this year we are talking about doing something in the studio together, at least a remix of something. I think that our relationship has grown out of a mutual respect for each other and I think that our work ethic inspires each of us to work harder at our craft… we also tour a bit together and have a lot of laughs usually over a beer or 5!
With such a busy and hectic schedule, how do you still manage to program the Nova show “Fusion” each week?
The best part about what we do at Nova is Ableton Live. It is a sensational sequencing instrument. You can be sitting on a plane to a gig and be programming mixes and doing re-edits literally on the fly – excuse the pun! It makes our job at Nova very flexible as we can construct the content off site.
Andy Van broadened his marketing potential to include a clothing label, are things like that something that you would like to venture into in the future?
I’m not sure about a clothing label as such, I have worked in the fashion industry co-ordinating parades under the Young Guns banner so I think that chapter is done. I have a marketing and design agency that I am a director of called The Co-Op in Melbourne and that keeps me pretty busy in my spare time.
Having been Musical Director for Mercedes Fashion Week, Tag-Heuer and Ferrari, and DJing at gigs for Versace, Prince and Kiss, its seems you have hit the pinnacle of coolness. What is left for Grant Smillie?
There is always more! It is fun to play those gigs no question, but ultimately I am playing someone else’s tunes at those parties. The next step for me is to complete my first album project, which will be under the banner of TV Rock, which I am doing with Ivan Gough. Hopefully this will be the start of a new chapter and our aim in the next 2 years is to be playing the festival circuit in the UK. Sure it is ambitious but we think it is a realistic goal.
Having done gigs for and with such big name celebrities and DJs, what has been your most memorable gig so far?
The Kiss party was pretty wild… Gene Simmons pashing on with about 15 chicks and then the Village People crashed the party. The Indian was on the bar rocking it out doing about 5 flaming Lamborghinis. Needless to say it was a late one. Lots of fun.
What is the most annoying thing a punter has asked you while DJing in a club?
I don’t get annoyed often. I don’t like playing things twice and when you get people who ask you for a record that you have literally just taken it off you think… where were you 5 minutes ago? Then they go tell their friends to come and ask for the same thing…
I saw some posed shots in a Melbourne street press magazine a couple months back, and with that in mind (and all the fashion gigs going on) would you consider yourself a bit of a metrosexual?
I think any bloke who tries to look his best is going to be classed a metrosexual. That does not stop me from going to the footy and enjoying a meat pie and a beer in the outer! I think that if you take pride in your appearance it can often be a mirror of the way you apply yourself to your job… so to answer the question, I guess that’s a yes.
The cut-up of Blurs Song 2 that yourself and Ivan Gough remixed is getting played by a lot of big name DJs such as Armand Van Helden and Pete Tong, this must give you a huge buzz. Is there any bigger compliment?
It is good to know that it travelled that far when we only gave out a few CDRs to internationals who were touring at the time. I guess it shows that if you make a good tune, be it a booty in this case or an original we can cut it from down under. It was pretty crazy though when you bump into Armand after you
You recently mixed one of the discs on the latest Onelove CD, how did you approach the mix?
I tried to get as many of the big Onelove records on there as I could squeeze into 90 minutes! A lot of records that I would have loved to get on there ended up on the cutting room floor so to speak through the red tape that goes with licensing so it is not my perfect disk, but I think it is a good reflection of the club.
For anyone who hasn’t been to Onelove before, it’s said to have a rather distinct vibe, can you put it down in words for us?
A they say on the CD- cancel all appointments…. The weekend starts here! Put a bunch of punked up fucked up fashionista’s, rock dogs and disco tarts all in a blender and you get something resembling a Onelove brulee that will satisfy your hunger!
Did you feel the Aussie spirit when you represented us at the Zouk Festival in Singapore? How big was the crowd at that one?
The crowds were about 20,000 so it was a big party. My arena was a lot smaller than the main stage, however it was a great moment being over there and flying the flag with Phil K. Internationally we are starting to get recognised at these events and I think that the future is bright for our Australian artists.
Any remixes or other projects coming up that you’d like to spill the beans on?
Just finished a mix of a record by Queen NIC called ‘I’m Done with Ivan Gough, I have a feeling that it is going to do some damage on the dancefloors! The money$HOT record that I did with mrTimothy is coming out on Ocean Trax (italy) in the next month or so and as I mentioned, Ivan and I are writing a HEAP of new material at the moment under the TV Rock banner. The first single at this stage will be called Flaunt It and is the best thing I have been involved with yet! I am off to Europe to play 6 dates in August and then when I get back from that I have a Sony release scheduled so will be touring that… Bring it on!
‘Onelove Volume 2’, mixed by Grant Smillie and Carl Kennedy, is out now through Sony BMG.
