One of the Perth production scene’s biggest success stories, Kriece has been making a name for himself worldwide on the global tech-house scene since first branching into making music in the late 90s. With tracks championed by Sasha, co-produced with James Zabiela, and picked up by Ralph Lawson’s 2020 Vision label, his growing list of achievements shows no signs of waning as 2007 soldiers on. Making the longhaul flight eastwards for shows in Sydney and Melbourne this weekend, ITM tracked him down for an update.

The Kriece journey is one that first captured the public’s eye about 10 years ago; you made your name initially as a DJ, but tell us where it all started before that. What was the inspiration?

Around 1992 I moved to Perth from Broome to start a Commerce & Japanese Studies degree at university and immediately was drawn into the rave scene which was starting to peak around the world at that time. So inevitably I purchased the ubiquitous belt-drive turntables from Cash Converters and immediately set upon amassing a collection of the cheesiest rave anthems imaginable; lashings of Pragha-Khan, Altern-8, early Prodigy and erm, Dyewitness. After hosting a radio show on community radio – peak listenership of 4 stoned students, AC Nielson – I started getting some small gigs and progressed to playing the usual festivals and larger parties. Then around 1999 I decided I wanted to get into production so I stopped DJing for a year or so and locked myself away to learn it inside out.

Those first years saw you really making a name for yourself as a DJ; supporting names like Sasha, Digweed, Zabiela – certainly nothing to scoff at. Fast paced frenetic years no doubt – but how did it feel?

Actually those times were really quite sedate compared to the early raving days. Up until last year I was also working full time as well as DJing and production. So between 1999 and last year my sets were characterised by going out, playing my set and hopefully being in bed by midnight so I could start working on music the next morning. The main enduring factor of those days is learning to play a proper warm up set. I would often play back to back with DJ Chad D and we would pride ourselves on not banging it out and building a nice vibe for the international. It never fails to amaze me how many warm up DJs get overexcited and start banging out a big set of anthems before the international act.

More recently, it is your production work that has been getting solid and wide recognition. Besides the obvious logistical differences, how does it perhaps differ on a personal level?

Well, obviously production doesn’t present the same geographical problems as DJing does, for someone living in Perth. Also it allows me to spend time with my family and do the things I love like pottering in my garden and going fishing up north. Touring is obviously a lot tougher, but it forces you to work with any psychological weak points as there are about a thousand things that can go wrong in any given day – flight delays, sound problems at gigs, crashing computers, airports. It’s great practice for working on yourself. When I am at home producing however, my concerns are limited to running out of hazelnut coffee creamer or an aphid attack on my roses – so you can become a little cosseted from life’s challenges.

You’ve done a bit of collaborative work with James Zabiela, a name that is increasingly big on the international scene; loaded with experiences?

James usually makes it to Perth once a year to play so we always catch up and sometimes work on some music. Apart from the Flying Doctors track there are some other bits we worked on, but I can’t see them coming out or being finished due to James’ heavy touring commitments.

The Flying Doctors – your collaborative name with Zabiela and Jeff Bennett – churned out ‘We Make Contact’, the remix of which was quite the performer in 2005. How’d that feel?

I wanted to use that track to launch my Kindred Sounds label and needed a big remixer to really kick things off. So my friend Jeremy from Delirium contacted Oliver Lieb who agreed to do it. I hadn’t heard any of Oliver’s work since ‘Smoked’ on Yoshitoshi so was keen to hear what he would do. Needless to say he turned in an awesome remix – one of the best examples of a remix I have heard – he used almost everything from the original but somehow made it completely different. It was then championed by James (naturally) and Sasha, which really kicked that release along.

A couple of your remixes look set to be tear up dance floors in the near future; Zabiela’s ‘Weird Science’ and others for the Music for Vinyl and Nic Fanciulli’s Saved Records labels. Describe what defines the unique Kriece sound?

I guess my sound is very bassline-centric. I build most tracks around a solid bassline and big chunky percussion.

What’s the buzz like at some of the festivals you’ve played at – like Creamfields recently in Buenos Aires alongside Underworld and Sasha. How does playing alongside people like that really feel?

Well, I guess “playing alongside” is a slight exaggeration as I was in a different tent – I was in a smaller tech-house tent with Layo & Bushwacka, M.A.N.D.Y and some other acts. My tent had maybe 3,000-4,000 people, which I thought was a pretty big tent. After I finished my set I met up with Nic Fanciulli & Paul Woolford and we went over to the Cream Arena which was the main tent – still smaller than the main stage which had Underworld, Sasha. Hernan was playing and Nic was due to play after him. We walked in through the back and up onto the stage and there was a sea of people – around 20,000 just in that one tent. Nic promptly departed in the direction of the portaloos, the colour noticeably drained from his face. It was unlike anything I have seen – some people in the front row were holding a massive Argentine flag with Hernan’s face painted on, looking suspiciously like Jesus. My Jesus theory was further confirmed when, I shit you not, people in wheelchairs were wheeled in to meet the great man after he finished playing.

Highlight of your career – DJ or production, or both..!

DJing – Creamfields, Womb Tokyo, Dublin on St Paddy’s Day, Tweekin @ 77 with Sugar Ray & Phil Smart. Production – being signed to 20:20 Vision.

It’s May, 2007… where to from here for Kriece?

Production wise, my first EP on 20:20 is due at the end of May, and I have productions and remixes due on Kindred Sounds, Illegal Ninja Moves, Arabica, Spinifex, Bass for Breakfast and more. I have just made some new chillout material under my downtempo alias Sanskrit, which I am putting out on my new downtempo label Avatara. I am half way through an album collaboration with US spiritual guru Ram Dass – in October I will be going to finish it and meet him at his place in Hawaii which I am really excited about. DJing wise I have Subservice in Sydney and Mapleheads in Melbourne before I am grounded at home until September due to the imminent birth of my second baby. Then I will do some dates in USA and South America after Hawaii.

If you’re on the eastern seaboard you can catch Kriece this month:

May 11 – Civic Hotel, Sydney
May 12 – Bunker Lounge, Melbourne