GenQ Music

“Touch me like that” was released in Australia 19 January and is already soaring through the Oz Club charts. Jason shares with us the joys of success & working along side of the lovely Dannii…..

GQ:        Hiiiii, How you going?

JN:          Hi I’m Good, how are you?

GQ:        I’m great! Jason welcome… I’m so excited about talking to you. I’m assuming the feeling is mutual hahahaha

JN:          Absolutely it is (lol)

GQ:        That’s fantastic, just before I delve into I guess somewhat of a multitude of interrogation in to your career life, I’d just want to say Thank you on behalf of GenerationQ for allowing us to get to know a bit more about yourself & also having a chat to us about your latest single “Touch Me like that” with Dannii Minogue.

JN:          Oh yeah absolutely!

GQ:        Jason Nevins has been somewhat of a house hold name in the Dance Music industry for around 10 years or so, how long had you actually been working with Music prior to that?

JN:          I’ve been doing this for I think around 15-16 years and started out by doing sample cut & paste tracks back in the day. I’d started out originally as a DJ and then kind of moved away from Dj’ing and haven’t Dj’d in many years. I’ve just concentrated on writing, producing and remixing.

GQ:        Funny you mention that about Dj’ing as I’m pretty sure that I have read that you don’t actually like to be labeled as a DJ, can you confirm this?

JN:          Yeh, I have nothing against Dj’ing its just that I don’t DJ so I don’t like to be labeled something kind of that I’m not. If that’s what I’d concentrated on then that’s great to be known as that. I sometimes feel like that’s what the public want me as, a Dj guy and it’s just not what I do. Actually I am just starting to get back in to Dj’ing funny enough.

GQ:        Oh really, that’s great…

JN:          Yeh well what’s happening is I have so many enquiries and so people asking and wanting me to come play, you know that’s how I started and I haven’t been into it for so many years so its something I do wanna get back into it. Now that more of the mash up style is provident in the clubs that’s something that I really get into cause what I gonna do is not just spin records but put on more of a show. I have a live band that I’m gonna be doing this with.

GQ:        Wow that sounds fantastic

JN:          Yeh it should be a lot of fun, we’re just putting together right now actually.

GQ:        Do you have a timeframe you can give the GenQ readers for this project?

JN:          Not really, it’s kind of in the works now b cause I’m kind of busy with production, so its one of the things that on my plate that’s really just coming together now. Its taking a bit of work because its not just me behind turntables Dj’ing, there’s gonna be a guitar player, live drums probably keyboards, I mean its gonna be some interesting stuff so it takes a bit of preparation. It should be sometime soon and I’m hoping to definitely come DOWN UNDER once it’s ready.

GQ:      That would be great I know that the OZ public is dying to have you, especially now with the release of “Touch me like that”.
Just before we get into the single, I’d like to discuss with you a little about how you had started off, I know you have a degree majoring in Telecommunication (which you originally majored in Graphic Design) What actually made you change your career path to Music Production??

JN:          I’ve always been into music and it was really the love of the music that made me get into it. And I like everything. People think that I’m just a dance guy, but the funny thing is growing up I didn’t even listen to dance until a certain period. It was more of a rock and urban a hip hop thing that came out in the 80’s, that made me deviate more into dance and I’ve always been a guy that likes to mix it up. I mean obviously from the Run DMC you can always go back to my productions and see how I have never done just one thing, its always a mix and that’s what I enjoy. I enjoy bringing different genres and different styles of music together. That’s why I think I do what I do and the way I do it, because I’m not into just doing just straight Symph’s and electronic dance I like to always bring other styles into it.

GQ:        Well being a big house fan myself, I definitely can say that your mixes have made a lot of tracks more appealing. For instance there’s been songs released which weren’t really my forte, but when I’d heard your house mix, it made me come to really love the track. So would you say that’s your inspiration? Basically to take a track and make it more appealing?

JN:          I think so, I do definitely appreciate you saying that and I do hear that quite often, where people would say I’ve heard such and such record in the original format & didn’t like it but then I heard your mix and I loved it and got that a lot with some of the Kelly Clarkson stuff that I did, where people liked Kelly and thought she was talented but they weren’t into a particular song then all of a sudden when I flipped into this cool version they were like 'Wow I love this now!' And it’s always cool to hear stuff like that and that really makes me happy.
You know I never try and over shadow these artists cause they are the real stars but when I can take what they’ve done and expand it into a different market or make more listeners listen to their stuff, I think I’ve done my job. I mean I’m not trying to say I’m better than Kelly Clarkson by no means I am at all, but at the same time when I have people that may not even think to listen to a Kelly Clarkson. Then all of a sudden they’re into her because they like my mix, then I think I’ve done my job.

GQ:        You’ve definitely contributed to her success

JN:          (Jason Giggles)

GQ:        In 2004 you worked on an old Duran Duran track called “Sunrise” which featured on the Queer Eye for the straight guy soundtrack. Could you explain to the GQ readers how it all came bout? Were you approached by Queer Eye for the Straight Guy?

JN:          No it had nothing to do with Queer Eye, it had to do with Duran Duran’s management who I became friendly with (this was before they where signed to Sony when they where getting off there deal with capital) and one of the last deals they had was the Queer Eye deal. So they came to me & said they want to do some remixes, I had spoken to Andy and basically got the parts to sunrise before the record was ever out and did my thing to it. And they flipped, they flipped to the point where they actually perform (even to this day) my version, they use my production!!!!

I have a addition production on their album actually for that record, which was great. I became friendly with the guys and now they look towards me for mixes and things of that major in production. It’s a great relationship & I’m beyond thrilled to be friends with Duran Duran and their management, because they are definitely hero’s of mine and legends in the Industry.

GQ:        I can definitely see how that would be a great achievement. Staying with the whole rock dance genre, you have been labeled by many “The leader in Rock Dance”, Is that how you perceive yourself?                  

JN:          I don’t like to say I’m the “leader of Rock Dance” but I’m definitely one of the guys that really started off with that genre and making it big from my Anastasia mix, from Duran Duran mix. I was doing this for way before some of these other producers started ripping off the sounds. I was definitely ahead of the game back in the day with the whole hip hop dance thing. I never said that I invented Hip House; I sure didn’t as it was invented in Chicago. But I definitely think after 5 million sales worldwide, people can say that I brought the whole hip hop house thing in the late 90’s.
 Its funny at that time I really was known for the Run DMC record, but I really didn’t get known unfortunately for the whole rock band startup. But I was there in the beginning and I was really the one that was making waves with that sound, before people jumping on it. I don’t want to say I was the leader but I am definitely one of the innovators of it.

GQ:        Well it seems your latest track “Touch me like that” with Dannii Minogue has done a 180 turn in regards to the genre from Rock Dance to Club Pop. Could this be the beginning of a new direction for yourself or just a once off? 

JN:          Actually it’s the reverse, that record I had come up with quite some time ago. It just was great timing and worked out with my agent in the UK Matt Waterhouse (who’s good friends with Dannii). He set the whole thing up. Its actually a direction that I am not going into at all it just happened to be that it worked out and the record’s fit for Dannii. All the pieces of the puzzle came together. It really thrilled me to work with Dannii again because I had done the remix for her on “Put the Needle on it” which did extremely well. So it was great to be able to work with her from the Get-Go rather than just a remix.

GQ:        Was this experience with Dannii any different from the first time?

JN:          Well the first time I didn’t really know her, I was just hired by the label out of the UK to do a remix on it.

GQ:        So you hadn’t actually worked together previously?

JN:          No, “Put the Needle on it” was really just a straight up mix. I had actually added my own vocals in and I created a bigger entity on that remix. It did really well and they all really liked it. So when this opportunity came up, Dannii already knew who I was. When Matt approached her for this record it was a type of thing that just “worked”, she knew who I was & so did the label and they were really into it, we had all these parts of the puzzle just fitting into place, it turned out great!

GQ:        Has the lightening success of this track, from stomping 4 UK Music charts at #1 in its first week of release, been a bit of a surprise to you?

JN:          I don’t think it was a huge surprise being that we’ve done this thing before and being that Dannii is a huge star in her own right its just a great combination. It did well in the UK, not as great as we would have hoped to do but it did really well. Its doing really well in turn in Australia which thrilled me to go in to, I love the Australian Market it’s a great great market and I would love myself to do more within the Australian Market.

GQ:        Well GenQ readers and the Australian public would definitely be happy to have you. Even one day maybe get both of you in Oz for a show together. Is there any chance of that occurring?

JN:          If you can make it happen I’ll be there….. (Jason giggles)

GQ:        In saying that, have there been discussions with Dannii in relation to future endeavors?

JN:          Not right now, I mean I don’t know what she’s up to or what the situation is, I’m hoping I can work with her again in the future though. I don’t know what it will bring but if the opportunity arises I definitely would. She’s an amazing singer, she’s an amazing talent, she’s extremely pretty, extremely nice and I’d definitely work with here again!      

GQ:        Well Jason I can’t begin thank you enough for being such a great sport, in giving us such an invigorating insight into your world. And I’m sure if you keep pumping out those great productions of yours, the Australian public will do their best to bring you down under asap!

JN:      Thank you I appreciate it SO much.

Tags: Dannii Minogue, Jason Nevins