In the world of electronic dance music, Gareth Emery has had an absolutely amazing journey to date. After he was dragged out to his first ever dance club in the late 90s (on behalf of Emery’s fans all over the globe, we must salute his friends for making the effort!), Gareth has gone on to establish a name for himself as a revered trance DJ and producer, with club hits like Mistral to his credit. He’s returning to Australia this summer. ITM caught up for a chat.

Following that historically defining moment of your introduction to the world stage, when your production of ‘Mistral’ made its way into the hands of Paul van Dyk and onto the airwaves, it wasn’t long before you yourself were actually gracing the stage, playing the clubs of Godskitchen and Slinky. Can you recall and share with us how it was for you when you played for the first time at each of these major super clubs?

You know, they were all amazing in their own way. Godskitchen was the first, the one I used to go to most as a clubber, and only about my third DJ gig. There were about 100 of my mates down the front cheering me on, and despite fucking up and taking the needle off the wrong record about five tunes in, I got it together and rocked it enough to get rebooked. Slinky was a local club for me, and used to be in a huge converted opera house – an incredibly intimidating venue but I played last set and got to drop an encore tune for the first time. Stunning. The Gallery was a double-up, as I’d played Gods earlier in the evening which including a mad motorway race to get from Birmingham to London in time, so it was a bit of a blur, but what I remember was good.

How was it for those mates of yours who introduced you to these major brand clubs, also including Gatecrasher, The Gallery, and Passion, when you started out playing these gigs?

It was weird – some couldn’t believe the places I was playing, they were proper shocked, but most people didn’t seem all that surprised. I remember when I told a load of friends I’d got a gig at Godskitchen, most of them seemed surprisingly un-shocked and were like “no surprise mate, knew you’d be there soon”. I guess that’s confidence!

How is it now for them that their mate regularly headlines these events; are they still avid enthusiasts of the dance scene?

Given I initially got into the scene in ’98, a lot of them I’m not in touch with anymore, and a lot who still are friends have moved out of the dance scene, or listen to different styles of dance music. I guess tastes and people change. However, when I meet people, they always seem to know what I’ve been up to and have been on my Myspace or something… so it’s nice to know people still keep up.

Around this time, when you literally burst onto the DJ scene, you immediately gained the support of the biggest names in trance music, like Tiesto, Ferry Corsten and Armin, as well as PvD. Were you overwhelmed at all, given the attention you had captured by such credible EDM artists in such a short while?

Definitely. When Mistral, my first real release went out, it was pretty crazy. Paul van Dyk was the first to play it as an untitled demo, but within two weeks of the label sending it out Tiesto, Armin, Ferry Corsten all had reacted saying how much they loved it – I’d gone from nowhere to being everywhere literally overnight.

Also within this first year Mixmag went out on a limb following an interview with you stating “boring DJ’s be very afraid: Gareth Emery is about to kick your arse.” How did this impact on you Gaz; did you feel as though you had a rather big expectation placed on you at all?

The expectation was huge, and looking back I probably wasn’t quite prepared to deal with it. Don’t get me wrong, I released records in the two years after Mistral, but I was DJing a lot whilst still trying to get to grips with the equipment, and it took quite a while before I could get in a position where I felt happy in the studio. That expectation has lasted a long time, and it’s only now that I’m starting to feel like I’m really delivering.

It’s seemingly apparent your parents nurtured a musical upbringing in your family. Your musical influences are extremely diverse, but it was actually ‘trance’ that lured you into the direction you would take with your production work and DJing. What is so musically different about trance, compared to other musical styles, that makes it so emotionally powerful?

There’s no barriers in trance: people are less concerned about “keeping it cool” – like in house – or “keeping it banging” – like in hard trance – and just employ the most advanced production techniques available to them to absolutely maximise dancefloor euphoria. For me, it’s by far the best genre to be based in as it allows me to remain flexible. I can play house, electro, techno, tech-trance, and other genres to spice up my set, before bringing it all home with trance – there’s nothing like it.

What was your influence to use the monikers of GTR and Cupa in the first few years of production, and then the decision to produce under your real name as you are currently?

If I were to start again now, there’d be no GTR, no Cupa. When I first started out I picked GTR as an artist name, as it just sounds cool, and it’s my first three initials (Gareth Thomas Rhys). Of course, I’d never intended to DJ as GTR and always wanted to DJ under my real name, but after having a record the size of Mistral under that name, everyone wanted to book GTR – not Gareth Emery. It was the cause of quite a few arguments with my agent, what name I was going to DJ under. Anyway, we compromised, and for years I DJed as Gareth Emery (GTR), until I got to the stage where Gareth Emery started to overtake GTR. These days most people seem to know that Gareth Emery = GTR and vice-versa, so it’s not an issue.

Last year you had an amazingly hectic year with endless touring on top of a heavy studio schedule. You still managed to release a number of your own productions, as well as various collaborations with the likes of Jon O’Bir and Lange as well as various remixes. You needed to take time out gig wise at the start of this year to get back in touch with the basics, which yet again had you in the studio writing tunes, and successfully completing a number of very well received tracks, all within a space of a few months! During this time you also kept abreast with the latest technologies becoming one of the first DJs to embrace podcasting, as you continue to deliver a fortnightly mix of fresh of up and coming releases. It didn’t take long for you to be ranked in the iTunes Top 20 chart of all worldwide music podcasts. For some people to continue driving their determination to achieve, they need to be persistently self-critical, but not to their detriment. It seems as though this is part of your inherent nature; Gaz will you please share with us a little about what inspires you to push forth?

Probably the fact that I never get comfortable, I’m never satisfied with my latest productions, and yeah, I am extremely self-critical. Every now again I give myself a break, relax, and think “shit, to be fair, I haven’t actually done badly these last four years”, but those moments never last long. I’m always thinking there’s so much more I could and should be doing – not just on the music side of things, but away from the music. I’m never satisfied with my website, graphics, nothing’s ever good enough, haha. I place unrealistically high demands upon myself, which probably means I’m a nightmare for the people around me, but it’s also what keeps me pushing forward.

Was there a defining moment in your life when you knew which direction you wanted to take professionally, and what you needed to do to pursue the path to your dreams?

I knew in 2002 I wanted to work full-time in dance music. I didn’t really mind at that stage whether it was as an artist, at a label, whatever. I just wanted to be able to do dance music all the time, I was that into the whole. Unfortunately, not many jobs were going, and I was at a pretty early stage as a producer, and hadn’t started DJing, so I worked in web design for a year whilst frenetically doing music at every spare minute outside work. A year later I’d released Mistral, made some money via a publishing deal, bought some studio gear, played Godskitchen, found a DJ agent, and had a bunch of dates planned… it was then when my agent told me to give up work. At the start it felt like a massive gamble, but in hindsight, it was a great move.

In adjunction to your DJ travels, studio work, and podcasting, you’re also very busy with the co-running of your Five AM label which DJ Mag describes as ‘the most consistent trance label in the world’. Clearly you’re still at the cutting edge as an outlet for great EDM tunes, though in recent times many label owners have proclaimed there’s a serious lack of excellent quality tunes that have been intelligently constructed without the predictability and likeness of other producers. As A&R for the label, is this a frustrating situation where I imagine for the hours you put in sorting through the numerous tracks you’re sent, only a handful are selected?

I guess I’m lucky in that I’m not the first port of call for demos these days – the label manager hears everything that comes in first. I just don’t have the time, or the patience, to listen to 150 demos a week as I’ve usually got 100 or so promos to get through. But Alexis is great at it, and is also brilliant at spotting potential in artists who might not be fully-developed yet, and giving them advice so they can get up to a level where we’re releasing their music. Of course, I listen to a lot of the music he picks, discuss it with him, who we think could be hot in the future, who we want to take chances on, so I’m still very much involved in shaping the sound of the label.

Are you able to tip who you feel are stand-out talents we should keep an eye out for?

M.I.D.O.R is an outstanding producer, he makes very cool tech-trance, and the production on his material is mind-blowing, his tracks just sound so fat in a club. All the big DJs love his work, but it’s possibly a bit too underground for a lot of people to get. Another artist we discovered are the Signalrunners (aka Team SR / Pax Royale), they’re sort of the opposite to M.I.D.O.R, they specialise in huge anthems, great vocal hooks whilst managing to sound different to everyone else. Everything they’ve done gets a huge amount of radio support and compilation activity – give them a few years and they’ll be making hit records, no question.

Since April you virtually haven’t stopped touring and you’ve still managed to get back into the studio with Lange, as well as complete a few more remixes. Which brings me to the subject of your long-awaited debut artist album, how is that shaping up and coming along?

It’s getting produced next year. Once we’re into 2007, apart from DJing, I plan to do absolutely nothing else apart form produce the album. I’m going to put the laptop away, completely stay off the internet, and basically lose the distractions and work full-time on the album until it’s finished. It’ll require me to become a bit of a recluse for a few months, but it’s the only way the album will happen – it’s impossible to produce that quantity of music when the phone never stops ringing, the emails never stop arriving, and you’ve continually got people on MSN and Skype who are after your attention. I’m at the stage where a lot of the record is already composed musically, it’s a case of sitting down and spending some long, hard months producing it. It’s going to be tough, but worthwhile.

Are you able to hint on what tracks we can expect, or if there’s going to be a theme associated with it?

There won’t be any particular theme – it’ll, hopefully, just be an album full of brilliant dance music. I’ve got some great vocalists lined up, plenty of whom haven’t worked in dance music before, and I’ve also got some wicked next-level musical ideas. Of course, there will still be Emery trademarks in there, but it won’t be a typical dance album with a bunch of club tracks plus a few token chillout tracks – it’ll be a proper album rather than a collection of singles, with a real mix of tempos and styles, designed to be listened to in one hit. I guess, if I’m not feeling like it’s the best thing I’ve ever done, it won’t be coming out.

And what of its upcoming availability, do you have an anticipated release date as yet?

I’m thinking of July… which would mean three months to produce it and three months to promote and release it, but it could take longer. 2007 is already looking busy gig wise, which is time I’m not in the studio, but who knows… watch this space.

Recently you made a new entry into the DJ Mag Top 100 Poll, ranked at number 34, with Paul van Dyk tipping you as the artist to break through in 2007. Your Myspace signature proudly acknowledges the ranking; how has this accolade impacted on you, and what do you think will be the consequence of such an achievement for you in the near future?

The ranking itself was great, but I don’t want to over blow it, it’s just a poll and as much as it’s a nice accolade, I don’t take these things that seriously. If it opens the eyes of people in new territories to what I do, that can only be a good thing. Paul van Dyk tipping me as an artist to breakthrough is a much bigger accolade – to have that sort of tip from the no.1 DJ in the world doesn’t come along too often.

Continuing to push things to the next level, one of your musical ideas involves a ‘live’ performance, not a ‘live’ DJ set but an actual show incorporating other musicians, guitarists, keyboardists, and perhaps your vocalist sibling. Has this dream of yours made it to the drawing board as yet?

Not really, I guess once the album’s down, then we’ll be thinking about touring it, and I’ll want to do it properly – not just me with a laptop, but more of a full on performance involving instruments and some of the vocalist I’ve used on it, but it’s early days, and my main priority right now is finishing the record.

It’s coming up to you returning to Australia again as part of the Gatecrasher Global Sound System with John ‘00’ Fleming for the Xmas parties in Sydney & Melbourne, and the NYE bash in Canberra. How will it be for you spending this time of year a long way from your family, in the contrasting weather you’d be used to in your native part of the world?

I’ll definitely miss my family over Christmas, but for me Australia’s an amazing place to come to any time of year, so to be there at Christmas is going to be pretty special. My girlfriend is coming as well, so hopefully I won’t be too lonely out there… although she’s desperate I find somewhere we can get a traditional English Christmas dinner on Christmas evening, and I’m sure we’ve got no chance. I mean, who wants to eat roast turkey, stuffing and all that stuff when it’s 40 degrees? Anyway, I’ve promised her I’ll find somewhere, so if any ex-pats or Anglophiles can advise me on somewhere to eat, let me know!

Gareth Emery tours for Gatecrasher this month:

Dec 25th – Bondi Pavilion, Sydney
Dec 26th – The Metro, Melbourne
Dec 31st – Holy Grail, Canberra