We’ve been following Derrick May interviews and articles since we attended his four hour lecture in Melbourne many years ago (a lot of that time was spent talking about Strings Of Life I remember). ‘The Innovator’ is a proper legend, one of the Belleville Three who continues to shape what happens around us, and everytime he steps in to Phonica he’s a genuinely nice guy, giving enough respect back to the people selling wax. In his production days he made tracks that still sound fresh today – this Rhyhtim Is Rhythim plate hasn’t left my record bag since purchase. This most recent interview with Slices is a reminder of how hard he works, how talented he is behind decks and that he’s earned the praise he receives as one of the fathers of techno.
It’s also worth shouting out Universal Techno once more, which s an incredible techno documentary done for the French audience, and has one of my all time favourite music doco scenes. A young Derrick May is interviewed while photographing The Michigan Theatre, talking about the tragedy of it being turned in to a car park. The whole thing can be viewed online form the link above.
Sometimes Mayday just gets it so right, and in the below interview he hits the nail on the head in regards to DJing. The way DJs are coming up has changed drastically in even the last five years, as has the crossover of producer to DJ, but it doesn’t mean the quality of the art form should suffer. Anyone spinning tunes should take a few minutes to check what Derrick’s saying.