Well it’s safe to say that the WRR crew never wanted to leave Miami. Ultra Music Festival is one of a kind, and there really is something to be said for a gathering like Miami Music Week, which resonates throughout southern Florida as the transplant heartbeat of a city for a mere two week span. Day one of Ultra I headed away from downtown Miami to South Beach for an interview with electronic dance music icon Robbie Rivera where I learned more about Juicy Beach and Rivera’s projects.
Juicy Beach is the annual product of Juicy Records and exists as one of the most anticipated raging dance parties of Miami Music Week. Held on the eve of Ultra at Nikki Beach in South Beach, Juicy Beach combines A-list DJ’s with a paradise venue. “It’s been a ride to really get Juicy Beach and the Juicy brand to this point with the music and the parties.” Rivera proves to be a family man as well, giving his wife Monica credit for the “Juicy” brand name and telling us that she was integral in choosing the new venue for this year’s Juicy Beach.
For 2012 Rivera has no plans of slowing down, as he is poised to make big moves including cross-continental appearances and eventually taking Juicy Beach to other cities as well.
“Man my year has started great. I’ve released a lot of tracks, Dance or Die Part 1 and 2. I’ve had a few tracks up on the Beatport charts that got me really excited. For the whole year of 2012 my management has a great plan of releasing singles leading up to my album which is in May. We also have United States bus tour coming up. It’s a freaking rockstar bus bro, I’ve never done anything like that”.
At this point in the interview, I couldn’t help but sense Rivera’s humble perspective towards his growth and development as an artist. A man of relaxed demeanor, Rivera proceeded to continue our conversation with surrealistic descriptiveness as if it was his first big gig.
“25 shows in North America and bro, the bus has Direct TV, wifi, two big screen tv’s, six beds, and a big suit in the back.. I mean shit dude, I will even be able to produce on this thing. What’s cool too is that the bus is wrapped up with my name and the tour on it.” [Tour Bus Visual]
The Dance Or Die Tour will span across the US making stops in cities like Vegas, Chicago, Philadelphia and many more. Supporting acts include Peace Treaty and Bassjackers.
It get’s crazy going to sleep and waking up in a different city. It’s like woah, where the fuck am I, you know. It happens a lot, you wake up and have to ask yourself what day it is.
If you plan to hit one of these shows, expect to hear Robbie drop tracks that you have never heard. Rivera likse to test new tracks in his sets for himself to feel out the sound and quality of production.
“I always have new tracks on my USB drive to play at the parties. It’s really to test them out for me to see if the kick drum is too loud, if it’s too banging. I also test out in different clubs because I want to know how it’s going to sound. Different clubs have different sound systems. I don’t worry as much about crowd reaction to these tracks because I kind of know who my crowd is and I know how to make them go nuts.”
Rivera, who has played a line up of clubs longer than Paris Hilton’s fuck list, said Mansion Miami and XS Las Vegas (where he holds a current residency) are his two favorite spots to play.
“I love playing in Miami because I have so many fans here. Mansion is a monster club and the thing about humungous clubs is that it’s hard to get the lighting and sound to work but those guys have got it down.”
I asked Rivera about hospitality from venues and promoters which led to an admission of him devouring a European hoagie mid-set in Ibiza.
“If I want a cheesburger it’s done. I remember being in Ibiza in 2008 and I had to go to Buenos Aires in Argentina. So I flew from Ibiza to Madrid, Madrid to Buenos Aires, arrived and caught a little sleep. I dj’ed that night at Croba and it was frickin’ insane. Over there the night starts at like 3 in the morning. Went to the hotel, took a shower, and went back to Amnesia at Ibiza. When I got to the venue I realized I hadn’t eaten anything bro. That was the first day in my life I DJ’ed with a freakin’ sandwich in my hand. It was fuckin’ hilarious. One of those long European sandwiches. That was also the first time in my life that I tried Red Bull because I was so out of it.”
With Robbie Rivera @ Setai Hotel - South Beach
Rivera’s first big hit , a track called “Bang” released in 2000, which spiraled into popularity and became featured throughout the 2000 Sydney Olympics. At 22 years old, the Puerto Rican native was gaining global exposure.
“When I heard it was on the Olympics I was like really? That’s awesome. But what was more exciting for me was when It came out top ten in the UK. Then they told me the reason it wasn’t number one was because Madonna released her track the same week. I was like Oh, ok [sarcastically]. I thought they were going to tell me another artist you know, I’ve got to compete with her? I was really young, like 22.”
“Then I went to the UK to do a promotion for the single and when I arrived I was just out of college. When I got over there they were treating me like a really big freaking superstar. I was like really? They took me to radio interviews and MTV. You remember Total Request Live? I did that over there and it was surreal. That wasn’t happening here at all [In the US]. But know it‘s different. You don‘t still see a ton of dance acts. Like, you don‘t see a DJ on the Letterman show.”
The Juicy Records king has been around for over a decade and has watched the evolution of dance music throughout numerous cultures. I was interested to know who he thought was one of the top producers on the come up.
“I like Arty. He always adds something that stands out, and it doesn’t sound too Swedish, because I’m a bit tired of that. Some of his tracks have been a bit trancier and a bit melodic and I like that. But that’s a hard question to answer. I don’t want to name drop but so many producers are on the rise that sound like everybody else. My favorite artist though is me.”
Show Robbie some facebook love or follow him on twitter.
Share On
