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Ian Carey
| Not so long ago American national Ian Carey asked a generation to get shaky. He was particular, Get Shaky after school, he asked. Nowadays he’s asking something different. “It’s probably a good time to talk about my latest track, Last Night. It’s a collaboration that features Bobby Anthony and Snoop Dogg,” he tells.
Yep, rapper Snoop Dogg has gone electronic. “Through a friend of a friend Snoop and I had known each other for a few years. The collaboration was one of those things that just happened very quickly,” he reveals.
Last Night is based on everyone’s personal experiences. “Last Night is about many things. It can be how you wake up in the morning and realise you’ve drank too much the night before. We’ve all been there,” Carey laughs.
Carey grew up in small town Maryland, USA – about two hours from Washington DC. He got into music young: his father was a live sound engineer and ran a sound reinforcement company. Carey senior engineered for Kool and the Gang, amongst others.
When Carey was around seven years old, and during his summer vacations, he travelled from east coast to west coast of America with his father to a variety of concerts. Music was inbuilt into the Carey way of life. “I learnt quite bit about music from my father. My father showed me how to make a living from music and was a real-life example of someone heavily involved with music. Because he was involved in the industry I learnt the basics of sound engineering,” he explains.
Little surprise that Carey junior knew music was the right career of choice. “DJing has always been my first passion but I knew I had to make records to really get my name out there. DJing wasn’t going to pay the bills so I knew I had to diversify,” he says.
Carey junior played drums in high school, which included a performance for a marching band during a parade. During college his musical awareness expanded. Bands, drums and guitars were losing the fight to hip hop, scratching and graffiti. Carey discovered a new scene – hip hop and Baltimore graffiti writing. But that wasn’t enough. House music pricked his ears and gained his interest. He says, “With graffiti I always ran the risk of getting arrested. The DJing side of things provided me with the creativity and artistic license that I needed.”
His partnership with Jason Papillon, using the Soul Providers disguise, has also reaped rewards as their first single, Rise, went mainstream across Europe.
Ambitious, hungry for success and heavily into the electronic divide, he quickly became jaded with the American house music landscape. So he moved to the Netherlands and then, in 2006, he moved to Spain. He says it was the best decision he’s made. “By the time I made up my mind to move I had made a few records and was flying back and forth to Europe anyhow. So it made sense to make the move to Europe,” he says.
Carey the DJ has street credibility. The American native’s performed as a DJ since 1993 and worked as a record producer to great success. Forever the chameleon, Carey’s used guises like Ian “45” Carey, Illicit Funk and The Ian Carey Project to release sounds. But to judge Carey as just another DJ/producer is erroneous. While the American can certainly write electronic music, produce and DJ, he can also play instruments: bass guitar, drums, guitar and keyboards. Think Carey the musician.
But then in 2008 arrived Get Shaky. Released under the banner of The Ian Carey Project, Get Shaky shook dance floors and wobbled over to the commercial province. That Get Shaky was picked by the Czech Republic to be the official goal song at the IIHF Ice Hockey World Cup in Germany says much about the song’s power. The song was also named best dance video at the MTV Video Awards Australia.
However being pigeonholed as the bloke who made it is a bugbear. “It depends on the territory but in a way it does bother me about being pigeonholed as I’ve actually had a lot of different records out there. In Brazil, Get Shaky only made it to 20 or 30 on the charts while another one of my records made it much, much higher. In Australia and New Zealand I’m probably more known for Get Shaky than anything else, so it really does depend on the territory,” he explains.
Carey’s known for big, storming basslines. His now trademark reverberations have grown – developed even, to become smarter. The American house scene has also grown, which is why Carey moved back to his homeland. “I moved back to America last year and am now based in Miami, Florida. I’m more established and so is house music in America. You’re now seeing more R ‘n’ B, pop and urban artists working with and moving towards electronic music producers. There is much more house music being played in American clubs these days,” he tells.
He sees himself as a conduit for young up and comers who want to get their music heard. His label, GFAB, provides the medium. “The label’s not about me releasing my work. It’s a vehicle for others. I don’t make money from the label but I get to hear a lot of music from talented artists.”
Carey’s seen a few changes throughout the years. The superstar DJ tag may have peaked and subsequently trailed off but marketing has played a greater part of a DJs’ responsibility. “DJs as a pop icon is a new thing. Everything’s more of a marketing challenge thesedays. To stay on top of the game is all about marketing. That is both good and bad as it’s not always about a DJs’ performance and technical skill. Like it or loathe it, the marketing challenge is part of the job,” he explains.
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