THIS IS OUR HOUSE...
With everything goin’ under digitalization, the arrival of a downloadable publication was just a matter of time, as explained by Ricardo Porteus at the command of the recently launched UK Our House mag.
Heya Ricardo. Welcome on board. Would you mind tellin’ us a bit about you as an introduction. I mean where you’re coming from and what has led you to be in the position which is yours nowadays...
Well, I’m a house music lover through and through, always have been so it was always going to happen for me! I’m a designer by trade so I have spent a good few years working on a way of combining both of these together to allow me to progress with both my passions....6 years later and 'Our House' has arrived!!!
The starting point of the mag. Its influences, its perspective, its construction, its aim...
The main idea for the mag was to compliment the fact that the industry has gone digital. Like everybody else I used to spend hours digging through records then picking up a copy of DJ or IDJ at the
counter on my way out, then the download bomb shell hit and changed everything so it only made sense to create a mag that can be downloaded and viewed on or offline.
Quite a hard bet I guess to be both on the paper front as well as online... Isn’t that complicated to coordinate everything?
Actually, we’re 100% downloadable. It doesn’t make sense for us to print the mag. This way we’re available worldwide for free, it’s the future of publishing I think!
How do you consider paper as opposed to internet and vice versa?
There's nothing better than kicking back and reading a copy of a good magazine, I don’t think online mags will ever beat that, but people are becoming more flexible and are keen to grab new technologies, so I think this is the start of things to come. No doubt it will balance out, but it’s good to see things are getting shaken up a bit.
Your perception of the current state of the written press...
Big changes on the horizon. I think the problem with written press is the overheads, I mean print runs that cost £20,000+ and huge postage costs is a real strain for any magazine!
Your perception of the Internet environment at the time we speak...
I love the Internet, it’s the most influential thing that has happened in my lifetime, we wouldn't be speaking now so its gotta be a good thing, especially in the music industry, look how it’s changing things... awesome!
What has decided you to be dedicated to a genre – house music – which remains so underrated as compared to hip hop and R&B for instance? And I’m not even talkin’ of its diversity in itself with so many people acting on various fronts which do not have anything to do with each other...
It’s a personal preference and probably goes back to my own musical snobbery, I mean I love all music and listen to all sorts from Stevie Wonder, Al Green, Gill Scott Heron to people like Mark Farina and the Greenskeepers, but it’s really always about that four four beat for me. House Music till I die!!! Plus everybody else seems to cover 'dance music' as if it’s one genre! So we decided to stick to what we know best and don’t differentiate from that.
This leading us to your definition of house music...
Deep, funky and soulful.... a proper house workout!
To me there was a time in UK where there were true prescriptors such as DMC founder Tony Prince on Radio Luxembourg back in the daze, Tony Blackburn, Alan Matthews then Jeff Young and Robbie Vincent a bit later on (both on Radio 1). Not to mention the late James Hamilton. Isn’t it that the global lack of such peeps nowadays could be at the source of the obvious misinformation of the crowd and a relative absence of interest as far as the underground is concerned?
I don’t think there is a lack of interest in underground house music, I just don’t think its as underground as it once was. It crosses over so much more these days, it’s all about the tracks not the DJ's. To be honest, I think this is a change for the better! People make up there own mind...
Please, do not take this as an offense, but exemples of UK said specialized publications opting for some commercial tabloidish format after quite some time are numerous. Don’tcha fear being confronted one day or another with some pressure from the advertisers askin’ you to gain a wider audience while following the hypes???
People tell us everyday that we should cover hard dance, trance, R&B, hip hop, trip hop and just about everything else! Maybe more readers would read the mag, but what happens then is you just skim throught the mag looking for your bits of interest, what’s the point in that???
We’re a 'House Music' magazine only and so far that’s why were getting great readership levels and exposure. We leave the other mags to cover the whole 'dance' scene.
The Brits have always been capable of the very best as the very worst. And this applies to music as mediawise. Any comment?
I think we have a really strong scene over here, things keep getting pushed forward so as long as that happens and there is a demand everyone in the UK should do well out of this great industry!
There’s no doubt a lot of talent within the house community. This said, it’s far from being what has been progressively championed along the years to be considered as the references of the current times as far as dance music is concerned... Could it be that clubbing has killed/is killing house music?
The commercial over kill days are well and truly gone, superclubs came and went and have created a new underground 'house' scene which is going from strength to strength.
Could it be that technology has killed/is killing house music?
No way, technology is saving the scene. Everything is accessible instantly and records are less than £1. We used to pay £10-12 per import, now we get 10 tracks for the same price, so people are crossing genres and buying more music. I have tracks in my collection that I would never play out but there such good records I can’t say no!
That house music has killed/is killing itself?
One thing that spoils things a little is that you don’t need to get your tracks pressed anymore to get them out, you just need to upload them so there is a lot more rubbish that gets put out which maybe shouldnt!
I’m 100% behind new music and freedom of expression but sometimes some records are real bad.
Although quite different in terms of concept, the Southport Weekender bi-yearly events look like growing from one to another, recapturing the initial vibe that was around in Miami 10 years ago. Any comment?
SW is bar far one of the best events worldwide for souful house music, it’s 45 minuted from my home and play host to lineups that are truly obscene!
Couldn’t it be that SW is finally showin’ the path with promoters who’ve managed to stay true to what they believe in along the years?
20 years, 40 successful events and growing everytime!!! I don’t think many can boast that type of statistic!! Stick to what you love and don’t sell out under pressure from anyone else is probably the motto you can learn from those boys!
Much has been said as far in regards to Miami and its annual gathering, going for the worst from a year to another. How do you consider this event?
Been there a few times and loved it, but it’s one place! There are up and coming conferences like ADE which will be on an even par soon. It just gets a little too commercial over there sometimes. It’s one big party but don’t forget it’s supposed to be a conference for house music etc, so it’s good to find places that still have that in mind!
What do you expect from it?
Good fun, good laughs hangovers and a little networking!
Some new talents, tracks, music, sensation which might well appear according to you in the forthcoming daze/weeks/months?
On the DJ front, I think you’re gonna see a lot more of the Cielo boys, Willie Graff and Nicolas Matar. Those guys are seriously putting it out! The club and albums are for me at the top of the game at the moment, producers like Kiko Navarro and Raw Artistic Soul are also making some great tracks and I think they are gonna blow up massive real soon!
What is to be expected from you over there?
Actually this year I’m the only one not at WMC. I get married in July so were concentrating on other things. The business is going really well for us and we’re now heading completely into design and marketing for the 'House' music industry.
Thank you Sir and most likely speak soon...
Take it easy mate... MFSB
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