Feature: GRAZZE [Interview + Premiere]

GRAZZE, in love with music, nature and the magic of the night. He begins his journey into the electronic music scene at the age of 14 after having studied piano and musical theory. With a degree in sound engineering, GRAZZE specializes in the technical areas of production, mixing and mastering as well as guitar and percussion in the artistic field.

His versatile sound has been evolving ever more with each song created by producing in different styles while maintaining his essence and own identity. At the moment he is exploring and developing a more elegant and emotive approach in his deepest side. On the other hand, he is also using more ethnic and dynamic elements as his inspirations for producing “club” sounds.

Hi GRAZZE, thanks for sitting down with us today! Tell us where in the world you are and what your plans for the week look like.

It’s my pleasure! First of all, thanks a lot for having me here and for all the support that you give to my tracks.

I'm currently living in Guadalajara (Spain). It's the city where I was born and where my family lives so I'm spending the winter months there close to my relatives and friends until the beginning of the season in Ibiza. I will move there on  April and it will be my residence for the summer season or maybe for more, we will see.

Tell us more about you. How was 2019?

Honestly 2019 was an incredible year for me. It was full of highlights and I worked so so much to get there. My releases on Armada, Anjunadeep, Enimusika, amazing collaborations with huge artists such as Tube & Berger, D-Formation, Stan Kolev, Einmusik among others, also the international gigs in Ireland, Netherlands and Spain, all of it made of 2019 my best year so far.

Can you name five tracks that influenced your musical development in the last years?

More than songs I would prefer to talk about artists.  I’ve been specially influenced by different music styles in the last years. I get so many musical ideas and inspiration from other artists. Names like London Grammar, Bon Iver, Bob Moses, also mythical bands like U2, Temper Trap, Coldplay which I still love to listen to almost every week.

Can you talk us about some recognized artist who are supporting your music?

I'm very happy for the scope that my music had during the last year since so many artists played my music in their gigs and radio shows. I feel really grateful with all of them, the smallest and the biggest ones, but some of the huge ones are for example Above & Beyond, Mark Knight, Nora en Pure, Aly & Fila, Henry Saiz, Chus & Ceballos or Sander Kleinenberg which for me is something incredible. it's a very special feeling when you can see or maybe someone tells you that some of this kind of artists are  playing your music. I'm quite excited about it.

As far as we know, you have spent so much time living in different places during the last year, tell us about how each place has influenced the music you make.

Well, I love to take the feeling of each place where I have had positive experiences and try to implement that vibes into the music. Ireland was definitely one of those places. I had very good experiences there. I got inspired by its wonderful landscapes and the nocturnal walks I used to take surrounded by silence and the magic of the night. All of it helped me to create part of the stuff that I'm currently releasing. Songs like 'Irish Hill' (Anjunadeep), 'GraceMoh' & 'Valentia' (Beatfreak) and some other ones that I'm going to release during the next months were produced and inspired there. Also Ibiza is other of my favorite places to take inspiration from. The electronic culture and the magic of the island inspire me. Also I was inspired during the last months by  other places like Netherlands, Mexico or Iceland. They are already part of my current sound.

Let’s focus on your last EP “Beyond Her Farewell” on BeatFreak. What was your inspiration behind it?

For each track I took inspiration from different experiences, places and people. 'Valentia' is the name of a beautiful area which is located in the south of Ireland, the song was created during some trips around there. 'GraceMoh' was also produced in Ireland and it is inspired in the wonderful moments I spent there with my 2 friends Mohammed and Hwang SeongHyeon (Grace) who I met there.  Lastly 'Beyond Her Farewell' is inspired by some difficult moments that I lived recently when I had to say goodbye to two important pieces of my life.

What made BeatFreak the right home for this collection of music?

I think the meaning and vibes of the tracks were something special. My admiration for the label and my special relationship with my friend D-Formation, BeatFreak’s boss, made of this EP one of the

most special one in my career. For me it was clear since the beginning where “Beyond Her Farewell” belonged to. I just could release it in home (laughs).

The EP has also three remixes, one by the label’s owner D-Formation, another by Betoko and the last one by Michael & Levan & Stiven Rivic. How do you feel about them? How would you describe them?

I'm really happy for the effort and work of every artist in this project. D-Formation and Teddy made a great job looking for opportunities on this release in  terms of promotion, artists, etc so I'm really grateful to them. Also Dimas made a wonderful remix of 'GraceMoh' including his details and personal sound in the vibes of the original one. Betoko also surprised us with a very original remix of 'Valentia' implementing on it a very special sound that we didn't expect and Levan together with Stiven Rivic made a deepy and darky version full of elegance and energy in 'Beyond her farewell. I'm really happy, proud and grateful to all the artists and people who have been involved in this release.

Do you prefer writing originals or doing remixes?

I think it depends on the inspiration. Lately I'm having too many requests for remixes and I think is not a good idea to focus the main part of your career on doing remixes. Especially when you are able to create good original ones so I’ve had to decline so many requests even though I'm still working in some of them. In addition, to create a good remix any artist need to get some inspiration from the original one, otherwise the work and results aren't usually very positive so I think it is not a good idea to remix everything. From my point of view original ones are 100% part of your creativity and feelings so I think these ones are the most important ones and should be the main part in the career of any artist.

Recently you also debuted on Zerothree with the EP “In Our Hearts/Hesze”. What was the experience working with this label?

Zerothree is a great label and it is becoming better day by day since they are releasing a great sound and talented artists. They are also part of the huge Toolroom so it couldn't be different. All the work that they do especially Jamie is amazing. He is thinking all the time about ways of improving the production of the songs, the final sound in the mix, promotion, everything so it was a real pleasure to work with him. Now we are getting ready for new releases on the upcoming months.

Which other labels would you like to work with in the future?

I love the sound of 'This never happened'. Lane 8 and I are very interested in releasing something on his label so we will probably show you something soon. Anjunadeep is always in my mind since we are having a very good experience releasing together. Maybe some others like Lost & found, Dynamic or Afterlife would be great to release on as well. Vivrant by Jeremy Olander is one of my favorites as well since their sound is absolutely delicate and elegant.

Apart from music, what makes you happy?

Typical basic things like spend moments with my family, friends, exploring the world, trying new experiences. But it is true that so many times all these situations have to be surrounded by music as well (laughs). Music is always part of my life.

What can we expect from you in 2020? Any releases or special dates we should be looking out for?

Of course, I'm quite excited with all the things that are coming this year, It is probably going to be the most important one in my career. I'm working very hard in several tracks and remixes in the studio as I told you before. Some new collaborations with Rauschaus, Nuage, D-Formation, Frost, The Dualz and some other artists are coming up, together with more remixes for very important names. In addition I'm gonna release 2 new EPs with FSOE UV and Renaissance in the next months, a new remix for Chus & Ceballos in Stereo Rec. and more stuff which I'm signing during these days.

About gigs I will be playing with Nora En Pure on March 27th in NOX Madrid and in Barcelona with Beatfreak before summer. I’ve also many dates in Ibiza in the summer season, from April on and more dates that we will announce soon.

It sounds great GRAZZE, it's a real pleasure to have you here and we wish the best of lucks and success for all the infinite upcoming projects that you are working in 

Thanks a lot to you guys for all the support that you are always giving to my music and especially for having me here talking to you. Also thanks to all the people who are interested in my projects and supporting my music, artists and listeners, I really appreciate it. Thanks a lot guys and I hope to see you again in a short time.