Gareth Emery Talks “Drive” Album, EDM & Miami Music Week [WRR Exclusive Interview]

For electronic dance music, 2014 is going to be a huge year and one of the artists at the helm is none other than Gareth Emery. With the recent successful release of his album Drive, Gareth Emery plans to take his career through its next phase.

Emery is known for his uplifting, melodic tracks such as “Concrete Angel,” a song that has been on the top of the charts for years and also 2013’s #1 Dance Track of the Year on Armin van Buuren’s worldwide radio show “A State of Trance.” His sound pairs well with strong female vocals, a combination represented frequently on Drive. The release of his album landed him the spot of America’s #1 Dance Album on iTunes, and while it seems some artists may have lost sight of what can make a dance record timeless, Emery worked to produce tracks he hopes will be played for half a decade.

During Miami Music Week, the trance producer took some time out of his hectic schedule to discuss a few key topics. He elaborated on what it takes to prepare for an event like Miami Music Week, detailed what inspired him to produce the songs on his album, and compared touring in cities like Ibiza and Las Vegas.

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WRR: Welcome to MMW, how does it feel to be back?

GE: Yeah it’s been good. I always love being here, it’s an amazing week. I think the one lesson I’ve learned this year, and this is my seventh year in a row in Miami, is to not schedule an album release two days after MMW, because the thing I like about this week is I kind of take it as a bit of a holiday; do some shows, partying, having fun, hanging out with a lot of friends. Yeah this week has been hard work, I’ve been in clubs until 5 a.m. and then I’ve been up at 9 a.m. for interviews and promotional stuff for the album. So it has been tough, and I’ve kind of taken it very easy; not really drunk because it wears you out! Usually by the end of this week I have lost my voice by Sunday, and I was thinking on Thursday I need to have my voice, I have all these interviews on Sunday.

I have to be able to speak. All week I was drinking boiling water infused with honey and lemons trying to get my voice to recover. So yeah great week. It would have been better if the album was released a week or month later, but I’ve been very, very productive.

WRR: I’ve actually pre-ordered Drive and have been listening to the tracks “Layers” and “U” obsessively. While I was repeating these tracks I began to wonder, where did you get the inspiration for tunes like those?

GE: It really depends. I mean, for me, I have to have this creative radar which is always open and always listening for new stuff. Sometimes you can be listening to something on the radio, but then that sparks an idea for something else. Other times, you can be at a music festival. You just hear the distant rumbling of a bass drum and that gives you an idea for a record.

What I tend to find is that inspiration comes at the strangest times. Normally, if I get up early in the morning, I make a cup of coffee and I sit in my studio and it’s 10 a.m., let’s write a hit, it doesn’t happen. It’s too orderly, it’s too planned, it’s not spontaneous. When you are spontaneous, that’s when it all happens.

WRR: Like in the middle of the night, you wake up at 2 a.m. with a song idea and you don’t want to lose it?

GE: Totally. You have thought and a melody in your head and you don’t want to lose that. I’m always singing voice notes into my phone. That’s probably where most of my ideas start, and then I kind of have sessions where I’ll go and listen to all my voice notes, trying them as actual electronic melodies and see how many of them work. Probably 70 percent of my songs start that way.

WRR: Last year you played an after show at Arkadia. This year you played a show with Nervo and your own show at Space. Out of all the clubs you perform at, which ones seem to give you the most excitement?

GE: The ones I’m normally most excited about are my own shows, that was at Space last night, just because that’s the one where most of my friends are. When you are special guest at somebody else’s party it’s good because there is less pressure, but also it’s not your party.

You don’t blow it up too much when playing at someone else’s party, not like you blow up your own. I always try and pick a variety of shows that each bring their own things to the table. I’ll never do a show just because it’s extra money in the pot. There has to be more of a reason for doing it. I get along with Nervo, and I knew their party would be good. I look forward to them all in their own way. If there is nothing to look forward to, I wouldn’t have done the show in the first place.

WRR: I’ve been reading a lot of articles that focus on how some artists have really taken a push to playing in Vegas and some of them have completely written off Ibiza. I know you make a point to play Ibiza regular. What are your thoughts on this?

GE: As an artist, you have to keep playing in Ibiza. I totally understand why it is difficult for a lot of DJs, me included, you get paid so much more in Vegas than you do in Ibiza. It’s about 10 to 20 times as much. For a lot of guys, especially the ones coming from the U.S., to play in Ibiza you have to get a flight to an island off the coast of Spain. They are basically going there and playing for free, because they aren’t getting paid a lot to go to Ibiza.

Then it’s like, “Oh shit, what’s the point?” Let’s just make the cheap couple hour flight to Vegas and get paid 10 times as much. I understand why people do that, but it’s a short term way of doing things. Ibiza has been around for 20 to 30 years in it’s current form. You never know what Vegas is going to play out in the future. For me, I’ll do a bit of everything. I’ve been based in LA for the last one and a half years. Vegas is a four hour drive away. I’ve definitely done more of Vegas. Yet, I’ll always play in Ibiza.

WRR: You’ve been playing Ultra for the last seven years now. What special surprises do you have for your set this year?

GE: I’ve got a lot from the new album, I have a lot of new stuff I will be playing from that. I think we have amazing production. I brought in a big crew. It’ll be the best production I’ve had on an Ultra before. We worked really hard to make sure the show is going to be going off with a bang.

We are also shooting part of a new music video for my new single “Dynamite” with Christina Novelli tonight. She’s going to be around. It’s kind of a last minute thing, I’m definitely going to get her in the brief. It should be good, I’m looking forward to it!

WRR: As we’ve been discussing, your new album Drive is set to release very soon. I’ve read multiple posts in the past months that you wanted to focus on your melodic roots for this album. What triggered this decision?

GE: I felt like I was getting a little caught up in the whole “drops” and “EDM” style of music. It’s good for festivals. You can’t really listen to that at home, but it is good for festivals. Obviously, it kind of sucks for festival attendees to go into a festival and hear the same track 10 times in a day. Nobody wants that.

The good thing about making an album is that I wasn’t really making an album for festivals, I was making an album for people to listen to at home or in their cars. You can always get remixes to cover the festival version. It was nice that I was able to be involved in the songwriting from the beginning. We begun by writing songs on guitars and pianos, like in a band.

We wrote songs acoustically and then we started to turn them into an electronic piece of music. If the song is good, you have a record that’ll be good for five to six years. If you have a record that is an “EDM” or “drops” kind of record they get old quickly; for me it was about longevity.

WRR: To wrap up the interview, tell me one thing about yourself that your fans don’t know about you.

GE: That is an interesting one, I’m pretty out there. I would say that it’s the fact that I wear eyeglasses most of the day. I have the worst sight; I’m really short-sighted. If you see me during the day you would ask yourself, “Who is that nerd?” When I play shows I wear contacts and have numerous pairs of prescription sunglasses. I need to get LASIK at some point.

I would like to thank Gareth Emery for taking the time to meet with us and share the ins and outs of his world!

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