Page 18 - Zone Magazine Issue 014

18 ZONE-MAGAZINE.COM
feature interview [uk]
SAYTEK
Pounding Pulsating
Passionate
It's pretty hard to have grown up with an interest in electronic music and not have heard of Saytek. He has gathered some serious momentum over the last few years and has become one of the electronic music scene’s most in-demand live acts. From shows in Ibiza at The Zoo Project, The Terrace of Space and regular shows at fabric London to being fully embraced by Berlin's underground scene performing regularly at well-known clubs like Tresor, Golden Gate, Sisyphos and more. He has a relentless tour schedule with gigs at some of the best clubs and festivals all over the world like in Canada, Croatia, France, The Czech Republic, Italy, Belgium, Poland, Spain, Netherlands, Finland to name but a few.
of 10. I was making bleeps on a computer and using a Tandy mixer, a Jen synth and a Roland TR606 drum machine to make music of sorts, recording my mum singing. I was totally obsessed with sound and manipulating it. When I moved to London me and some friends built a studio with an Akai S900 sampler and an Atari Running Cubase and a few synths. Then I got my first Groove box which was the Roland MC505 I loved the way this worked a sequencer , drum machine and synths all in one box!
Saytek has garnered acclaim the world over with his improvised live shows that see him using a myriad of kit. Saytek is master of musical technology with a unique energy and ear for melody and knows exactly how to make each piece of studio kit dance to his visionary ideas. He writes produces and performs everything live. When talking about his work, and what he puts into music at all, there's no doubting how seriously he takes it. It seems he knows every single detail about everything he touches.
For me its still so fresh and new. I never feel like I have been doing it for 20 years. It still excites me and I am still surprised by the sounds I hear on tour and I am always impressed by DJs I hear out in clubs. I think I love it more as I have got older I feel more comfortable meeting new people, more sure in my music and less nervous before shows. I am still totally in love with every aspect of my career apart from maybe the plane and train journeys home with no sleep!
Saytek's music output is prolific and includes EPs and live albums on his own Cubism label, along with 12” and digital releases on labels such as Soma, Bedrock, Lauter Unfug, My Favorite Robot Records and many more. His work has graced the playlist of DJs including Carl Cox, Laurent Garnier, Steve Lawler and Marcell Detman, among many. Saytek was nominated for Best Live Act by DJ Mag for their 2013 Awards; while Mixmag awarded "Album Of The Month" the same year. Since then a lot has happened. We sat down with Saytek to talk about everything from producing, his passion for gear, his influences, the clubscene and many more. So sit back, make yourself comfortable and enjoy the ride.
When I was young I was very good at Physics at school I was obsessed with it. But I lost interest as I became a teenager and discovered electronic music and parties I stopped caring so much about school.
Could you tell us a little bit about your musical roots?
I was lucky enough to grow up in a very fruitful time for electronic music in the UK I was introduced to Acid House, UK Rave Music and Detroit techno at a very young age and loved it, but also artists like Apex Twin, Future Sound Of London, Orbital, The Orb, Underworld, Leftfield, Massive Attack, Portishead, Tricky, The Prodigy and many more. It was so new and fresh I loved the music and it felt like a scene that was truly our own older people didn't understand. My teenage years and 20’s where very rebellious times for me illegal parties staying out for days at a time I lost my self in many ways but found music in big way and it helped me through the darker times.
My influences are vast and wide; when I was younger my dad listened to classical, Jazz and 60’s rock. When I found my own tastes I was into Detroit techno, Acid, dub, 90s ambient and experimental music like Aphex twin and Square Pusher, it was when working at clubs like the End I really discovered the underground house sound of the time which was tribal, electronic and tech house it was really fresh and was the perfect antidote to the big room trance by numbers sound that dominated the super clubs then, I suppose all these influences remain in my music today, rather than following the latest trends I like to blend what I like from today’s sounds with music influenced by my long love affair with electronic music. When I make music I tend to go with the feeling, I really like to put my soul into it.
Between the gigs and studio, how busy are you for the rest of the year?
What type of equipment did you start off using back in the day?
I got interested in sound and early music technology at the age
How did you learn to produce electronic music?
Yes I am self-taught. I did some courses in Sound Engineering when I was younger which was really handy to learn about how sound works, but the production thing I taught myself very young!
What do you love most while touring around the globe, playing live & producing?
Have you ever imagined doing something else other than music?
What was it then about electronic music that was so appealing to you at an early age?
I am always very busy in the studio: Making new live music, remixing or collaborating. I also do a lot of gigs and touring but I am also a family man a father of two boys of 2 and 4 years old. They keep me very busy! Just recently I started teaching students pusic production at degree level at pointblank once a week I also find that very rewarding.