Skip to main content

Richard Grey Interview

We talk to the French house cat...

French DJ/producer Richard Grey, famed for his massive, big room house remixes and silky skills on the decks, has mixed the latest in the 'Perceptions of Pacha' series, which is out on Pacha Recordings now. DJmag.com grabbed a few minutes with the musical maestro to learn the story behind the album...

You've mixed the new 'Perceptions of Pacha' compilation – what kind of flavour did you want to bring to the project?

"It was a reflection of the club itself, I was trying evoke the last 30 years of Pacha, with Bob Marley, Soft Cell, club classics from their history, but with the sound of today."

CD One focuses on your own productions, and you've also remixed 'Thriller' and 'No Deputy' – why did you choose these particular famous tunes to rework?

"Well, with 'Thriller', I think that everybody wanted to make a remix of it, it was made in the 80s but it's still fresh, it still works, it has that electronic sound. And 'No Deputy', I think it's one of the best records from Bob Marley, it's lasting."

'Warped Bass' has the Soft Cell 'Tainted Love' samples, but with a kind of bassline house edge. Is that movement a big influence on you?

"It was not supposed to be a Soft Cell remix. I made the instrumental, and then I was playing the record, and it had that sound like the 'beep, beep'. When we signed to the track to Universal, they said, 'why not use the vocal? We have the rights' – so we did it!"

Where did the inspiration for '9am Acid Trip' come from?

"Ha ha, these are my roots!"

You recently played in the Dominican Republic – what kind of a gig was that?

"That gig did not happen, the club was closed, but I did a gig there last year. It was good, it was more Latin stuff, and tribal stuff, but I really liked it."

What else have you got coming up after the compilation?

"So many things are happening with my own label, Grey Recordings, I was really impressed with the feedback from DJs like Deep Dish and Erick Morillo, Sasha and Digweed as well. I have a record from the album, and two records on Subliminal, one with Erick Morillo."