SIX YEARS AGO…
I was driving at sunset yesterday evening and i was remembering those days where i was nothing more than a jobless kid trying to make it in the music industry with Dance Ejay 2 as mono (fact !). That was six years ago.
Well, when i say « trying to make it », it’s not even that true since i never really believed i could have those producers and Djs that made me dream so much during my teen years as colleagues one day. As an ignorant and pretty common CD buyer, i thought that being featured on those wonderful compilations was reserved to a specific amount of producers owing tons of equipment. Actually, it was true a fifteen ago, but no longer now !
At that time, i was trying to figure out how to make acceptable tracks something like eight hours a day. This has to do with my personality : when i do have something in mind, i usually go straight away and try my best to be better and better until i know what i’m able to do or not. It doesn’t mean i never give up, it just means i want to be sure i reached my limit out before i decide to give up.
When i had a bunch of tracks done, i decided to contact some labels, most likely based in France, just to see what other people thought about my music. Except one of my closest friends, nobody heard it yet and having someone else’s feedback was the next step i wanted to face very quickly. This is at this time that i came up with my alias DJ Space Raven.
After getting some negative responses from different labels, one finally mailed me back with a kind of interest and offered me to join the studio for a couple of « side by side » productions : Lochness Records, a small label based two hours away from my living place. The first months on board turned out really well, until the owner and myself started to share different tastes and different directions for further projects : i always wanted to keep that kind of « old Trance » alive and switching to commercial stuffs like Pakito or Crazy Frog wasn’t really in my plans.
Thankfully, in the meantime, i had luck to meet and work for people like Mat Silver, Shaun Baker, Titus and quite quickly, Toxic Records took me on board and decided to release my very first track « Peyton ». Then, my versus with Titus « Contact by sunlight » saw the light and i can tell that it was the beginning of this wonderful adventure that has never ended up yet.
After a couple of remixes done for some german labels, DuMonde offered me the great opportunity to remix their very last single as Dumonde : « Gun ». I’ll always remember reading Jürgen’s mail on Myspace saying « Please do a remix for us but please make it sound like a modern UK song and NO OFFBEAT bassline ». That was such a challenge for me since i had never produced anything like this before. I spent a whole night doing the remix and then the thing i hate the most happened : waiting for the feedback from the masters. Finally, everything turned out OK for them and the remix, even though it was not released as CD single or vinyl, came out on the official package released by Massive.
Then followed loads of collaborations i could have never imagined : DJ SHOG, DJ Sakin, S.H.O.K.K., Wavetraxx, Nish, JOOP, Dave202, DJ Madwave… All those people that made me dream for years suddenly became partners at some time and, even today, i’m still so grateful for that. Thanks to a little perseverance and a lot of work, i have even been able to travel accross so many countries to go playing in the clubs and parads. A lot of venues were beyond my expectations, some were disappointing… like anything in life anyway !
I just wanted to share this with you today since that long drive with a beautiful sunset in the mirror reminded me how important it is to believe in our dreams, even when they are not yet defined as « dreams ».
If you’re trying to make it in any business, some people will always tell you that it’s too hard, or even impossible. Maybe it is for them, yes, but there’s a good news : YOU’RE NOT THEM.
You don’t need to reach the moon to be a happy man. Just be yourself !
