TF Archives

Chris Fortier- Progressing From Florida to Bedrock (via Twilo)

Author: Jonty Adderley
Monday, May 6, 2002
Ever since he give up surfing to concentrate on his DJ career, Florida native Chris Fortier has seen his career developing and expanding with seemingly relentless ease. Nowadays recognised as one of America's most accomplished DJs, he's one of those jocks whose driving passion has always been the music and, in his quiet, almost shy demeanour, he closely resembles his long time friend Jonh Digweed. And it's John Digweed who's recruited him to produce his latest Bedrock CD, a move which Fortier's repayed by delivering the best mix CD yet in the rapidly expanding series. Skrufff's Jonty Adderley met up with Chris at the Metropolitan Hotel last week, in one of the hotel's expensively bland suites.


Skrufff: Your new mix CD is coming out on Bedrock, how much did the fact it was Bedrock influence your approach-

Chris Fortier: "I approach everything I do with the same attitude whether I'm DJing, producing or doing a CD, which is to do the best I can, and with this album I knew Bedrock was a really good platform to release a well rounded piece of music. With some of the tracks, |'ve been waiting for years to put them on a mix CD. The Northern Exposure album in 1995 was a benchmark for me and many people and I've always wanted to do an album like that, one that's timeless. I've also done lots of additional production to the CD to enhance it and make it the best. It's easy to take two records and mix them together but I wanted to do much more than that."

Skrufff: In practical terms, what did that mean-

Chris Fortier: "I was sent hundreds of new records for the album, and I also went through practically my entire collection looking for special mixes that could make the CD unique. I've ended up with tracks from 1992 and one that somebody brought to the studio on CDR, just as we were finishing. There was no genre formula though, I just wanted them to make sense in the context of a set."

Skrufff: Did you approach them thinking of a dance floor or car stereo-

Chris Fortier: "I wanted it to be a pleasing piece of music that somebody could start from track 1 and listen all the way through to, without getting bored. That's how I also approach playing in a club, the objective is to create a groove or infectiousness with the music so that by the time they realise they've been dancing for four hours, it's already gone. I experienced that many times when I started going to clubs and I've always thought that's a great thing to achieve. That losing track of time and getting lost in the music. I want every track to be like a stepping stone from the last, or like a ladder."

Skrufff: The CD's sleevenotes are littered with the word "progressive" yet "trance" is completely absent, is trance a word you avoid-

Chris Fortier: "Everybody has their different definitions. Years ago we were playing what we called progressive trance music, but I play house, progressive, trance, techno, whatever; for me the term doesn't matter. Progressive is just the easiest label. In the UK, trance became a really bad word, to mean tracks like ATB (Til I come) or commercial music, while progressive seems OK in the sense of meaning music that's moving forwards. It's all house music to me, as it was when I started in 1987. People like myself or Digweed or Sasha play all kinds of records and it's hard to explain that to some people, particularly those just getting into the scene. Playing across the board styles comes with maturity."

Skrufff: The latest Miami music conference recently finished, and given that you run America's biggest record pool, you're well placed to see whether dance music's crossing over Stateside, is it-

Chris Fortier: "I don't think it will ever cross over. One of the reasons it works in Europe is because you have national radio and media and you're able to circulate information really quickly. The internet helps, but I find that since we don't have national dance radio the scene's very regional so you have to break acts region<
Tags