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INTERVIEW:
He’s part of the hottest collective in underground house. Gabriel Sordo is ultra talented and seemingly coming into his own with amazing productions and versatile DJ skills. littlemissbluedress catches up with this Mexican prodigy for one of her famous IM chats.
Lisa: Hello! Im glad we have finally met.
Gabriel: Haha me too!
Lisa: How were Sasha and Digweed in Mexico?
Gabriel: It was ok. It was better here in Guadalajara, there were so many people in Mexico but the vibe was better here.
Lisa: Is there much of an international crowd being that there is a lot of tourism in Mexico?
Gabriel: Not really, more national… but a lot of Argentineans.
Lisa: I love this opening track to your set, the piano is nice
Gabriel: Ya lovely.
All about Somnus
Lisa: Did any Somnus tracks make it onto this mix?
Gabriel: I can’t mention its name because two of our recent tracks are coming out on the next Global Underground compilation and the others are going to be released on Discoteca in a few months. But yes there is one of our tracks at 33 mins.
Lisa: That’s great; Erik was saying in our interview that you had some tracks coming out on GU.
Gabriel: We have two tracks coming out on Nick Warren’s GU Peru.
Lisa: Tell me about how Somnus Corp came together?
Gabriel: Beto, Jorge and I have been good friends since we met several years ago. We met like 12 years ago when but Beto and Jorge were in a band together called La siguiente paguina. Then about eight years ago we decided to create a new band. That’s when I started DJing.
Lisa: Do you mean a band or a production group?
Gabriel: Actually both. We started as a production team but we always had a plan to play live. We’ve only played four times in eight years cause we wanted to be known everywhere for our productions before we started touring. Now we are getting ready to start touring in June.
Lisa: This track at 12 min is so nice, I feel like I have heard it before with vocals.
Gabriel: That’s a mix from Neil Quigley
Lisa: Ah that’s why I know it.
Lisa: So when you start your tour in June where are you going?
Gabriel: We’re gonna start a few gigs in June in Mexico; we really want to be ready for this step before we have a big tour.
Lisa: How will you play live?
Gabriel: Well three of us play hardware keyboards, midi controllers, a couple of electronic drum pads, the laptop running the basic tracks, all mixed together. It will be a complete Somnus night. Beto will do the warm up, then Somnus live and after that I will DJ. It will be our own music played live and we’ll also remix other tracks live, like doing live edits and remixing a few tracks. The main act will be our own music remixed. So it will be about three hours of Somnus live.
Lisa: That’s really cool. To play all your own music is something I think more DJs should try to do, but I guess it’s very difficult to have that much material to work with.
Gabriel: Yeah kind of - we are in the studio 24 hours right now so we’ll have enough of our own music to play live.
Lisa: What do you like more, DJing or producing?
Gabriel: Hard question… I love DJing and I also have amazing times in the studio with Jorge and Beto. They are like brothers, we like the same music, it’s really funny.
Lisa: I love this track at 26 min; it’s so euphoric, what is it?
Gabriel: Really don’t know the name but is huge bomb. BalErik sent it to me some days ago, it’s a beautiful track… the piano is huge!
Discoteca
Lisa: I love the Discoteca logo, who designed it?
Gabriel: Jorge my Somnus partner, he is an amazing designer.
Lisa: Oh really, he did a great job! I have been telling Tom that I want a t-shirt with that logo.
Gabriel: Ya, gonna work on that soon.
Lisa: You should get a tattoo Haha!
Gabriel: Haha I might do that but I’m definitely gonna wait… next month Tom will be here so I’m gonna take him, maybe he’ll do it. Haha!
Lisa: So Tom is coming down to play some gigs?
Gabriel: Ya, in June or July he has a couple gigs here.
Lisa: Tom said that you brought him to Mexico for his first overseas gig, how did that happen?
Gabriel: I met him on the internet. He is a really nice guy so one day a friend of mine told me he wanted to do a party here and we brought Tom over.
Lisa: Did you play together?
Gabriel: Yeah we played at some gigs together.
Lisa: So is it fairly easy to get international DJs to come to Mexico?
Gabriel: Not really, it’s hard like anywhere else but I always try to push good DJs who are friends of mine. This year I’m going to definitely try to bring down balErik and Dana. And Luke plays here once a year.
Lisa: I love this track at 38 min.
Gabriel: That’s the Somnus track that’s coming out on GU Peru. We are signing it to Discoteca in September.
Lisa: Wow it’s amazing. Is this set a lot like what you would play in a club?
Gabriel: Not really, this is mostly house but I like to play techno and some melodic stuff at clubs, it depends how I feel.
Lisa: Which Somnus track did Sasha and Digweed play?
Gabriel: That was Metal Bronco, we made that tune with Kosmas.
Lisa: How did it feel to hear them playing it?
Gabriel: Really nice, it’s great hearing a track you did in front of lot of people.
Lisa: Were you dancing to it?
Gabriel: Yeah totally!
Lisa: Do you like to dance?
Gabriel: Not really, but I move my feet. Haha!
Lisa: This set really goes out with a bang.
Gabriel: Yeah, more driving.
Lisa: Do you plan to have any Discoteca parties in the future?
Gabriel: For sure, I want to talk with Luke about this. We did one last year one with Tom in Zacatecas. We’re going to start to do some small party’s here in Guadalajara.
Lisa: What do you think is the most important thing in creating a good name for Discoteca?
Gabriel: To sign good tracks. All the members love the music so much that we’re always looking for new music. And we have really nice friendships, which I think is important.
Mexico
Lisa: What are three things you think everyone should do in Mexico?
Gabriel: Drink rusas or micheladas.
Lisa: What is that?
Gabriel: Its beer with lemon, salt and spicey stuff on the beer, it’s amazing. So is our food of course! Two of the best spots in Mexico to see are Chiapas and Tulum
Lisa: Yes I have been to Tulum, it’s so gorgeous. Do you have a club that you play at regularly?
Gabriel: I play a lot in Mexico City and South America but I don’t play a lot in Guadalajara.
Lisa: So there aren’t any good clubs there?
Gabriel: No, most of the good places to play are all in Mexico City.
What’s Next
Lisa: What are your plans for this summer and the rest of ‘08?
Gabriel: I have a few gigs in South America but mostly I want to work hard this year in the studio. And starting the live act is the FIRST THING ON MY MIND.
Lisa: Where do you plan to play your first live show?
Gabriel: In Playa del Carmen in July, there is a big event there.
Lisa: So will you plan what you are going to play beforehand?
Gabriel: Not really. I’ll know which tracks I want to play, but it’s mostly improvised on the spot, the key is that we work together.
Lisa: What have been some big moments in your career so far?
Gabriel: I think for Somnus working together with Kosmas Epsilon was great. Every time he came to Mexico he said someday we would work together and so when we finally did it was great. He is such a great producer and a lovely guy.
Lisa: How did your track together get to Sasha and Digweed?
Gabriel: Kosmas gave it to Digweed.
Lisa: So that was great for you then…
Gabriel: Totally! We’ve been working for many years now so hopefully this next years gonna be the best for us.
Lisa: It was good to finally chat with you; I will let you get ready for your gig.
Gabriel: Thanks a lot Lisa; I really enjoyed talking to you.
Lisa: Have a good time tonight.
Gabriel: U tooo bye byeeeeee!!!
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