Intervju – Uroš Umek / Interview with Uros Umek

SRB: Verujemo da ne postoji osoba u Srbiji koja je na bilo koji način povezana sa electro muzikom, a da nije čula za ovog megapopularnog slovenačkog izvođača. Čovek koji je uspeo da se probije i više nego zasluženo zauzme mesto među top 10 najboljih techno izvođača na svetu. Iako je poznat kao jedan od najzaposlenijih dj-eva uspeo je da odvoji malo vremena za naš sajt i odgovori na par pitanja.

Predstavljamo vam Uroša Umeka!

ENG: We belive that there is no person in Serbia which is connected with EDM in any kind of way who didnt heard for this megapopular Slovenian performer. A men who menage to break through and thake his place between top 10 world techno producers. Even it is well known that he is one of the busiest djs he menage to take some time for our site and answer on few questions.

We present you Uros Umek!

SRB: Počeo si da se baviš DJ-ingom veoma rano sa 17 godina. Kako je to izgledalo tada? Poznato je da elektronska muzika nije bila popularna na Balkanu u to vreme?

ENG: You started DJing very early, at the age of 17. How was it back then? We know that electronic music was very unpopular at the Balkans those days?

SRB: Počeo sam da se bavim dj-ingom čak i pre toga, sa 17 god je sve postalo mnogo ozbiljnije, i na kraju muzika je postala moja karijera. Kada smo mi počinjali nije bilo potrebne infrastrukture za ovu vrstu muzike, nije bilo klubova, medija koji će sve to propratiti, promocije festivala, jednom rečju ničega. Prvo smo morali da stvorimo svoju sopstvenu publiku i tržište, da naučimo kako da pravimo muziku, kako da manje više legalno oraganizujemo i promovišemo žurke itd. Na mojoj prvoj rezidenciji sa dj Alf-om sredom u klubu Palma u Ljubljani bilo je po 5,10 ljudi  na podijumu u početku. Verovatno ni ti ljudi nisu dolazili sa namerom da slušaju našu muziku, nego da popiju pivo jer su barovi bili zatvoreni u to doba noći. Ali mi smo to pregurali, naposletku smo čak dobili i mesto na lokalnom radiju u sred noći za naš prvi EDM šou, ljudi su počeli da nas prate i polako smo izgradili scenu. Slično se dogadjalo i po drugim gradovima širom Balkana, manje lokalne ekipe su stvarale svoju scenu i počeli smo da kontaktiramo jedni druge, da razmenjujemo gostovanja i jednom kada su ljudi dobili ukus za ovu novu muziku,sve je krenulo.

ENG: I’ve started to deejay even before that, at 17 it all became more serious and eventually music became my career. When we started there was no proper infrastructure for this kind of music, no clubs, no media to cover it, no festival promoters, nothing. We had to build our own crowd and market first, learn how to do music, how to more or less legally organize and then promote parties and so on. At my first Wednesday club residency with DJ Alf at club Palma in Ljubljana there were only five or ten people on the dance floor in the beginning. Probably even those guys didn’t come with intent to listen to our music but to get some beer as bars ware already closed at that time in the night. But we worked this trough, eventually even got a slot on some local radio in the middle of the night for our first EDM show, others followed and slowly we’ve built the scene. Similar happened in other cities on the Balkans, the small local crews built the scene and later we got in touch, we started to swap guest gigs and once people got the taste for this new sound it took of.

SRB: Negde smo pročitali da si u početku bio fan acid house-e, ali da si jednostavno morao da radiš techno zbog opreme koju si posedovao početkom devedesetih?

ENG: We read somewhere that you where a fan of acid house at the beginning but you simply had to do techno cause of the equipment you owned at the early 90’s?

SRB: Da, sećam se tog intervjua. 🙂 Želeo sam da produciram i house takođe ali u to vreme ali nisam znao kako da koristim opremu koju sam imao da bih pravio tu vrstu zvuka. Imao sam par sprava i tada nisam znao mnogo o produkciji, čak i danas i dalje ne znam da koristim ni jedan instrument. Tako da mi je bilo mnogo lakše da eksperimentišem sa synth-ovima nego da učim kako da pravm house. Što se tiče acid-a, ne želim da ga ubacujem u moj savremeni zvuk,jer su Roland TB 303 zvuci korišćeni do te mere na sve moguće načine, da ja ne vidim kako bih mogao da napravim nešto savremeno sa originalnim acid ukusom a da to u isto vreme zvuči sveže i interesantno u isto vreme.

ENG: Yes, I remember this interview. 🙂 I wanted to produce house production too but at that time I didn’t know how to use the machines I got to produce that kind of sound. I only had couple of machines, I didn’t know much about producing music back then and till today I still don’t know to play any instruments. So it was much easier for me to experiment with synths and produce techno music than to learn how to do house. Speaking of acid, I don’t incorporate it in my contemporary sound as the Roland TB 303 sounds were exploited to the limit in every possible way and I don’t see how could I do something contemporary with proper acid flavor that would sound fresh and intriguing at the same time. 

SRB: Doživeo si neverovatan uspon u svojoj karijeri posle 2000 godine. Šta je bio glavni razlog?

ENG: Your career has had tremendous growth after ‘00. What was the main reason?

SRB: Toliko vremena mi je bilo potrebno da ubedim internacionalne promotere i publiku da sam stvarno dobar dj i producent, vredan rezervacija za klubove i festivale kako i izdavanja moje muzike za njihove labele. Izdao sam popriličan broj mojih traka za neke veoma jake labele, ali sam stvarno morao da se pomučim da se probijem iz regiona kao dj. Da budem iskren moja produkcija posle 2000. zvuči mnogo bolje nego moji raniji radovi. Ja jesam imao ideje u početku i ljudi su me zapazili zbog njih i mog karakterističnog grubog zvuka, ali posle par godina stvarno sam podigao svoju produkciju na viši nivo i tehnički,kavitet zvuka je postao mnogo bolji. Tako da nije slučajnost što je moja karijera doživela veliki rast u to vreme. to je bila era Lanicor-a i Gatex-a.

ENG: I needed that much time to convince international promoters and crowd that I’m a really good deejay and a producer, worth booking for clubs and festivals as well as signing my music for their labels. I’ve released dozen of really of my tracks on very strong labels but I’ve really struggled to break trough out of the region as a deejay. To be honest, my production after 2000 sounds much better than my early works. I did have ideas from the start and people noticed me by them and my unique rough sound but after couple of years I really took my production on higher level also technically, the quality of sound became much better. So it’s not a coincidence my career experienced tremendous growth in that time. That’s the era of Lanicor and Gatex. 

SRB: Danas si jedan od top 10 techno producenata, neki od najpoznatijih svetskih labela kao što su Toolroom, Spinnin’, Great Stuff, Intec su izdavali tvoje trake, tvoj label 1605 (pretpostavljamo da je dobio naziv po tvom rodjendanu) je takođe jedan od top 10 techno labela u svetu, takođe si jedan od najzauzetijih dj-eva… Da li još uvek uspevaš da odvojiš mal vremena za svoju staru ljubav košarku?

ENG: Today you are one of the top 10 techno producers, Some of the biggest labels in the world like Toolroom, Spinnin’, Great Stuff, Intec released your tracks, your label 1605 (suppose its named by your birthday) is top 10 techno label today, you are also one of the busiest DJ in the world … Do you still find time for your old love, basketball?

SRB: Ne, ne zaista. I dalje odem do terena da ubacim neki koš ali ne mogu ozbiljnije da igram jer sam “nabacio” kilažu i pokidao bih zglobove ili kolena ako bi malo ozbiljnije počeo da igram. Ali i to mi odgovara. Volim leti da odem do terena jednom ili dva puta nedeljno i da jednostavno šutiram na koš. Sada se malo više bavim snowboard-ingom i biciklizmom 🙂

ENG: No, not really. I still go to the court to shoot some hoops but I can’t really play as I’ve put on some weight and I’d tore my ankles or knees if I’d really get into the game. But that’s just fine. In the summer I like to go to the court once or twice a week and just hit hoops for an hour or so, just to relax and stretch a bit. I take snowboarding and cycling much more seriously though. 🙂

SRB: 1605 promoviše mlade dj-eve, ali takođe možemo videti i neka već proslavljena imena kao što su Jay Lumen, Vlada Asanin, Marco Bailey, Manuel de la Mare, Matador itd. da rade mixeve za tvoj label. Šta je bio tvoj plan kada si odlučio da osnuješ 1605, i kako je sve to ispalo na kraju?

ENG: 1605 is promoting young DJs but we can see also some already established artists like Jay Lumen, Vlada Asanin, Marco Bailey, Manuel de la Mare, Matador, etc. doing mixes. What was your plan when you decided to make 1605, and what did it became at the end?

SRB: Ideja o tome šta smo hteli da uradimo sa celim 1605 Msic Therapy projektom (label je samo deo toga) je upravo on što je on na kraju i postao – platforma za povezivanje izvođača i njihovo dalje promovisanje i predstavljanje svetu. Jedina stvar koja nas je malo iznenadila je to kako je label postao toliko uspešan za samo par godina – već smo prešli 130 izdanja za 5 godina i redovo zauzimamo top mesta na beatport tabelama. Mislili smo da će nam biti potrebno još par godina da postignemo ono što smo danas. Duh 1605 je ono što je bio i na početku: Konstantno sam u potrazi za novim izvođačima da izdaju svoje trake za label i puštaju ih u mojim setovima kao i u mom nedeljnom Behind the Iron Curtain radio šou. Ali da bi došli do izražaja i bili zastupljeni moramo da balansiramo sa već poznatim imenima i novim izvođačima. Počeli samo kao većinom techno orijentisan label dok danas nastojimo da naučimo više o tech-house strani scene. Zanmljiva stvar: skoro sam pričao sa par dj-eva i nisu mogli da veruju da bi mnoge od traka koje se nalaze u mojim setovima mogle da se uklope u tech-house sekciju na Beatport-u dok bi moj set definisali kao pravi techno. Trenutno se ja i 1605 uklapamo negde između ova dva žanra – ljubitelji čistog techno zvuka bi rekli da to nije techno dok bi tech-house ljubitelji potvrdili isto za njihov omiljeni zanr muzike. Bilo kako bilo izgleda da naša stvar napreduje i da se ljudima sviđa. Iako radimo sa izvođačima iz celog sveta, ipak i dalje najviše pažnje odvajamo za istočni blok a pogotovo na naš rodni kraj ex-Jugoslaviju. 

ENG: The idea of what we want to do with the whole 1605 Music Therapy project (label is just one part of it) when we started it is just what it became and it is now – a platform for connecting artists and exposing them to the world. The only thing that surprised us a bit is that label became so successful in just couple of years – we’ve already passed 130 releases mark in five years and we are regularly hitting top spots on the Beatport charts. We though it would take us couple of years more to become where we are today. The spirit of 1605 is still the same as it was in the beginning: I’m constantly looking for new producers to sign their tracks to the label and play them in my sets as well as my weekly Behing the Iron Curtain radio show. But to get the right exposure we have to balance the releases of established artists and newcomers. We started as very techno oriented label whereas now we tend to lean more to the tech-house side of the scene. A funny thing: I recently spoke to a couple of deejaynes and they could not believe most of the tracks I played in my set would fit into tech-house section on the Beatport as they’d define my set as proper techno. Right now me and 1605 fit just somewhere in between of this two genres – techno purist say it’s not techno and tech-house aficionados doesn’t seem to like us either. In any case it seems we got our own thing going on and it seems people like that. Although we work with artists from all over the world we still pay extra attention to eastern bloc and especially our home region, ex Yugoslavia.

SRB: Radio si sa Vladom Asaniniom, Mladenom Tomićem, Vladimirom Aćićem, koje je tvoje mišljenje o electro muzici na Balkanu? Poboljšava li se?

ENG: You have been working with Vlada Asanin, Mladen Tomic, Vladimir Acic what do you think about electro music on the Balkans? Is it getting better today?

SRB: Da, apsolutno, ovde se nalazi ogroman kreativni potencijal koji svet još uvek nije upoznao. Konstantno zapažam nova imena, što je sjajno ali istovremeno čekam dosta regionalnih izvođača da se probiju na internacionalnu scenu. Mike Vale, Siniša Tamamović i Mladen Tomić su već tamo i trenutno napreduju velikim koracima izdaju za najbolje producentske kuće i na turnejama su po celom svetu. Nadam se da će mnogi krenuti njihovim stopama jer umetnici iz ovog području još imaju mnogo toga da pokažu. 

ENG: Yes, absolutely, here’s a tremendous creative potential that world doesn’t know yet. I’m noticing fresh names all the time, which is great but at the same time I’m waiting for more regional artists to break on the international scene. Mike Vale, Siniša Tamamović and Mladen Tomić are already there and currently they are doing big steps, they are releasing their music on top labels and they are touring all over the world. I hope many will follow them as artists from this area still have a lot to show.

SRB: UMF, kakvi su tvoji utisci, i koji je tvoj omiljeni festival na kom si nastupao?

ENG: UMF, what are your impressions, and what is your favorite festival you were working on?

SRB: Upravo sam odradio prva tri UMF festivala kao deo moje skoro ceo mesec duge turneje širom Severne i Južne Amerike. Buenos Aires je bio fenomenalan, moglo se osetiti da je Čile nov u familiji ali ne sumnjam da će ispraviti stvari za godinu,dve. Poslednji je bio Majami gde sam nastupao u Carl Cox areni što je uvek zagarantovana zabava. Snimao sam set u Majamiju i već se može naći svuda po internetu tako da možete proveriti šta trenutno puštam. Ali jedan Ultra festival za koji smo svi posebno zainteresovani tek treba da se desi. nastupiću na premijernom izdanju Ultra Europe u Splitu 12. jula i siguran sam da će mnogi od vaših čitalaca takođe biti tamo. Moći ćete da me nađete u Carl Cox areni.

ENG: I just did first three of the UMF festivals I’m playing this year as part of my almost one month long tour trough South and North America. Buenos Aires was phenomenal, you could feel Chile is a new addition to the family but I don’t doubt they’ll pimp things up in a year or two. The last one was Miami where I performed in Carl Cox’s arena, which is always a lot of fun. I’ve recorded my set in Miami and it’s already all over the web, so you can check out what I’m playing right now. But the one Ultra festival that we’re all most interested in this year is still to happen. I’ll be playing at the premiere edition of Ultra Europe in Split on July 12 th and I’m sure many of your readers will also be going there. You can catch me in Carl Cox’s arena.

SRB: Tvoja saradnja sa Beltek-om je dobro poznata,šta možeš da nam kažeš o vama dvojici?

ENG: Your cooperation with Beltek is well known, what can you tell us about you two?

SRB: Mi smo prijatelji i drago mi je što su nam se putevi konačno ukrstili u Čileu i Majamiju pa smo bili u mogućnosti da proedemo neko vreme zajedno. Na neki način tužno je što moramo da naletimo jedan na drugoga na drugom kraju sveta da bi otišli na piće, popričali i mali se zabavili iako živimo udaljeni samo par kilometara u Ljubljani – ali to je normalno za život internacionalnih dj-eva, konstantno smo na turnejama i posle porasta na sceni u USA provodimo dosta vremena sa one strane Atlantika. Kako god, Beltek je sjajan momak, uvek se mnogo smejemo kad se sretnemo, on je jako zanimljiva osoba za razgovor tako da mije bilo stvarno jako drago što sam ga sreo posle dužeg vremena. Što se tiče muzike, ne verujem da ćemo raditi neki zajednički projekat u bližoj budućnosti kako su se naše priče razdvojile svaka na svoju stranu, ali i čak i kada smo počeli da produciramo muziku zajedno bili smo miljama udaljeni, tako da se ne bih usudio da kažem da nećemo ponovo raditi zajedno u budućnosti.

ENG: We’re friends and I’m glad our roads have finally crossed in Chile and Miami so we were able to catch up a bit. In a way it’s sad we need to run at each other on the other side of the world to go for a drinks, chat and have some fun, even though we live just couple of kilometers away from each other in Ljubljana – but that’s normal for the life of international deejays, we’re touring all the time and after the rise of the scene in the USA we are spending a lot of time on the other side of Atlantic. Anyway, Beltek is a great guy, we always lough a lot when we meet, he’s very interesting person to talk to, so I was sincerely happy to met him after a long time. Music vise I don’t think we’ll be doing any joint-project in near future as our stories went each in its own direction but even when we started producing music together we were miles away, so I’d not dare to say we won’t be working together sometime in the future again. 

SRB: Exit festival 2006. i Green Love 2010,2011,2012. u Novom Sadu. Ljudi iz cele Srbije su dolazili u Novi sad da te vide i čuju, među njima i mi, bilo je neverovatno. Izgleda da te nešto povezuje sa Novim Sadom, ali možemo li te očekivati u Beogradu u budućnosti?

ENG: Exit festival 2006 and Green love festival 2010, 2011, 2012 in Novi Sad. Whole Serbia came to Novi Sad to see you and we were with them, it was amazing. It looks like you have some bonds with Novi Sad but can we expect you in Belgrade in future?

SRB: Nadam se da ćemo se sresti u Beogradu u bliskoj budućnosti, ni sam se ne sećam kada sam poslednji put nastupio tamo. Imam jake veze koje me povezuju sa Srbijom još od samog početka moje karijere, ovo je moj rodni kraj i imam stvarno veliki broj obožavalaca širom ex-Jugoslavije. Kako su me momci iz Novog Sada mnogo promovisali poslednjih godina, sve zurke su bile ogromne i energija je bila neverovatna, morali smo to da uradimo isključivo – na kraju udaljenost između Novog Sada i Beograda nije velika tako da bih mogao dopustiti sebi da gostujem u jednom ili drugom gradu svake nedelje. U svakom slučaju volim Srbiju, osećam se odlično kad god sam tamo bilo privatno, bilo poslovno, u prošlosti smo radili dosta zajedničkih projekata sa odličnim izvođačima kao što su Marko Nastić, Dejan Milićević i drugi, i oni nisu jedini prijatelji koje imam u Srbiji. Nadam se da ću se vratiti u Srbiju već ove godine, iako ne mogu da obećam pošto se na jesen selim na tri meseca u Los Anđeles da bih se fokusirao na moju turneju po USA.

ENG: Hopefully we’ll meet in Belgrad in near future, too, as I can’t even remember the last time I was playing there. I have a great bond with Serbia since the early days of my career, this is my home region and I have strong fan base in the whole ex-Yugoslavia. As the guys from Novi Sad have heavily promoted me in the last couple of years, all parties were huge and the energy was amazing, we had to do this exclusively – after all, the distance between Novi Sad and Belgrade isn’t that big that I could afford to do gigs in one or the other city just every week. In any case I love Serbia, I feel great whenever I’m there on business or privately, in the past we’ve done a lot of great projects with great artists such as Marko Nastić, Dejan Miličević and other guys, and they are not the only friends I have in Serbia at all. So hopefully I’ll be back already this year, though I can’t promise as I’ll be moving to Los Angeles for three months this Autumn to focus on the USA. 

SRB: Pored svih tvojih muzičkih dostignuća, poznat si kao čovek velikog srca. Domaćin si dobrotvornih akcija pod nazivom “Party with a Cause / Žur s razlogom” gde lokalni sponzori prikupljaju novac za određeni cilj. Da li si razmišljao o proširenju akcije i uključivanju više ljudi da daju sve od sebe da pomognu?

ENG: Despite all of your musical achievements, you are famous as a man with a big heart. You are host to a charity event called Party with a Cause / Žur s razlogom where local sponsors help raise money for a certain cause. Did you think about enlarging that event and including more people to do their best to help?

SRB: Zapravo to su ljudi, posetioci su ti koji prikupe najveći deo novca slanjem SMS poruka vrednih 1e koje su ujedno i njihova ulaznica za žurku. Takođe mogu da pomognu i na druge načine, deo novca se prikupi donacijama kompanija koje učestvuju u akciji i Simobil uvek uplati 10,000 ili 20,000e pored toga što finansira ceo projekat. Ja sam domaćin manifestacije koja je osmišljena u saradnji sa velikom Slovenskom telekomunikacionon kompanijom Simobil, koja je vlasnik brenda i finansira ceo dogadjaj. Tako da je njihova odluka šta će da rade sa njim. Ako odluče da prošire akciju i na druge zemlje biće mi drago da im pomognem u toj nameri. Ovaj projekat već sada privlači sve više internacionalne publike pogotovo iz Italije,Hrvatske i Austrije, tako da sam siguran da bi gostovanja u drugim gradovima bila prihvaćena, pogotovo jer i u drugim zemljama postoje ljudi kojima je očajnički potrebna pomoć. Nadam se da ćemo i to uraditi jednog dana, ali do tada pokušajte sami da uradite nešto dobro za ljude kojima je potrebna pomoć, i širite poruku o NE-NASILJU pogotovo među mladim ljudima. 

ENG: Actually it’s people, attendees who raise most of the money by sending charity SMS donation worth 1 euro, which is also valid as a ticket for this party. They can also contribute in other ways, we collect some money with contributions of participating companies and Simobil always chips in 10.000 or 20.000 euros along paying for the whole campaign and event. I am the host of this series, which was designed in collaboration with a large Slovenian telecommunication company Simobil, who owns the brand and other rights for this project and they are financing it. So it’s their decision what they want to do with it. If they decide to expand this project in other countries I’ll be glad to support them in this cause. This project already attracts more and more international crowd, especially from Croatia, Italy and Austria, so I’m sure spin offs in other cities would be well accepted, too, especially as there are also young people in need of our help. Hopefully we’ll do this someday, but till then try to do something good for people in distress on your own and spread the message of non-violence, especially among young people.