The Best Quotes of 2015
From 72-year-old grandmas to 9-year-old DJ prodigies, we stuck a microphone in front of hundreds of amazing personalities this year in an effort to bring you the most authoritative and unique take on this crazy world we call electronic dance music. We got to drink mezcal with Felix da Housecat, eat vegetarian food with Graham Hancock and learn all about ancient civilizations we never knew existed, and ride on a golf cart with some of the biggest DJs in the world. Paring down our favorite interviews into 20 memorable quotes was a Herculean task, but we eat Herculean tasks for breakfast, in case you didn’t know.
These are merely tips of 20 awesome icebergs very much worth exploring. We hope you enjoy the ride as much as we did.
#20
“I want to convey the incredible explosion of energy, warmth and happiness that came out of that scene, especially since the mainstream media did all it could in those days to shit on rave culture and the people in it.”
—Michael Tullberg, a photographer who documented the early L.A. rave scene. Read about him and his book here.
#19
“I live only in the present; I don’t live in the past. So I’m apt to forget what has happened in my life unless someone reminds me.”
—Patricia Lay-Dorsey, aka Grandma Techno, the 72-year-old badass who will rave circles around you. Read her full interview here.
#18
“I’ve always liked electronic music, because in the old days you could sound big with just a keyboard. Double-tracking, triple-tracking and multi-tracking yourself made a soundtrack become huge. So, that’s how it started, and as the technology grew, I grew into the music. The great thing is that now the music can speak for itself; it’s not just a score.”
—John Carpenter, who rarely gives interviews but gave us one this Halloween. Check it out here.
#17
“For those of us that were involved in the rave scene early on, we saw the tremendous potential of it. We didn’t dream of it getting to where it has gone; we felt like we were going against the system. How it’s become fully realized is unbelievable. There are so many new aspects of the experience. It’s just an amazing time to be involved in music world.”
—Jason Bentley, radio host, pop culture curator, longtime DJ, and veteran of the early L.A. rave scene. Read a full interview with him here.
#16
“There’s no way any of us could have afforded to buy records like we had to. Those mixtapes were so important. We made enough money to buy the records, and put the records on the tapes, and play them out so people would come to hear us. It was like a circle that kept feeding itself.”
—DJ Dan, recounting how the mixtape was one of the most important elements of dance music. Read the roundtable interview with Dan, DJ Trance, Ron D. Core, and Ken Lawrence here.
#15
“I’ve come to a stage in my life where I’ve proved and done everything I have done as Felix, from ‘Fantasy Girl’ to the streets of techno. I don’t have to prove myself to the new generation.”
—Felix da Housecat, who apparently doesn’t give a fuck what you think, which is a good thing. Read more of his thoughts here.
#14
“The thing about the Garage was that there was a unity there. You didn’t necessarily have to know the people next to you; you just knew that they were Garage people. There was this interaction between the dancefloor, the crowd and the DJ, the way people would dance and stomp and respond to lyrics when the DJ turned the volume down, and back then we knew the parts of the songs. We knew when it was about to take us to a higher high.”
—Danny Tenaglia, who recounts the night he fell in love with dance music. Read the entire story here.
#13
“I had a really hard time when I was first voted #1 DJ in the world, because all of a sudden I had massive crowds coming to see the #1 DJ in the world, not Armin van Buuren.”
—Armin van Buuren, who got so freaked out by his fame that he had to hire a life coach. Read his full interview here.
#12
“Calvin Harris does a Calvin Klein underwear ad, and nobody bats an eyelash about his credibility; but Nina Kraviz doing an interview in a bathtub sparked a backlash of hatred. This double standard is at the heart of the dilemma, for its roots lie in deeply ingrained cultural mores.”
—Reid Speed, who has a thing or two to say about a woman’s place in the dance music world. Read her essay here.
#11
“Size doesn’t matter in the dance community. I feel like these events are the one place where anyone can be themselves and dress and act without fear of being rejected or picked on—because at the end of the day, it isn’t about how much or how little clothing you have on. It’s about enjoying the vibes, the music, and the incredible people around you.”
—Ashlee Burke, who checked her feelings of self-consciousness and showed off her plus-size body at a festival. Read her whole story here.
#10
“I need to release this video. And I’m willing to fucking stand behind it, even if that means fucking some relationships up and maybe even pissing some people off. I have to do it. I have to stand behind this; it’s so important to me.”
—Sam Spiegel of N.A.S.A, whose video for “Jihad Love Squad” was one of the most controversial of 2015. Read the full interview here.
#9
“It hurts me to say it. Just keep me in the hip-hop category. I’d rather have that. Or ‘experimental.’ I don’t even want to be in the electronic music section at this point.”
—Gaslamp Killer, who’d rather you not associate him with EDM. Read why here.
#8
“The Mojave was a lunar landscape filled with adventures in the unknown: From inside small canyons to dry lake beds to breathtaking lookouts, pioneering rave collective Moontribe helped expand techno’s native imagination. It took risks that were sometimes strange and dangerous. One cofounder a few times got so lost scouting locations that once he almost died of thirst; so he cut open a cactus and sucked on its wet flesh, only to find it filled with hundreds of tiny burs that swelled his tongue.”
—Thomas Kelley, whose brother, John Kelley, was one of the original Moontribe DJs. Read Thomas’ full piece here.
#7
“How would I describe acid house to someone? I think I’d just turn the lights off and put on Pierre’s Pfantasy Club’s ‘Fantasy Girl.’ Then I’d just play with the light switch and turn it on and off and on and off and on and off again.”
—Mark Jones, creator of the influential Wall of Sound label. Read this and more nodules of knowledge here.
#6
“You can’t have artistic freedom in a country where on one hand, you have a dictatorship that deprives you of all kinds of intellectual freedom, and on the other hand, there is no room for people to explore these things because everyone is busy with the basics of how to survive everyday life.”
—Motez, who found a way to make his voice heard while living in war-torn Iraq. Read his full interview here.
#5
“Dance culture has survived for decades and has never been more popular. Banning these events at facilities where we are able to provide first-rate medical care and emergency services is not the answer. I hope that policymakers and the media do not turn their backs on a cultural movement that is thriving and brings so much happiness to a generation that, quite frankly, needs an environment where they can feel loved and accepted. Most just want healthy interaction with their peers. I know that if I didn’t have access to this community growing up, my life would have taken a much different turn.”
—Pasquale Rotella, who didn’t necessarily say this in an interview we did with him, but since he wrote these words while in the office, we feel like it counts. Check out his full statement here.
#4
“I think women see other women out there now, and it’s changing, especially with production and DJing. If you can work a cooker and a washing machine, you can work a pair of decks, pretty much. It’s pretty patronizing to think we cannot. It’s ridiculous to think we can do all these domestic things, and not to worry our pretty little heads and mind ourselves with a mixer, and putting two records together—that’s man’s work. But we have to learn everything you do, using a washing machine included.”
—Sister Bliss, who spoke to us about the resurrection of Faithless this year. Read the full story here.
#3
“I have served in Afghanistan, one of the most dangerous countries on the planet, and seeing that and losing my friends almost broke my faith in humanity. Then I stumbled upon the world of dance music and was absolutely stricken with shock. I wanted to break down and cry because I was so happy.”
—Nelson Algerian Jr., a serviceman who found peace in electronic music. Read his inspirational story here.
#2
“It’s funny that it’s taken these young UK producers going over to America to make America realize how fucking brilliant America is in the first place.”
—Annie Mac, who—along with Pete Tong and the guys from Gorgon City—weigh in on how the UK is influencing dance music. Read the full feature here.
#1
“I love making the impact. I love the special, magical interconnectedness and the chance to give back to the world, but I hate the fame, and the idiocy and hysteria of the game of telephone, and the rumors and the gossip, and the guys who play into it and post good-looking pictures of themselves and are up there standing on tables with their arms up, sucking down the praise like it’s a fucking bong.”
—Bassnectar, who always gives a classic interview. Read the rest here.
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