Danny Rack‘em kindly took the time to answer a few questions and also supplied us with a killer promo mix, for his Bergerac label. Check it out here:
Red Rack'em Promo Mix by Turn Music
1. You’ve recently had album launch parties for The Early Years in London and Japan, with Berlin next. What’s the reception been like?
All of the launch parties have been amazing and have completely surpassed my expectations. Phonica Records hosted the London party and the atmosphere in the shop was great. Staying behind afterhours in a record shop and having a dance really took me back to the good old days when record shops were the central point of the whole club scene. Loads of my old friends turned up to cheer me on and even my Auntie Katy came along and bought a copy of the album. I played a whole set of own music which was not something I normally do either. Loads of people were asking what the tracks were (which was nice) and Phonica completely sold out of the album in 2 hours. Atjazz was my secret guest which felt a bit full circle as he's someone I have always looked up to so it was a real honour to feature him in the event as well.
Tokyo was mental. I played at the live streaming club Dommune, a tiny basement club in Shibuya which holds less than 50 people but is incredibly well kitted out with one of the best Funktion 1 systems I have heard. It felt like being in some kind of future world with people going crazy on the dancefloor at 8pm on a Wednesday night! Over 3000 people watched the U Stream broadcast so playing to so few yet so many was a pretty unique experience. Loads of my mates tuned in while they were at work in the UK and posted about it on Facebook and Twitter so it felt really modern and interactive. The main launch party was on Halloween and was one of the most enthusiastic crowds I have ever played to. Over 800 people attended in full on fancy dress and the crowd and atmosphere was fantastic.Seeing the album artwork projected on the walls in a massive, plush venue in Tokyo was a real buzz and hats off to the promoters Eggworm - they really came up with the goods. It couldn't have gone any better.
2. So this will be your first Berlin appearance, right? Anything you want to check out while you’re here?
I am looking forward to soaking up the atmosphere of the city. I have heard so much about Berlin and I know one night isn't much time to check it out so I am just going to take it easy, check out some architecture, a few record shops and hopefully have some nice food. After the full on mentalism of Tokyo, (I went out for a bit too long after the Halloween gig and ended up missing my flight back to the UK - but that's another story;) I am quite looking forward to doing some relaxing and hopefully seeing some of the poetic, bohemian characters that Berlin is famous for. I am also really looking forward to hearing Iron Curtis play as I have heard he's rather hot on the old Technics.
3. Your releases have crossed the boundaries of deep house, beatdown, techno, boogie and disco- is that a fair reflection of your DJ style too? What can we expect from your set?
It all depends on what I am feeling at the time really. I tend to play it pretty dancefloor these days so my club sets tend to be quite up-tempo. I would love to play more slower stuff but I sometimes fear a slower tempo might make people go to the bar. I will be bringing a lot of vinyl with me which will definitely have an impact on what I play. If I am playing CDs it's generally brand new, unreleased stuff which I love for the hotness but I think I play better using both vinyl and cds as it give more scope in the genres. I would love to play a load of really out there house, disco, electro, techno and wonky garage house type stuff but it all depends on how open minded the crowd are and what order the tracks appear to me. It should be pretty mixed so don't expect deep house all night!
4. Which other producers/DJs are you feeling at moment? Any hot tips?
The best answer to that is to check out my Smugglers Inn radio show/podcast - it's 2 hours of brand new music from the artists that I rate. You can tune in live @ http://www.myhouse-yourhouse.net every second wednesday from 7-9pm GMT or download the podcast from my site http://www.redrackem.com. You can also grab the show on itunes here.
5. Five records you can’t stop playing?
Chicago Damn - Be Your Man (Merc)
Red Rack'em - How I Program (Bergerac)
A Made Up Sound - Demons (A Made Up Sound)
Kassem Moss - We Speak To Those (Non Plus)
Model 500 - OFI (Mad Mike Remix) (R+S)
6. You kindly sent us a mix - can you tell us a little about it?
The mix is a Bergerac promo mix - it's not all tracks on the label but it's meant to showcase my sound over the last year or so. I have tried to get more 'big room' as the larger scale gigs I have been playing have influenced my production style recently. There are a couple of tracks from the Early Years album. There are a couple of tracks from the first single on Bergerac 'How I Program' and some tracks of recent singles for Shift and Home Taping. I just wanted to condense the more house side of what I do in a short mix. It's something to introduce people to my sound and hopefully show that there's some variety within my take on house music.
