Interviews

David Guetta Interview

• 26th Aug 2010

David Guetta is playing the LED Festival over Friday 27 & Saturday 28th August Bank Holiday weekend in Victoria Park, London. We caught up with him to get his thoughts on the festival.

You are headlining the very first L.E.D festival with your first outdoor London show. How do you feel about this?
I’m really excited about L.E.D because it’s the first one and I like the challenge. I’m going to work extra hard to make sure it’s a memorable day and I also love the concept of it being in a park in London as I’ve not done anything like that before.

What can we expect from the show?
I’m planning on playing a few tracks off my new album and also some of my favourite electronic music as well as some new music I’ve been working on that no one has ever heard before.

Last year at Creamfields you had to stop your set temporarily because so many people flocked to see you in the Cream Tent, how did it feel to be in such demand?
That was crazy, the moment they told me I couldn’t play I was so frustrated but at the same time, after 30 mins and they said I could play I knew what was going to happen and after the first kick it was already going off , it was amazing.

This will be your first UK main stage festival appearance of the year; do you ever get nervous before such a massive show?
Of course, it’s a big thing! And because I’m going to be playing some new music it’s going to be really interesting to see how people are going to react to it especially because it’s a UK show and the UK audience has such a massive club culture. But L.E.D I’m ready!

What's been your biggest achievement professionally and personally to date?
Well I’m really happy with the response I’ve been getting in America with the tracks I’ve recently released. I think this is my contribution to the scene, opening a lot of doors for people in the community not just for myself but for other artists in the industry. I think America is really opening up to dance music and music is definitely moving in that direction and the music we’re making is now migrating from Europe over to the US and back again.

Do you think you'll ever retire – or still be DJing until you're an OAP?
I’m going to carry on until I can’t, I love DJ’ing. People say ‘are you going to just produce now’ but no way. Everything I do and all my inspiration comes from the club.

Do you prefer club shows or festival shows?
I love both, they’re both so different. Festivals are all about the energy, they’re crazy it’s like a big rush whereas in a club I’ll usually play a much longer set and I can see people’s reactions to the tracks.

Who would be your dream collaboration? Are there any stars you'd love to reinvent into a dance diva?
Well I’m living the dream already working with all the big artists that I have recently. I’m not even living the dream as a producer but as a fan too, I’m just really excited about everyone I’m working with at the moment and I really hope its lasts!

You release much more chart/pop tunes than the much harder stuff you play when you DJ. Is that deliberate and what is the secret to success in both the charts and the clubs.?
Well you know I first think as a DJ about making people dance and making the DJs happy but if the songs really strong then it can touch people who are outside of the community and aren’t even into club music. If a song is good it doesn’t matter if its rock or pop or hip hop. If it can touch people’s hearts it will succeed.

I think that’s why I’ve had so much success with One Love and other productions with artists like Kelis, Pharell, the Black Eyed Peas, Madonna and the other artists that I’m working with.

I’m just trying to keep that formula. I’m a DJ first and I’m trying to keep it that way even if I work with a pop artists I really want to keep it in mind that I want to make people dance.

What will your next collaboration be? How will you top working with Madonna and Kelly Rowland? Could the next collaboration be a famous man?
Well I’ve just done a new record for Flo Rida called ‘Club Can’t Handle Me’ which is out now and I have some other really cool collaborations coming up but I’m sorry I can’t tell you about them yet!

We see the highly energetic David Guetta on the big stage jumping around, but who are you in the studio?
I’m actually exactly the same in the studio as I am on stage. I’m always jumping around, getting excited. The artists I work with always laugh at me because I get so excited making tracks. It’s always been about making people dance and then drawing emotion from the track then writing the song.

Where does your music start? Do you write the lyrics and the melody or is this all in a collaborative form?
Well it always starts with a track because I’m a DJ first and foremost and I start off trying to make something that will get people dancing and then I’ll move on to the melody and then the lyrics.

If you could send a message to all of your fans, what would that be?
Get ready to party, its going to be crazy I’m so excited to play in the park and play at the first L.E.D festival, just get ready and party and go crazy and get ready for all the crazy things were going to do!!

David Guetta headlines L.E.D Festival on Friday 27th August, alongside the likes of Soulwax, Calvin Harrism Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso, Tiga to name a few. Tickets on sale now: 08444 775 775 / link