BnB Interview: Marco Carola

Written by the B&B Crew

Marco Carola is one of Italy's techno mainstays with over two decades of experience under his belt. A recognized ambassador of Italian ambassador, Marco was among a small group of DJs and promoters who quite literally built the city's scene from scratch back in the early-'90s.

According to himself, Marco was 'born with a three-deck mixing style' and he soon found himself producing music which he would release through his own label Design Music. He subsequently founded the Zenit, Question and One Thousand labels to present other producer's music too, with Marco himself relocating to Frakfurt in 1998 to further his advancement in the burgeoning techno scene and released his first album The 1000 Collection. He moved to London in 2001, a year that would be pivotal to his career as his second album Open System quickly gathered rave reviews the world over. To this day, Marco still spins all over the world while being a mainstay of Richie Hawtin's Minus and Plus 8 labels, who, much like Marco himself, are one of the driving forces behind techno's permeation of the worldwide dance scene.

When it came to following up Open System Marco knew it must be with something exceptional. "I've been working like crazy on Play It Loud," he says on the travail behind his latest full-length. "I've never been working like this, not even when I was a kid and I wanted to be known!" Play It Loud's 18 tracks are presented in mix form and explore what proved for Marco to be a highly fertile middle-ground between home listening and the dancefloor—a reduced tempo and complete creative license from Minus allowed Marco to burrow deeper into his sound than ever before. "I always try to do something new," he says. "When I produce, or when I DJ, I don't really think about where I want to go musically, I just start to feel."

We recently spoke to Marco about his new album, the italian techno scene, DJ & studio technology, and much more...

Hey Marco, thanks for taking the time to speak to us. How’s life?
Really good - I just had my birthday, a big celebration in Napoli with so many friends, and preparing for the tour. So it's all very nice and exciting. The celebrations lasted three days!

Let’s first talk about your new album Play It Loud!, your first in nine years. Is there a specific reason why there has been a nine year hiatus between this album and your last one?   
I didn't want to make an album before I was ready to do it - before I had a concept in mind that I really believed in.  With my last album I look back at it and I wasn't completely happy with it: there were too many different styles in there, it didn't really all fit together. I wanted to make sure that if I made a new album it would totally reflect me as a DJ, what I do best.  It's tough to do that in an hour CD, so it took me a long time to have the idea that I thought was right.  I tried a couple of times to make an album but just got frustrated - it wasn't really until last year when I had the concept that I wanted to do and the method of working in the studio that suited it.

The album is not just a collection of separate tracks, but instead has been made by the rules of a continuous mix. Why have you chosen for this structure?  
I think it works as a reflection of me as an artist, as a DJ. I've been a DJ for twenty years, it's who I am, so I wanted the album to express what I do 100%.  My music is designed for the clubs, to be played by DJs, so for me it was important that this music was heard in that context. It just makes more sense for people to hear this music presented as part of a DJ set than as individual tracks. Of course, not everybody who likes my music is a DJ, so I created it was a DJ mix by myself - but there will be the unmixed tracks available for DJs too. It also ties into the name of the album: my music is not made to be listened to quietly - you have to feel the bass, so it is important that when you listen to it you can feel that. Otherwise it won't make sense!

The album as a whole sounds well balanced and definitely tailored for the dancefloor. Can you reveal how you work in the studio and tell us about the gear that you use?
The fact that I was able to make this album was because I changed the way I work in the studio - as much as I am sad to disappoint analogue producers, it was changing to digital production that helped me to realize how I could make this album. It was a shame to make the change, but with analogue it is more difficult for you to keep going back and making changes – with digital I was able to make loops in the day and then play them at a gig and see what worked and what didn’t. That wouldn’t have been possible with analogue. There is of course the problem that you can lose a bit of the quality of the sounds and the warmth of analogue, but if you have experience this is not so much of a problem.  This was the way that I was able to test out all of the tracks in a club, and create an album that represented me 100%.

You’ve played a pioneering role in helping establish the Italian techno scene in the early nineties. How do you look back on this period?
I really have to thank the trust I had in the music to be at the point I am now because everything and everyone was in a really bad perspective. There was really no one I could follow or anyone who could help me at that time. It was really the passion of music that let me do what I did. And then it started the same relationship with the techno music industry.

You also lived in London and Frankfurt throughout your career. What do you consider are the most valuable things you’ve learned while living there?
In Germany, probably the passion that people put into the music - they really see it as art, money is not a big influence on what they do.  Of course I'm talking about the producers - this part of the producers really influenced me. The first thing I was told when I went to Germany was you don't have to make music to make money - you make music to enjoy yourself, to make music that you like. At that time in Italy it was a completely different approach with music - music was always compared to at least a thousand-copy record. That was the comparison for the music - it was at least a thousand-copy record. In Germany, music was something you do to express yourself. That was the biggest change that caught me. This was many years ago - at the beginning when I started making music.  

England was a little bit less aspiring music-wise, because the concept of trends of music was and still is very strong.  I went there when techno was at a low level, radio and magazines were pushing speed garage and drum & bass and stuff, so I probably moved at the wrong time to learn something about techno. But a cool thing I can say about London is that when there is an artist with a special project, London is the place where they wanted to exhibit it, because London is still the centre of many things.

You’re known as a very proficient three-deck DJ. What’s your opinion on ‘digital DJing’ and stage software such as Ableton Live?
There are different ways of using technology. There is no right or wrong way in using this technology, but there is a right and wrong way in how you use it. The difference is when you're using the technology so much that you have less time to think about the single tracks or the music you wanna play because your brain is thinking so much about what you have to manipulate. So those are the differences, but I can't say which is good and which is bad. I personally prefer to use a little bit of technology, but to not forget about the music is a really important rule for a DJ set.  

You used to own a few labels such as Zenit and Domestic Minimal Noise. What happened to them?
They were taking too much of my time - I decided to concentrate on my own production so I just stopped those projects. I wasn't really happy being the leader of a label and group of people - for me it was something cool but there were many responsibilities, it was taking my time from producing. Whereas with 2M - my sub-label for minus - it doesn't take as much time for me: I don't have to take care of all of the stuff like I did with those other labels, where it was me running them. As soon as I have some time off format he album and tour, I will start to work on some new EPs for that.

What can we expect from you in 2011?
Well of course right now there is the world tour for the album, so I will be playing lots and lots of shows in lots of countries all the way through the year.  After that, hopefully I'll be able to do some more remixes, and as I said maybe some EPs for 2M.

To conclude, is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers that we haven’t covered yet? Anything goes!
Don't take the music too seriously - don't forget to have fun!  That's probably the most important thing.

Marco Carola - Play It Loud! is out now on Minus. Click here to read our review!

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