Interview mit Busy P (Ed Banger, Paris)

Students.ch: Is this your first Gig in Switzerland?

Busy P: No, actually not. I was in Zürich before with DJ Mehdi. I think it was four or five years ago in the early beginnings of Ed Banger and we played in an amazing place…hmmm…I’m sure I’m going to fuck up the name, but something “Daikon”, the kitchen, the cantine…something…does it ring a bell?

Students.ch: Ahhh, you mean the Dachkantine…

Busy P: Yes, that’s it! Well it was pretty interesting, it wasn’t like overcrowded and we had a good evening there. And then I did some other parties in Lausanne and Geneva…

Students.ch: You’ve been in the music business for quite a while now…when did you start?

Busy P: Well, if we go right back to the beginning, I’d say I started my interest in this whole movement in around 1992, when I started to go to the first raves in Paris. I fell in love with this movement and its music, so I decided to organize my own parties in 1995. I did this for a year or two, inviting DJs and everything…then met the Daft Punk boys in 1996 and started to work with them. I was 20 years old at the time, so were they, and we started this adventure together without any clue of the music business, which is why it probably worked out so well in the end.

Students.ch: So how did you meet Daft Punk then?

Busy P: At some parties. In 96, they had already released two EPs on Soma Records, so I knew who they were, even though they were not famous stars at the time, and I liked their music. As we were all from Paris we met in the Clubs and I invited them to DJ at my parties. We got along well together and became friends. I suppose I was the lucky guy to be at the right place at the right time, because they were looking for someone to manage them. One day they called me and said “Hey Pedro, we’re working on our first album and need someone next to us for support. We thought you’d be the right guy”. So I basically answered: “Wow, let’s do it guys!” and the rest is history.

Students.ch: When did you decided to start your own record label?

Busy P: I started Ed Banger Records in 2003, which is a bit more than six years ago. It kind of happened just like my meeting Daft Punk, unplanned and unforeseen. I met some artists I liked, Mr. Flash, Justice and others and I thought, I want to get involved in their music life – not as a manager, because even though I liked it at the time, I was a bit fed up of being the guy behind the artists doing all the “crap” jobs. I wanted to do more on the artistic side and follow the artists’ career more actively, helping them to create their story. After I launched Ed Banger, I then quickly realized that when you have a passion, which my label was to me, you have to give 100 percent. This ultimately made me decide to give up my position as manager of Daft Punk in 2008. I noticed that at times I was not giving enough for Daft Punk and focusing on Ed Banger, and vice versa, which was is not fair for the people you are working with. When I told the boys my decision, they totally understood, so there were no bad feelings whatsoever when I left. It was a natural development and the time had come for me to do something else. What really makes me proud is that Daft Punk is very fond of my label and the artists.

Students.ch: So why the name “Ed Banger”?

Busy P: Oh that’s easy! I’m actually a big fan of metal and when I was younger I used to watch Head-banger’s Ball on MTV, a classic show where they played hard-rock and metal video-clips. I liked this name because of the attitude and the energy you can associate with head-banging. You see, you can head-bang with metal, but also hip-hop or electro. So we took the name and DJ Mehdi added the twist making “Head” to “Ed”, because of “Eduard”, the name of some guy. The funny thing is that Americans thing that “Ed Banger” is French for “Head-Banger”, which it isn’t of course.

Students.ch: When you first met the guys from Justice and listened to their sound, did you have a feeling that they might turn out really big?

Busy P: Definitely not. This was also the case at the beginning of the Daft Punk adventure. Of course, you are confident of what you are doing, they way you are doing it, they way you present it and express yourself, but you never know… To date, I think Justice has sold a little less then around 400000 records which is a lot nowadays and my goal in the beginning was around 100000 records. So obviously I’m totally thrilled that we topped that number by far. It’s also great for the label, because I can reinvest the money into Ed Banger and support smaller projects. I just released an album of an artist called Krazy Baldhead, which is an artist I like on Ed Banger. We’ll probably sell less than 5000 records and I’ll probably loose money, but to be able to do this makes me feel happy and free. I think that’s the important thing about being an independent label – you can get the success with a couple of big names and still support smaller, commercially not so successful artists, which from an artistic point of view definitely are on the same level as the big acts.

Students.ch: I think what you say regarding freedom and you being happy about your label definitely shines through at your parties or when one of your crew has a gig. You seem like you’re really actually having a ball, compared to a lot of people who may say this, but are more focused on the business.

Busy P: You know, I keep telling everybody, and I’m not scared about saying it out loud, but I am very selfish in that respect. I’m doing all of this for my personal pleasure and to have fun. And that’s why I’m doing it the best I can, because at the end of the day I want to have the best party I can have. I think the people and the kids feel this and want to party with us. I hope this will be the case tonight at Hive aswell. I’ve actually been DJing for around 15 years now, although it’s really ramped up over the last 3 years. I’m lucky to be doing all of this. I don’t want to force myself, because I am still young and want to party and meet people. The day I walk into a club and think “Awww, shit, I have to DJ tonight” will be the moment to stop DJing.

Students.ch: When did you start to produce your own music?

Busy P: I got my first sampler in 1997, an AKAI MPC 2000 and the Daft Punk boys showed me some tricks and stuff. However, even though inside I feel I want to do this and that I can do this – I’ve released two EPs so far – I haven’t found the right moment to kind of step back from my label and produce something deeper like an album. But I definitely want to do this sometime in the future.

Students.ch: What are the next tracks to appear on Ed Banger?

Busy P: We have a new Feadz 12” record coming out soon, which I am really proud of. It’s kind of a Doppler effect meets George Clinton thing, really funky. So I’m really excited about that and it should be released early July. There’s a new Mr Oizo and a new Mr Flash coming out…and I hope a new Busy P EP as well…

Students.ch: And what about a Busy P LP?

Busy P: ahh, I think in 2010…I need time for that and I also want to take my time. I’m not in a rush for that. My main role at the moment is label owner and I want to push my artists. I don’t want my own projects to become bigger than my artists – although I honestly will never be bigger than Justice (smiles), so that I don’t have time for them anymore. The focus is clearly on the Ed Banger artists at the moment. I want to keep the Ed Banger musical styles diverse. People sometimes forget that there are other artists except Justice on Ed Banger.

Students.ch: If you look at other artists in the scene, which are your current favorites at the moment?

Busy P: I’m impressed by Proxy (Anm. d. Red: http://www.myspace.com/useproxy), even though his music is a bit to hard for me at the moment. I’m also impressed by a guy called Sirius Mo (Anm. d. Red: http://www.myspace.com/siriusmo), this guy is a genius. I am also really impressed by the LeLe – Breakfast remix by the Swiss act Mercury (Anm. d. Red: http://www.myspace.com/worldofmercury). I’m actually planning on playing that track tonight. I’m also in love with Passion Pit (Anm. d. Red: http://www.myspace.com/passionpitjams), Bon Iver (Anm. d. Red: http://www.myspace.com/boniver) and Lil Wayne. I’ve got a place in a French magazine where I can place my charts and I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from the kids saying that finally they have a playlist where you can have different styles combined and not only the same minimal techno a lot of DJs list. I’m glad to see that people out there are in to diversity.

Students.ch: Ok, last question. Where should I go to in Paris for a good night out?

Busy P: You should definitely go to Social Club. Maybe not really an original answer, but Social Club is definitely the place to go to in Paris. Amazing program, good sound system and, most importantly, a great crowd.

Students.ch: Ok, that’s it. Merci beaucoup.

Busy P: Merci a toi. You’re coming tonight?

Students.ch: Nothing could stop me…

Nachtrag: Obwohl es mit Kavinsky kein Interview gab, konnte ich bei einem Zigarettchen mit ihm erfahren, dass er gerade an einem Album arbeitet und das weitere Videoclips im Stil seines ersten für Testarossa Overdrive in Planung sind.