Soundorom is on his way to Australia for the first time this month. He is playing shows with fellow Circo Loco resident Matthias Tanzmann in Perth and Sydney, then playing on Cup Day at Lucky Coq in Melbourne. Chatting with him in Ibiza, it feels like Soundorom is extremely comfortable with his popularity and the pressure that brings. He has just played the closing party for Circo Loco and ended the Ibiza summer party season on a high point.
“It was super nice! It was really packed actually. I have the feeling that it was the busiest closing that I have played but every year I say that!” he laughs.
Growing up in Paris, Soundorom first discovered house music through his brother. “Originally, and most of the time where I find my inspiration, I listen to quite a lot of hip hop but its like older stuff, you know. I had no idea about like house and techno and I only knew what was dance at that time because I was watching TV. I guess I knew all these things like famous dance tracks, like Black Box or Robin S it was like the music at that time and I knew what was dance you know. Then my brother came back with this tape and it was like a lot of techno on that tape but I was not really into it.”
That mix tape set the seed though. Discovering one track and following the trail, Soundorom made some great contacts. “There was a track on there that I fell in love with and I start to research. Then I discovered more about this music and I started to go out! The funny story is that I started to discover this club called Les Bains Douches in Paris where David Guetta was the owner of the club. I was just hanging out there, some of the music was good but it was like not exactly totally my style, and I was just going out there every weekend.”
It’s true that luck plays a huge role. “Then one weekend David came over to me and he said, ‘I’ve been watching you for the last few weeks and I like how you behave and how you talk to people. I want you to be like PR for me.’ I was like 17 and I didn’t have any idea what PR [meant at] that time you know and he said, ‘I want you to bring like 20 people to the club and stuff like that.’ So well, at the same time I was still going at school you know and he said, ‘Yeah well, I pay you to this you just have to bring 20 people and let’s see what happens you know.'”
It was Soundorom’s big break: “I did this and that time I start to really get into music and start to buy records. Then after six months of doing this he gives me my own party and this is exactly the time I met Dan Ghenacia. He was the resident at Batofar and I asked him to play at my party. This is where everything started properly like music-wise – I was starting to buy a lot of records and starting to play at my own party.”
Ghenacia owns Freak n Chic and also Lola Ed. He gave Soundorom his first release and took him under his wing. “I did this party for like two years and it worked pretty well,” continues Soundorom. “The good thing was that we didn’t have the same taste of music with David Guetta but he totally let me like do my thing because he wanted to do one night different in his club. So we like pretty good friends and we found a way to work together, which was cool. Then after two years of organising that party I stopped and I totally focused on music.”
“I was starting to play around in Paris but it took me a bit more time to play in different countries. I was not producing at that time – you know how it works! But Dan has been truly a help for me. He always supports me and he has given me the power to focus on music. It’s been a long process but it’s just a beautiful story so it’s like when I go back to the past, where I’ve been to and where I am now. It’s super cool.”
So has moving from more underground parties to the point where his popular status put him in the top 100 DJs for 2010 on Resident Advisor created difficulties with his sets? “I don’t think I’ve any reason to change or for looking to like seduce more people you know. I think if you are true to yourself, well you have to refresh yourself sometime, but I think if you are true to yourself people will follow. People need to see that you’re enjoying what you do so if you’re true to yourself I think it’s the only way. This is the way I see but I don’t think you need to be trying to play more what they expect.”
Ultimately, Soundorom plays music with wide appeal. “I like to play like that groovy kind of music in a way so I guess maybe that’s why people are enjoying it, you know. I mean groovy can be can be dark, can be like vocal or whatever, it doesn’t mean a lot. I don’t know, I just think you just have to be true to yourself.”
Soundorom has a label in the works with Ghenacia and Shonky, Apollonia. “We are going to be ready at the end of the year or somewhere early in January. The main idea is just to have a platform to release our music but we’re going to put out music from the other people also. It’s just like a strong friendship and its like we are sharing the same taste of music and the same musical vision.”
“I am super excited about the tour to Australia! Music wise I’ve been doing a lot of remixes in the last year but now I want to focus on my own music. I just wanna finish a couple of remixes that I am working on which are really exciting. There is lots on!”
BY SIMON HAMPSON
