French producer Danton Eeprom was welcomed on to the pre-minimal house scene in 2005 and has since then gone onto experimenting with guitars and vocals releasing tracks that are difficult to define. He now resides in London where he runs his own label Fondation.
On Friday (29 April, 7pm GMT) Danton will be playing live from his studio especially for Awdio listeners and will be available for Live Chat while he plays. He promises a truly interactive experience, so be the first to get involved.
Danton Eeprom Live on Awdio
We caught up with this charming Frenchman and delved a little deeper into his world:
Pearl Wise: Hello Danton.
Tell me, I’m sure you’ve been asked this many times but why London rather than Berlin as your home from home?
Danton Eeprom: Well, it is true I've been asked this question quite often. The answer is rather simple: London always had a special place in my heart for diverse reasons, and it felt right to move here at some point as I was working with many Londoners already, labels, poducers, djs. I don't speak German. It is important for me to have a good understanding of the culture of the place I live in. I always loved the English language, and studied it in great depths at Uni, alongside the history of UK and US civilization
I'm perfectly aware a lot of people go to Berlin without speaking a word of German and cope with it by hanging out with expats only. But there was no way this would have been sufficient for me.
This said, don;t get me wrong, I love Berlin and Berliners. I still go there a lot and it is a very special place for me in the sense it had a key role in my career.
PW: What are the other producers that you're excited about right now?
Danton Eeprom: let me think, Aloe Blacc, he's responsible for that song "I need a dollar". As I m working on my 2nd LP I listen to very varied things. Also really liked the latest Metronomy Lp
Club music wise, I ve discovers a handful of forward thinking numbers, like Komaton, Brawther, Om Unit.
PW: Have you got into the whole UK dubstep thing?
Danton Eeprom: Dubstep seems to be all the rage these days. I tend to disregard what the hype is about and trust my instincts instead.
All in all, what I'm listening to at a given time is much more a question of mood than hype.
PW: Will you be singing at all on your next album?
Danton Eeprom: ah! Good question. I decided to focus more on dancefloor this time around. On "Yes Is More" I included quite a lot of electronic pop tracks, this time I'll think about the dancers first. But I've always sung on top of my dancefloor stuff so there's a good chance to find vocals from my good self and also from my wonderful singer with whom I do the "Leave The Boy" project, Emma Darling.
Our voices blend together in a really cool way. We're preparing an album too.
PW: Tell me more
Danton Eeprom: Well, I met Emma at a karaoke party, at New Year's eve... We've since started a project which has taken off pretty quickly, got interest from a major UK label... We don't take ourselves seriously at all but we're having a lot of fun doing this.
We're inspired by 60s girls band like the Shangri-la's, or 90s icons like Technotronic or Crystal Waters... We try to make very accessible dance music with an edge, but with lots of humour too. I'll probably be able to tell you a bit more in a few weeks, I will do a Awdio show to premiere the first "Leave The Boy" songs and tracks soon.
PW: Would you ever consider starting a band? As in a band-band with a drummer etc
Danton Eeprom: Well, not afraid of banding up here. I've done a couple shows with a full-on band for my first LP promo, a show in Paris at the Fnac Festival, which was an open-air concerts in front of 6000 people (!) and another short gig on France 3 (French national TV), on Frederic Taddei's "Ce Soir Ou Jamais".
So the band core is here, we're now perfecting it and perfecting it and working on future shows for fests mainly. But I will always be keen on performing solo in clubs, whether DJing or playing live machines.
PW: Do you have a treasured musical instrument /machine that you will never part with?
Danton Eeprom: oh dear, if I had only one... I never could sell any of my instruments
PW: ok yes let's say one gets saved from a fire...
Danton Eeprom: Ok that would be very tough. I think I'd just get into the blaze!
Seriously though and provided I have a good insurance, it would probably be my G&L ASAT Classic, a boutique Telecaster I bought a few years ago in LA, with which I control my synths too!
PW: Ok, another tough question: If you could work with anyone in the world dead or alive, who would you choose?
Danton Eeprom: I would definitely love to produce an LP with Quincy jones, or Butch Vig, who produced Nirvana or Garbage amongst others.
PW: Tell us what you will be doing for 3 hours live on Awdio on Friday
Danton Eeprom: Well, I'll be in my studio and will invite a few friends over for a little party of our own, to get me into the mood. I will also be listening to listener's comments, and will react using the embedded Facebook chat on the Awdio event's page. I'll probably say a few things on the microphone as well.... I think it is a very forward-thinking way to share music and I am very excited to be amongst the first to experiment it. I hope there will be a lot of people tuned in and sharing their feelings along!
PW: Interactive music playing, I like it!
Danton Eeprom: Very much interactive, and a great way to get to know more the artists you like in my opinion. That's why I said yes immediately when Awdio asked my to collaborate with them on this. This "Bedroom mix" session will also give me a total freedom in what I'll be playing, there's no pressure here... I'm thinking of lousy club-owners coming to you every five minute to either turn the volume down or ask you to play crap commercial records :)
PW: Thanks so much for your time. We will be tuning in on Friday!
http://www.dantoneeprom.com/
