Sharam is an American DJ and a producer, some of you maybe know him better as one half of Deep Dish. He’s been creating music for around 25 years now, but he never stuck to one genre. He is also a co-founder of a very successful label Yoshitoshi. The main reason for this interview was his new album „Retroactive“, even though you don’t really need a reason to interview someone who has a career this rich. Sharam told us how he used to get music while he was growing up in Iran, what are the pros and cons of working in a duo, and how he worked on the album that we waited for seven years. We hope you’ll enjoy!
Could you tell us how it all started for you? When did you first get interested in electronic music, and how did you realize that that’s what you wanted to do professionally?
Listening to music was a hobby for me. In post-revolutionary Iran you didn’t have access to a lot of music so I would find it through underground channels. It was TRULY underground because music, especially the western kind, was illegal. So I would rent these tapes of music videos on Betamax from underground rental places and figure out a way to record them onto cassette tapes and play them at house parties or sell them to other kids. I was always fascinated with being able to transfer music between or mix them together through primitive devices that I had access to at the time. When I moved to the US I continued with that curiosity, and then found out there is a thing called a mixer that made the mixing much easier and turntables that allowed you to change the speed of music that, together, enabled you to mix music together in a seamless fashion. I was hooked, and that’s how I became a DJ. Soon after, I felt like I could make records and do it a bit differently than what was out there, and that let to setting up a production team with Ali Dubfire as Deep Dish. Once we did that, we started to make some noise and were soon able to quit our day jobs and do music and DJ full time. We never looked back.
You’ve been working with Ali as Deep Dish for many years now, but also as a solo artist, so in your opinion how does working in a duo differs from working as a solo artist? What are the pros and cons?
My approach to making music doesn’t change a lot. I let the ideas brew and try to finish what’s in my head based on how I envision the track.
When you are working with someone else, naturally there will be two sets of ideas and inputs, and the back-and-forth’s and compromises you make produce a unique sound. Regardless of composing solo or with Deep Dish, quality is always the most important thing. I’m always mindful not to go the generic, cookie-cutter direction. Focus is always on innovation and pushing the boundaries. I don’t pay too much attention to the genre it ends up being in.
The Pros: You have another set of ears to bounce ideas off of and also when you get stuck you can rely on the other guy to carry the project and get over the hump or help you get inspired.
The Cons:hen you’’re djing its always better to have another guy in the booth when its time to go to the bathroom. You don’t have to rush through the crowds and back worry the record is gonna run out.
What has decisively influenced your shift from earlier Deep Dish’s house sound to darker techno and tech-house sound?
The early Deep Dish sound WAS tech-house in many ways. But the term hadn’t been invented yet. We always took inspiration from Techno records as well as other genres like trance, industrial, reggae and rock. For me that process hasn’t changed. Each record goes through its own identity based on what’s in my head and what’s influencing me that particular week.
Back in 1994 you founded the Yoshitoshi label, tell us about the idea behind it. (How did it start, what was its main idea and how do you perceive its mission?)
The label was started with both myself and Ali. Originally it was an outlet to get our friends music out from the DC area. Then we started putting out records from our newly found friends from across the US and later on the globe. The labels mantra was and still is, quality over quantity. Great music without prejudice to genre. That mentality still holds through, although the scene has become overtly segregated where labels tends to stick to one sound.
The audience anticipated for about seven years to get a new LP from you, why did it took so long?
Since the last album I released a series of EPs called Mach EP series – I did 3 of them and released a few records here and there after that. I’m more comfortable releasing records under a concept. Even though I didn’t release a lot of music compared to my peers, I kept producing and was waiting for all the tracks to make sense under one concept. Retroactive gave me that concept. I probably have two albums worth of material that didn’t make this album, and I’m already putting a plan together to finish some of them and add some new ideas and release another album in about a year. I won’t wait too long to release another album because in this day and age, attention spans is too short and I have too many ideas brewing in my head to wait around that long.
Your new album Retroactive is out. You’ve already said that it’s a collection of sounds that influenced you over the years, what is the reason behind your decision to an album like this?
It wasn’t a conscious decision originally, although the seeds were probably there subconsciously and it took actually finishing the tracks one by one to arrive at that conclusion. During the process of making a record I almost always refer back to something I loved (or love) and use it as an inspiration point. Through that process, I realized that there is a thread to all the tracks I was choosing to have on the album, and that was the history of my influences. I had one leg in the past and one leg in the future. So I went back in time through my influences, hence the title Retroactive.
You have a lots of collaborations on the album, how was it working with all those people? Do you prefer working alone or collaborate with other artist and why?
I like doing collaborations because it gives you a different focal point. Every artist brings its own unique style and take and I love that process. Its inspiring for me because I likely wouldn’t have had those ideas on my own.
On which artists and upcoming releases should we keep an eye on when it comes to Yoshitoshi?
We’ve been very lucky that we’ve been able to keep going as long as we have and that’s a testament to our precise focus on quality and picking the right artist to work with. We recently started celebrating our 20th anniversary and instead of putting together a best of release and releasing it at once with couple of new remixes, we decided to re-release our classics one by one with remixes from new and exciting DJ/producers who are creating waves making interesting music. we are now upto the 10th release with 5 more in the pipeline to the end of the year. For the Yoshitoshi 20th Classics Series we’ve had remixes from Nicole Moudaber, Soul Clap, Shiba San, Robosonic, Trent Cantrelle, Anthony Attalla, Victor Ruiz, Cristoph, myself, Matador, Miss Nine, Ambivalent, Psyctron, Cid Inc, Paul Ritch, Will Clarke, and we have tons more coming up. Its been very exiting and people have embraced the idea. We’ve also releasing new material from people like Veerus & Maxie Devine, Sinisa Tamamovic, Rony Seikaly, ANNA, and many more. Its been very busy in Yoshi HQ and i’m super excited for whats in the pipeline.
You have the experience of performing in various different places. Would you say you prefer playing in clubs or at the festivals and open air parties?
I like them all. They are all different and as a Dj who love music and listens to all kinds of it, it gives me the ability to play different sets. What I play in a dark club is going to be different than an open air party where things are more happy and festivals are more about the big records.
If you had to choose a favourite track from all the tracks you produce – which one would it be and why?
I love them all equally. They are all unique in their own way and represent a different influential moment for me. Its like picking a favourite kid. Its impossible.
Where do you see yourself in ten years? Do you think you’ll still be doing what you’re doing now?
I love what I do. Hopefully I will feel the same way in 10 years. If I don’t I’ll probably do something else. But I don’t think music will ever leave me.
You must be logged in to post a comment.