*Here we continue our conversation with Mazi; dance music producer, record label owner and DJ. If you missed out on part I HERE is the link.*
MM: You can hear it (that he’s a nerd about audio). When we were in Miami in 04 I got to sit with Jeff Mills, and we literally talked about audio gear for an hour! By the end of the conversation I was like; God Damn it, I didn’t get to talk to him about music! I didn’t get to tell him about the records he made that changed my life. We just geeked out about audio gear. It’s true, you can hear the difference, especially in electronic music and it is as much a sonic experience as it is a musical one.
M: I have many records that are beautiful musically, but I can’t spin them because they just weren’t mixed right, and I wish I had the master tapes so I could redo the master mix. Then you may have something that is not groundbreaking, but it sounds amazing. You’re a sound guy so you know, in a club, the sonic design I would say is more important. If you have an amazing sounding average track, it will kill the dance floor more than a beautifully written, badly mixed track. If they murdered the relationship between the kick drum and the bass it’s not gonna work. It’s gonna sound like “hot ass soup”!
MM: Let’s talk about current stuff. I know you have been traveling and your DJing has gotten crazy for a couple of years. Seems you had to put your Audio Soul stuff in the backseat for a bit. It looks as though you are starting to really focus on that again.
M: Well, one thing that happened between 2001 and 2005, I was DJing so much the only thing I did during the week days was recover for the next weekend.
MM: Your DJ career was just exploding, and a bunch of us were like; f—— finally!
M: I think the one thing I was neglecting was working in the studio. It becomes this thing when you are constantly gigging: You have a ton of unfinished tracks. I think it may be because I am not 25 anymore, and I am trying to balance it a bit. Come Monday or Tuesday morning I think it is important to be in the studio or working on the label.
MM: You meet a young kid, and he has a great track or he is killing it on the decks and he asks you “what do I need to do to get it out there?” You know you need to be a triple threat; writer, producer and DJ. What do you tell them to focus on?
M: I recently had this very conversation with a brilliant artist, Kris Wadsworth. He is from Detroit and he is a bad ass, definitely one guy to watch. I would say do what you do and do it well. Don’t try to water yourself down wearing like 50 different hats. That might sound counter-intuitive because all of us are jacks of all trades these days, but specifically in the music industry.
M: Here is what I would say: You make a record and send it out to 10 labels. Nobody wants it, so I’m gonna start my own label - It’s a bad idea. Why is it a bad idea? Because, you presumably sent it to people who’s music you like, and now because they said no to you, you no longer like them. That is more ego than anything creative or artistic. I think in this peer to peer / twitter universe that we live in, it is very easy to loose focus. The things that stick out are the people that have been doing it forever, like Richie Hawtin or Jeff Mills, and the new people that we remember are, like, laser focused in on something. So I would say figure out what you love and figure out what you want to do and do that. Is that too much to be putting on the plate?
M: I have been doing this forever, and I think I am an artist and I run a record label. Do I really want to be doing that? Kevin from Beatport said “You know Mazi, you are the only guy I know that runs a label and that is an artist, doing most of this himself (I have two other people that I do the label with), but its working and they are both successful.” “Most of the kids I know who are doing this; it is just not working.” You either run a label half-ass or you’re not promoting yourself or the record properly.
MM: The importance needs to be put into the art. You need to prioritize. As Frank (Filipetti) said “you can’t polish a turd!” At the Get Connected Summit, young DJs that I met, they were mainly asking what do I do with this music. I said I can’t provide you with a blanket answer. What does it sound like? They are so focused on getting it out there and being the star. If you really love this thing, you’ll do it because you have to! It shouldn’t be ego driven.
M: Ya know, this kid I mentioned; Kris Wadsworth, that I just met last weekend, he kept talking about the “long-term.” “This label keeps telling me I should do this and I should start a blog, a twitter, etc.” He said “Man, if I did all that crap, I wouldn’t have time to write tracks!” If you want to write good music it takes time to write a track. Most programs and plug-ins are not promising that you are going to write a good track, they are saying you will be able to do it really fast. Rather than creativity or quality, it is all about speed and I think that is why some of the younger people are so concerned with that. It’s a bigger part of the culture than it should be.
MM: It was all about; how do I get my music to Mitsubishi? And I am thinking, same response; it is any good? Adam (Mocean Worker) and Dirty Vegas, those songs were catchy as f— and they worked. Speaking of that, do you have someone doing that for you? Have you focused on licensing?
M: I have a deal with Fabric, they have a publishing arm. They kind of handle my mechanicals, my performance and they actively pursue. They are really good at Fabric. He has been doing this for years and he used to work at a major label so he is pretty pro at it.
MM: Well, it is good that you have someone doing that for you. I mean when would you write if you were on the phone all the time?
M: I think what some of these younger guys are feeling is legitimate. Maybe they are almost smarter than what I was when I first started because they realize that it takes more than just writing good music. I think there is a lot to what you are saying too. Maybe they are too aware of that! They are trying so hard to have all the aspects of the business together that maybe they are not spending enough time on the actual music. I think that is a problem of being in an information rich world now. You are so aware of other things that you can’t spend time.
M: I remember my first studio at after-hours at SHR, there were no windows. I would be in the studio and have no idea what time of day or night it was. I had no idea how long I had been there or anything, and I would ask people to not knock on my door and I would just be in there. I had a little pillow with me and I would sleep on the ground, and I would keep working. If I needed some water I would go out to get some, if I was hungry I would go to the local Taco Bell, go back and keep working. I actually think that is why I got divorced because my wife was like “where the hell were you for the past four days?” I’ve been working on tracks.
MM: Talk to me about the thing with Justin Long. When did that start?
M: Wasted Chicago Youth started about a year and a half ago. We kept talking about creating this community, trying to put Chicago people together. We felt like we wanted to try and get people together to do side projects, guest appearances, etc. This sounded great when everyone was drunk at the club, but it never quite came together. Justin and I still work together regularly. I split my days doing my work and then Justin comes over for the second half of the day. It is really starting to take off. It works really well. It’s like having fun, but doing it with a work ethic. If you look at what is going on in Berlin; it’s all Chicago. DJ Sneak is huge again and I am really happy for him. If people in Germany think “Chicago” is cool, why aren’t the people in Chicago doing it?
MM: I know there is not a lot of money in parties, but have you guys thought of doing a Wasted Chicago Youth monthly?
M: Justin’s got an exclusive deal with SmartBar, so we have an event coming up in May and we are doing it there. I really love that venue and they have a beautiful sound system that they put in last year.
MM: Any plans for any Left Coast trips so we can come see you?
M: I am going to be in Los Angeles on July 31st, playing at King King.
MM: Back to the community aspect. The electronic community really seems to ban together, even more so that other subcultures.
M: Bob Moog said in the documentary made about him: “The thing about electronic music; I don’t want people to be making electronic music alone in their homes and have it listened to by someone alone in their home.” I think people should share it (electronic music); it still needs to be a communal thing. People need to be going out to clubs. I have had people tell me they downloaded my podcasts but didn’t make it to the club. It’s insanity.
M: I have also had people tell me “I hope you’re not mad at me, but I’ve downloaded all your stuff on soulseek.” How am I not going to be mad at you? How do you expect me not to be mad when you just flat-out told me you stole all my music? That you have everything from beginning to end; I suppose they think that it flattering, that perhaps that really shows you’re a fan. I am sure you have read everything about how the music paradigm is changing, that you can’t sell music anymore; it’s about the live performance. Well, you didn’t go to my live performance, ya know. What the f—????
MM: There are different schools on that, and you were talking about vinyl earlier. You know about Best Buy’s new pilot program for vinyl? People don’t understand that DJ culture saved the vinyl record. The big plants were pressing dance music, they weren’t pressing like 50,000 vinyl copies of Jewel’s Pieces of You album.
M: Absolutely. It was like 2000 of this, 2000 of that. It is what saved it.
MM: The opinions vary on music, like is it even viable to sell it anymore, people forget that 60% of online music sales are still physical. People still want the packaging.
M: Well, for example, with Fresh Meat; we still put out vinyl but we don’t put out every release on vinyl. We do multi artist compilations and pressings of versions that you can only get on vinyl and not on digital. That way the record is worth money, etc. I still get emails that request releases on vinyl. These are people that bought it digitally on Beatport or on itunes and they get disappointed that they can’t get it on wax.
MM: For the indie artist that is going to read this: How long have you been doing this?
M: Nineteen years.
MM: How long have you been doing dance exclusively?
M: Since 1995
MM: So you are proof that it can be done. You can live as an artist in the electronic genre. You can do it. Your story to me is important because it is inspirational, you continue to dedicate yourself to quality, you haven’t given up and like I mentioned before, you managed to carve out a career for yourself. I think it is important for young guys coming up to know your story.
MM: You don’t seem like a guy who is really closed off or unapproachable. I mean, if someone emailed you with questions, you would answer them.
M: Absolutely. I try to get to as much of it as I can. Sometimes I answer someone on MySpace and they will answer back “is this really Mazi?” What the hell is that supposed to mean? (Laughing) Of course this is Mazi. Who the hell else would it be? I didn’t think of having someone else running my page.
MM: When you show your support like that it is gonna manifest in a lot of ways bro; more people coming to your shows, more people buying your records.
M: Honestly man, I think that is the only reason I have been able to be the weirdo that I am. I think if I went the other way I would have been screwed along time ago. I am pretty commercially inept when I have had a huge record or a huge remix or something that has sold really well. I have always had this kind of commercially self-defeatist attitude. Like I will get a call: “we love that remix you just did, can you do one like that”? My nature is to always say no. I can’t repeat that. I will try to do something cool for you. I don’t know what’s going to come out, and they will call and say “well that’s not like that, can you do that?” And I am like no. I know for a fact that I would be a UPS worker right now if wasn’t for the fact that I treat people like people. Like when I am talking to you about Fabric or Crystal in Istanbul, I have established relationships and friendships with these people and that is how it works in the long term; longevity.
MM: My wife Alex and I have been helping some indie artists with their career choices, and we are constantly talking about the long-term vs. short-term. But the difference between electronic artists and lets say “pop” artists: Let’s say you are at the top of your game and really hot and the next year your not as hot, no matter how close you are to the venue, they wouldn’t book you. Whereas, in house music, you will still get booked because they know you’re gonna kill it. That’s missing in the “live music” industry. It’s the lack of personal relationships that happens there. I think that electronic has had great influence in pop culture and we can see it now in advertising and marketing. I just love that. It’s kind of like a big middle finger in the air to the majors that say things like “this sound’s like the death of club music to me.”
M: Yeah, that is where you see, for example; Masters at work, who in the 90’s just ruled the world, got paid anything they wanted for all the remixes, worked with all the majors and they are not in the graces now, but those guys: You better believe they are still making money. They built those relationships, you may not be remixing for Arista but you’re Louie Vega. I mean it’s not bull—-. You’ll still pack the place, whether its 3,000 people or 10,000, he’ll still pack the place. I think you are right in the rock/pop arena, you could be selling millions yesterday and today, gone- you’ve disappeared.
MM: Electronic music has had its peaks and valleys, its ups and downs. But you can really see its influence now, globally. The way the community works, it’s not as self serving as it can be community serving.
MM: I am just so glad that you are still doing it brother. I just wanted to have this conversation for people that maybe just purchased Ableton, or just found an 808 at a garage sale and they have a beat in their head and they want to figure out how to do it. Well, you’ve been doing it almost two decades!
M: And if they found an 808 at a garage sale, I’m mad at them because I want an 808. It is just impossible to find one in good condition used!
MM: When did you officially start fresh meat?
M: I started Fresh Meat in 2006 with two friends, David Duriez from Paris and Nathan Drew Larson from here in Chicago. We did the label through the end of 2007 (all three of us) and as of the end of 2007, it has just been Nathan and me doing the label. Fresh meat is doing really well. You can get this stuff on Beatport, itunes, any digital store, it will be there. I think after years of doing labels “wrong” I finally figured out how to do it right! (Laughing)
**We were very thankful to have had the opportunity to speak with Mazi. He’s a busy man, but he always manages to find time for his peers and his fans. If you are a fan of house music I highly recommend catching him at the club when he’s in a town near you! You will not be disappointed, and believe me: You’ll dance your ass off.**