Jon Gaiser Keeps It Punk Rock
In the world of electronic music, artists tend to move from label to label and partnership to partnership, looking for a moment’s magic that can happen anywhere at any time. But not Jon Gaiser. The Berlin-based producer of Detroit origin has known only one home—Richie Hawtin’s Minus label—and one music relationship: himself and his synthesizers. Perhaps this singular stance comes from finding the right feeling early on and staying committed to that vision through all its ups and downs.
These days, things are definitely on the up. His new album, False Light, sees Gaiser putting the “fun” back in his machine funk, and he’s got a choice spot on Hawtin’s excellent ENTER. stage as part of Escape: All Hallows’ Eve.
You started going out in mid-’90s Detroit, like many of your peers. What got you interested in techno?
When I was 18 years old, I was living in Indian Village, Detroit. My brother was working at Record Time with DJs like Derek Plaslaiko. That’s how I got to know Keith Kemp and Mike Huckaby and all these guys, and that’s why I know Tim. We were hanging with the dance room, flipping through records. This was late ’90s, ‘96-‘97. That’s basically how I got to know Tim Price [who threw parties for Hawtin’s Plus 8 label]. I eventually started going out with him to parties, helping him hang black plastic and doing whatever it is I had to do to be a part of it. Tim had a CD that I made, [and] Richie listened to it. It just kind of happened. I never sent a demo or anything.
“I grew up with classical training, then I would go play with my punk band. By the time I was 15 years old, I was playing with the Grand Rapids Symphony, but with a mohawk.”
That was a little bit later.
The first release got confirmed in 2005. It wasn’t released until 2006, but 2005 is basically when the ball got rolling. I’ve been recording forever, and I never had any real thought to release. That’s what I do. I’m a musician; I can make music forever. I never wanted to push it on anybody. Of course, any kid who is a musician dreams of doing it as his job.
You were a drummer first, right?
I grew up playing in a symphony all the way through school. Symphonic and classical music is my first passion—ever since I was a kid. My training all the way through school was learning melodic percussion and classic symphony; learning all of my rudimentaries. I was a skater kid, too. I grew up with classical training, then I would go play with my punk band. By the time I was 15 years old, I was playing with the Grand Rapids Symphony, but with a mohawk. They weren’t really happy about that, so I had to pull it down and grease it to the side, class it up a little bit.
When did you catch the electronic bug?
I was really young, and I saw Rich play at Michigan State University. My whole idea of techno music changed. I thought, “This is not what I thought techno music was.” There were actually cool sounds, not the same sounds as punk. That’s something that actually got my eyes open. There are sounds I’ve never even heard before.
I was bored with strings and drums, but at that time I was already so into percussion that I had already started to collect drum machines. I had probably close to a hundred machines. I had a battery-operated drum machine that could play Run-D.M.C. at the lunch table—“tap tap tap,” just for fun.
Plus, being in a punk band was 90 percent arguing, 10 percent jamming. So we were losing so much time fighting with these guys about who wants to do this. I got so fed up with it that I wanted to make my own ideas, sit in my own studio, and make my own stuff.
You still mostly work like that. You don’t collaborate.
To this day, I’ve never allowed anyone to remix my own music, for that reason. I have tons of fun doing remixes, but when it comes to me giving my music to somebody else, I don’t feel the need for it. I’d love to do it one day, but it’s not been a point of focus for me.
You don’t DJ either. Did you ever?
I’ve DJed in my buddy’s house. I’ve got 15,000 records. I really miss them—mixing them together. But when I started doing this professionally, there was no time to enjoy that. When you’re playing live, there’s no time to discover that new track like you do in a DJ set. I still listen to the music I love, but I don’t have the time to go back to every single release. I really miss that aspect of it. But playing live, you work harder for it. There is a lot more reward. It’s a lot more stress. If I want to play a new track, I have to write that track.
I feel like it’s a lot more personal because I can bring something that nobody else can bring. Many DJs are playing a lot of the same tracks, going to Beatport and downloading the newest Top 100 or whatever. The only way you can get around that is bringing something that nobody else has, and if you write it, that’s a way to go about it.
What’s your ratio of production to release?
The past two years, I was really light on the releases. A lot of people were making jokes like, “Oh, I thought you were dead.” I just wanted to play everything I wrote. I wanted to just keep my live set fresh and see the response to it instead of putting out another release.
What about releasing elsewhere than Minus. Ever consider it?
No I don’t, because I found my home. This has been my home since the beginning of my career. I have no reason to go anywhere else, because it’s my family.
There have been a lot of new faces in the Minus family the past few years. Do you feel like a mentor—an old guy?
[Laughs] Not in a bad way. Now that many of the “old guys” from Minus have departed, I’m basically the oldest guy sticking around. There are all these new guys, I have no idea who they are. All I know is that when the smoke clears, we won’t know who is going to be left to continue to grow and develop and make a name for themselves.
“If there’s no good energy, there’s no good music. Music is about emotions. If you don’t have good emotions to begin with, then it’s going to sound like shit.”
Do you feel like you’ve gotten better as an artist?
I feel like I have progressed in some ways and changed quite a bit. I wouldn’t say “gotten better,” but developed. You have to know your tools. They are an extension of your hands, and once you feel comfortable—where you know what your hands are doing without your mind thinking about it too much—that’s where the creativity comes from.
When you were working on this new album, did you know you were working on an album?
In the back of my mind, yes. But if you put pressure on it, it’s not going to work. It’s not effective when you say, “I have to do this!” or “I have to write a hit!” When you have that pressure in your head, you get stressed and you don’t feel happiness; you don’t feel good energy. If there’s no good energy, there’s no good music. Music is about emotions. If you don’t have good emotions to begin with, then it’s going to sound like shit.
There is a playfulness to your new album. Are you having a laugh?
You hit it, 100 percent. For this album, that was my focus. It comes back to what you think about going into the studio. I went in with nothing else in my head but “I’m going to have fun.” That was my meaning and point. With that attitude, you go into a place where anything is possible. I had so much fun with myself, just recording and laughing and making jokes. Every track came out as fun.
That wasn’t always the case, though.
No. Many years past, I was focused about creating art, making parts melt together, syncopated melody. A bit more structured approached. This album, anything goes. Just have fun, fun, fun with it!
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