“I really appreciate how it all came together so quickly, and can’t help but feel a bit giddy on how beautiful if was to see everyone appear there as if by magic, and see the beaming smiles on so many faces.”

UPDATE December 31st 12:45pm 2008: Cielo will be reopening in time for the New Years Eve ‘Roots’ party with Louie Vega and Kevin Hedge and returning to its normal schedule there after.

What are some of your musical influences and what is your personal musical history?
I used to go to a club in the south of England that kind of got me into the whole dance music scene. Ever since then I’ve followed it, for the last 15 years really, and it’s taken me a while to appreciate where it’s all come from. The inspirations go back all the way to the disco scene that started in America and I’m still trying to research it all today and I’m finding out all this stuff that I’ve missed. But the inspiration comes from going out as a young boy.

Are there any artists that come to mind as influences?
People that I really like now and have changed the way I look at music are people like Theo Parish, people from the label like Stevie Kotey and Mark Seven, and a lot of DJs out there that stay true to their roots and don’t necessarily play music that will be commercially viable. They just play good music. That’s what I’m trying to achieve by doing the label.

How did you take the step from being a dance music fan to starting your own label?
I’ve always worked with music. I left university and, it took a while, but I kept banging on the doors of record labels and I got a job working for BMG. I’ve worked for labels for 10 years and I’ve always done the business and finance side of things, but I’ve always been interested in putting on parties and the music as a kind of social thing. I started putting on parties, proper parties, about four years ago. We used to do warehouse parties in London’s East End, and from working with people who we booked as DJs, it was like a natural progression. There’s only so far you can go doing a party and the label was something I wanted to do and I could put my skills to use from working on the business side of it. It just kind of got started from there and I really enjoy doing it so I’ve kept after it.

Can you tell us what it’s like operating a record label in a time when the economy is struggling? What is the scene like in London as far as people going out to parties, buying records and so on?
It’s really, really hard. Most people told me that I was crazy for setting up a label and only through being very, very careful with the way that I do things have I been able to make a little bit of money, but by no means enough to live off. So it’s a labor of love, definitely, but it brings credibility, you know, it shows people you have a passion for it. At the moment it is very, very hard. Five hundred records is the, sort of, “golden number,” because a few years ago you used to be able to sell thousands, but now people are struggling to get rid of 500. People are even talking about doing special 300 deals because people even find it hard to do 500. But people, especially the younger generation, they’re not interested in buying vinyl. They want digital and I think if you have that area covered it’s good. You have to chase up all leads to make sure you’ve covered everything to get as much income as possible.

Are the sales of vinyl still relatively strong for Electric Minds or do you do more CD and digital sales?
Well I’ve only done vinyl so far, but I’m just doing a CD now, a CD with Stevie Kotey, but I don’t know. Apparently you can maybe sell 500 or one thousand or thousands of CDs. You can, I think, make some money out of CDs. As for records, I’ve always pressed 500 and I pretty much get rid of those all. There are definitely still people out there to buy vinyl, and I think there always will be, but the days where you sell a few thousand of each release are definitely gone.

Have you considered or had any success with different marketing techniques? Have you had to take drastic measures to improve your sales?
Well my marketing budget is zero, really. I try to do things that don’t cost me much money like creating a mailing list, using forums, blogs and making sure I work with little distributors all around the world. I do it all myself so I send stuff to Australia and Japan, to key distributors, and I align their skills to push the product in order to sell it. I just don’t have the money for a marketing campaign, unfortunately. I think viral and Internet-based advertising is probably my strongest area.

Can you tell us the timeline of how Electric Minds got started and who the artists were who helped put Electric Minds on the map?
I’ve worked closely with Yam Who? and he’s got a good following around the world, really. If it wasn’t for him then the label wouldn’t have got started. He shares a studio with Stevie Kotey, so through Yam Who? I met Stevie Kotey and we also have a Chaz Jankel track, which is Chaz Jankel from the Blockheads. So without him, none of this would have happened, so we try and help each other out as much as possible. But yeah, definitely Andy from Yam Who? would be the one that got it started.

What can we expect from Electric Minds in the near future?
Next month I’m going to release a 12-inch and single by Ilija Rudman who’s based out in Croatia and he’s had quite a lot of success recently. His tracks have really kind of blown off and he has a metro-area style track for the A-side and for the B-side he’s remixed a Chaz Jankel track called “You’re Too Funky.” That’s the next one and then for the new year, in January, we’re going to release a CD under Stevie Kotey’s alias, he calls himself Afrobot, and also Stevie Kotey’s second EP in February.

What advice would you give to an aspiring digital music and dance music fan who wants to start his or her own record label?

The main bit of advice would be, if you’re going to do it, do it because you love doing it. Also you just have to be really organized. There is so much that needs to be done to get the music out there and actually have the finished product. If you’ve got some passion and organization, you should go for it.

That’s all we have for you. Do you want to add anything?
Let me mention another label I work on. There’s a label called Ambassador’s Reception which is a label I’ve been working on with Stevie Kotey that is basically disco re-edits from people like Loudy that’s worth checking out. It’s a different side of things…

How did you get into the broken beat scene?

Well when I was growing up, I was a big drum ‘n bass freak. I was really into Reinforce Records, a huge drum ‘n bass label in the late 80s and early 90s run by Mark Mac and Dego from 4Hero. They’re still releasing records today, coming from London, but they were putting out drum ‘n bass when it was called break beat, when it was fast, hard-core, rave music, basically. Growing up as a kid, I was really into that sound so I sort of grew up with that label. When they started progressing into broken techno sounds and faster drum ‘n bass, I was really amazed by their production techniques and how they were chopping up breaks and this and that. When it started to slow down again in the mid 90s, when people were really experimenting with more percussive style rhythm elements and stuff, I was totally sucked up in that and I started making songs like that. Every time a big-name DJ would come to Toronto, that’s where I’m originally from, I would hit them up with my demo tapes. This was the mid to the end of the nineties. I was always making sure DJs like DJ Spinna and Giles Peterson got a copy of my demo beats. Eventually, I started getting radio play in the UK and what not and actually Dego and Mark Mac from 4Hero helped me out a lot. I sent a box of my records, Dupont and even before that, to Reinforce Headquarters in London and Mark would hand a copy of my record to the DJs that were passing through their studio. So that helped us get our name out there and from that we got a distribution deal with Goya and we had some distribution deals in the states too with Dave Cooper and Round Table, hence the connection with you guys, actually. So that is my history in a nutshell in terms of broken beat and my connection with West London and that whole broken beat sound. On one level, we work with them on a business level and get advice from those guys, but on another level we’re really amazed by the music they make and we’re interested so much that we make it ourselves.

What is the scene like in Montreal and elsewhere in Canada?

Canada is a small country, population wise, but it’s huge geographically. We have our major cities like Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, but they’re really spread out. I’ve only been to Vancouver once, but I’ve been to New York more than that, you know? Even the big cities here are smaller than cities like New York or Los Angeles or San Fran, but we have a pretty good underground music scene. There’s a long history of the house music scene and the hip hop scene in Toronto, and in Montreal, disco is king, all the way from the 70s through the late 80s. Around that time Montreal was the city in Canada. Geographically, it was closer to New York, the economy was hot here, you know, we had the Olympics here in 1976. Toronto is a more conservative city, not to say that it wasn’t jumping off there, but the stories I’ve heard from people like Christian Provono who lived here and DJed here at that time make it seem like Montreal was the spot for that. Actually, when I’m digging for records there are way more disco records than in Toronto, or anywhere else in Canada. Montreal is a smaller scene so the parties are smaller, but there’s a really good, dedicated fan base up here. There are two DJs in particular, Scott C and Andy Williams, who are here in Montreal and have been doing a party called “The Goods” for I think five or six years and the music that gets played is all over the map from dance floor jazz to broken beat to hip hop, soul, and the crowd loves it. If the police come to tell the owners to turn down the sound, the crowd doesn’t disperse, they just stay until the police leave and then the party fires back up. It’s a really interesting mix of people and you can see the dedication to good music, but it’s small. The parties are about 100, 200, 300 people max. There are a lot of other cool genres here in Montreal and Canada. Canadians tend to have their ear to the ground as far as keeping up to date on the hot shit. There’s a lot going on and a lot of people who come up here to visit… not when the Canadian dollar is on par with the US dollar though!

You seem to be one of these people who can balance being a record executive, a producer and a touring DJ. How do you do that and do you find that one aspect takes priority over the others?

It’s my failing, if anything, that I take on too many projects. For example, a lot of people have been waiting for this record that I’m releasing now because, I’ve been doing a lot, but I haven’t released a full-length since 2001 with my Dupont LP. I did a compilation of remixes in 2007 and I’ve done some singles on other labels, but when I wear so many different types of hats, like helping the label, I don’t run it by myself, but when I am focused on the label, my artistic side slacks and I don’t get to make as many beats. I actually work too, I have a day job, so when I’m at work, all the other aspects of my life suffer as a result of that. At the end of the day, I’m really committed to this. We’ve been running the record label for ten years and we’re effected by the what’s going on in the business in terms of people downloading our music for free, but we’re committed to putting out good music and committed to our artists and pushing the boundaries and repping good music.

How has the business changed in those ten years?

Before people would buy CDs for $18 or $20. The major labels would define the price structures and there was a trickle-down effect for us. We could make a bit of money on retail, but now we’re not getting any support except from our fan base. We have to focus on the hottest shit we’ve got. We have to really make sure that what we do put out isn’t slacking. The power is really back in the consumers’ hands, not only in defining what they want but demanding the quality. It’s pushing us as artists to come with a good product to sell. The whole distribution thing has completely changed. That’s why we appreciate what you guys are doing and that we can work with you and you’re there for us. It’s actually pretty amazing what you guys are doing because there aren’t a lot of organizations out there that rep the styles of music we do like you guys do so we’re really looking forward to doing this with you.

Can you tell us about the Instrumentals Forever record that’s available now at Dancetracks?

Sure. It’s a full-length record. There are 12 tracks and five interludes. It’s not fully instrumentals - there are some vocal tracks and cameos from Canadian hip hop talents Fine Print, a crew from Toronto, and Lotus, a Montreal MC. The general tempo is upbeat hip hop but I throw a mix of broken and techno sounds in there. It’s very classic; it’s like my classic style. Lately I’ve been really nostalgic about making music, like the process of making music. I used to use a lot of samples and I’ve been going back into that. I’m having a mid-life crisis where I’m craving my old samplers. That’s definitely apparent on the record. I’m a sampling-based artist and that’s my roots so it’s featured on this record a lot. It’s a typical mish-mash of Moonstarr madness. It’s up and down, but I tried to craft it in a way that would be interesting to listen to front to back so if anyone wants to check it out, I suggest they check it front to back with the interludes and everything. It’s designed that way, you know?

What’s in the works for Public Transit, your record label?

We just did the Next Stop compilation to celebrate ten years in the game which we’re offering free on our Web site. There are some artists on there that we wanted to showcase to everyone, people like LAL and Voice. They’re all working on new music and we’re hustling on that front. Voice is working on a new record that’s coming out on 2009. There is another female vocalist on my record that’s also on the compilation, Sarah Linhares, who sang on the on the “Pura Vida” 12 inch. She’s working on a solo EP that’s coming out next year. I plan on doing some smaller EP and expanding genre-wise by doing some Techno tracks and what not. But we’ll keep hustling the artists we have and really pushing the music that’s at our disposal. We’re trying to get to cities and ramp up the tour circuit because it’s a big part of our business, connecting with artists again and selling merch, selling CDs, showcasing our music.