Gareth Emery interview: Dedication For Life

In an industry as experimental and ever changing as dance music production, to remain an indispensable piece of the action can prove to be a challenging feat.

Only a handful of acts have been able to compete in this position, especially within trance music, and Gareth Emery remains to this day one of the most iconic trance and progressive house producers to successfully migrate out of the UK and retain global recognition for his work. 

Beginning his journey in 2002, Gareth Emery was instantly recognised and supported by some of the biggest influences in dance following his debut remix of The Shrinks ‘Nervous Breakdown’ and the career launching track GTR ‘Mistral’ - Judge Jules, Paul Van Dyke and Armin Van Buuren to name a few.

14 years on from this point, and what Emery has to show is ten album releases (a mixture of studio and compilation releases), two successful record labels, two podcast shows and more live appearances and remixes than you could imagine. 

Some of the biggest hits Emery has produced include his collaboration with Christina Novelli ‘Concrete Angel’, the reflective musical sequence ‘Long Way Home’ and club classic ‘Sanctuary’ (above).

There is a sense of reflection in his work, telling the story of his life through the medium of music and showing gratitude for how far he has been able to come in his career. As well as the music, Gareth Emery has also set his status through the podcast ‘Electric for Life’.

Blossoming in 2015 as a continuation of the original ‘Gareth Emery Podcast’, this has not only aided the promotion of his work, but more encouragingly it has given aspiring artists and producers the opportunity to showcase their talent and to attempt to break into the music industry with the support of established dance music icons.

His record labels ‘Five AM’ and ‘Garuda’ have played a pivotal role in the music careers of Christina Novelli, Ben Gold and Luke Bond to name a few, showing what an inspiration he is to others trying to achieve their dreams.  

To think, after breaking the business 4 years previously, he was ready to throw the towel in in 2006 is somewhat of a shock. With no steady income, no close relationships and very sparse bookings if any at all, it is easy to think the next move would be to give up on your aspirations.

The actions that were to follow this insight exhibit the strength of Gareth’s passion and determination to come back from this dark period of his career and turn things around to become an important part of the trance community across the world.

He is now a master of his craft and an inspiration to those striving to make their dreams a reality, proving to the world that with hard labour and an end goal nothing is out of reach. We caught up with Emery ahead of his headline gig at Digital Society as the clubbing brand gears up to celebrate its 9th anniversary.

Hi Gareth! It had been a while since you were last in the UK, with the unbelievable showcase in the Albert Hall leaving a mark on the Manchester crowd here back in February, so how did it feel to be back to celebrate a year of ‘Electric for Life’ in London?

The London show was really quite amazing. It was the first time we'd done a big show like that in the capital, usually doing them up North instead.

We had no idea how the Southern crowds would react, but the show sold out very quickly and had an incredible atmosphere from 11pm when I started to 6am when I finished. It was the last show on a 13 date tour of all-night-sets and was a real highlight to end on.

Electric for Life (above) is a relatively new concept, following on from the Gareth Emery Podcast that dissolved in 2014. Already the show has been catapulted into the spotlight, with specific tours and your compilation album receiving a fantastic response from the public. What inspired you to take this idea forward and end the previous podcast?

The old Gareth Emery Podcast felt like it'd had its day. I'd started it in 2006, so it had been around a long time and in 2006 the very fact it was a podcast made it interesting, because nobody was doing them. But eight years later I think people wanted something more.

Electric For Life is a much more exciting brand. It works as a club or arena show, we've got amazing merch, a charitable foundation, and there's so much more we plan on doing with it away from just the radio show. The Gareth Emery Podcast was always going to be 'just a podcast' and that was a little reflective.

With the likes of Above and Beyond and Armin van Buuren also hosting similar trademark radio shows, (Group Therapy and A State of Trance), what makes your show stand out? 

Electric For Life isn't really genre specific, which is a big difference. Yes, you hear trance on there, but also deep house, progressive, chillout. Basically anything that's good and I like, it will get played, and that then filters through to the live shows because when I'm playing for 5-6 hours. I get the chance to be as varied in a club as I can be on the radio.

But I don't like to compare with other shows. They're all good in their own way, but I will say A State Of Trance is the original innovator. You see many shows celebrating Episode 100 or 200 or whatever but we have to remember A State Of Trance did that before any of them and everyone else adapted that format. Armin has been an amazing innovator in that sense and continues to be to this day.

You have just released a stunning compilation album that coincides with the Electric for Life weekly radio show, what was the thinking behind this compilation? Can we expect a future artist album like Drive and Northern Lights?

The compilation really was a look back on an incredible year for EFL and a reflection of my favourite music that I've played both on the show and on the tour... it's done incredibly which is always a surprise launching something new.

But the third artist album is the big one. I finished it a few weeks back but these things take a while to get to release stage, so I'd say it'll come out in March or April now.

Like Faithless, you yourself are known for re-releasing studio albums as remix albums, with both Drive and Northern Lights having a slight refurbish by talents such as John O’Callaghan, Hardwell and MaRLo.

How do you think remix albums help encourage new listeners into the dance genre, if you think it does at all? How does a remix album keep your name in the spotlight?

It's a no-brainer right? You get a new album with 12 new tracks and you don't need to do any production work yourself? Ha! It's just nice to hear another act's take on your tracks, and often the remix album produces a version that becomes the killer version of the track.

For instance, 'Soldier' from my last album Drive, I never played the original, but the Luke Bond remix which was on Drive Refuelled has been in every set of mine this year.

Of course, we've had a few times when we've paid some 'hot' act 5000 euros and got delivered a pile of shit so we've learnt our lesson there, and will focus on the future on acts who are inspired by the tracks, and want to remix them because they love the music, not for the money.

There has always been a huge trance following in the UK, but with the likes of Faithless and Above & Beyond just finishing European tours, do you think trance could make its way back into the commercial market? Or is the genre destined to thrive underground?

I think worldwide it's in an interesting place because you're not really seeing trance records become radio hits, yet the events are bringing in more people than ever. In the UK you see Above & Beyond doing huge venues. Here in the US we just did The Shrine in Los Angeles which is 5,000 people. And personally I think that's a healthy place to be.

More people than ever are coming to the shows but we're not relying on the whims of the radio industry to make that happen. I remember the original trance explosion back in 1998/1999 which was very much based on commercial radio support, and when the radio stations decided they didn't want to play trance anymore, that really hit the scene badly. We've now got an amazing scene that doesn't rely on anyone else.

Is there a particular artist or group that have stood out and made an impression on you over the past 12 months? 

Ah man, there's been so many. It's been a great year for music. On a deeper tip I love the music Louis Vivet have been making. Alex Sonata and Luke Bond have been incredible on a house tip, and it's amazing that Loco Dice finally released his USS album. Been waiting for another album from him for years.

Has being back in the UK inspired you to put on any future events here? Will you be joining the fans during the 2016 UK music festival season?

Most definitely. I wrote off Europe entirely in 2015 to focus on writing a new album and being a dad, although I did make one exception to play the closing ceremony of the first European Olympic Games in Baku, Azerbaijan, because that was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

But I'm raring to get back to the UK in Europe. December's London show really gave me a taste for it and I'm excited to trek all over Europe this year, starting with the ASOT Festival in the Netherlands in Feb.

You are back in the UK in February 2016 to headline the iconic ‘Digital Society’ 9th birthday celebrations in Leeds. What can the audience expect to hear and see from you? And have you played Digital Society before?

I'm a massive fan of DS. I played their 2nd birthday back in 2009 at MyHouse before they moved up to the O2, then I played their 5th birthday in 2012, plus various other events with the guys over the years.

Plus we worked closely together on the Drive and Northern Lights shows at the O2. They're a great crew who really care about putting on an event that blows the crowd away every time, and February's event is an insanely good lineup. I can't wait!

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