interesting interview with Dave Seaman

[4james2S.0]

Renaissance and the rebirth of Dave Seaman

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“People don’t quite realize what goes into doing a mix CD. It can be a real nightmare.”


The historical Renaissance period marked the revival of cultural achievements including art, architecture, literature and of course music. In the 21st Century, Renaissance - the household clubbing brand made famous by DJs like Sasha and John Digweed - is once again back in the spotlight as dance music enters its own period of rebirth and revival.

And who better to have teamed up with, than the man who is perhaps 'more Renaissance than Renaissance', Dave Seaman. Having been been around the DJ block and back again, his resume (Mixmag, DMC, Renaissance, Global Underground, Kylie) both on the music business side and DJ side of things, is as varied as the day is long.

One of the most instrumental people in the dance music scene (it was Seaman who picked up Sasha who in turn picked up that other guy John Digweed), Dave Seaman has continued to help push some of the industry's most promising talent; in recent years lending a hand to the careers of Infusion, Phil K and most recently Luke Chable, whom he has partnered with for the second installment of his Therapy compilation series, Renaissance presents Therapy Sessions Volume 2.

Having seen it all, done it all and said it all, Dave still managed to find the time to have another chat with RA about his Audio Therapy label, the Renaissance presents Therapy Sessions Volume 2 compilation, the merits of mixing records together the good old-fashioned way, his thoughts on some of dance music's print media and his own forthcoming rebirth, of sorts.

How did the Therapy Sessions CDs come about?

Obviously I've done a few Renaissance CDs and quite a few Global [Underground] CDs. We started the label off and the Therapy thing, and I thought it was time to do a CD under our own brand, start things up for ourselves instead of doing it for other people.

We decided we were going to that with Renaissance and I told Geoff [Oakes] we were going to do it and it would be good if we could do it together. They obviously have the machine in place for putting out CDs. Since it would be the first one on our own we thought it would be a good thing for both of us to sort of do a joint thing; to get our brand out there and of course Renaissance wanted to be part of it too.

How long did it take to come up with the tracklisting and get it organized?

It’s a nightmare. I said it on the liner notes of Therapy Sessions 1 - if you read those, it goes through the process. People don’t quite realize what goes into doing a mix CD. It can be a real nightmare.

You get so many tracks to start off with, it could be hundreds, and you have to sift through them and then get them down to the ones that you want and try to get them licensed. Some times you get them, sometimes you don’t. You might have the perfect idea of what the mix CD should sound like and then that track there, and that track there don’t get licensed and the tunes that remain don’t fit together.

Then you are back to square one as you may have to scrap all the ones you have as they don’t fit together and go for a different route with different tracks. It can go around and around in circles for weeks trying to get the final lot together. You try and be as upfront as possible and make the mix flow, which is one of the most important things, but licensing is a real problem.

And, as there are more mix CDs out there, there are more and more DJs fighting for tracks. It becomes more of a problem. This one was not too bad for me, but the previous one was a nightmare.

You were the first editor of Mixmag, and over the last few years many of the print magazines have gone out of business or readership is way down. Do you think that the remaining ones will stay afloat?

No, I think they probably will go down. There is room for maybe one, probably DJ, but I think Mixmag will go. I don’t read it anymore. There is nothing to read in there anymore. It is the same stories repeated over and over again. They are cornering themselves into a very niche market with the music they cover - that trancey stuff. They’re going toward a bad end for me.

What is going on with Audio Therapy? It took a while to start up after the launch in ’99, but is going well now. What is up next?

It was a staffing problem to start off with. We did not have a label manager when we started and we tried to do it on the side, but we all had our own jobs and could not devote enough time to it. Once the label money started to come in about a year and a half ago, that is when we got things together and the quality of releases are going up and up and up as well.

There is some really exciting stuff coming up as well. The Tone Depth single is next, a Killahurtz single with a Hybrid mix on it, Pete Gooding the resident from Mambo, the Infusion track, Ernest St. Laurent, and a new series starting [with the first release] from Greece called “Across Borders.” It will focus in on a particular country, with Greece being first, and it will be 8-10 tracks from producers from Greece. Kosmas [Epsilon] is on there, Nikola Gala, Stel, Dousk, and all those people. It will be a regular thing, with Germany after that. We'll do about two a year.

I’ve spent a lot of time in Greece and the scene seemed so bad for so long. However, I was back for the Olympics and the scene really seemed to have picked up. Why do you think it has done so?

It has been one of the best places in the world recently. Every place goes through a period when it gets into its clubbing scene and it took Greece a little while, but the last few years have been amazing. I’ve done all the main islands, probably 10-15 in all. They are a very passionate people, and as the clubbing thing started to happen all kinds of records started to come out from really good producers.





“It has started to breath again, to flourish.”

Do you feel digital downloads have helped, or hurt, Audio Therapy in terms of recognition and sales?

It is the future, but we have actually gone up in terms of our vinyl sales as well. However, vinyl will die and people will want to source their music through the internet. It doesn’t really matter how people want to buy their music. It really doesn’t matter which method or form they want to receive it. We’ve done better sales than what we would have done on vinyl.

A lot of DJ booths have incorporated more technology into them with CDJs, DVJs, or using computers. Do you think it is enough for people mix two records together anymore? Do you need EFX units or Ableton?

No. I do not I think you have to do that at all. You are there to entertain. To try and send as many people home happy as possible. Whichever way you do that is up to you. If you choose the right records and put them in the proper order and do not have to do anything else to them because people are having a good time, then you do not have to do all that bollocks and fancy stuff. All right, it is nice to add an extra string to your bow and put in a few tricks now and again, but people can go too far with it. People are out for a good time on a Friday or Saturday night, out to dance and have fun. They do not necessarily understand and not too many appreciate what the DJ is doing. It is enough to play two records, but if you can do some more things and more weapons in your armory, that is great as well.

Many of the U.K. DJs have moved away or are playing a lot less at home. Do you think Britain has fallen off or there are just so many other places to tour now?

For me, I started touring before, when the U.K. was still really rocking. I wanted to see the world. I wanted to travel. I enjoyed the challenge of going to different countries, of playing music, but I think now a lot more people are starting to do stuff abroad. It was a natural progression. Once you do a lot of stuff in the U.K., you want to spread and do more and more things. I think the U.K. is having a bit of a revival. The clubs are smaller, the whole scene has gone underground a little bit, which is what it needed to do. The fashion cycle showed it got too big and now it has to go back underground out of the confines and shackles of the commercialism it had become. It has started to breath again, to flourish. There are a lot of good, small, 800-1000 people clubs that are doing well.

You have always nurtured younger talent, whether it be taking them on tour, putting them on your label, etc. Do you feel a responsibility to help out as a mentor?

I do not feel a responsibility. It is a natural thing. You see somebody that has some talent and you can open a door for them - it is just in my nature really. It helps me keep going as well - meeting new people coming through with fresh ideas, so it works for me as well. It works for both parties.

What is up next? What is in store for the summer?

I’m getting married in a few weeks, and I’ve got a baby on the way in September. We’ve just moved house near Nottingham. There are a few things going on label-wise and a compilation coming out later in the year. I’m going to do a Best of Therapy Compilation with loads of new mixes, and exclusive mixes of the old stuff.