Richard Earnshaw Interview

Although relatively new to the DJ scene, Richard Earnshaw has been producing quality house music for labels including Soulfuric, and is gradually building a name as one of the hottest young producers in town. I got to ask him a few questions before his up and coming gig with the Family Music Machine at Seven, and this is what he had to say...

Where does this email find you- Pretty sure you would be in London now I've heard the summer has been good to you-

I left London 7 years ago now. This email arrived with me in Chichester on the South Coast of England. The summer has been good and especially to us as a label. We've met some amazing people down here in Chichester that have helped with the way things are going, not to mention people like Lucie Cunningham who has sung really well on some of our material.

Has music always been a communication channel since your days of playing Rachmaninov- It must be great to be in a position where you, yourself can play music that can be expressed universally now on a world scale-

Music is a great way of expressing yourself without having to say anything, which can be quite useful sometimes ;0) Having progressed further as a performer and a writer it is immensely satisfying to be able to communicate with people all over the world without any language problems. I only get stuck when I need to order beers at the bar. I might need to write a track about ordering beers!!

As I just mentioned you have had a long period of your life spent being classically trained in music what was it about dance music that you got into-

My classical training eventually turned into Jazz. I simply fused my performing aspects of my music to the music I was writing at home. As I slung in the jazz keys over popular music beats and ideas, it eventually turned into the music that I write now.

I've read that you perform house music live, this is something that I've wanted to see for quite awhile, how has it been going down for you- This would have been a great way to fuse your musicality with the soulful energy that house music can bring-

I haven't performed live for a while now, but that will soon change. It's a very time consuming thing to undertake. Fortunately, I have many friends that are great musicians. As for the gigs I have done, they were amazing! But it was quite early on in the Earnshaw scheme of things. As things have gotten further down the line, there is more pressure to ensure the live sound is absolutely rocking!! The main problem is finding venues that can support such a big band and playing in events that can actually afford to pay so many band members.

You've been Djing around the clubs in the south coast of the UK now for about three years now how did it change the view you produced your music-

I think it helped me understand the structure of dance music better. When you have a track grooving along nicely, the positioning of your whistles and bells so to speak is very important. Playing lots of music to audiences helps sort out in your head how to go about structuring a club record.

Are there any particular gigs that you really enjoy doing at the moment-

Every gig has its pluses. I've done a couple in Leeds recently at a night called Dazed & Confuzed. It's a cool venue and the guys that put on the night are bloody nice blokes. It's a very good night out!

Melbourne is a beautiful city, and it seems that you are going to get here just as it starts to warm up a little bit, will this be the first time that you have played here-

It is the first time I've been out there. Our summer has been shit so I'm looking forward to some warm weather, fingers crossed !

A question for me, it's a bit of long one so I'm sorry. Through toning and harmonics I have found that certain frequencies set a particular level that will in turn cause tones which then resonate within people causing certain physiological