Jepe FWD Interview

2017.12.07

Written Interview with Jepe for FWD.DJ 2017

You got your start in radio in 1994 and this piqued your interest in pursuing DJing. What got you interested in radio, what did you do there and how did it influence you in your greater musical journey?

I had my own show on a local independent radio in my home town. At that time I was not interested, in becoming a club DJ. I am a radio fan, my father too, and I remember my first home radio show recorded at home when I was 10. I think my father still has it. When I was 17-18 (1995) I was DJing mainly indie rock and pop and some leftfield, jungle stuff. But it was that radio show that took me to a bar and immediately to the local club where I stayed for 17 years.

I also understand that you got tasked with international booking for Estação da Luz after you had been a resident there for some time. Did going from DJing to booking change your perspective on anything? Who are some of your favorite acts you booked?

I only left my residency at the club a few years ago. My relation with that space was really deep. From DJing and booking parties - everything was done with an intimate team. We reached great success in early 2000 and managed at that time to create a small and independent club culture.

I remember the first booking I made with my Portuguese booker: Llorca (Art of Tones), Alexkid, Martin Solveig when the first album Sur la Terre was released, and more. For a lot of these artists it was their first time in Portugal. I remember the feeling of having Tiefschwarz in a packed club and Nina Kravitz when no one knew who she was. We had a lot of cool experiences during those years. We couldn’t do it every weekend - so the big acts came through every month or so. This was all before social media and I think DJing and international acts were more respected and welcome. Being at the center of this really influenced my music and perspective

You’ve produced music with Johnwaynes and solo. How is the process different for you and how do you and JW split up tasks in the studio?

Johnwaynes has always been a very spontaneous and fun project. My partner and I had a cool studio and enjoyed just working on music together. When we split and I moved to Berlin it was really hard for me to transition to working outside of a studio by myself with only software. The first 2 years was a total learning process. It took people 3 years to understand that there was a JEPE different from JW. My goal now is to produce deeper and more experimental music.

What is your approach to music production? Software, hardware, both? What are you primary points of focus when you are crafting a track?

I started with software and I think there is no shame to say I was never a hardware guy. I started during a time when everyone was selling gear and buying plugins so I’ve learned production in the digital world. Even today my tracks are 60 or 70% plugins. I discovered that I am not a beats guy compared to many of my fellow producers – who are drum machine masters. I start my tracks usually with the basses and harmonies and add a beat when those are done. Every producer has his/her own way to approach an idea. Sometimes for me is a clear atmosphere or melody is in my head and the rest of the time I experiment until I find something I like.

Tell us a bit about your studio setup – what gear do you have you couldn’t live without?

My big change was when I bought my mixing desk - the Midas Venice. I was struggling with sound quality and mixing inside the box so basically this was the solution. Nowadays I can’t live without U-He plugins (Diva, Ace and Repro) and my Moog Minotaur. There are really no secrets when it comes to gear – just make something you enjoy.

It seems like your country of origin (Portugal) is a big piece of your musical identity. Describe the scene there and your favorite and least aspects of it’s underground.

Portugal is one of the most beautiful countries in the world and honestly I only truly realized that when I moved to Germany (where I am happy and appreciate the culture). Portugal has its own flair laid-back and soul based attitude. Even now, though it’s more into techno, (like everyone), I think Portugal will always have soul in it. Portugal was always open to new stuff and influenced by what was coming from the UK or USA and later from Germany. Of course every Portuguese DJ have his/her own approach.

I always thought that Portugal had fantastic DJs because of their heart centered approach to the dance floor. Portugal had a fantastic era in the 90s with Kaos records and the club culture movement. (I was not DJ at that time) and entered the 2000s with a really nice overall club culture. Nowadays unfortunately everything is more commercialized (price to pay for the globalization trends and marketing from powerful brands), so mainly Lisbon and Oporto have the strongest club scene. Lisbon and Oporto are fantastic not only for the popular spots but on several small clubs with fantastic line ups. And of course Lisbon has a strong African vibe and sound influence that makes the Lisbon sound known worldwide.

Of course I have a special emotion when I play in my home town where there is a team doing fantastic parties out of clubs with a true warehouse attitude called Ballroom.

You’ve interacted with electronic music from a lot of different angles – do you have a philosophy around the dance environment and electronic music? Do you think it has any important roles in society or personal evolution?

Electronic music brings people together. It is heart, it is soul, it is smiling people, it is emotion, and it is happiness. I don't like this branding, categorizing, ranking, charting, dividing genres, good or bad just because its house or techno or this or that. Young generations are consuming electronic because it’s trendy and not because they feel it or feel specially this or that genre. That is reflected on the dancefloor and the way people really appreciate the music and the message. I appreciated the fact that RA stopped with the polls. Music is more important than a ranking of DJs. I really love most of them, but that creates a pre concept image of what or who is good or bad. And that is terrible. People can have fun listen this or that DJ or this or that genre.

You started and run Blossom Kollektiv, a Berlin based record label. What made you want to start the label and what sounds are you excited about releasing?

Well… I can tell you first hand that I am no longer involved with Blossom Kollektiv. The label started not with me but with my ex-partner Miguel Morgado. We have run it as a team, with highs and lows on the opinions and directions. I’ve decided recently that I should leave. We’ve started it with a common approach that I think was changing over the years. I will still connected as a friend and maybe as an artist but it’s a cycle that is closed. I am not sure what I will do now. I started 2 years ago a small label just to release my music but never had time to focus on it. So… who knows what now!

Can you tell us a bit about this mix? How was it recorded?

I recorded it at home with some of the tracks I’ve been playing out, including my 2 last releases on Engrave Ltd and Endless Music. I always record tracks I like and play and not specifically new unreleased promo stuff. Tried to do something that reflects JEPE, Jepe on Engrave Ltd and the open spirit of the label.

What do you have coming up you want to tell our listeners about? Shows, releases?

2017 was really busy, both DJing and working in the studio. I’ve finished an album for Biotop to be released spring 2018 which I was really excited to do because I’ve never recorded an album before. Patrick Zigon invited me so I started to put out some ideas. My focus was on creating something authentic for the “JEPE sound” – music that would work for the club but also have a cinematographic quality. I hope people enjoy it! The first track will be released in Jan as a teaser.

I’ve started a spontaneous deep house collaboration with Eddy Ramich and we are looking for a label for those tracks now. I’ve also started working with the half South African/half Portuguese Renato that we are mixing now. So a lot of things happening currently :) I have also recently started to work with Mensch bookings so we are starting to plan 2018. :)

Jepe's Soundcloud: @jepejustjohn

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