Crossing borders is a familiar experience for David Mayer. Preferring to think outside the box, Mayer has always been equally interested in experimenting with diverse forms of music, no matter what musical genre they derive from. However his passion for funked up and heavily pounding 4/4 beats clearly dominates his creative output. Both when spinning records and producing tracks, he is presenting his own interpretation of catchiness, mixing up Techno and House, adding a little deepness, but always keeping an eye on making his audience shake some. Ahead of his newest release on regular label, Connected we caught up with Mayer to find out what makes him tick.

You were born in Germany, moved to Norway then to Lanzarote before eventually settling in Berlin. At what age did you start engaging in music and how did it start?

Music was a natural part of everyday life when I was little. But one day my mom brought home a cassette recorder and pressed record while I was playing in the hallway with a neighbourhood friend. She just wanted to document our squeaky voices, but when I heard the playback of that recording I was immediately hooked. Remembering back I was thinking, “what more can I do with this”.

I started to record myself babbling along or playing instruments. I found out how to record music from the radio, punching in track by track. Basically producing my own mixtapes. Also I discovered my family’s vinyl collection, always playing the records back at the wrong speed. My father was shocked when I proudly presented him an hours long recording of Janis Joplin sounding like a chipmunk. I well knew it sounded wrong, but I was just obsessed with the manipulation of sound. Later I imitated old phonograph recordings of Mississippi blues by playing back a recording of me sizzling a plastic bag while playing the guitar on top of it.

When I was 14 I found the solution and became a one man band. I got myself a Korg i3 Workstation. That’s how the electronic music making started.

Good gigs are easy, but not every gig is a good one. How do you handle the bad ones? Do they get to you?

Obviously, I always feel that a bad night is not an option. However it has to be taken into account that these kinds of gigs occur. I’m trying to prepare myself better by updating my playlist in the advance of each weekend. The best thing is to find some fresh tracks that I feel work no matter what. Some fresh finds for motivation help to overcome the smaller obstacles.

I’m also trying to be well rested and take a nap before each night. Of course, this is sometimes impossible to achieve, but being tired and unfocused at a difficult gig definitely makes it worse. Early flights and general sleep deprivation make it hard to deal with bad gigs. Then I just try to make it home as quickly as possible and focus on the next weekend.

How much research do you do before you play a club in terms of who is on before and after, what the sound is like, the size of the room and so on, or is it your job to adapt to all those things on the night?

The amount of questions I have before a gig varies, depending on the look of the venue and whether I have played in the country before. Experience has taught me that even if I do specific research, my night is likely to turn out totally different anyway. Most often I like to just follow my gut feeling and take off with a positive outlook.

One thing I would say is it is important thing to me is to arrive in town early enough. I’ll try to make sure that my flight arrives in time for dinner so that there is enough time to catch up with my hosts. Then I will most likely ask, who is playing before / after and how big the venue is? I’ll also try to get an idea of what kind of experience my hosts have. This helps to adjust my expectations regarding technicalities. We’d also talk about the crowd and wether there are any other parties in town the same night. All of this is a fixed part of the conversation once I meet the promoters.

Obsessing over what is and isn’t your sound is quite a common issue for DJs and can lead to all sorts of anxiety. How do you deal with this problem?

Generally for me it has never been about playing only one specific genre or style. On the contrary, I rather try finding my favoured elements in any genre. In the beginning I remember clearly that I went for just anything I found appealing, as a listener or sound enthusiasts. But, of course, depending on the audience, this led to difficulties in finding the right balance in a set, resulting in said sorts of anxiety.

So I found out that I had to approach it more from the perspective of a dancer. Over time, I tried to watch myself and figure out which specific elements and patterns truly trigger my musical tastebuds. I had to define which of my personal sound preferences come through most effectively on the dance floor to help me play an appropriate, authentic set. The result is some kind of listening matrix. This does not mean that I easily find what I am looking for. But lately I have felt more and more comfortable with my gut feeling.

This may sound corny, but I think for me it all breaks down to the funk. Funk and melody. Funk to me evolves from the silent space in between the notes and the beats. If a track is not plastered with effects and white noise, the funk comes through more clearly. If a track combines the element of dry and dusty grooves with emotive melodies, it has my attention.

You have released on a lot of labels and have an impressive back catalogue including tracks on Keinemusik, Gruuv, Objectivity and Kompakt… Do you choose the label or does the label choose you?

Most of my life, opportunities have come to me sparking ideas, rather than the other way around. I strongly depend on feeling good in a situation. So wanting to release on a certain label no matter what would not necessarily be my approach. I’d rather look around in my close periphery or meet someone, see an opportunity opening up and then follow the pull of gravity. This way my releases might end up scattered across a very broad variety of labels, but there is usually a personal connection as a foundation for each release.

When you are making these tracks, how to you arrange your time. We have spoken to some people that will lock the door and stay in the studio for days on end till they have something they are happy with. Others will drop in and out doing bits here and there. What is your approach?

I wish I knew the exact answer! I tend towards a combination of both said approaches. But foremost I prefer to lock the door and just sit there for the necessary amount of weeks until it’s done. Ideally, at least the raw track will be fully functional. After that there would be a break, some road testing and asking friends for feedback. The details and the mix would be adjusted in a series of shorter sessions thereafter.

On the other hand the best and most satisfying results derive from those manic hardcore sessions, where a track would be done from scratch to finish while locked in for 16 hours without sleep or food. I love when that happens. It seems that’s not something I can plan to happen. But I know that it simply can not happen unless I sit down at the desk daily. As a wise man once said: The muse never visits an empty studio.

Have you ever done anything, made a record, released with a label, taken a gig you wish you hadn’t?

Certainly there have been those slightly unnecessary projects or embarrassing gigs. But I really can’t name any specific events, probably because it was not that bad after all or just because I have effectively wiped it from my memory if it was really bad. What I do know for sure is that the most difficult and painful situations have helped me to learn and evolve and to develop strategies to avoid to do the same mistakes again. I like the idea that there can only be failure if I didn’t try. I’m happy to go by the concept of “next”. If it didn’t work out, just get the hell outta there, learn from it and try to do it better the next time.

How hard is it not to repeat yourself in the studio and evolve with each release, but at the same time stay true to your own sound? Do you wrestle with this?

Sometimes I find it much harder to follow up with a specifically sounding release than to just go for something new. I embrace it if I can hear me repeating myself, that’s a good thing to me. I’ll end up sounding a little different anyway from one release to the other, so I’d rather be comfortable with the possibility of repeating myself than to waste energy by wrestling with this. The best thing that can happen is that the music itself takes the lead and basically finishes itself. Sometimes I have no say in that at all! My most important guideline for my productions is always that I want to be able to play it in my current sets.

How do you see the art of the DJ evolving and has it changed since you first started?

I’m not sure if the art itself has really evolved to change in it’s core. I can definitely see that there have been a lot of technical developments which make it a lot easier to approach DJing on the practical side. Anyone can figure out how to make a transition or find a readymade platform to develop their own style.

When I started, I bought vinyl first and then burned CD’s. That completely changed with Rekord box and USB, everything is much easier and cheaper, if you will. But this is all for the comfort of the DJ, neither of these things make it directly easier to connect with a crowd and create an amazing vibe. That’s where it all comes down to the the original art form.

What are you most proud of in your life to date?

I am happy that I have gotten a little wiser in many ways. Right now I’m proud to have a better understanding of what I am capable of.

 

Pre Order: David Mayer – Facts Matter [Connected]
Available: February 15, 2019