Derrick May interview on I Love Techno website

[Dustin Zahn]

i totally agree with him. dustin - i'm quite surprised it got to you like this. if you actually think about it, 99% of techno out there today is not what techno's original ideals were about. he got it spot on with joris vorrn (i've just actually done a live interview with him for our first BOA radio program) and i love what he is saying about not making tracks until he is ready. i've met derrick a couple of times now and i agree he comes across as a tad arrogant but at the end of the day, he believes so much in himself and i really think that's a great thing to have.

I stated a few posts ago that I agree with May for the most part. What I don't agree with is his arrogance. He acted like a choad in Detroit, was full of himself and played a shitty set here in Minneapolis, and carried on with his arrogance in the interview. I guess maybe I'd get this impression if all my encounters with him have been rather poor ones.

[react]

i've worked with derrick may on two occasions. he played for us at our first event in 1998 and treated us, white kids from midwest ohio, with total respect. then he came back one month later and played a small, invite only party for 150 friends for hardly anything... and he drove 5 hours from detroit. that's a stark contrast to other big headed detroit djs i've dealt with who act like little babies.

anyways,

it's a well known fact that derrick may has been known to come off big-headed, like he has a chip on his shoulder.i also know that he doesn't like the press or doing interviews with certain media outlets. i've read good interviews, and i've read ones where you can tell he doesn't respect the person conducting the interview. i think the reasons for this kind of attitude are a bit more complicated that just having an ego, and i don't think it's just because he thinks that's how he should act. i feel more like he feels like he missed out on some due credit, or something. at any rate, i still think he deserves a lot of respect.

as for the computer thing. i agree to an extent. these days, now everybody is a 'producer' and therefore much of the techno being created is shit. now, this doens't apply to eveyone who uses computers and i don't want to turn this into a technology debate, because there are plenty of producers out there who utilize a computer and software as the focal point of their studios, but there's a lot more process involved to making groundbreaking, world class music than mastering some software. there are too many imitators. and i can see how this 'instant producer, just add laptop' craze would bother someone like derrick. .

in summary, i have mad respect for derrick may. he's just comes off really cocky and a bit out his mind sometimes. that's all. his music is timeless, his label one of the best in detroit then and now, his talent behind the decks is legendary, and he's still spreading the message world wide.

and as far as i could tell, when treated with respect, he'll treat you with the same.

just my.02 ; )

[TechMouse]

Erm... Moby labels himself as Electronica because that's what he makes.... isn't it?
I'm sure it has nothing to do with the poor state of the "Techno brand"...

My Opinion:

This may all be very well and good for whatever Derrick's concept of Techno might be, but you can't really deny that the whole concept of Techno has grown a hell of a lot outside of what the original Detroit pioneers had in mind. I think that what Mills, May, Saunderson et al may have seen as the be-all-and-end-all of Techno is now what the world considers as Detroit Techno - and for the rest of us there's a practically infinite spectrum of stuff outside that which is still Techno - and in this way I think Derrick probably has a rather narrow vision of what Techno is, and so he comes off sounding a bit arrogant... and possibly a little jaded. After all, if you considered yourself a pioneer of something, which the world hijacked and turned into something else which loads of people really liked, you might be a bit jaded too.

I quite like some Detroit stuff, but in general it tends to not push hard enough for me. It's too tied to conventional notions of music to be interesting IMHO. But that is, of course, just my opinion. (Please don't hurt me).

[mattboyslim]

i think his main point was that its become less about TECHNOlogy and simply about mr dj wants to make a track and can do so quite easily with a bit of software (sweeping generalisation, doesn't count for everyone)

if you invent a style of music, and its pushed in a good direction then it can be evry rewarding, but its got to a stage where the original concepts of what techno actually is have been quite lost in the ableton/cubase world

i think he has every right to be jaded

and as someone else said, he was probly being extra cocky because he didn't like the particular reporter

[TechMouse]

I still find it slightly odd when old-skool producers and DJs bemoan the newer guys on the grounds that these days all you need is a PC and you can make tunes... as if just by using old hardware you instantly gain this magic kudos, and anything else is just cheap immitation.

So the kids are making tunes on PCs... so what? If you're so good then make some better tunes and stop moaning about it. Show the kids who the master is. If you can...

I tend to think of the digital music revolution as the great leveller. Now, anyone can have a go - so only the truly talented and original will be of note.

[mattboyslim]

i didnt say it was a bad thing using PCs, its jsut as he was an innovator i think he's still looking for ways to be like that. The techno name came out of the use of machines being manilpulated in a futuristic way. its harder to do that today of course and i think his beef is in the fact that stuff like ableton make it far to easy to heed the same results as everyone else. again, not saying thats a bad thing but from his point of view i guess its not pushing technology to its limits if everyone is writing tunes in exactly the same way

[davethedrummer]

i thought he came across ok
he had some good points , but the interviewer was gettimg up his nose
and the questions were a bit crap.
it loked like one of those after set interviews which are never great as you just don't want to be there really.
i thought he seemed alright and hes earnt the right to be a bit arrogant.

[TechMouse]

i guess its not pushing technology to its limits if everyone is writing tunes in exactly the same way

Fair enough.

Still, I guess if you're not going to be making tunes at all then what do you expect?

[Ritzi Lee]

2 Techmouse: It seems you're really having a problem with Derrick May?
It's not really clear what you're trying to reach over here after 100.000 replies...

[tekara]

AM I THE ONLY PERSON THAT CANT FIND THE INTERVIEW ON THE ILT SITE??

sorry for caps locks hehe....but seriously, i CANT FIND IT!

[tekara]

Or can someone copy and paste the interview for everyone to read?

cheers ;)

[MARKEG]

yeah i had a few probs finding it until i read that post from .. ermm .. well it's on page 1 anyway.

anyway, look everyone has there off days, everyone has a chip on their shoulder surely? i remember i was playing at a club a while back with derrick and someone from the crowd said to me - wow that dj is an asshole, he actually asked security to get him a girl from the dancefloor to take back to his room. now i was like 'wow that's really bad, derrick may's a right ass' but then thought about it and thought hold on - how do you know? and hold on - i wasnt there so i why should i form an opinion based around this? i learnt a big lesson that night. DONT LISTEN TO THE RUMOUR MILL!!! to be fair he'd propably had some eyes a bird and asked what her name was to someone back stage. arghhh you can't win man.

in that interview he really don't come off that bad if you ask me! sure a tad like he thinks he's the man but hey HE IS THE F'KIN MAN!!! hahaha.

:)

[dan the acid man]

Or can someone copy and paste the interview for everyone to read?

cheers ;)

its a filmed interview, not a written one

[TechMouse]

2 Techmouse: It seems you're really having a problem with Derrick May?
It's not really clear what you're trying to reach over here after 100.000 replies...

Yeah, fair enough. I take it all back. He's wonderful. Since he's been such a key player in the scene then it's ok for him to slag it off as much as he likes.

[mek]

I think Derrick was rightfully put off by those first few comments about him being old school, in the old school room.

But he did sound pretty jaded... and to say there are NO new artists that interest him? Damn.

[TechMouse]

I think Derrick was rightfully put off by those first few comments about him being old school, in the old school room.

Erm... he is old school though, isn't he?

By defnition he's old school... he's one of the originators of Techno, and hasn't put out a record in ages. Two hallmarks of "old school", surely?

[SlavikSvensk]

i remember i was playing at a club a while back with derrick and someone from the crowd said to me - wow that dj is an asshole, he actually asked security to get him a girl from the dancefloor to take back to his room. now i was like 'wow that's really bad, derrick may's a right ass' but then thought about it and thought hold on - how do you know? and hold on - i wasnt there so i why should i form an opinion based around this? i learnt a big lesson that night. DONT LISTEN TO THE RUMOUR MILL!!!

i think that's a techno urban legend. i've heard it from a couple people, one in detroit and another in london, the exact same story, each time "my friend heard..." or "my friend's friend was, blah, blah..."

[Dustin Zahn]

i remember i was playing at a club a while back with derrick and someone from the crowd said to me - wow that dj is an asshole, he actually asked security to get him a girl from the dancefloor to take back to his room.
:)

Sounds like he needs to get some pointers on talking to the ladies. :lol: