David Guetta, a name that has gone beyond household, joins us today for an interview. Guetta has been at the forefront, of not only dance music, but music as a whole for well over a decade. Many would recognize Guetta as the one responsible for kickstarting the trend of incorporating electronic music into the wider pop scene. After dominating the world of pop dance, Guetta returned to his roots and the worldwide DJ circuit. He has achieved greatness in many areas in music and is respected by the whole community.
Having worked with most of the largest names in the world, David Guetta has seven albums and hundreds of singles, with the majority of them being worldwide hits. The French superstar has more than 100 platinum achievements for his records. Most recently, David Guetta has been working on three styles of music; his house pop sound, his future rave club music and his underground releases under his Jack Back alias.
His newest release, under Jack Back sees him team up with Guz and Ferreck Dawn for ‘I’ve Been Missing You’. The track is a tremendous house record with a killer vocal, just what we’ve come to expect from the artists.
You’re currently living in Ibiza. During this past year, how has that changed your routine? What does your day look like at the moment?
So it’s actually crazy for me, because I’ve been having a normal life for the first time in 20 years. It’s been great not being jet lagged, seeing my family, waking up having breakfast then going to the studio (I’m not even going to the studio outside but actually a mini studio at home) and making music every single day of my life. It has not been a bad experience for me, I have to be honest.
Of course, I’ve been missing being on stage a lot and that has been odd. But for the rest, I’ve been more creative than ever. I realised how exhausted I usually am, but I guess I was used to it. Now I have so much energy and I’m so much more creative. My label was usually running after me saying “Come on David, we need new releases!” But now they’re like, “please stop, we have too many records, it’s crazy. We need you to need to stop!”
On Friday you dropped a new record under your Jack Back alias. How did that collaboration come together with Guz and Ferreck Dawn?
I’ve always thought they were really cool. I love their music. I was super happy because they sent me the demo, asked me to work on it. Which I did and it turned out great! I am thrilled to finally be sharing new Jack Back grooves with fans from around the world!
Alongside the new Jack Back release, you also released a remix of your own track with Becky Hill, ‘Remember’. The sound is very ‘2010 era’, like Congorock, are you hoping for this ‘electro house’ sound to make a comeback?
Not really, because I’m doing my thing with future rave that’s been incredibly successful in the community. I also have Jack Back and then the more pop/house crossover production. My set is almost only future rave and a little bit of techno and I miss the energy of 10 years ago. I’m so happy at the moment because I stopped caring so much about having radio hits. I just make records that I want to play as a DJ.
We talked about making a future rave remix and I didn’t feel completely right with this type of song. So I thought what is it that I would love to play? You’re right about Congorock – I used it as a reference for the remix. I remembered the first time I played his track live and I knew this was what I was missing from my sets.
My drums in future rave are pretty straight and I haven’t heard that ‘cut’ in such a long time. This is what I was doing with Afrojack and I used to love it so much. It felt really, really good to use a lot of distortion and saturation again.
How hard is it to schedule your music, with two aliases, remixes and collaborations? How far ahead do you plan?
Around five months. As I mentioned before, my label is asking me to stop producing as I am making songs every day. So I said, I am not producing, I am just writing songs! It’s insane, I’m more productive than I’ve been in 10 years. It’s been inspiring to not have that obsession with pop hits, it’s helped me be more creative again. Jack Back was the first step into this and it’s funny as I see a lot of EDM DJs have started to do the same.
I remember one day in LA, I went to visit Calvin Harris and we spoke about Vegas, and things we relate to of course, such as the pressure of making those hits. I told him that it makes me so happy to do Jack Back, it’s so incredible to make music where people have zero expectations. It’s how it should be, but it’s not – there’s almost nothing you can do about it. After, he did Love Regenerator, his amazing project that I really think is dope. I’ve had the same conversations with many artists in this community. For me this was the first step into freedom.
Given the lack of shows over the past 18 months, what has motivated you in the studio?
I haven’t been focusing so much on Jack Back because I’ve done a lot of future rave and a lot of the house pop crossover records. That will be my next thing though. After two weeks of songwriting, I’ll be back onto Jack Back. It’s an amazing formula for me to go from future rave to pop to Jack Back.
I can’t just stay in one lane, I need to do things that are always exciting. The minute I’m starting to repeat myself, I know I need to move on and do something else. That is really the secret to my happiness lately.
I have three Jack Back records ready but if I am honest I need to make like five ideas to find one that is good. One day somebody said to me “How do you only make hits?” I told him that I also have a hard drive full of shit, no one is good enough to only make amazing records. It’s how hard you can be on yourself as we are all a little bit attached to things that we create. You need to be hard on yourself though, I have all these records that I haven’t put out.
You’re always on the pulse of what’s next in electronic music. Who are some upcoming artists you have your eye on?
Upcoming? I’m not sure but I really like Tale Of Us at the moment, but I wouldn’t call them upcoming. They give a lot of inspiration, I’m really enjoying melodic techno. I almost see it in the same family as future rave, but of course future rave is a lot more festival orientated and the sounds are a little bit more powerful. The sensibility of the music is similar, with a bit of trance and techno influences. I really enjoy Tale Of Us’ music a lot, they take me on a journey. That is really something important for me in music.
As much as I love underground music, I don’t like it when it feels like a DJ is playing the same loop for hours, which sometimes they do. I don’t really get it, I want to be on a journey. It’s also because I am so old school, I used to DJ eight hours every day, it was a normal job for me back then. So of course, when you play eight hours, you have to take people on a journey. I would play funk, then disco and then go into new wave and then house came. Even though I only play electronic music now, I’m trying to keep that idea. That’s what I love about melodic techno, it’s like a trip. It’s funny, I don’t do drugs but I love druggie music!
We all know the party capitals of the globe like Vegas, Berlin and Ibiza. Which party city flies under the radar?
I think throughout the years it’s been different places. I remember being shocked by Australia. When I used to come and play those festivals it was insane! I never knew about that. Sometimes I’ve felt that with Germany also with the whole minimal techno and electro house movements. I felt that France was also crazy with the French Dutch, there was no other place with that vibe. I wouldn’t say one place, it just depends on the moment. I have been hearing that Tulum has been very crazy. But it never stays, I feel like Ibiza is the only place where it is constant.
You’ve stated in the past that you want to DJ in space. Now that space tourism is slowly becoming a thing, have you considered it any further?
I was actually in some serious conversations with Virgin Galactic when they started. I was really going to do it, but it took longer than expected. More recently, I had one experience with an parachute. It was a very exciting experience but I was quite nauseous. It is normal, but imagine if I was on a military plane – it may be 10 times worse than that parachute trip. Then going to space would be even more than that military plane, so I don’t know!
Looking through your discography, you have released an album every 2-3 years. The last one 7 came out in 2018, does that mean we could potentially see a new one in the near future?
Yeah it’s not impossible, it’s a very different market now because of streaming. But yeah, maybe in a year, or around then. If I keep having those big records, why not?
Be sure to dive into David’s newest Jack Back release with Guz and Ferreck Dawn below.
