Guim Lebowski (Soundworks / BeCool – Barcelona), unul dintre artistii prezenti la Festivalul DELAHOYA 2009 ne-a acordat un deosebit interviu. Il puteti citi mai jos iar daca cineva are nevoie de traducere, puteti spune.
1. Tell us about yourself as a person and as a dj/artist.
I’m Guillem Boix, a modest guy living at Barcelona who likes to live surrounded by music all day, spend time with friends and a true Barça lover. I play DJ under the name “Guim Lebowski”, an aka I chose for my connection to the movie “Big Lebowski”, one of my heroes, as I love his life philosophy about happiness without materialism. As a DJ I love to explore different sides of electronic music, mainly focused on underground house and techno, but flavored with many styles as disco, electro, acid, breaks, minimal…. My sets can also be from the deepest to the hardest, depending on my mood, the venue and the people. My main goal is to drive the crowd crazy going up and down trough music intenseness. That’s what makes me feel good and sincere behind the decks.
2. Tell us when your career began.
I first got in contact with electronic music at the age of 10 when I loved to listen to those “smiley face” cassettes titled “Acid House vol.X”. Then I could not imagine that those simple rhythms and noises were going to be a big part of my life. Then at the age of 15 I bought my first home dj setup and started to spend all my money in vinyl records from a large variety of styles, but centering on the “hard stuff”, starting with Spanish “makina”, but rapidly moving forward to hard and acid techno, and then towards more sophisticated Detroit techno and EBM. From 1997 I started to play at some underground clubs from my area, and since then, I never stopped. I have been navigating through electronic music dance styles, always with the need to discover new senses and feelings with music, reaching my actual view, which is again, fascinated by the ‘80s and ‘90s Chicago and acid house sounds. What a paradox, back to where I started!
3. When and how did you meet Max ? Some changes from that point?
It was around 7 years ago when I first met him at a private after party somewhere in Ibiza, where both were invited to play. Around that time I was submerged into the “minimal era”, and was still kind of reluctant about house music, as I considered it the “fashion commercial side of electronic music”. He showed me how underground house music can be, even more than the darkest techno I could imagine. Since then we have been together as friends. We decided to create Soundworks, an artistic platform to encourage Young electronic music producers from Barcelona, publishing their first Works on a free net label; and also an event production/promotion platform, then starting to play as a dj team.
4. What’s with BeCool? What’s the history behind this name?
BeCool started at 2006, at a very special venue, which had been one of the first electronic music clubs of the city during 1993 to 1997. When someone offered us the possibility to be part of it as resident djs and programmers, we could not think what it was going to become. It is a quite small club for 500 people, but has become a reference since it started for its delicate selection of guest artists, covering most of the styles of dance electronic music. You can hear disco, acid house, minimal, electro, techno, house… Also the key factor I think is the nice communion between all the programmers and staff; and surely the special care about sound quality, which is not very usual at Barcelona’s clubs, more interested on Money, biggest venues, biggest names….
5. How’s the “Barcelona Life” regarding the night and clubbing life?
As I just commented, Barcelona night life is complicated. Yes, it has a good reputation about parties, clubbing, big guest artists… but the reality is that not many clubs offer quality shows, as most of the sound systems are not well cared compared to other Europe venues. Club owners want to take profit as much as they can; the government does not help introducing more and more strict laws about closing times, location of the clubs, etc… All this is not very good for the underground side of electronic music… although there is a high connection with electronic music in Barcelona, and every day there are more and more local independent artists and labels doing good work. As you all may think, the best of Barcelona is its weather, the beach and the sense of freedom on the streets… and surely, Sonar week which has become the biggest gathering about the electronic music scene of the world.
6. This was your first time in Romania? Was it a nice experience?
Yes it was my first time in Romania, and although I could not see much than Cluj center and Delahoya, I spent a really nice time. People are very kind and I made some good friends, food (especially meat) is very good, and I love the gothic architecture of its cathedrals and churches…and what to say about women! I want to spend more time in Cluj and visit other parts of Romania. I hope it will be soon.
7. How do you classify the Delahoya Festival ? Did you have a great time here ?
I found Delahoya a well organized festival. I found posters all over Cluj city, the organizers were very kind with us, and the venue was nice and big, plenty of details. I really enjoyed playing at the festival with a 2000 people Cluj crowd with their hands on the air at 1am! Impressive! I really would love to come back someday.
8. Do you know any Romanian DJs ? Did you have the opportunity to meet some in any of your Europe gigs ?
I only knew the main international producers/djs from the house-minimal scene as Pedro, Rhadoo, Raresh, but lastly it seems Romania is rising so fast on the scene and now there are many producers which I like as Mihai Popoviciu, Livio & Robi, Hermannstadt Collective, Ali Nasser, and Rasah Petrovicci… Also I discovered very nice djs at my last visit in Cluj as Horace Dan D, Alex Maresh, Just Delight, who also are spectacular human beings.
9. Send a message to all the party people from Romania 🙂
I want to thank all Romanian people, especially from Cluj Napoc, who enjoyed as much as me at Delahoya festival. I would be proud to come back sometime! Also I want to invite all you party lovers to come visit Barcelona, to have a good time at our residency club BeCool or whatever Soundworks event we organize. I specially suggest you to come to Sonar time this year and enjoy partying at one of the events we are organizing. You can check these here.
Prestatia lui Guim impreuna cu Max o puteti (re)vedea aici.