H: Erek, How/when did you start doing your remixing?
E: I have always been obsessed with music and from a very young age.
As a teenager, I fell in love with house music & I began to spin, I was 16.
That’s when I started to take an interest in remixes & how it was done. I was automatically hooked.
I remember listening to every 12” mixed by Shep Pettibone in the 80’s & being totally wowed by his (then) unique skills & the freshness he was bringing to otherwise boring & poorly produced singles.
I always had this idea that I‘d love to do that someday, but didn’t quite believed it could happen coming from a modest family, living in a small village in Quebec.
Quebec
After leaving home & working for 6 years in an utterly boring yet very lucrative job, I decided to follow my dream & quit without notice. I spent 16,000$ on tuition for a private sound engineering school, 150 miles away from my home, selling everything & moving across the province with my (late) beloved dog, Charlie.
Though it’s a tough business sometimes, it’s been now 10 years I invested in myself & started my production / remix service. I never regretted anything. I L.O.V.E. music!
H: What artist is top of your list to remix for and why?
E: It’s very hard for me to answer...
There are such great tracks been released every week, and I wouldn’t say no to anyone with noticeably unique vocal talents.
I would love to do something with Britney; her stuff is always so right on.
I hear Gaga is coming up with some new stuff soon; I’d love to hit that too.
I also really like P!nk. She’s definitely here to stay.
I love remixing anything Timbaland does.
I also like this Montreal’s singer named Marie-Mai. She’s got spunk!
These days I am totally obsessed with Montreal’s own Chromeo. They are about to conquer the world & they so freaking deserve it. Let’s have lunch guys!
H: Apart from Remixing, you DJ as well? And ifso: What places/where?
E: I actually stopped DJ’ing in ’98 after having inner ear problems.
Freaked out, I decided back then while I was in school, to preserve my earring as much as possible & try to be at the top of my game in recording / producing.
You know, most DJs are a bit deaf, and that’s not very useful in a studio. LOL!
I still do it once in a while for private parties, but I have no energy for extensive touring & it’s very demanding on family life.
I receive interesting offers from time to time & often wonder about going back...
H: Erek, do you use acapella's for your remixes or original single versions?
E: I always try & use studio acapella's for mixing.
They can be very hard to get (especially for new releases) but they provide me with the flexibility & sound quality I definitely need to do the best job.
The DYI's can sound so crappy sometimes.
Yet I would certainly use them if I really, really wanted to do a track like I did for Kylie, or Taio.
It shows in the overall sound of these mixes thought & it doesn’t please me much when it does.
H: How do you keep up with what's happening within the music industry these days?
E: I am a total music junkie!
I buy CDs like crazy (I have over 12000, not counting endless boxes of vinyl's) & I will reap just about every blog I can find looking for new, interesting & stimulating stuff. There is so much talent out there!
If you refer to the industry itself, well, right now it is just so depressing to see it dying like this.
I’d rather focus on the music itself.
It’s a transition time & you have to be really dedicated and / or a total nut job to even try getting into the biz these days! I am definitely on the insane side.
H: There is a lot of controversy surrounding blogs that provide downloads/download links.
What is your opinion on this?
E: Funny you ask about them as I myself own one for promoting my mixes.
I think they can definitely provide, just like in my case, very effective & essential diffusion especially for new artists seeking a fan base.
I don’t think providing links to copyrighted music (otherwise available for buying) to be a smart, nor justifiable thing.
Yet there is no freaking way, with all the releases available, that this ‘one’ kid will buy everything there is out there. It is just not possible. It’s a very saturated market.
Morally, every individual should make a stand-point decision of buying at least the better part of the music they use or listen to, simply because it’s the right thing to do.
Everyone should realise that the dollar you spend on iTunes doesn’t necessarily go to Madonna or Britney, but instead helps many unknown artists get discovered & be decently promoted.
Artists you may enjoy in a near future... or not.
I don’t condone it altogether, it definitely has some good parts, but it’s obviously out of freakin’ control.
No one should encourage it thinking it’s a victimless crime. It’s not.
H: You have done remixes of tracks by artists like Kylie, Blondie, Soul Searcher, Rick Astley, Britney,
and Lady Gaga. Do you have a favourite and if so: Why?
E: I really do enjoy redoing tracks from the 80’s.
At the same time, any of my current mixes provides me great reference & pleasure as a listener.
Since I do everything by myself, listening as a third-party, I can better evaluate where I am as an engineer, a producer & as an artist, & keep improving on weaker points.
H: Erek, many people have a very strong opinion regarding commissioned and non-commissioned remixers. So... what is your opinion on this?
E: In a society where success is calculated in dollars & hit singles, many, many people think just that unsigned artists are lesser artists and it makes it seem that non-commissioned mixers & mixes are not as good as others that have been commissioned.
As you may already know, this business is mostly driven by contacts so much more than by talent & it certainly explains why some real snoozers & incredibly crappy mixes have been & are still released every week by major labels, for major artists.
There is a lack of real direction regarding that today.
There are no remix A&R’s that really understand & do THE job anymore in the biz, like for instance Hush Gureli used to do for Arista Records ten years ago. He was the shit!
If it wasn’t for him, geniuses like Hex Hector & Thunderpuss would never have been this huge & I believe the remix phenomena as we know it wouldn’t have been this widely respected & so very influential in today’s music.
These days, execs just throw anything in there & for the lowest possible cost.
Everybody works on spec, except for a very few lucky bastards!
I hope that those who think that non-commissioned artists/remixes are less then commissioned ones change their perception of the industry and change the way they think & or think they know about this business.
H: Erek, there are many remixers out there, what makes you different from them?
E: As a remix-artist I always try to do something fresh that includes just about every bit of musical influence I have collected consciously & unconsciously all my life.
My signature mixes are a mixture of funk, soul, house, disco & electro sprinkled with a totally assumed, cheesy fun-packed, poppy 80’s goodness!
I also do many other styles as a pop producer, but for mixes I chose this one as my signature.
Fans have to recognise you from the first 32 bars... & like it from the first 8!
H: Talking about remixers: Who are your favourites?
E: I was always very impressed by trendsetters like Hex Hector / Mac Quayle, Thunderpuss, Calderone, Morales, Knuckles, Soul Solution & so many, many more.
That was back in the day & man it was so good!
These days, I am into the Wideboys, Chew Fu, Bimbo Jones, Benni Benassi, Martin Solveig, Mike Rizzo... But I totally admire the very disco-slick Freemasons’ style.
I also like a lot of pop/rock producers that don’t do mixes per say.
H: What are you working on at the moment?
E: Two years ago I released, on my own, a conceptual album called
“Nighttime Delights: One Night in the Life of Cue”
musically relating the tribulations of a night-clubber, following him through his adventures on a wild night out. The album featured some of Montreal’s best vocalists & was very well received by the critique.
I then followed last year with “Nighttime Delights: The Remix Album” featuring two new tracks & ten remixes from the earlier album.
Two weeks ago, I started working on the sequel.
It will mostly be instrumental tracks about the after-hour experience.
I plan a semi-independent release next summer.
I get lots of demands for mixes from independent artists. I always try to give back a little & help out the ones that can’t afford my fees.
I also do quite a bit of work for publicities, spectacles & a lot of montage for live performances and clubs.
And I am always looking for some really cool tracks to remix for my fans.
As you can see, I keep very busy.
BTW: I am also seeking contacts & professional partnership in the biz.
Plus I could really use an agent / manager to handle the business side of things & shamelessly promote me. Anyone?
H: The Pop/Dance/NRG scene has changed a lot over the past 10 years I think,
do you agree and if so, in what way has it changed?
E: In the last ten years, I’d say definitely!
A lot of it had to do with faster computers & easily available/affordable technologies & software.
A bunch of people got the gear to do their own stuff independently & followed their dreams just like myself.
It has certainly helped create new genres, blends, styles & new music for the greater good of music lovers. We are reaping the benefits now.
At the same time, the amount of crap agents, managers, labels & record companies deal with daily is so overwhelming that the best of us have to be blessed by god himself to have a chance to be heard by anyone with the means to create successfully promoted artists.
It is very hard to break through on your own without humongous means ($$$) no matter how much talent you have. I think I am living proof of that.
H: Remixes by ErekMcQueen appear to have a huge Gay following, do you agree and if so:
Do you have any idea why that is?
E: GREAT! I always hear that if the gays like you, everyone does! LOL!
Frankly, I think the passion & energy I try to incorporate in my mixes is palpable & therefore quite enjoyable to dance / listen to. It’s a bit over-the-top & some people like that. Some don’t.
Though I take what I do very seriously, it is super important for me to have fun doing it & I hope it transcends.
H: Pride season will be starting soon; do you go to/play at any Gay Prides and if so: which one(s)?
E: I am very involved with the Montreal’s Gay Pride.
I am musical director of the biggest drag queen show in North America called
Mascara – La Nuit Des Drags.
La Nuit Des Drags
It is hosted by Quebec’s super drag diva Mado Lamotte for whom I produced a dance record released by Quebec’s biggest record distributor in June ’10.
Mado Lamotte
It was very well received by critiques & publicized at length making it a huge success.
It will be my seventh year doing the show & I am always amazed at how much talent these performers have & the amount of energy they put into every single performance.
It’s a lot of fun & I always have a ball doing it.
Full Mado - Le Remix Album
H: Erek, if you were to name your all-time favourite remix that you have done, which one would it be?
E: Difficult!
I really liked Ciara & JT’s "Love Sex Magic". I did that one almost two years ago & I still get praises & emails about it. The original was a bit dull & I think I did a pretty good job on it.
I’m always very happy to hear from fans & the love they send.
I also really liked what I did for Gaga’s "Monster" & it almost got officially released last year.
Same goes for Madonna’s "Into the Groove". It was also really well received.
H: What is your favourite hang-out?
E: Being a bit of a naughty boy, I’d say I like stripper’s bar a lot. ;)
I don’t go out to discos much more & I always say that if you’re going to charge me 15$ for a Gentleman Jack on the rocks, there’s better be some real sexy entertainment to go along with it! LOL!
Gentlemen Jack
H: What is your favourite tipple?
E: I am a complete wine freak!
It is a passion of mine & the nice mellow buzz I get from it is just the cherry on top!
Nothing makes me happier than a great meal paired with the perfect wine.
The company might help a bit too. ;)
H: You are to host/have the perfect party; who would be your dream guest list and why?
E: Oh My! What a question!
I am going to sound extremely boring & perhaps a bit weird here, but I am totally wowed & completely mesmerized by record producers & record execs.
Have always been, really!
I would probably invite such passionate & enigmatic people as Jim Steinman, Jimmy Iovine, Nile Rodgers, Robert John Mutt Lange, Clive Davis (my spiritual father), Walter Yetnikoff, Ron Fair & other bigger-than-life music moguls...
I would just sit down, sipping on my 18-year old scotch, passionately listen, ears wide-open, to the wild & crazy stories of the good old days of the biz, when hits were ‘made’ with millions of dollars & no two artists looked nor sounded the same...
I can be freakishly square sometimes. LOL!
Thank you, Hans :-)
With HUGE thanks to Erek for doing this interview!
Note: I asked Erek to remix "Hold It Against Me" by Britney.
Although he initially had no plans to do a remix of this... luckily he did after all
The amazing result can be found at:
Erek's Britney Artwork
W-A-I-S-T-E-D's Britney Artwork
W-A-I-S-T-E-D
