Steve Angello

Erick Morillo interviewed Steve Angello, sent it our way to pass on to our readers, and is giving us 3 copies of Steve’s new double mix CD to give away to our US readers (sorry rest of the world we’ll try to make it up to you.) So drop us a comment and tell us where you’re writing from and we’ll do a drawing 24 hours from now for the 3 double packs. We’ve also got a audio player below the interview so you can preview the mixes.

Erick, take it away…

When you first started out did you wish you could be Erick Morillo?

Erick’s a big inspiration for a lot of DJ’s, you can see a little bit of him in everyone from David Guetta to us and to anybody. I think he’s a really big inspiration to house DJ’s.

At what point in your career did think ‘This is it, I’ve made it!’?

I still don’t think I’ve made it yet. There’s still so much more you can do and you can always achieve and accomplish more than what you’ve done. So I’m still waiting for that moment.

Tell me about your passions outside of music.

I’m definitely into cars and watches and food! I have 5 cars, 11 or 12 watches.

What’s the difference in your sound when you’re playing a stadium to when you’re playing an underground club?

When you play a stadium you can play the bigger music, you can drop the classics such as The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers and you can do boot-legs and mash ups. I think when you play clubs you can go a lot more intimate and sexy and more bass-line based, more so than you can do at festivals.

Describe the style of your set.

The style I like is to go up and down and left to right with the music and I just try and make the people enjoy themselves and I think the way to do that various from different clubs and different cities and different parts of the world. In South America you have a certain sound, the same goes for America. I think in Europe you have to be more picky because the dance music culture has been there for a much longer time so I think the crowds in Europe are more educated than other places.

What’s this thing with Pharrell? Why are the big Hip Hop stars looking to top European DJ’s all of a sudden?

I think America has recently seen just how good dance music is. There’s a lot of energy in it with a lot of people having a good time. Me and Sebastian worked with Pharrell, and I worked with him again after that and I think they are trying to explore new genres to get involved in because everybody gets bored of doing whatever they do. So as much as they come to us, we’d like to work with them because they give us something that we don’t have and vice-versa.

Who would be your ultimate pop/rock hook-up?

I don’t set goals on artists. Madonna would be an achievement but there’s so many big acts around that you just have to find the one that fits you rather than just going for the biggest ones.

What is it about the Subliminal sound that you’re so attracted to? What have they got right?


Subliminal has been a label that, since we started DJ-ing, had the biggest output of music that we actually liked. It’s had a big impact on us as DJ’s because when we started out all the big records were subliminal records with Erick and Harry Choo Choo Romero and Jose Nunez, so I think Subliminal has a big impact on house DJ’s career’s rather than the sound.

Can you outline some of the labels and tracks that have inspired you over the years?

I get inspired from everything from techno to RnB to rock, so it’s a very broad spectrum that we’re looking at. I think that the tracks that we’ve done such as ‘Leave The World Behind’ and ‘Show Me Love’ inspires me for my next record because they’ve been such a big success.

You’re about to release a new mix compilation on Subliminal. Tell us about it and its vibe.

The vibe of the mix is pretty much what I do – I take a 7 hour set and squeeze it down to CD’s. It’s like my business card to the scene and I’m just showing what I’m doing. I think it’s pretty much like my set in a club but obviously a shorter version that fits onto a CD.

What tracks and producers can you tell us about that feature on the mix and are any of these guys inspiring you at the moment?

I get inspired by a lot of people and Dirty South is one of my boys from Australia and then we have Joris Voorn, Cirez D is on there (the compilation) which is Eric Prydz and I’ve got some stuff on there. I get inspired at certain times by artists, I just tend to move on all the time and at this point these guys are inspiring me.

Are there any exclusive tracks on the compilation?
Yes we’ve got Gel Abril’s ‘Marir’ which is an exclusive and we’ve got my track ‘Tivoli’ which is also an exclusive. There’s another one of my tracks called ‘La Candela Viva’ which is exclusive. So yeah lots of exclusives!

You’re playing with the Swedish House Mafia this November in the Brixton Academy. What’s so special about this?

The biggest achievement with the Brixton show is that we’re actually doing it. The fact that the Swedish House mafia have managed to sell out a concert in England is a big achievement. It’s going to be fun to do and we are going to give the crowd something they won’t forget.

You are the Chief A&R guy at ‘Size’ Records. What records do you think have put the label on the map and what can we look forward to in 2010?

We’ve got a lot stuff coming out – my little brother Anton, myself, there’s also tracks from Kim Fai and a track from Christian Smith. There’s a lot of good stuff coming out right now.

I’m assuming you’ve seen the new CDJ that’s coming out in November, and I know that you’re one of the DJ’s who have resisted from leaving using CD’s. Do you think it’s only a matter of time before you start to use the computer based software?

I think you can still play the CD’s and I like the fact of having a CD because I don’t want to have to pull up a screen and find the track, but the thing with this new CDJ is that you can connect a little device to it and that then this links to all of the players. It has a big screen and it’s very good and you can just scroll down and you can do folders in itunes.

It gives you more than just a CD, you can prepare a whole set and you can prepare loops, you can set cue and loop points etc… I think the CD is going to disappear but it’s going to take a while because guys like me are still going to stick around with a case.

What is it about tattoos that you really like?

I love tattoos. Its art. Sometimes I regret ones that I’ve had done but others I don’t ha!

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