Inexperienced festival-goers would expect that by day three of Electric Zoo Festival ‘11 crowds are losing steam and spirits are hovering low. But on Sunday Sept. 4, Israeli DJ Guy Gerber fueled the party in the Sunday School Grove tent with his eclectic sounds.
In a meeting among the masses at the festival, mybeatFix chatted with Gerber about his country, his label and his upcoming projects. We particularly enjoyed talking about his latest collaboration album with the hip-hop tycoon Puff Daddy (not P. Diddy or Dirty Money – keepin’ it old school).
Check out a video from his set at Electric Zoo below and click here to download a chunk of his set.
I’d like to hear a little now about your upcoming album with P. Diddy, and how that collaboration came about.
He called me one day. Imagine, I’m not even from Tel Aviv, I’m from a suburb in Israel and I end up with this huge star. He’s great. He can be cheesy, but I think he’s great. He has a sense of humor, he loves music and he’s really motivated. He said, “Let’s do this project together. Let’s kick their ass. Let’s do something really weird and intriguing.” It’s called 11:11.
Wait, is his name P. Diddy right now? Or D. Money?
His name is Dirty Money, but really his name is Puff. It’s still Puff.
Are you doing most of the producing, or are you guys sharing the work?
I do most of the stuff, but he’s supervising. He does vocals as well as some girls from the Dirty Money crew and some vocals from Biggie’s old tracks that he gave me.
Preview “Nothing Can Be True”, a track from 11:11, below.
07 Nothing Can Be True by Infamous PR
After your collab album with Puff Daddy, is there anything else you’ll be working on?
Nothing as big as that, but I’m working on my album which will be more indie. That’s where I come from. I used to have a band, and then I started doing electronic things and got kind of successful but at one point I want to go back to the music I was doing before, like with guitar – I mean, still electronic, still afterparty, still with beats, but the melodies will be more like songs.
How was it like growing up in Israel?
Most of my life I spent over there. It’s my favorite place. I would never feel at home [anywhere] besides there. I’m kind of like a gypsy because I left like three years ago. I was living in Rome, Paris, Berlin and New York a little bit. Now I live in Madrid with my fiancée. I just got engaged two weeks ago!
What was the music scene like, and why did you leave?
The reason I left was that I was kind of on my own doing this kind of music. People were doing some trance and mediocre rock music.
When I started to succeed, I realized that there was another generation working with me, and a lot of talented people. Everybody was looking at me because I kind of invented the rules in [Tel Aviv]. There was no industry.
It’s more challenging to work with people at my level that I can learn from. In Israel it’s really comfortable for me. Too comfortable.
How did you begin to get noticed in the dance music world?
I made a few hits, but it was in the progressive world. I didn’t like that my biggest fans were in a genre I wasn’t a fan of. My tracks became really big but I wasn’t really touring. My name was out there.
I started my label, Supplement Facts, because I wanted to have something that doesn’t have a specific sound. It took me a year to get the first release, and just before I released it, Sven Väth wanted to buy the track and release it on Cocoon. I said yes, and to be honest, this guy really made me what I am.
Check out the video below of Guy Gerber dropping dOP’s “Your Sex”, out now on Supplemental Facts.
Tell me about Supplement Facts and the kind of music it’s putting out now.
It has to be warm, unique, deep, romantic, hypnotic, challenging and intimate. I’m not trying to get hits. We just released a compilation called Heartbeats, and I’m really proud of it.
