Weiss has definitely landed himself in the top ranks of house producers through his time in the scene, and just this past summer has taken over our playlists once again with his chart topper, “Feel My Needs.” However, this wasn’t his only project this year, as his accolades continue to accumulate into more requests for collaborations and remixes. It’s as if the man is part human, part energizer bunny with the amount of touring and rendering that has been coming from him.
Luckily last weekend at Imagine Music Festival, we had a chance to catch up with the house tastemaker before he threw an awesome dance party for us at the Aeria Stage on Friday. Check out what he had to say about “Feel My Needs,” working across different labels, his latest remixes, and more.
RR: Welcome to Imagine! I believe this is your first time here right?
W: Thank you! It’s my first time. I just got here about an hour ago so I’ve only gotten to walk around for a little bit. It’s really hot, I wish I brought my shorts. I have my jeans on at the moment, haha. It’s different, bigger than I was expecting. I just feel sorry for the people that are camping because they have to climb up those stairs every time, don’t they?
RR: Will you be able to stick around to see anyone?
W: No, unfortunately I got to fly out tomorrow morning. I’m going to Austin for the Seismic Festival. I’m playing there tomorrow. I literally just got in from Mexico so. I’m a little bit jaded at the moment, haha.
RR: What’s it like traveling as much as you do?
W: I don’t think you can ever get used to it. It’s alright, it’s a big part of the job. At the moment, I am just touring relentlessly. I used to love flying when I was a kid but now it’s taken the fun out of it. And I must have seen the movies about 20 million times, haha. But it’s all good, it’s all good.
RR: Yeah, I can understand that. So “Feel My Needs” has definitely been one of the top house anthems of the summer. What goes into making that perfect summer tune?
W: I don’t know if it’s really about going into it thinking I need to make the perfect summer tune, but it’s the idea I had at the time. During February, I was just thinking I want to make a really nice, old school piano summer track. It was just the time and the day that I went in and thought I’m going to make this. I didn’t plan it days before or anything. With the chords I made, it took me about a day, day and a half to come up with that. When I finally got it down, was like, ‘Yeah this is it’. I already had the A cappella ready, we had that re-recorded and everything. It took me about a week to make and I’m really happy with how it turned out.
RR: Do you find that that is your usual approach, just seeing what feels good for that day?
W: Yeah, I mean for me you have to have an idea and that idea may come on that weekend and I go in on Monday. I try to put that idea on paper but sometimes I go in and just jam away. Nothing really gets done, maybe ideas will get put away here and there with some certain sounds, etc. For me, I have to have an idea and just luckily enough each week I’ve been coming up with a new idea in my head, haha. That’s just what’s been working for me at the moment.
RR: Is there anything or any place in particular that gives you inspiration?
W: I don’t have any actually. My inspirations are old school music like disco and motown, that’s what I grew up on. So if I ever need that break in the studio, I have quite a big record collection there. So I’ll just go to one of those records, put them on, sit down and have a little break, if you know what I mean. Sort of listen to how their production goes and take ideas maybe from that. But there’s no place that inspires me. Just listen to other people’s music really.
RR: So, what was it like working with the This Ain’t Bristol team for your Bergerac/Chicken Dinner EP?
W: I actually was in contact with Nick who works at the label before I made that EP. I was thinking ‘Oh cool, I’ll make a track for these guys’ after coming off releasing with Dirtybird.
RR: Yes, loved it!
W: Very big in America isn’t it? Haha. Yeah I did Bergerac/Chicken Dinner, I know it’s weird isn’t it? Sometimes you’re just looking around and go, ‘What should I call this track?’ ‘Oh I don’t know, I’m having some chicken dinner”. Yeah, just made the track for them and they signed it up, so it was all good.
RR: So what exactly is a Bergerac?
W: It’s actually a T.V. series that I grew up with in the 80’s and it was about this detective that worked out on the island Jersey, which is a little island off of England. The little sample in it sounds like he’s saying, ‘Bergerac’.
RR: Do you find record labels differ in their approach to production when you work with them?
W: Yeah, definitely. Every record label is different aren’t they, with the genres they release. Too15oom definitely works differently compared to Dirtybird. I mean they are in two different countries at the end of the day so there are some definite different approaches on how they promote the records, etc. They both have a massive following though and with Dirtybird their major promotion is through radio and they have such a big following anyway. It’s one of those record labels that even before the track is released, the fans will go and buy it or listen to it through Birdfeed. It’s all different.
The dynamics between everyone there aren’t different. Everyone is really friendly and as long as you get along, you both know exactly what you want to get out of the record, it works. As long as that’s there, it’s the same sort of thing with whatever label I’m working with.
RR: Looking throughout your discography, we can all see the classicist style mixed with your own interpretations and other genres. How do you think this has changed over time since 2013?
W: Yeah it’s definitely changed over time. It’s kind of a hard question. It’s just all the different places around the world, America is into Dirtybird, the dubstep etc. The UK/Europe is very tech house driven. We kind of had that big explosion on the scene back in 2012-2013 with EDM and then it faded out. For me personally, I’ve always stuck to the way I want to make house. I’ve never really followed what’s going in in the moment. It just so happens there there is always love for house music. I don’t really follow any trends that go around.
RR: You’ve just been sticking to what sounds right and feels good to you?
W: Yes, exactly.
RR: What’s it like to be one of the top resident artists of Too15oom Records?
W: Am I? Haha. It’s good! We got a family there at Too15oom. I’ve got a good relationship, I’ve been there since almost day one when Too15oom started. They’ve been good to me, I’ve been good to them. So yeah, it’s been good. I’ve actually just recently left them, on good terms etc. I just want to go off and pursue different things.
RR: Do you want to start your own label?
W: Maybe one day. But we have got a few interests from other majors at the moment.
RR: Did you have a hand in helping to produce and recruit other artists to the label?
W: Not purposely, but there were a few discussions now and again over the years like they would ask, ‘Who you do you think is really good at the moment?’ I think as well with the tracks I always picked to put in my sets when playing a Too15oom night, always trying to be different from the other guys and I really spent a long time finding new artists and new music. Off that, they would ask, ‘Oh, who’s this guy?’, and then that guy may get signed. I think I had a little bit of a help but they’ve got a good team at Too15oom. And plenty of people go there to send in their demos anyway.
RR: So we’ve seen a few releases from you this year ranging from high energy tech house to grooving, warm melodies. Do you have any plans for future releases or collabs for the rest of the year? Maybe another Weiss City?
W: Yeah, I don’t know about another Weiss City but Fatboy Slim has a new alias we’re going to go further with and I’m helping out with that. I’m going to the studio next week to do a follow up with “Feel My Needs”, get a couple ideas for that. But I’ve done quite a few remixes the past couple of months. I just did an M22 remix and Robin’s new album so they’re coming out soon. I’ve also done a collaboration with Eli Brown which is coming out in December. But because I’ve been working so hard on all these remixes and now I’m touring so much I haven’t had much time to work on my stuff. But literally, next week I’m going to back into writing some original material that I’m pretty excited about. I’ve got a couple of few openers I’m working with as well so yeah, we’ll see what happens!
RR: Lastly, my editor is curious to see if your favorite beer is Weissbier?
W: I’ve seen that yeah. But no, I’m not really a beer lover to be honest.
RR: Okay, what’s your poison?
W: I’m a spirits man, like a vodka or gin. The best one is vodka and soda water, put a little lime in there.
We thank Weiss for taking the time to sit down with us last weekend. You can stay up to date on Weiss’ latest mixes through Soundcloud and Spotify.
Connect with Weiss (UK):
https://www.facebook.com/WeissUK
https://twitter.com/Weiss_UK
https://soundcloud.com/weissuk
https://www.instagram.com/weiss_uk
http://www.weiss-music.com
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