Feature: Squire [Interview]

Squire is a very talented artist hailing from Barcelona, Spain who we’ve taken notice of over at PA due to his recent releases on highly thought of labels like Smoke N’ Mirrors, Bar 25 Music, and Flying Circus Recordings. We sat down with him recently to discuss what first started his love for electronic music, his Barcelona roots, and his plans for 2018...

Hey Squire, great to meet you! We're big fans of your work at PA :)
Thank you very much! nice to meet you too

How has 2018 been treating you so far?
It has started so well… I’ve been playing in some nice venues in the US and finished almost all my music release schedule for 2018 already so yeah very much looking forward for what is about to come..this is the year!! :)

What do you hope it brings, in terms of gigs, labels etc? Do you have goals and targets?
Well, it has been 3 years of hard work in the studio and I can finally say I have now reached the sound I wanted and get in my own sounding after all these years making music. I now know where I am and what I want to transmit within my music. I’m very excited for this years releases. Firstly will come out a very cured EP on Kindisch that I’ve been working within the last year and I’m very looking forward to. Then we will have a Do not Sit on the Furniture EP which together with my second father Behrouz :) we’ve been selecting the music very specific all along 2017 and then some other stuff on 3000 grad records & L enfant Terrible. Then an Earthly delights EP for mid summer and a very nice project coming with Behrouz too for the end of the season but it’s all a bit of a secret at the moment;) So I'm really really happy for what is about to come.

You're based in Barcelona now, were you brought up there?
Yes, I was born here in Barcelona. I feel very catalan and spanish too of course! I moved to London a couple of years ago but after 3 years I moved back here. I’ve realized that my eyes need to see in colors and not in black/white…I need the sunlight and summer colors especially when it comes to making music. I work with emotions and feelings and for me it’s crucial to be at a place that makes you feel in love and comfortable.

We loved your recent 'The Seven Principles' Ep on Flying Circus Recordings. What inspired it? Do you write with the label in mind?
Thank you! To be honest, I try to go as emotional as I can get… Looking for inspiration everywhere. In this particular EP I worked with two high standard singers and composed the lyrics and melodies in an afternoon…Just not thinking too much, let the moment and the vibe flow and start building it up from there. Sometimes it takes longer than other times but you always reach a point where magic happens :)

What gear do you use to make beats? Software or hardware? Does that matter? Do you care about the tools?
I don’t have a specific pattern or method that I use. I try to go as random as possible…I sometimes use drum machines, sometimes samples, sometimes record some weird drums or strange soundings….music is universal and especially now with all the tools we’ve got to make music you can definatly challenge yourself and go through a whole new world experimenting and having fun which at the end of the day is what it’s all about!

You have only emerged in the last couple years, but how long have you been making beats and dancing in clubs? What got you started?
I started buying my first records when I was 15 years old. Still vinyl stores were doing good and I just loved the fact that you couldn’t reach the music you wanted in Spain, therefore you had to go to London or Berlin to get specific records…We were a couple of friends in Ibiza sharing music and playing it out for ourselves in a basement where we used to go through some parties in summer time as we couldn’t go to clubs because we were under 18 so we did our own thing in that old basement :).. Amazing memories!

Do you make music that you play in your own sets? Are they connected like that?
Yes I almost always play new music at every set…basically because I have alot of music that it wont be released but I still like to play it and also because I really enjoy challenging myself and the crowd with new music or different stuff that breaks down the line of your set…I think to be an amazing Dj is not easy at all. Maybe people do think so but as in any other job, to be the best at something is very very tough…therefore you have to challenge your limits, you have to risk and of course fail…you have to try out new music out there and sometimes it doesn’t work but that’s what it's all about, go out of your comfort zone and you might reach unimaginable places that you would’ve not ever achieved.

What else are you working on/are you looking forward to?
I’m really looking forward to starting my first album. I don’t really know when this is going to happen but I can say that it’s going to be sooner rather than later :)

Finally, any plans to play Croatia soon?
Not yet, but I’m sure some opportunity will come up this year.

Thanks again for this interview Progressive Astronaut

Much love
x

Squire’s ‘The Seven Principles’ is out now on Flying Circus Recordings
Grab it here - Download

https://www.facebook.com/SQUIRE.SPAIN/
https://soundcloud.com/squiremusic