 21/05/2009 Gavin Mills and Sam Holt are better known as Copyright, an international DJ duo signed to Defected, who have been rocking beats on dance floors for over 10 years. With a solid reputation as hot producers and skilful DJs, they come to us with news of their residency at Pacha, explain why they do not have a normal life and why their new Ibiza 09 mix is the first of its kind.
You’ve been playing together for a long time now, would you actually consider yourselves veterans of the scene?
Sam: It’s been 10 years now - I feel like a veteran (laughs). I was chatting to Axwell the other week and he said ‘we are all now veterans of the scene’, so maybe we are. Gav is a veteran.
Gav: I’m feeling like a veteran because you see all these kids out on the dancefloor and think, ‘wait a minute, this is a whole new generation now’, so yeah, I feel like a veteran of the scene.
When you’re making records, what’s Copyrights musical philosophy; what elements should the songs you produce always have?
Sam: I think you start from the beats up, get rocking beats; that’s always our foundation.
Gav: The rhythm is always the starting foundation and then, when we’re working with singers, we try not to write throwaway songs. When we’re thinking of a song we try to think of a subject and write a song with a bit of a story, quite often if you listen to our lyrics, there is a deeper meaning in there.
You’ve been in Ibiza constantly for the last 6/7 years, what do you think it has in store for you this year?
Sam: Well, first of all, this year it’s Saturdays at Pacha for Defected, which is a massive step up. To have an Ibiza residency at Pacha for us is a massive thing and something we’re really, really excited about.
For all the aspiring DJs out there, can you try and explain as best you can what it feels like to be in front of that crowd at peak time on a Saturday night at Pacha?
Gav: There’s something special about getting behind the decks at Pacha; it’s got an amazing sound system and it’s got one of the best crowds, who are there purely because they love the music.
Sam: When we’re making records we try and imagine playing it at Pacha, that shows how we value it, that is almost as good as it gets.
Can you explain what it’s like not having a normal life like other people, where you can do normal things on a Friday or Saturday; how does that feel for you?
Gav: Well, you have to have a very understanding Wife or Girlfriend, that goes without saying.
Sam: Our weekend nights are Wednesday and Thursday. It’s very important to go out and have some fun, if it’s all in the studio or all travelling it’s too much. So I’ve found I’ve got quite a few hangovers on Friday mornings going to Heathrow (laughs).
What are the differences between the two mixes you’ve done for your new album?
Sam: Well we wanted to try and replicate the Ibizan experience and so one of the CD’s kind of reflects the day - and maybe the beach vibe - and the second CD is a bit more about the club experience. hopefully people can put this CD on and get a taste of Ibiza.
What is special about this mix? What’s the thing that’s hasn’t been performed on any other mix?
Gav: We bought Shovell into the studio.
Sam: We’ve all been contributing the ‘Drum Warrior’ experience and we’ve brought that into the compilation. There are little interludes of Shovell throughout the album and as far as we know it has never been done before.
Gav: We try to catch little flavours of what it’s like when Shovell’s actually playing in the club.
You’ve gone to even further lengths than just having Shovell put percussion over your tracks. You’ve actually put together a special intro track. What was your inspiration behind that?
Gav: We had this picture of Benirras Beach with all the drummers playing at sunset and I had this vision in my head of Shovell leading all the drummers down there and everybody joining in. So the whole track is just made up of the drums and with Shovell doing a little bit of chanting over it.
Sam: We’ve also re-edited Harry Choo Choo’s ‘Cumbria’, which is a massive record for us and there’s a bit of Shovell on that. Throughout the album we’ve used acapellas, it’s gone through two stages this mix; we developed the mix, then we did some trickery and then we put Shovell on top. So it’s not been just a standard sort of compilation process.
How do you feel about your own tracks on the album, including your new track ‘Ready or Not’ with Yasmeen?
Sam: Yasmeen was over for the Defected 10th anniversary party and we managed to get four or five days in the studio; ‘Ready Or Not’ is the result of that. So far the reaction to it has been great and it seems to be really working.
What about Roots?
Gav: We made this Afro beat tune and we needed a vocal that summed up the feeling of Africa and that original house feeling, so we came up with the idea of getting Jazzy B to do a vocal; in just one take he dropped this thing about roots and the tribal expression and we said, ‘that will do mate, that’s the vibe’.
So how many exclusives do you think there are on this album?
Sam: I’d say that about 70% of the album is exclusive, and that is amazing for a compilation and that’s what made it so exciting to put together, that fact that it’s all new.
Can you pick out a few of the standout tracks on the album that are not your own?
Sam: The first track on CD1, Dennis Ferrer ‘Symphonia Della Notte’, which is coming out on Strictly Rhythm. Again, it’s a total exclusive and a record we’re really excited about.
Gav: I’m loving the Brian Cox track ‘The Wizard’. I’m definitely going to be looking out for some more stuff by him.
Sam: P’taah ‘Dance Until We Die’, the Kenny Dope mix is something we’ve been playing in our set, so those three on a sort of more groovy tip. Also a track that has been smashing it out there is Gilbert Le Funk ‘African tastic’ the David Tort mix.
Gigwise what have you got coming up?
Sam: We’ve got four Defected dates this summer at Pacha Ibiza and we’ll be on our usual crazy European tour around most of Europe. We’ll be at all the key Defected festivals this summer like Tomorrowland. We’ve also got a big party in Japan coming up on the 28th April.
Gav: It’s at a club called Agahar and apparently this place is huge, holds about 2000 people; we always love going to Japan.
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