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DJ GREGORY:
FAYA COM(B)O VA?
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Famous Parisian jock and Faya Combo mastermind DJ Gregory returns to Defected under the form of a ‘pot pourri’ (in other words, a medley) whereas are to be found some of his already classics like ‘Elle’, ‘Attend 1’ and ‘Tropical Soundclash’ as remixed by housing heavyweight champions such as Âme, Kerri Chandler and Karizma alongside exclusive new choons…
Words courtesy of Defected PR Dept
How did you get to be so lucky to make your living in Music?
It kind of started in 1993 when I became friend with DJ Deep, who was spinning with Laurent Garnier all around Paris. He was doing a midday show on the radio from Monday to Saturday and I came and played on that. I slowly built a reputation through the show and started to play in more clubs. I went to New York for a couple of years later on and when I got back, I started on the ‘Africanism’ project, and launched my own Faya Combo label. And since then, it’s just been getting better and better…
Do you prefer DJing or producing?
I like both, it’s two different worlds. When you’re DJing, you’re in front of a lot of people whereas when you’re producing you are totally on your own. That’s what’s cool about it really, you can be totally alone and absorbed in your work and then you can be up there expressing yourself to hundreds of people and having a real party. Especially when you make a track alone, then you play it out and you get the reaction – that’s when you get a kind of link between the two worlds and that’s what you aim for when you’re in the studio.
Who have been your inspirations?
For the last ten years I have really been inspired by New York house music. All those duets – Clivilles & Cole, Masters At Work, Mood II Swing, they’ve been very inspiring for me. I like the ‘taste’ of electronic music, I look out for that twist that some tunes have where they are just outside the general formula. I try to make danceable music, but with something else on the side. The more you make music, the more you understand how it is done. So you go through jazz, classical music, reggae, rock and whatever, and you start to take inspiration from older music after a while as you see how it was made.
Which other DJ’s are you good friend with? I live in Paris, and there you could find out there’s a community. I get along of course with my old friends like DJ Deep, Dimitri From Paris, sorry – Mr Dimitri, Chris (I meant Bob Sinclar), Alain (DJ Yellow), Martin Solveig. My very close friends that I share the studio with like Julien Jabre, Michael and Maxine from Next Evidence, Claude Monnet…
There’s other people I’m sure I’ve forgotten. You know, Paris is a small town so it works in a different way, especially in this industry so you get to know a lot of people on the scene. Bob Sinclar lives on the same street as me; DJ Yellow, Michael and Maxine from Next Evidence, and Julien Jabre – we all share the same studio. Martin Solveig lives about three minutes from here. Dimitri lives fairly close. It’s a ‘hood’!
Would you call yourself a vinyl junkie?
Yes, I’m really fond of records and I buy lots of them. I’ve kind of lost count but I’d say it’s somewhere between 9000 and 14000 in all kinds of music, I love music.
What are your all-time favourite house tracks?
‘Can You Feel It?’ by Mr Fingers, ‘Can U Party?’ by Todd Terry, all the first Transmat stuff by Derrick May, all the early tunes by Carl Craig… in fact everything by Carl Craig, all the Chicago acid house period – Tyree Cooper, Adonis and Marshall Jefferson of course.
Why did you start your own record label Faya Combo?
After Africanism, I wanted to do exactly my own sh** and release my stuff. I wanted to be on my own also not to be under someone else’s record company. I’ve been very lucky, and more than that. The first release was ‘Tropical Soundclash’, so the success of this first release has made a name for the label. It’s now well recognized because of it. So once again, I’ve been very lucky. I’ve a good platform from which I can release better tracks.
Where did you get the Faya Combo name?
That’s very simple because with my friends when something is dope, I always say “Oh it’s fire.” When we were working on Africanism I was always listening to West Indian and Caribbean music. That’s how I came up with that ‘Torrent D’Amour’ break beat which been sampled by two hundred and fifty people (laughs) which is cool. On all those seventies Caribbean records there always were combos of people. So I was like Faya Combo sounds cool.
You’ve just done a collaboration with Defected Records. What did you want to achieve with this compilation?
The idea for this compilation in the first place was to gather a collection of DJ Gregory tracks that were to be remixed by several super cool producers on one disk. So along with Defected we thought it would be cool to add some of the other Faya Combo tracks that I had ready for release. When I mixed down those cuts, I felt it would be great to feature a few new tracks too, like ‘Breeze’ with K-Alexi or the T.O.K. Remix that I did especially for the compilation and here’s how this Faya Combo Sessions was created!
What is special about disk 2 on the comp?
The CD2 features a choice of my Faya Combo essential tracks and forgotten DJ Gregory cuts all on a DJ friendly format. This will be very useful for those people who like to have exclusive tracks.
Can you tell us about any of the tracks that you are particularly proud of at the moment?
I really like "Breeze" which is one of my new singles of the compilation It’s a new track with K-Alexi. It has this raw basic sexy feel, I love it.
One word about Defected Records?
It’s one of the main dance record companies in the UK, and I think that’s why in France everyone from Martin Solveig to Bob Sinclar goes with them because they really know how to work the scene.
When you think of Defected you also think of Simon Dunmore, and Simon was the guy who picked up on ‘Tropical Soundclash’ and ‘Elle’, No one else really noticed it, but he passionately wanted to do it and I’m really happy that he put that trust in my work.
Where do you see yourself in ten years time?
I hope I will still be making music. Perhaps a different kind of music, I really love jazz, so maybe a mixture of that with electronic music or whatever. I love the production aspect of things – finding the right texture and putting the music together, so I hope to be working on that in some way.
DEFECTED presents FAYA COMBO SESSIONS MIXED BY DJ GREGORY 3 CD/LP (Defected) - Release date: 03/03/2008
See extra content on a Defected Live Footage while clicking HERE
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