Videos

Steve Angello – Knas Teaser

• 29th Jul 2010

Having spent the last year hidden deep in Steve Angello’s CD wallet of battle weapons, ‘KNAS’ finally see’s the light of day. Already picking up spins from Pete Tong and Alex Metric on Radio 1 – you better believe the hype. Simple minimal beats mixed to perfection, a killer synth stab glued neatly with a wobbling bass line of monstrous proportions, ‘KNAS’ will be creating havoc on a dance floor near you for a long time to come!!!

Armed with a slew of new CDs and enough confidence to rebuild Hadrian’s Wall, Steve Angello totally destroyed the Space terrace at the inaugural Ibiza opening on May 31st – but in truth, the momentum has been building on Steve Angello’s music for some time now. First up was arguably his globe-straddling Moby remix of ‘Raining Again.’
Then it was ‘Tell Me Why’ with Sebastian Ingrosso and ‘Be’ with Laidback Luke. And then ‘Be’ returned in spirit (and b-line) for ‘Show Me Love’ with original vocalist Robin S and Laidback Luke in tow, smashing clubs and Top Ten charts into tiny pieces everywhere it was dropped. “It’s a huge track as we all know,” says Steve Angello.
“It’s just one of those tracks. It’s done a lot of good stuff for me so I do a new bootleg of it every six months. The best thing about it is everywhere I go, it’s the one track that everyone wants to hear. I may have played it 60,000 times but people still want to hear it!”

Since we last looked, Steve Angello decamped to Los Angeles where he’s been living at least 50% of the time, boosting his creativity and inner confidence to all-new levels. “I love playing in The States, it’s a scene that’s ready to explode,” he states. “They’re getting kind of bored of American DJs so I go one week a month to keep them interested in us. The scene in LA is huge – we used to play to 1500, now it’s closer to 4000. I play at Mansion and Avalon in LA and Pacha in New York. I love Pacha New York too – it’s Erick’s club!
– they got the place up on its feet and it catches that typical New York feeling. You also remember every face on the dance-floor.”

But L.A. is Steve’s new home and he despite having played pretty much every club on the American circuit, he says Avalon remains his favourite club spot. “The vibe in there is just ridiculous! It’s the only club that goes past 4AM. When the light comes in at 6AM, I still have 4 hours to go. And then I can jump in my car and go home.”
Needless to say, music is Steve’s main priority in 2009. “You know, I think if you come to LA and want to work, it’s important… they’re tired of producers doing one track and disappearing – I’m a workaholic!”

But when he’s not spinning or driving, there’s still much to do. When he wakes up, Angello is still very much the A & R supremo for Size Records, wherever he lays his hat that night. The label is now firing with released by himself, Kim Fai, Funkagenda and Marcos Schauss upcoming this year alone. “Marcus is doing well, he’s a great DJ and he plays a little darker than me which is great,” says Steve. “I also signed my brother Antoine to the label. He’s 19, he’s young and fresh
– he’s like me when I was 19, he’s really determined – I gave him a taste of the DJ life and he loved it!” Well, who wouldn’t? “At least I can steer him the way I want him to go,” reasons his big brother.
He’s also working with Funkagenda – “such a great producer! He’s already done a couple of pieces for the label,” states Steve. “I love having him at my parties.” Steve is ready for the Mafia summer to begin. Mondays at Pacha with Seb and Axwell – what more could he ask for? “It’s so good to be having our own night and finally we got it.
Every Monday will be like New Year’s Eve!”

And what about Steve’s own album? “I’m doing the Mescalkid album which is more techno – I have a Mescalkid track coming out on Sci- Tec, a dark techno track I really love but you know, I’m still making three new tracks a week! But my album is going to be really house and techy…. I got a couple of vocals in the bag but it’s too early to say.” And then of course there’s the small matter of the upcoming
N*E*R*D* collaboration they’re about to finish. “We met in Sydney. We started to talk and ‘Be’ was playing in the background and Pharrell said he loved the track. We had four days off and that’s when we nailed it. I think everything is moving towards electronic dance music. Everybody is interested in what we are doing.” And what of the song, Steve? “It’s a very simple vocal – there are some really nice harmonies and then it has a banging bassline.” And what did Steve learn from N*E*R*D*, we wonder? “The guy is a workaholic and you can definitely tell. He doesn’t drink or party, he works 24/7… I was surprised how hard he could focus. And I thought I worked hard.”