Exclusive Benny Benassi Interview for SW4

South West Four is coming! This year London's ultimate dance music festival is spreading its wings and expanding into a 2 day event over the Bank Holiday
Weekend in August. Saturday 26th takes place in London, and Sunday 27th in sunny Cardiff - with both days featuring incredible line-ups. We spoke with dirty
electro type Benny Benassi, who will be rocking  Cardiff with his tough, uncompromising sounds...

You have quite a distinctive, unique sound. How would you best describe it?

Dirty.

What influences do you draw on in your productions? What were you listening to when you were growing up?

I grew up on Eighties electronic dance and pop music, Moroder, Depeche Mode. I was influenced by Robbie Rivera, among others, at the time of Satisfaction. Now I listen to a lot of the German minimal techno stuff and rock music too.

Where did you grow up? Was it easy to discover dance music in this area?

I grew up in Reggio Emilia, between Milan and Bologna in Northern Italy. Although it's quite a small town it is has an amazingly high number of dance production outfits. Black Box and Spagna were the great Eighties productions from Reggio Emilia, then Off Limits, where I record with my cousin Alle, produced a lot of Nineties commercial dance music like Whigfield and Ann  Lee.

What have you been producing lately? Anything we should keep our eyes/ears open
for?

My last solo production is called Who's Your Daddy? which marks my stylistic progress from "dirty" to "very dirty"- It's got a delightfully raunchy video you can see on www.bennybenassi.com

You’ve played in the UK quite a lot now, and fairly regularly at Turnmills. How do you find playing it over here compared to other countries?

I am really grateful to Turnmills. The Gallery was the first UK club to believe in me and give me a break. Thanks also to Ultra DJs, the UK booking agency that took me on before anyone else heard of me. It's not easy for DJs to make it in UK if they're not British, American - or at least Dutch or German! But I really love UK crowds. They're into the music, they're musically educated and they know how to...er... let their hair down... I wanna rock the UK more......

You will be playing at the South West Four festival in Cardiff over the August Bank Holiday weekend. Have you played at any UK festivals yet?

I played the Ultra Festival in Miami this year. Last year, Mystery Land in Holland, Bal en Blanc in Canada and SAMC in Buenos Aires.... but this is my 1st UK festival and Wales debut.... really looking forward to it....

Which do you think are the best festivals in the world and why? There are so many to choose from these days...

To date, for me the best festival was Ultra in Miami because of the sheer quantity of talent all in one place on the same day.

What’s on your “rider” when you play gigs? You know, any requests for particular brands of vodka or types of food...or Green MnMs?

No, I'm incredibly easy going. I don't drink very much and not when I'm spinning.

And finally, who are you tipping to make it big in the next few months? Which producers and DJs have impressed you recently?

On the international scene, you know the answers already. But I'd like to plug two great Italian DJ  - producers, Boosta who has remixed the latest Depeche Mode track and Stefano Fontana of Stylophonic fame.

Interview by Benz