With a DJ career spanning more than fifteen years, New York-based Chris Fortier is no stranger to life behind the turntables. As a kid growing up in Melbourne, Florida, he used to ride his bicycle to the local record shop, stretching his spending money across as many records as he could, and racing home to record his booty onto mixtapes he’d share with his high-school friends or listen to while mowing his parents’ lawn. Now that he’s a full-scale DJ superstar – with the international touring, the record deals and the high-profile mix compilations to prove it – you might think Chris Fortier has lost his grassroots passion for hunting rare vinyl, or grown tired of trying to track down that elusive track from his youth. You’d be wrong.
It’s just after breakfast on a Thursday morning when I manage to track Chris down, yet despite the early hour, he’s more than eager to discuss his recent intercontinental adventures. “I’ve been taking a bit of a break for the past week, having just finished a tour of South America, Asia, Europe, and Mexico,” Chris says. “Hong Kong in particular was an amazing, amazing party. It was a very western audience – apparently there was a big modeling event on there, and so the place was filled with the most beautiful women – even Duran Duran was there!”
As a long-time resident of New York’s legendary superclub Twilo, where he was called upon to warm up for such industry figureheads as Sasha, John Digweed and Paul Oakenfold, Chris Fortier has long had his fingers on the pulse of the underground dance music community. In 1999-2000, when trance was the ‘next big thing’, Chris Fortier was seen by many as a trance DJ; two years later, when trance had died and progressive house was the style-du-jour, Chris was seen to be a progressive house DJ. But ask anyone who’s seen Chris play a set, and they’ll tell you the same thing: Chris just plays good music. Actually, make that really, really good music.
“Fresh and interesting underground music – that’s what it’s always been for me,” Chris explains. “I’ve never tried to classify the music that I play, and I don’t want to get into the business of putting musical styles into little boxes. I’ve always played a whole range of different sounds.”
To Chris, part of his broad-ranging appeal comes from his having paid his dues as an underground club DJ in Florida and New York for so many years. “I come from an era of DJs that had all night to play – six, seven, eight hours open to close, with the DJ controlling the whole atmosphere. That means playing music for different times, with different levels of energy across the evening to make the party work,” he says. “It means looking outside of the little box that people try to put you in. I’ve always played house, I’ve always played techno. Sometimes people might have this snapshot of what you play and hold you to it – but it’s all underground house music to me.”
As is the case with many international DJs, Chris Fortier is a steadfast believer in vinyl as a medium. “I hate CDs,” he proclaims. “I’m not into the whole digital/MP3 thing. It’s just not me. I got into the love of music and DJing from collecting records, going to record shops – that’s something that I love, and it’s something I want to do every day. I’m not interested in collecting music just so I can look at a list of tracks on my computer screen. I want to get the record – to unearth a hidden B side gem, not just download the top ten off of Beatport. Collecting vinyl is still part of the love, and part of the job. For me, laptops are for checking email.”
I ask Chris what sort of a vinyl collection he has at present. “Living in New York, space is limited,” he says. “I’ve probably weeded it down to eight or ten thousand records. I’ve been efficient in that regard. If I have a record that I can’t imagine playing, I’ll give it away or pass it on.” Still, despite years of searching, Chris still doesn’t consider his collection complete. “I’m still looking for certain records or tracks from 15-20 years ago that I still don’t know the name of,” he says.
As we wrap up our conversation and I thank Chris for his time, he takes a minute to comment on just how much he’s looking forward to playing in Australia again. “I’ve always enjoyed Australia,” he says, “and I’m looking forward to doing it all again.”
Chris Fortier tours Australia over the coming weeks, don’t miss out:
Fri Oct 27 – Ministry of Sound Annual, Perth
Sat Oct 28 – Brown Alley, Melbourne
Sat Nov 4 – Laundry, Sydney
