From the beginning, Deep Dish always did their own thing – as Shirazinia describes, they were about bridging the gap between house and techno. “We loved what was going on in Chicago and New York in the early days and in many ways it has come full circle. Within the evolution of music, it was always about reintroducing things to an entirely new generation. It’s what we did then and it’s what I’m doing now. But now, technology is allowing us to transform what we were doing before. Everybody pretty much has access to new technology. But on the flip side, the market is super saturated with a lot of mediocre stuff – not even bad stuff – just ok stuff, so it’s hard to maintain a level head about how you judge a track. Trying to stay in touch with all of it has definitely gotten harder over the years.”
Regardless, the Deep Dish legacy remains alive – and the guys are still friends and often talk about doing something again – but not for that sake of it. “We have to do it for the right reasons. We need to make sure that we can recreate that creative cycle again. We reached our pinnacle in 2005 so if we do something again, we do it with the right intentions and importantly, we need to have something musically relevant to say to one another and more importantly to our fans.”
So needless to say, as a solo artist, the man has been keeping rather busy. “I’ve been playing a lot of gigs – a ton actually – and it kind of screeched to a halt on January 5 when I had my last gig in Playa Del Carmen. And rather than go on holiday like a lot of us typically do, I just decided that I had so many ideas I’d been saving for the moment [when] the gigging would stop, so I could sit down and just flesh out some ideas and try to make some tracks without any distractions. So I’ve been in the studio literally every single day and I’ve come up with some really great music. And since, I haven’t really come up for air!”
Indeed more recently, he has moved into a smoother if not darker form of music that is unmistakably techno. “I’m really driven by the music that I’m hearing in the clubs,” he says. “Playing alongside a group of DJs – guys you’ve heard or haven’t heard before –really just taking it all in and processing it somehow and then having it inspire and influence me in the studio; music still inspires my scope and vision.”
And now whenever a release bears his name – or any number of his aliases or collaborations – rest assured it will have the unmistakable depth and honesty attached to all of his music. And recently, while his recent studio time has seen him up his output, he is in no hurry; rather, he is happily plodding along and working on a game plan focused on simple brainstorming. “I’ve finished up a lot of tracks that seem promising. Eventually, I want to do an album as well, but there has to be a concept around it. The problem is, the idea of a traditional album I think doesn’t exist anymore. I don’t want to come out and release an album of singles that I could have released individually or sporadically throughout the year, you know? So I have to find a good enough concept – so I think for now, the tracks will come out during the year but individually.”
Impressively, he remains his staunchest critic, admitting he feels pressure from all around: “I would be lying if I said that this day and age you could rest on your laurels and stuff. You have to be ten steps ahead all the time. All of that goes away when it’s you in front of your computer and when you’re fleshing something out, that is first and foremost important to you before you give it to the rest of the world who will judge you. So the pressure seeps into that creative process but you have to please yourself at the end of the day and that creates double the pressure – especially for me.”
Finally, he spits a few words on his pent up excitement about his series of forthcoming festival dates. “I don’t really know the vibe to expect because the festivals are pretty diverse but I do know that I’m in great company with the lineup, which looks totally amazing. I think our stage is going to rock and techno has really had a great couple of years so any opportunity to come back to Australia! The fans there are so appreciative for us coming out there and playing our brand of crazy, wacky music, it’s a real honour to do it all again!”
BY REZO
