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The Bush Administration Are the Biggest War Criminals of the 21st Century. “The club crackdown affects me more than the kids, because the kids seem very chilled out and somehow unaware of what is really going on. They’re not even conscious they’re tuning out, they just seem to be totally absorbed by TV.
For me and my immediate friends, though, it’s a rough call, because what we see today is fascism; we see Hitler in a double breasted suit.”
Detroit techno legend Derrick May has long been known as being one of dance culture’s most talented and outspoken characters, and chatting the line from his beloved Motor City today, he’s typically passionate about exercising his free speech.
“I never thought I’d live to see an American government, who totally disregard public feelings and opinions, using- on top of everything- fear tactics to stop people saying how they feel,” he continues.
“I think the Bush administration are the biggest was criminals of the 21st century.”
US elections issues aside, though, May’s focus remains electronic music, with his primary interest right now being Detroit’s massive Movement Festival (DEMF), the city’s annual three day street parade, which he’s recently taken control of. There’s also the small matter of his return to London next week (February 7) to spin a 3 hour DJ set at Turnmills though he admits he’s nowadays more ambivalent about coming back.
“There was a time when I considered London to be my second home in the late 80s and early 90s and at that time it always felt like a special place,” he says.
“Then the sensational and the populist became popular again in London and the music took a polite back seat, which meant I stopped seeing it as quite the same place it used to be. When I say populist and popular I’m talking about the age of the superclub, the Mixmag (type) magazines and that whole over-rated drug culture. People lost focus.”
“It changed when the money came in and people started knowing they could get their pictures in the magazines. There’s nothing wrong with that; I love to get paid for what I do; I love to make a lot of money; I do make a lot of money and I love to be appreciated too, but what happened was, a lot of guys started believing their shit don’t stink.”
Skrufff (Jonty Skrufff): Your playing at London’s Turnmills next weekend and Split’s flyer says they’re distancing themselves from the ‘moody trainspotter” blokes often associated with modern techno, how do you view these characters?
Derrick May: “I remember the crowd from the very first time I went to Europe and I noticed even back then, that as soon as I started playing, the guys moved up to the front pushing the girls away. I remember thinking that this wasn’t a good thing at all. That night really defined my future attitude to DJing, because every time I saw that happening, I started purposely play a record that I knew was going to piss the guys off, something fluffier, more tender, that would be better received by girls.”
Skruffff: How do you feel about techno nights usually attracting far more men then women?
Derrick May: “I don’t like women to be disconnected from music. I think that if techno has this macho image, it’s because women have not been involved as much as they should have been. The female element is vital to the art and the life; women bring an honest opinion to the music; they bring life to this planet and they hold the secret of life. I always prefer to play to a chick who’s intrinsically knowledgeable about life, than a shirtless, sweaty guy who’d dance to anything that has a beat.”
Skrufff: You’ve just signed a deal to run Detroit’s Movement Festival for the next five years, what’s your vision for the event?
Derrick May: “We want to bring as much attention to the city of Detroit as possible, because I think this may be the last chance that we may be able to do it through techno music. I don’t know if there’s going to be a next generation of young musicians coming through to follow up in our footsteps. Our intention is to make it like Sonar (Barcelona’s world renowed music and arts festival), in some ways, to showcase and give exposure to, not just local young talent, but also to artists from across the country. We’re also hoping to bring those who’ve already made musical history, bands like Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, even someone like Ruichi Sakamoto, just to show that there is a next level, and it’s not over just because you leave dance music. Electronic music has many other aspects and levels beyond dance music.”
Skrufff: Going into your own days as a young face on the scene, your old Detroit contemporary Kevin Saunderson used to DJ at college fraternity parties in his pre-techno days, did you also go to university in the 80s?
Derrick May: “I was a runner (sprinter), I used to run 100m or 200m, so I started off with a college scholarship, did six months or so and then left when I realised it wasn’t for me, I had lost focus. I actually got booted out; I wasn’t University material. I was quite introverted too, and never socialised much.”
Skrufff: Did you go clubbing much then, or visit clubs in Chicago or even new York’s Paradise Garage, for example?
Derrick May: “No, I didn’t go to Paradise Garage, I went to places like the Music Box run by Ron Hardy and The Power Plant run by Frankie Knuckles, which clubs in Chicago. I was just a kid then, I didn’t make music or anything, but I was captivated by the atmosphere I found in those places. When Frankie played an electronic track the whole vibe of the place changed from ‘one love’ to ‘angelic’. You could smell nature against this electronic backdrop. It was almost supernatural. You were transported somewhere different. I’ve always thought that if I had the chance to re-live a moment in my life, that’d be it. Ron was a very radical DJ, mixing high pitched records, re-mixing Stevie Wonder tracks, he was future then, and he would be future now.”
Skrufff: America’s entire nightlife and club culture seems to be under direct threat from the Bush Administration right now, what’s your take on what’s going on?
Derrick May: “Well, if anything the crackdown effects me more than the kids, because the kids seem very chilled out and somehow unaware of what is really going on. They’re not even conscious they’re tuning out, they just seem to be totally absorbed by TV. For me and my immediate friends though, it’s a rough call, because what we see is fascism; We see Hitler in a double breasted suit. I never thought I’d live to see a government who totally disregards public feelings and opinions using on top of everything fear tactics to stop people saying how they feel.
Our fathers, the previous generation, wouldn’t have allowed this to happen, while my generation, people in their 30’s, seem to be totally unaware and hopeless. But it’s the new generation, those around 25 and under, that really worry me, and the way they’re being bred to cope with the new system. They’ve been given all the possible choices under the umbrella of consumerism and that’s all they’re into; their MTV, VH1, Nike, Prozac, videogames, whatever. Even the psychologists sitting around the President’s office make decisions according to demographic figures. For example, they may take into account that 50 million kids bought a Playstation last year, and they know exactly where these kids live, since all Playstations are barcoded. So they know where they live, they know what they’re buying and they know how to centralise these people out of control. They also have the power to influence the creators of these videogames to make more games about soldiers, and marines, all that USA kicks ass stuff…”
Skrufff: You sound quite pessimistic about the future, are you?
Derrick May: “I am optimistic, but I’m also a pissed off black man. What makes me optimistic is the belief that there’s already some five year old kid out there who’s like Kevin Saunderson was when he was five. Someone who, when he sees a shade of pink is going to say ‘that doesn’t look like pink to me’ or when he sees blue says ‘that doesn’t look blue, that looks more like turquoise’. Or ‘you know what? I don’t want to watch TV today, I wanna’ go outside’. That’s what makes me optimistic- to believe that there’s someone out there right now who’s going to think with his or her own head. And he may not even make music, he might be a fucking garbage man, but he’ll be somebody different, somebody interesting.”
Skrufff: How much do you believe in fate and destiny?
Derrick May: “I believe in it completely. I believe everything happens for a reason, I believe in timing, I believe that if I tap you on the shoulder and I talk to you even for a couple of minutes, I’ve altered your life and you’ve altered mine. We don’t know how, be we’ve altered each other’s lives. I’ve pretty much always believed this.”
Skrufff: How have your attitudes changed as you’ve aged?
Derrick May: “There was one period when I made a lot of money when I started believing I had already done my part. In fact, I was being ridiculous, I didn’t understand anything, Id simply lost my focus, got angry and forgot what my mission was for a minute. But I’m on it right now, I got my mission back.”
http://www.turnmills.com (Derrick May, Guy Called Gerald, Chris Finke etc @ Split etc: Turnmills, Saturday February 7: tickets £12 in advance)
http://www.movementfestival.com (May 29-31, Hart Plaza, Detroit)
http://www.transmat.com (Derrick’s label Transmat)
Interview by: Jonty Skrufff (Skrufff.com)
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