David Guetta is one multi-faceted Frenchman, with a string of infamous ‘Fuck Me I’m Famous’ parties to his credit around the globe, 2 brilliant and highly regarded artist albums under his belt, along with his more recent move into hair modelling, it seems there isn’t much in this world that’s out of reach for this easy going 39 year old club owner.
As his celebrity is heightened to n a whole new level, with the release of his 2005 artist album ‘Guetta Blaster’ and the recently released ‘Fuck Me, I’m Famous – Ibiza Mix’ hit the ground running, scoring itself gold record status, shining the spotlight brighter on Guetta and his every move. He’s gearing up to come back out and give Australian punters another taste of why his thrilling live mixes are so hard to match.
Speaking with the happy-go-lucky Guetta, it’s difficult not to be taken by his surprisingly laidback nature, even as he busily prepares to take the stage in Italy shortly after we speak. It’s the type of assured attitude that can only be earned with success and experience, something that Guetta has well under-control, when you take into account that he’s been playing the game since he was 14. No small feat, considering that dance music hadn’t even almost hit the scene to a commercial extent just yet.
“It was around the time that FM radio began broadcasting, bringing along pirate radio stations, which back then were hosted by local djs from the discotheque. So it was exciting and new for me, I used to rush home from school every afternoon to tune in” reflects Guetta, the school’s trendsetter at the time.
His passion for this new breed of music had him spending countless hours after school trying out his bedroom dj skills and making mix tapes for friends. By age 15 he had the whole school following his lead and had built up his record collection enough to start promoting his first events, so the basement was swept, the flyers were printed up and the door charge was set. “I was too young to put on a show at the discotheque, so I held them in my basement” he laughs, “I’d print and handout the flyers at school and charge everyone $1 entry, which would go towards the coke and orange juice supplied. There’d be around 50 kids cramped into the basement to hear me play” he remembers fondly.
It was this same passion and drive that saw him manning the decks at the local gay club by age 17, after a few successful nights and his first fresh taste of this new music they called ‘house’. He’d managed to talk the owners into handing him the Monday night residency, to spice up the attending numbers a little. “Mondays were always quiet at the club, so I asked if I could promote them to play house music (the other nights I had to play a variety of funk, pop and commercial rock). I told them that I would be promoting a new brand of music, that would bring everyone along to hear it” recalls Guetta. By 1989 he had all of the local clubs begging for a piece of the action, so by day he posed as the perfect college student, while at night he played in one venue or another, going from the coolest kid in school to the coolest kid in town. “I only had one real fear back then, and that was to be caught by security and kicked out for handing out flyers to my shows at other venues” he laughs.
In 1992 he took the most logical of next-steps and locked himself in the studio to work on his first artist album, which launched him into the international spotlight for the first time with the house grunt anthem ‘Up & Away’. Happy with the response and knowing that he’d well and truly conquered his motherland, Guetta set his sights on the island of the 24-hour party people, Ibiza.
It was here that he put French house on the map with the now infamous ‘Fuck Me I’m Famous’ parties. “When I first started playing there, nobody would take French music seriously, it was an amazing scene, but I was the only French dj playing there trying to promote French house” he recalls of the frustration.
So the marketing King again came up with a fool-proof idea to help his cause, making up a limited run of t-shirts emblazoned with the night’s title and handing them out to the island’s elite hipster set to wear. Before too long, the shirts had run-out and the night was a runaway success, attended by the fashion/glamour crew and hardcore clubbers alike, since then the night has grown on to be a world-wide hit, with many successful events to it’s credit.
With all of the accolades and hype bestowed upon him, Guetta remains firmly grounded about it all. Finding fulfilment out of making and playing the music he wants, alongside heroes like Sanchez, Morillo et al. “You get the greatest feeling of achievement when you find your heroes playing your music and respecting your work” he muses.
Sharing the same drive as Morillo to bring dance music into the scope of the greater-population, also recently saw Guetta starring in the highly controversial hair-advert. “It’s something I did for all djs and dance music artists, not just for me. I don’t regret the decision at all, I think more people understand why I did it now, to be honest I thought I’d get a worse reaction than what I did” he laughs.
Make sure you do yourself a favour and get along to see the Guetta Blaster in all his live glory as he hits town on:
Fri Feb 24 – Two Tribes, Brisbane (BUY TICKETS)
Sat Feb 25 – Two Tribes, Melbourne (BUY TICKETS)
Sat Mar 4 – Future Music Festival, Sydney (BUY TICKETS)
Sun Mar 5 – Two Tribes, Perth (BUY TICKETS)
