Hearing Voices :Dave Davis

It seems Belgium is undergoing a bit of a resurgence of late with many artists from your homeland making waves in the international scene.

Yeah definitely… If you look at Kolombo who remixed my first single on Skint ‘Changed’, he is getting really big right now and there are many others. It is a string open for ideas, like If you look at the festival ‘I Love Techno’ they are now making bookings outside of techno too with guys like Dusky or Kolsch or Claptone all making the bill. The Techno scene is much calmer now with BPMs around 124 considered to be Techno as people go deeper. If you compare that to someone like Jeff Mills then you can hear the difference! Everything is changing.

Tell us more about your current project. How did you hook up with Skint Records?

It is another strange story as I used to sing for some projects such as ‘Closer To Me’ on Azuli or ‘The World Is Mine’ with David Guetta as JD Davis. Then I was in the studio with Joachim Garraud, we were working on an album but it didn’t work out how I wanted it to and so it slowly progressed towards finding out exactly what I wanted to do with my own music. This sound just naturally came out that way after I searched my feelings, and that then took me to Skint.

Joachim is a strange one for me because I saw him DJ a few years ago at Sankeys and he was really good, playing a blend of underground house and techno which is unrecognizable from what he is doing today.

Yeah, he is a very good DJ but these days he is working on more of the EDM side of things, which simply isn’t my style. So I wanted to educate my sound in the studio more so I could free myself to make whatever music I wanted. Then I hooked up with Skye from Morcheeba for ‘Changed’ and I didn’t really know who to send it to. I spoke with my good friend Colin Dale from Kiss FM and Ramon Tapia, who is a very cool guy and he told me to speak to Rich from Skint. Rich said it reminded him of an X-Press 2 track and wanted to sign it. I was so happy as after all these years of singing, or producing other types of music I didn’t want to, I could now deliver what I wanted to. It ended years of frustration. So then I called Kolombo and he delivered the remix for us!

Cool. So how did you end up working with Sonny Wharton?

This was through the guys at Skint. He is a very cool guy, Sonny. I met him at ADE for the first time in Amsterdam as Rich manages him as well and we had plenty of beers together. I really like what he is doing with his blend of tech-house as it really speaks to me. We remixed Morcheeba’s latest single together and that was a great experience. That’s what we need, more old skool Techno!

Is that what we’re going to be seeing from you in the future then?

It will be a mix of techno and deep, taking in all my influences from my experience with New Beat, with Techno, as a singer, delivering deeper vibes. I don’t think there is enough of the human voice within Techno and if people produce Techno with vocals, sometimes than can be great.

Cool. Tell us more about your new single ‘Up’ it is generating plenty of hype at the minute…

Well that came about as I wanted to collaborate with Skye from Morcheeba again but unfortunately she could not do it so close to a new album from Morcheeba. She decided to write some lyrics for me to sing over it as a song and that’s what it is; a song. I was so happy that she accepted to do it lyrics and now I feel very close to her, she is a great friend. She tells such a good story with her lyrics and she is very strong for that, that is why her lyrics and the song can touch people and that is very important for me.

I was going to ask you about the video…

It was directed by my wife! She took care of all of that side of it and brought in the lovely Kimberly for it as the actress and model.

What is it like working with your wife? It must be difficult to tell her if you don’t like something.

No it was very good as we are a team. She has a lot of experience in this field and a very good eye for detail. It was her idea to incorporate the lyrics into the video and I think that works really well with the song. I’m always wrong and she is nearly always right! We are good together as I need her brain!

Finally, can you tell us about your future plans?

I will be releasing an EP with Kolombo aimed more at DJs for the club, this is being released on Coyu’s label, Suara. I also have an upcoming song on Skint and plans for an album next year. I want to really focus on an extended work with singers, myself with guests, so I can touch people in a more alternative way and work with people who have a very special colour of voice.

Well, we will looking forward to hearing that!

Thank you!

Dave Davis ‘Up’ on Skint Records can be pre-ordered now on iTunes at http://smarturl.it/daved_up

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