10 QUESTIONS FOR JAMES DERON

  1. Herve’ why /how did u chose your Nick name?
    Nothing very special. I liked the name of James and then I saw that a basketball player had the name of Deron, I associated the two and voila.
  2. You start your career in the early 90’s being resident Dj of one of the biggest radio station at that time ONE FM: can you tell us more about this experience?
    That was my debut in a radio. The early days were very stressful. Then it became a pleasure. I was looking forward to go mix on Friday and Saturday live on this radio. The emotion of telling you that people were listening to you was amazing. I could pass on my passion and my musical tastes. Moreover, it allowed me to meet and it opened doors for my career. I really thank all the people who at that time believed in me and helped me.
  3. When did u have the idea to make your first production ?
    By listening to the deejays of my time that have mostly become legends. One day I asked to mix before Jamie Lewis to make him listen to one of my productions. Jamie arrived, he got behind me, sat on a couch and at some point I spent my song. There, a childhood friend noticed that Jamie Lewis enjoyed the music, he simply told him: Jamie, this is a song by James Deron. Jamie approached me and asked me if I had signed this song on a label, I said no. And here I am today, a Purple Music artist.
  4. -You belong @Purple Music family now since many years, after having released some nice EP few years ago, you came back recently with a great remix of Yass ft Lt Brown” i m Free”.
    Can we expect more from you in the next months?
    I have a lot of projects in preparation for the next few months. Some remixes that are going to be very popular with Purple Music…..je do not tell you more, wait to see. I also have several own projects that will be heard! A big outing this year will be that I just signed up at King Street Sounds, the famous Blaze song, Barbara Tucker-Most Precisous Love. Probable exit in September and December. Since I have regained contact with Jamie Lewis, I must say that things are going very well and that this year 2018 will be very rich in novelties.
  5. You live in the french side of Switzerland beside of the spoken language what is different in your opinion from the german side of the country?
    Very clearly, you have more influence on the side of Germany which is very much carried on electronic music in default of us who are close to France and who unfortunately have the influences of RAP/RNB that are very pronounced in the country. We were in Geneva, at the time, an important pole in the house music, the radios supported the movement until the day they changed their shoulder rifles. Pity and sad.
  6. Do you think that having a normal daily job is different in terms of a life/dj producer?
    No, I don’t think so. You can work in a job that gives you as much pleasure as making your passion that is music. Now, professional or family constraints are in both sides. Sometimes you don’t want to, but you have to do it for bond reasons. But come on, I’m honest with you, the music is more fun and it provokes you sensations that nothing else can bring you.
  7. Where will you spend your next vacation?
    I am going to see my parents in Florence in Italy and then I will spend a few days at my brother in heart, Massimo Conte, who is in the south of Italy, at Otranto/Puglie.
  8. Your life motto is….
    My family and the music
  9. The song/track you could play now and after 20 years……
    Without hesitation a single second, Sandy Rivera’s song “Come Into My room”. This song provided me with memories that I would carry with me to heaven. The melody, the voice in brief everything in this song is just perfect. I thank Sandy Rivera for creating it, in fact, I hope one day to meet him to tell him in front.
  10. How would you describe your sound?
    I do not really sound to me, what I can say what I have African influences in my songs. I love the rhythm, the warmth and the vibrations that these Afro influences give me. For me, even a simple tribal song, speechless, it can provoke me as much pleasure as a very beautiful song with very beautiful voices.
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10 QUESTIONS FOR KAPAL

  1. Your real name is Tom Schiphors:why did u choose your nickname KAPAL?
    Till my 21’st I used my real name, especially in The Netherlands. But my real name is very difficult to pronounce, especially abroad. So I decide to make an alias. So I put the first part of my last name (Schip) in Google Translate. In Indonesian it was Kapal. That sounds great to me. So I decide to dj and produce as Kapal.
  2. What makes the difference in your opinion beeing based in a city like Amsterdam having big festivals and music conferences as ADE?
    Well, it’s very handy. Of course it saves money (hotel and plane) to have such big parties in your own city. We have to be thankful ADE and a lot other concepts are successful in Amsterdam. DJ’s all over the globe come to Amsterdam to play and meet other people. Great opportunity for a small chat and to give your demo in person;).
  3. Your premiere on our deep branch INDEEPENDENT RECORDINGS is a success: topping the deephouse charts @Traxsource since 2 weeks now: Any comment about it ?:)
    Actually, I hate to be second. If the first place is in sight, I want to go for it. But of course I can only be positive about this. I’m happy my track is doing his job in the charts. I worked very hard to achieve this. It’s a big compliment so many dj’s are playing my track right now. And it’s so nice to see the track ‘fighting’ against artists and labels I look up to. I’m happy Indeependent give me a chance to release on the label. It gave me confidence.
  4. How would you describe your sound ?
    The best way to describe my sound is groovy. It’s the most important thing in music for me. People want to dance, and a groove is the best way to move your body (in my opinion). So the shuffling hats and jazzy vibes is how you can recognize/describe my sound.
  5. Where are you djing most ?
    Mostly in Amsterdam. But the last couple months I didn’t play that much. I spend much time in the studio making music. I like to play in other countries as well, especially: England, Switserland, Italy, Germany, Austria, Turkey and Spain. My sound fits there best!
  6. What inspires you?
    I listen to jazz, blues and reggae very often. There’s a lot of useful baselines and jazzy chords. And it sounds a bit crazy, but I listen to music I normally never listen to. I don’t smoke weed, use drugs or drink alcohol (at all) to get ideas. And of course I listen to other dj live sets a lot.
  7. The best party/place where u plaid
    I think that was a party in my hometown in The Netherlands. Party at the beach. Weather was great, everybody was in a good vibe. I was playing a warm-up set before a big headline DJ. I started with empty dance floor, ended with a packed one;). After my set people told me I played better then the big headline DJ. Goosebumps!
  8. Your life motto is………………..
    Enjoy every moment in life, you only live once!!
  9. Do you have your own studio or a partner to produce music?
    I don’t have a big-ass studio. I have a small studio inside my tiny house. I don’t have a studio partner. I do get more questions from dj’s to work together. But it have to fit with sounds. I am very picky.
  10. Looking forward  to the next months what can we expect from you?
    I’ve got a lot of crazy sketches right now where i’m working on. I’m very happy about that. So you can expect new music.
    Keep an eye on my Facebookpage facebook.com/djkapal
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10 QUESTIONS FOR MANUELA (PURPLE MUSIC CO-FOUNDER)

  1.  IT’S THE FIRST TIME THAT YOU ARE INTERVIEWED FOR YOUR OWN LABEL  TELL US SOMETHING TO INTRODUCE YOURSELF ?
    After  I finished the school  as tour operator (but never worked in the tourism branch ), I start working in the music industry in my  city Milan @FULLTIME RECORDS early 1990 and I never left this crazy world! I worked as export manager for some of the  top Italian’s music distributors where I could learn & increase my knowledge about the various sides of the music industry . In 1997 I moved to Switzerland and created my own record label PURPLE MUSIC with JAMIE LEWIS  who had always in mind to create his own record label (even if he was busy enough with his own record shop »dee Jay Service », as Dj and as producer) .So when i moved to Winterthur city it was natural for us to think to create our own business and put  together our experiences and energies
  2. WHY THE NAME PURPLE MUSIC ?
    As many knows now , we decided about the name of our record label while we were watching PRINCE’s PURPLE RAIN movie.We were Prince fans and never thought 20 years later to have the big bless to work  with him !!moreover we liked the colour Purple so :PURPLE MUSIC was born !
  3. WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN YOUR FREE TIME ?
    I really dream about having some  free time….beside of the 200% work in the office  for the label i m a multitask woman,& mum ..happily  full engaged with various sports and competitions of my daughter, i go out 3,4 times a day for long walks with my dog, i m a wife, i have to think about 1000 things  daily for the family as well (school, friends, appointments..home things ) so i never get bored …but when i have time for myself i like to chill in my garden and read a book (at least try to do it)
  4. THE BEST PURPLE MUSIC PARTY EVER WAS AT ?
     … I cannot just mention one party after 21 years ….For sure all events at our residency Swiss club Kaufleuten for 14 years, Nikki Beach in Miami with our friend Marcela and El Divino in Ibiza, Ends Up in San Francisco…but we had so many amazing  parties and good time also in Italy,Turkey, Greece, Uk,Croatia,Spain….Every time was different and amazing at the same time
  5. WHAT IS THE PURPLE MUSIC CRITERIA TO CHOOSE  IF A DEMO IS GOOD TO BE RELEASED OR NOT ?
    .Well , we do a first selection as sometime we receive productions that musically are not for us. It’s not only a personal flava that helps us to choose but is also a long experience in the music business that make us feeling and decide if a product it’s good but not for us,  or it must be part of our catalogue ! We release vocal, soulful, deep, disco, nu disco,Afro :anything we think is quality music anything that give us emotions.By the way for info i’m not the one who is having the last word on this matter so if someone has a complain pls revert to jamie@purplemusic.ch LOL
  6. THE ARTISTS YOU ARE MORE PROUD OF ?
    We are proud of ALL our Artists ,singers, ,more than 400 releases… !!  Every Artist put a bit of themselves, spend time and money so we have a big respect for everyone but of course it was a BIG HONOUR to work with Legends like  Icon PRINCE, or the disco king Cerrone…this happens once in life!
  7. WHAT IS PURPLE MUSIC GOAL FOR 2018 ?
    To do and continue what we like and try to do it always  in the best way We have many forthcoming releases in the pipeline featuring  some new good artists as well as big came back of some others…It’s always exciting
  8. THERE AREN’T A LOT OF WOMEN IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY, IT SHOULD BE DIFFICULT  TO COME INTO THIS BUSINESS WHAT DO YOU THINK ?
    Well 27 years ago when I start (yes i m getting old !) there were for sure not a lot of women in the music industry as A&R or manager..or record label owner…but since the past decade when the music industry has changed a LOT luckily a lot of women are part of this business and i m proud I know a lot of successful ones… !!
  9. THE BEST & THE WORST FACES OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY:
    In my experience the best thing is that you can have a dream job, express yourself in various ways and never get bored, you can put together sinergies and create something fabulous, meet new people, travel, have success …the worst :many people just use others to reach their goals, and it’s often unfortunately a pretty fake world. Things can be good or bad depending on the kind of connections you have got : the best is to be at the right time in the right place the worst is not to be at the right time at the right place!
  10. WHAT KIND OF QUALITIES ARE NECESSARY TO RUN SUCCESSFULLY A RECORD LABEL FOR OVER 2 DECADES ?
    I like this question ! I think the rights ingredients are more or less the same as for a successful marriage : :you must have a lot of PATIENCE ! & A REAL PASSION for music and for everything you have to deal with every day .you must be SMART enough to do the right choice at the right moment , have a lot of ENERGY as this is almost a 24 hours job ! INTUITION & FAIRNESS , have JOY to do what u do and be a bit CRAZY(in the good way) to risk sometime and  of course LOVE what u do and NEVER QUIT!
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10 QUESTIONS FOR ANDREA MONTA & KARL 8

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  1. ANDREA : WE LEFT YOU MANY YEARS AGO  WORKING IN  RADIO IN MILAN : WHEN DID YOU DECIDE CREATE YOUR OWN RECORD LABEL ?
    After several years as show producer and music selector in radio, it was a natural evolution to become A&R and to start participating in the creation of the tracks since the beginning.
  2. KARL8 : RESIDENT DJ @NIKKI BEACH  AND PRODUCER OF PALMA DE MALLORCA : HOW DID YOU START YOUR BOTH CAREERS ?
    I grown up in the radio stations of my parents in Italy so I started play with vinyls when I was 8 years old ,but my first real gig was in my hometown NYE party when I was 13.
    When I was 10 year old they gave me a Roland S10 sample, and it all begun
  3. ANDREA & KARL : WHERE DID U MEET AND WHY THE DECISION TO PRODUCE TOGETHER ?
    We met several years ago,  we released a couple of productions together. Then we pursued kind of parallel careers working  on mutual projects and remixes remaining always in touch and, as music has several paths, we crossed into each other  again 2 years ago and we decided to start a production team.
  4. ANDREA : WHAT IS YOUR MOST SUCCESSFUL RELEASE AS PRODUCER OR REMIXER EVER ?
    I have 2 records I’m very proud of :
    1 The remix I made of Black Eyed Peas – Don’t Phunk With My Heart personally approved by Will.i.am
    2 Wisdome – Off The Wall  released on Positiva in 1999, a re-work of the famous song by Michael Jacckson.
  5. KARL : THE BEST PLACE TO DJ IS :
    Nikki Beach of course !
    I love the Nikki Beach concept, but the thing that I love most is to make daytime party, every day is unique, special and perfect to celebrate life!
  6. RECENTLY YOU HAD TOGETHER  A COUPLE OF PRODUCTIONS IN THE TOP 10 OF TRAXSOURCE: WHAT IS YOUR NEXT GOAL?
    We want to become the kings of reggaeton in Porto Rico… LOL
    No everyone understands house music
    We are focussed on producing the music we love and we play in our DJ set
  7. KARL : CAN YOU GIVE A COMMENT ON  THE ACTUAL SPANISH DANCE MARKET ?
    First of all we must distinguish the mainland from the balearic islands
    Spanish market at the moment is focused on 3 main genres : EDM, Reggaeton and Trap
    The radios are still playing the long tail of EDM , Reggaeton is everywhere and Trap luckily is for the youngester only.
    The balearic mood is quite different, both Ibiza and Mallorca are closer the the English, German and Scandinavian trends. EDM is not the main genre anymore, the BPM are going down and the is a revamp of the real house music, and we cannot be happier than that
  8. WHAT ARE YOU BOTH DOING IN YOUR FREE TIME ? ANY HOBBIES?
    Last winter we planned to attend at the golf course here in Mallorca, but we definitely missed the target… too many productions to complete and projects to follow.
    Actually we can’t complain at all, music has been main part of our lives since ever, so what is better than having your passion as job?
  9. ANDREA- KARL : WHAT ARE YOUR MUSICAL ROOTS ?
    Andrea: I grown up in a family listening to Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Debussy and  jazz icons as Duke Ellington Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker then eventually I discover Moroder
    Karl8: I studied piano for 5 years, I love funky music
  10. YOUR FIRST RELEASE WITH US «  I CAN DO MAGIC » IS NOW OUT ,  JUST ENTERED THE TOP 30 (or better reached the top10 🙂 SOULFUL CHARTS @TRAXSOURCE, AND WE WILL HAVE  ANOTHER ONE SOON  YOUR REMIX OF THE MESSENGERS FEAT LISA MILLETT….DO YOU HAVE ANOTHER SURPRISE IN THE PIPELINE FOR PURPLE MUSIC ?
    At the moment we are working on several ideas, for the next one we’d like to do a collaboration with a big name of house music scene.
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10 QUESTIONS FOR DJ FUNKY T

  1. SIMON BOITUMELO MOSIA AKA DJ FUNKY T : WE WELCOME YOU IN THE PURPLE MUSIC FAMILY.WE RECENTLY RELEASED TWO GREAT SONGS OF YOURS : CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT THESE PRODUCTIONS ?
    Had an honor to work with two most amazing vocalists on both songs respectively, worked with South Africa’s Mpho Masilo on a track called ” Your Love” and Uk’s FiL Straughan on a track called “I Am Blessed”.
    My musical relationship with Mpho dates back to 2011, a mutual friend introduced us, we clicked immediately & we were of the same musical hue, we recorded a few tracks together, yielding to a better understanding of each other’s musical prowess, so it was a no brainer that when i was working on the track, I kept hearing her voice in it. Initially, I only had an idea for the hook/chorus and the idea quickly spawned to a testimonial revelation about my spiritual relationship with the most high and about my then emotive situation & experiences.
    I wrote the music and the complete lyrics, I then forwarded what i had written to Mpho (including the beat), she instantly loved the idea and could relate with the message, we then made time to record the song a week later and the outcome was a groovy uptempo Gospel House Groove that’s appreciated in different parts of the world currently (now Playlisted in various radio stations across the globe).
    On the second song called ” I Am Blessed” I worked London’s best kept secret FiL Straughan. The song is also gospel house 4 by 4 subliminal Groove with lyrics filled with gratitude & praise, vocal written & performed by FIL Straughan( Recorded in London, UK).
    I connected with FiL after discovering his music on Soundcloud in 2015, we started conversing and giving remarks about each other’s music, the relationship morphed into that of a brotherhood, resulting in to our eventual collaboration.
  2. WHEN DID YOU START BEEING A DJ ?
    Well, I’ve always been lover of music & rare grooves connoisseur but started collecting/buying vinyls around 2005 and started Djing in 2006, I had friend whom i shared a very deep mutual connection & passion for the music, we both fed off each other’s passion for the craft.
  3. AND WHEN DID YOU DECIDE TO DO YOUR FIRST PRODUCTION ?
    As per typical evolutional norm, it was only natural for me to gravitate towards wanting create my own beats and enhance my knowledge base within the craft, I always loved playing “sick” never been heard before tunes. initially i would merge or do a mash up of different songs with different accapellas to create beats no 1 had but that quickly expired as groundbreaking means for me, I then wanted to create something unique, something i can created on my own from scratch, that’s when I started teaching myself how to produce(watched a lot of tutorials till I felt I could hold my own). Made my first complete track in 2007…
  4. WE KNOW THAT SOUTH AFRICA HAS A GROWING BIG HOUSE MUSIC SCENE :WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT ?
    House Music is a mainstream genre here at home and multi faceted too.
    Afro influenced sub- genre has a higher commercial trajectory but the electronic influenced house vibes are quickly gathering momentum and breaking grounds.
    The people are becoming more survvy about the alternative sound.
    The underground scene is forever growing despite the sloth from traditionalist status quo , Deep house festivals & movements are popping up all over the country.
    Big Corporates are now partnering and endorsing artist.
    Artist are now brand survvy & now more professionally astute.
  5. -DO YOU HAVE A LIFE Motto ?
    My mantra is “Impossible is nothing”
  6. DO YOU HAVE YOUR OWN RECORDING STUDIO OR STUDIO ANY Partner ?
    Well, my setup is that of a bedroom studio but I have never let that be an obstacle to create  A-grade high quality sound… I’m also in a process of Finding office space and expand my record label “Funky T Music”
  7. ONE OF YOUR BIGGEST DREAM IS…
    to travel the world show casing my music, and like any other driven artist, i am gunning for that ultimate musical honor of a Grammy nomination & have song on the Billboard charts.
  8. ONE OF THE BEST HOUSE EVENT IN SOUTH AFRICA Is.
    Well, in terms of festival events.
    “Rocking The Daisies(Cape Town) ” / “Spring Fiesta(JHB)/ ” It’s Personal” (JHB) /  “Corona Festival (Cape Town) / ” Ultra Fest”  & “DJ Nation(Taung) are pretty much at the forefront of the scene currently.
  9. HOUSE MUSIC
    is more than just music, it’s soul thing, a body, a spiritual connection.
  10. WHAT DO YOU HAVE IN THE PIPELINE FOR THE SUMMER?
    Currently working on my debut album called “Reincarnation” featuring artist such as Sara Devine/ Wanda Baloyi/Nontu X. /FiL Straughan, Elliot /Mpho Masilo/Ms Kelle/Karen Benord (who has worked with A-list artist such Chaka Khan, Mary J. BLIDGE, Erykah Badu and more). Still to have few groundbreaking collabos to complete before I drop the album. Will also be embarking on my maiden European tour later this year.
    Will be attending ADE (Amsterdam)
    My label “Funky T Music PTY- LTD” will be releasing its first vinyl press worldwide.
    There’s a lot of staff in the pipeline but I will reveal at the right juncture.
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