music culture

Steve Porter Interview

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Steve Porter has been serving up five-star electronic music for years. He’s gained the respect (and found his tracks in the record crates) of essentially every house DJ, from Sasha and Digweed to aspiring bedroom artists, and is a staple in shaping the direction of house music. With over 70 original releases and plenty of remixes under his own name and his aliases (Agent 001, HDF & Bons), Steve Porter is one of the most prolific artists in electronic music today.You also have to love the play on words for his current series of house mixes he playfully calls “Porterhouse.” I don’t want to give too much away, but when you listen to the discs, you’ll hear he literally ‘takes you there’…you’ll see. I sat down with Steve for a few words to get a little more insight into his background and give you the full story on this influential artist.

Adam Singer: You’re younger than your peers – at least in terms of the average age of widely recognized electronic musicians. What is the one thing that has contributed to your success more than anything else?

Steven Porter: Respecting your peers, working hard, and staying humble. Those 3 traits opened up more doors for me than anything else.

WMC is coming up – a time for both recognized and upcoming artists to shake things up in the electronic music scene and set the pace for a New Year. What tricks, tracks or artists do you have up your sleeve for your WMC gigs and into the future?

I’ve got a cluster of new original productions I’m excited to try out this WMC and a lot of new stuff from my Boston crew as well. I’ve got a few new bootlegs to have fun with at this conference as well. One would be a bootleg of Ton Loc’s “Funky Comadina” that I did. But I wouldn’t want to spoil all of the surprises; those are best saved for the gigs.

Any plans for after the conference?

I do love the momentum I get from the conference and taking that into my gigs afterwards. I’m in Europe, Australia, and Asia directly after.

Will you give us the story of what inspired you to devote your life to music?

The epiphany happened for me during my senior year in high school, right around the time when kids were trying to figure out what they wanted to do with their lives. I didn’t have much of a professional vision at the time but did have a great head start on my experimentations with music production and DJing. It just hit me that year; I loved music and knew I had some sort of gift for it.

Did you have a backup plan?

It’s hard to ignore your gut instinct, so I just went full speed ahead with DJing and production and never turned back. It was a brave move at the time but music is very much one of those dive in head first things. It’s also the greatest form of communication if you ask me.

I’ve been listening to your music/mixes for years and enjoyed the new Porterhouse discs thoroughly. With that said, I also really enjoyed your melodic productions like your remixes of Amber – Anyway. Has the ship on that sound sailed, or is there a chance we could hear more big melodic tunes in the future from you?

I’d love to come back to my melodic roots at some point down the road. I think I’m just in a phase right now that is slightly more funk oriented. Music for me is an ongoing experiment and I’m always dragging older ideas into new ones. I’m sure I’ll re-incarnate my sound more than a few times before my final chapter is written. The good news is that I’ve got some new material in the works and coming out later this year that is very much up the melodic vein.

What up-and-coming artists are really doing it for you right now?

Emjae, Chris Micali, Island 9, Roger Lee, Aaryn Blain… these guys are really killing it right now and all of them had a big hand in Porterhouse 2.

The digital revolution has added a huge influx of new artists, labels and releases to electronic music. What are your thoughts as to how digital content is changing our culture. Is it for better or worse?

For better. You have to embrace technology because there isn’t really a choice. The digital revolution has evened the playing field; it’s given virtually anybody the chance to participate in music. It’s a beautiful thing, much like if you gave every person on the planet a basketball or soccer ball… then everybody can give it a try. It’s a more competitive world in dance music now but I believe that’s only going to help it grow exponentially.

Where is your sound progressing next? Are there plans for another artist disc like Homegrown? (Which is fantastic btw – I still jam to this).

Thanks! I’m glad you still dig the old grooves! I’ll probably do one more installment of the Porterhouse series before I hit the studio for another artist album. I haven’t fully thought out what the direction would be but I did have a blast making Homegrown. I like albums that have a consistent flow and tracks that all work together. I think some of the best albums of all time have a continuity about them.

Thanks for taking the time to sit down and talk with me – can you leave a piece of advice for the next generation of DJs/producers?

Follow your roots. They’ll be your best guide towards your true identity.

STEVE PORTER launches his PORTERHOUSE Vol.2 (2xCD LP) at WMC 2007. He will hold the 3rd annual hugely successful “Porterhouse” WMC party on Thursday, March 22nd at The Fifth, South Beach (www.thefifth.com). The line-up this year will see Steve joined by the cream of new homegrown talent in Eli Wilkie, Emjae, and Bons.

For more Steve Porter, visit: www.djsteveporter.com or add him on MySpace at: www.myspace.com/steveporter1

© 2005-2009 Adam Singer.