Sandy Rivera Interview: King of yesterday and tomorrow

Image: Sandy Rivera 

Sandy Rivera is testament to the melting pot of musical creativity that is New York. Originally hailing from the Metropolis in America, he branched out to live in London and now Poland, but the influences of his hometown still reflect in the luscious, vocal house music he steadily releases under his name and his Kings of Tomorrow guise. He is one of house music's true stars and is a creator of a timeless sound that many try to mimic.

"Growing up in New York, I was exposed to all the early hip hop and disco music, there was so much great pop stuff out at the time as well," he tells me with a warmth in his voice as he reminisces. "I think being in any city of that size, there's so much going on and it was easy to access different genres." 

Although Rivera runs his own labels BlackWiz and Deep Vision Recordings, there's another imprint that he holds close to his heart. His allegiance with Defected has been solid since the brand's very beginnings. The sophistication of the music has cemented the label as a front runner within a competitive scene which is overgrown with lackluster releases. It's the label's enduring house sound which wholly suits Sandy's emotional connection with music and his ethos towards clubland.  

"The label is so special because it caters to both the old and the new," he explained, "there's been a real resurgence for older artists and sounds, with stuff coming back around and the music reflects this. But Defected is for everyone, there's no prejudice, it doesn't matter if you're old or young. 

"I think that the younger producers have given older ones a kick up the backside too, although they bring with them this new approach to production with new technologies, older artists have an organic sound and the popularity has increased with the sort of deep house thing."

Adolescent ravers around the globe are warming to that sort of nineties infused house music but Sandy went onto explain that it's a longer process over the pond. "I mean in America, the kids just love EDM," he said. "I've been in places where a DJ is blasting out EDM to a room of about 500 or 700 people, and it just isn't right, it doesn't suit the environment but that's just all they know.

"EDM has been around for maybe six years, so all the people that are now in their early twenties, they've grown out of the sound. I mean, you can't keep listening to that until you're a lot older, that's why it's so different to house. The next thing for the EDM guys is quality house music. It's sort of like a stepping stone I guess."

For most people, Sandy Rivera or Kings of Tomorrow is known for creating this sort of quality house music (listen above), led by uplifting and powerful vocals, an element which he wholeheartedly supports when it comes to dance tracks. "When you're in the studio and you can just see that magic from vocals unfolding in front of you, that's what makes a release special.

"That's why I just don't understand why people have ghostwriters, I know who they are but I won't name them. They miss out on that. Vocals are an adventure."

When you've released these recognisable tracks, there's no doubt a level of expectation comes from crowds who are waiting to hear it after they've paid good money to see the headline act. "It's happened to me before, people requesting and waiting to hear something in particular.

"It just depends on the set, I mean one time I played neither older or newer stuff, I just played some stuff from other people, the crowd seemed to enjoy it but management said to me 'you didn't play any of your new stuff!' I guess it's just a business angle. I mean I try to avoid playing all the big tracks as much as I can.

"You can be really selfish and just play all of your big tunes, which artists do do all of the time, or you can actually be a DJ."

You can catch Sandy Rivera at We Are Whse for the Defected showcase this weekend.

Like this? Try Weekends Matter Podcast - Sam Divine and Simon Dunmore (Defected)

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