A Sit Down With DJ Butch

His musical influences came from his brother, when he used to record techno mixes from the radio as he was out partying all night long. He absorbed every influence that entered his ear. If there would be one word how to describe Butch, it would indeed be ‘diverse’. ‘Techno heads love him, house heads love him, as well as the deep and dirty and the light & bright. Few artists flow through genres and emotional landscapes with such ease and fluidity as Bulent, challenging preconceptions of the dance-floor and the expected outcome in the process.

 

“I work every day of the week and I think this continuity has worked very well for me.”

 

How would you explain the rapidity of your success at the beginning of your career? Indeed, since your first track there was a buzz around you. You tracks could be found in the playlists of prominent names such as Richie Hawtin, Dubfire, Villalobos, Luciano and many others.

That´s not easy to answer…I think I had the luck to meet the right people at the right time that supported me during years and I was always working really hard in the studio. I´m still doing that…there are weeks when i´m in the studio until deep in the night for 5 days in a row. Apart from that i´m always trying to produce music that works on the dancefloor but without being too obvious and DJs appreciate that.

You dove into dance music when you were a teen and haven’t swam out of it for over 20 years already. Have you ever thought, what would you be in a parallel world if you hadn’t got that record player when you were 12?

In a parallel universe I am now in prison and in another parallel universe I am a visual artist of some sort, maybe a painter or making videos.

You’ve had a phenomenal amount of releases since 2007 and now you’re back with a new EP “The Persistence of Memory.” With such an impressive back catalogue, where do you continue to find inspiration for what you create? And with such an obvious wealth of ideas, how do you manage the issue of quality verses quantity?

To be honest, I’m thinking all the time about music and I can’t switch off. It’s a good thing but it’s also a problem. It’s bad for your social life because I’m pretty focused. I have produced a large quantity of music, and I do a lot of music, but I’m not fast. I spend so much time in the studio. I wake up at 7 a.m., I’m in there by 9 a.m., and I don’t leave again till seven at night. I can make a track in one week minimum, and sometimes it takes up to three. Quantity comes from a lot of work and focus, some people can do a track in two hours, but I can’t.

How would you describe your influences and how have they changed over the years?

Musically, we were influenced very early by different Genres from hip hop to rock. The fact that we also produce our own music in addition to the DJing, each set is unmistakable and many songs get put a new stamp on. The Main product of us are Mashups, which we always create for our Yearmixes and Promomixes, own songs and remixes. The reason for that is because we love EDM tracks with hard drops but at the same moment we want the crowd to identify with the song and want them to sing with it. Due to that that we mix a well-known charthit with a banging EDM drop. So the people can sing, identify with it and at the drop totally go crazy. Sometimes we also use 90s tracks to call some nostalgic feelings.

After many years and a honorable career you certainly noticed some changes in the electronic music scene, like fashions and transition phases. Where do you think we are now, musically and artistically speaking? Do you like the modern scene? Pick a past decade when you would like to be DJing.

I wish I could DJ a Soul Train episode of the 70s, that would be fucking awesome! There are so many parallel trends happening right now, I can find 1000 things I dislike about music nowadays and 1000 things that I love right now.

With reference to your release schedule over the past five years, on average how many hours a week would you spend on production in your studio? Do you get the opportunity to practice your Dj’ing, or does production always take precedence?

I started Dj’ing when I was 12 and practiced nearly every day until I was 18. I was into Turntablizm then, which really takes loads of practice. I actually took part in and also won many Turntablizm competitions. I actually stumbled over this old video from 2004, where I’m scratching my arse off so to speak. You can check it out on YouTube, actually below. Behind the turntables I really feel at home, just really like riding a bike for me, but I don’t do in my spare time. I don’t have any turntables at home anymore, they’re in the studio/office now. I buy new songs and play them for the first time at the weekend. I like it like that. Often I get to hear things in the songs that way for the first time just as the club-goer does, and it gets us on the same wave-length, cos I’m just as excited to hear what’s coming up as they are. I honestly think I’m a better DJ than producer, because that’s not only where I come from, but also what I produce for. But producing definitely takes up my tour-free time.

Any particular artist or style that created your obsession within electronic music?

I couldn’t name a specific artist, there are too many to single one or two out. All music influences me but I guess the music from Wildstyle and Beat Street sets the underlying tone. This is where Hip Hop and Electronic Music are still one, where dance music has a real edge and a mean beat and is about skills and danceability. Still, as I say, I really love all kinds of music!

You are being referred to as one of the most versatile producers in electronic music. What makes you desire exploring diverse genres in electronic music?

Genre names are only that: names. I don’t go about making friends depending on their names. I have friends called Yusuf, Sebastian, Ho, Carmen, Seth, Rimah, Thomas, because I don’t care about the name, but about the person. The same goes for the music. I don’t like a song because it is House music. I like many songs, which can be placed in the genre of House music. That doesn’t mean I might not also like a song, which people categorize as Experimental Glitch Techno, whatever that may be. I don’t care what that means, I care about the feeling I get, when I hear the song. That’s how I work on my music as well. I don’t think: I want to make a Techno tune. I just make a tune. It’s other people’s job to call it Techno, my job is just to make what I make.

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