Busy P is surely dedicated to his name. A man of several identities,
he just finished a meeting and another phone interview before picking up
our long distance call from the headquarters of Warner Music Hong Kong.
With the promotions for Blohk Party growing as strong as ever; it’s
hard not to anticipate for all the major acts that will be performing in
Hong Kong from across the world. Same goes for Busy P himself as he
tells us about his upcoming plans for Ed Banger, his own musical
expressions and his preparations for Blohk Party Hong Kong with
excitement and enthusiasm.
Hello Busy P, so happy to talk to you today! As we anticipate
for your performance at Blohk Party on the 7th of December; what do you
feel about performing at such a festival in Hong Kong?
I am very excited to be in Hong Kong again. Hong Kong is such a
unique city, the city of lights and dreams in the world. I love being in
an outdoor environment, and of course playing in front of a lot of
people. With more audiences, it encourages more connection. However, I
also enjoy playing at smaller venues or other indoor spaces. I have
played at Volar before and really enjoyed the more intimate connection
with audiences there.
From being an organizer for parties, to being the manager for
Daft Punk, and now celebrating the mark of the 10th year anniversary for
your own label Ed Banger; the options of things to do is vast, but what
are there that you are sure you do not want to do?
I want to keep my options opened and I believe there are still a
lot of things I should learn about. Being with Daft Punk for 20 years,
it was one of the most amazing learning experience. I am looking to
establish an online radio channel where people from around the world can
tune in and listen to at the moment.
Rave, trance, techno and then to house music; the generation
75 you are from saw a lot of changes, and you were one of them who
influenced the change in music by playing, introducing local DJs and
managing them under you label. What was the biggest change you have seen
in the past 10 years of building Ed Banger and what was the most
challenging for the label to overcome?
Obviously with the current era of technology improvement; social
media has come into being a powerful tool. However, I don’t see it being
a choice to use or not use it. It’s something that is strongly linked
to anybody who is living in the current timeframe; and I would say we
are learning to live with it.
Everything is much faster and easier; but that does not
necessarily mean music is better. In fact, it requires higher focus for
quality results because everything is so easy to obtain now. There are
less room for mistakes and things of good quality needs to be done in a
shorter period of time. Back in the day when I first started working
with Daft Punk, I had to carry their CDS and have it sent through Fedex
for the Broadcasting media to hear about them.
One of the ‘classic’ track that you have mentioned in a
previous interview I read is “We are Your Friends” by Justice; what’s
the next generational anthem you believe will be? How do you judge which
track will work and which track will have problems attracting
attention?
Oh yes, with “We are Your Friends”, it is a classic because when I
played it, it felt like something was happening. It’s just a pure good
feeling, and I believe it will be the only anthem for Ed Banger. There’s
no formula in producing or recognizing a track that can potentially
become the next classic; it’s like falling in love. You can’t go out on
the streets and say “I will meet a girl that I will fall in love with
today” and it just happens. It’s a pure feeling thing, and it’s a moment
that makes the track become a classic. I would say though, “Blue
Monday” by New Order is also a track that delivers a good feeling for
me.
There are a lot of other different acts invited for Blohk
Party, ones that you have and have not worked with before. Is there
anyone that you in particular am looking forward to see?
I am anticipating to see the mix crowd in Hong Kong. And for
sure, I have worked with acts like Edison Chen before, sending him
tracks for collaborations.
Kitsuné has been spreading across local Hong Kong club scenes
for the events that they have been organizing here; is Ed Bangers
preparing anything for Hong Kong or the scenes of Asia in the near
future?
For sure, I would love to come to Hong Kong and Asia with Ed
Bangers; it’s not even a matter of timing, it will happen. Once I get 10
to 12 artists on the list we will come to Hong Kong and arrange an Ed
Banger event of some sort. Breakbot and I will be in Hong Kong together
this time and will be signing our Ed Banger 10th anniversary book as
well.
The Ed Banger culture was mentioned by you to be have been
created through young kids trying to recreate Youtube videos of your
parties which is great; but how has social media assist or damaged
certain aspects of your Label?
Yes, that was during 2006 and 2007 when the kids were recreating
crazy party moments. I still recognize that as the Ed Banger culture,
but I wouldn’t want us to be stuck there. Its 2013 now and I would love
to see a new Ed Banger culture being developed if it has not been done
so already.
For more information about Busy P’s performance in Blohk Party on the 7th of December 2013, click HERE.
Interview and Written by Joyce Tsang