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The Wolfgang Gartner Interview.
Posted by: Tony – May 17, 2011
Of all the people I’ve interviewed, Wolfgang Gartner has one of the most impressive track records. And yet, people seem to know very little about him. Joey Youngman, stage name Wolfgang Gartner, has skyrocketed to fame over the past few years. Now, with an essential mix on BBC Radio1, a collaboration with deadmau5, and a Grammy nomination for Best Remixed Recording, 2011 is setting out to be the year of Wolfgang. An impressive eight of his songs have gone to #1 on Beatport, and he has been recognized as one of the leading figures in dance music production today. He recently embarked on the road for a six-week tour, boasting an impressive light and visual setup that is sure to take his already incredible performance over the top. I wanted to know more about this loner DJ, so I made a request to pick his brain. The results were far from disappointing.
(ed. note- Alex got this interview because we thought Wolfgang was coming to Richmond. But the show got canceled, so we are posting it anyway and sharing it with our friends at BetaParty. Here's hoping he changes his mind and comes back someday soon.)
When your teachers in elementary and middle school asked what you wanted to be when you grew up, what did you say?
I believe “a famous musician who travels the world” is the exact quote, so I’m told.
Do you believe it was the piano playing when you were younge, that set into motion this musical wildfire that has erupted since? If not, could you pinpoint when the light bulb went off in your head and you decided you would try your luck at DJing?
The piano playing was just me being musical on the only thing that was available to me at that age--a piano. As for the light bulb that went off that ignited DJing, that’s a whole other story. That was well after I had been making dance music with synthesizers and stuff. I started getting into the dance music culture, which inevitably led to DJing and mixing music together.
On the road to becoming a professional DJ, I’ve read that you started with tape decks at age 13, moving on to turntables at 14 and then spinning in nightclubs by 16. I would assume at the rate at which this all happened, you had a pretty straightforward transition. Was there ever Joey the dishwasher, or Joey the pizza delivery guy in high school?
Oh yeah, there was Joey the dishwasher. McDonalds was my first job though. Then I moved up to dishwashing at a restaurant, was a bus boy, worked at Subway, [and] worked in a warehouse that shipped tennis gear for an online site (no interest in tennis whatsoever). Then I believe Guitar Center was my last “real job,” when I was 20. That lasted about three weeks. When I realized you actually had to SELL people stuff, I couldn’t do the sales thing.
Tell us about your early underage gigs. Any standout moments that you feel should be worth noting?
The memories of those years are pretty cloudy. I just have vague memories of being in high school and bringing my tape decks over to friends’ houses on the weekends for little parties. There would be like 20 or 30 people there, and I would DJ. And then I very clearly remember my first real gig at a club playing vinyl, when I was 16, where I trainwrecked horribly most of my set. Luckily I was on at like 8pm and there were only about 10 people there to witness it.
It seems like the past few years have been a blur for your career. You went from being the DJ “everyone should be on the lookout for” to having numerous #1 Beatport tracks and even being nominated for a Grammy. Where do you go from here?
There is quite a long climb from where I’m at actually, if you want to look at it as a career on a graph, but that’s not how I look at it. If you really look at the big picture of dance music, I am doing well, but I’ve got a long way to go. Basically I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing and I am pretty sure it will get me there.
Your new tour just started not too long ago, complete with a custom (badass, judging from the videos) live set up. Was this one of your ideas?
First off it’s not a “live” setup, it’s a lighting and visuals stage, and quite an elaborate one at that. And no, this was more the idea of my management and label. I was opposed to it at first because I dreaded the idea of traveling on a bus, which was necessary to transport the gear and crew to operate it. That was the only reason. They really had to convince me to do it. Then when I saw the setup (now lovingly referred to as “Medusa”) for the first time, I couldn’t get this big grin off my face. [I] realized they knew exactly what they were doing, and now that I’ve been on the bus I realize it’s actually better than air travel. So it all worked out really well.
What would you say the best and worst things about being on the road for so long are? What do you miss the most? What are three non-musical tour essentials you can’t leave home without?
This is by far the longest I’ve ever been on the road, this six-week tour. Before that it was two weeks. It’s actually kind of cool being on a bus for so long, because it becomes your home, and you start to feel very comfortable there. I actually find myself hanging out on the bus a lot when I could be in a hotel. I miss my cat (who has somebody taking care of him of course), my morning coffee and breakfast tacos from the same spot every day, and my solitude. I am sort of a loner and need a lot of time to myself, and you don’t get a ton of that on a tour bus with six other people. The three tour essentials are — Listerine, the Starbucks-locator app on my iPad, and tons of extra socks. Aside from the obvious stuff like laptop, blank cd’s, phone, lots of changes of clothes, toiletries, etc.
More often than not, DJ’s never make that leap from “the guy who will spin a good set, but that’s it” to “I want to go see XXX play because they’re doing something different." With this new live show, do you think this will help you cross that boundary and become more of a performer than just a “DJ/producer”?
I think I was a performer before the lighting rig, before Medusa. That is part of being a good DJ these days — interacting with the crowd, moving around, being fun to watch, rather than just standing there and mixing music together. Look at Swedish House Mafia, [or] Laidback Luke. [Those are] just two examples, but they are performers — they put on a show by interacting with the crowd and really getting into it physically. This is what I’m talking about. And all of us are just mixing music together, but we take it beyond the old job description of being a DJ. As for Medusa, it just adds to the visual element of the show, and in a very big way. It makes it even more fun to watch. I have considered and researched many different ideas as far as the music is concerned, different directions I could go with how I perform musically, and I think I prefer to stick with a DJ set for now. It is virtually impossible to “perform live” [with] electronic dance music. Most of the time [when] you see “live set” next to some dance artist's name on a flyer, they aren’t actually performing their songs live. This is a common misconception. Some of them are running Ableton and have a few effects boxes, and they are essentially doing the exact same thing as me — mixing music together. But nobody can see what’s on that computer screen, so nobody knows that. Some of them may go a step further and have chunks of each of their songs pre-grouped, to where they can sort of do a semi-live type thing. But they still aren’t really performing live. This whole “live set” thing in the dance world is really poor use of the term “live” and it is very misleading for those who aren’t clued into the technology. They actually believe these artists are performing these songs live. It’s a pretty gimmicky way to bill an artist in my opinion. I don’t blame the artists, I blame the agents and promoters who try to charge more for tickets by putting that “live” word next to the name. Shit, I think I’ve even been billed as “live” before without my knowledge. In fact, you even referred to Medusa as “the new live show” in your question, so it’s just that this word is getting thrown around too loosely now. An elaborate stage and lighting rig does not imply that an artist is performing live. If you want to go see a real live dance show, go see Basement Jaxx when the whole band is up on stage with the backup vocalists and everything. That’s a live performance. The dance world has it twisted right now.
Congratulations on your recent single, "Forever!" It features vocals by Will.I.Am and as some might have guessed, the internet has had some unkind remarks regarding your pairing. Tell us how this collaboration came about and your opinion of those who might think negatively of pop and top 40 artists making the crossover into their sacred dance scene.
The collaboration came about organically, because Will was a fan of my music. He was playing it in his DJ sets and using it to write lyrics over. I have been a fan of him and the Peas for a solid decade, so it was a natural pairing. There are unkind remarks about just about every song every artist ever puts out, and the dark nature of the internet is that the haters are often more vocal than the lovers. So seeing some negative comments was no surprise at all. Overall, the song has been very well received and a massive hit whenever I play it. That was the thing that really opened my eyes to how ignorant a lot of these people are who were making negative comments. I’ve been playing this track at my gigs for over a year, and every single time I played it, people go crazy — absolutely nuts. They put up Youtube clips and are trying to find out what it is. It was the most sought-after track ID from my sets for the past year. Then it comes out, people see the name Will.I.Am on it, and they suddenly change their tune. Obviously not everybody did this, but a lot of people did, which just says that they’re looking at music politically rather than musically. Who cares who the vocalist is? If I thought Garth Brooks would sound dope over one of my tracks, I’d be hitting him up for a vocal. I don’t care what his name represents or where he comes from or what he’s done. All I care about is the musical result. Will’s performance on “Forever” is one of the best lyrical performances he’s ever given, hands down. If you listen to what he’s saying, it fits everything so well. I think part of the problem is that since we made the track together over a year ago, Will got called out for sampling a riff from Boys Noize and a hi-hat from deadmau5, which angered a lot of the dance community, and I can understand that. But people need to listen to music for music and not politicize it so much. The rap community is really bad like this, and the dance community is a really close second.
Five years ago, did you see yourself where you are now? What about the dance music scene?
Nope. Five years ago I saw myself mass-producing disposable disco house tracks and living a mediocre life. As for the dance scene, I had no idea or even the faintest hope that it would blow up again to the point it’s at now. I’d say things turned out pretty well.
What can you tell us about future Wolfgang Gartner productions? Collaborations, an album, etc.
I am one track away from finishing my first full-length album. It should be out early summer. There are a number of collaborations with vocalists on it. I think the boundaries of dance music are really being pushed here. My goal was to produce an album that changed the landscape of dance music, changed peoples’ lives, changed the game, and I think I may have done it.
If you could form a super-group of DJs to come together and play one massive, headlining, sold-out arena show, who would you pick, and what would they play?
I’ve already played a number of events exactly like what you described above. Electric Daisy Carnival has to be my favorite.
Assume you have a day off, absolutely nothing on your agenda and all you have to do is relax. Take us into the mind of Joey Youngman after he drops the Wolfgang Gartner skin. What would your day consist of?
Given my somewhat unhealthy obsession with day spas, it would go like this: Sauna, Deep Tissue Massage, Steam Room, Pool, Hot Tub, Relaxation Massage, Cucumbers over my eyes, then probably some sushi. When I have a day off I have to give my body some love for all the shit I put it through.
www.facebook.com/djwolfganggartner
twitter.com/WOLFGANGGARTNER
by Alex Rose
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