Fanatic Media Group: I would like to do a retrieval since your beginning in music. Do you remember when you started to get interested in music and if you had some that made you wake up to want to follow this career?
Ash Rexy: I was about 14, my father used to play acoustic guitar and I decided to learn, he was quite happy about it until I started playing electric guitar, rock and metal music. Later on I took singing and piano lessons. I’ve always been in love with music, specially performing live, it’s hard to explain the rush and it’s certainly more addictive than any drug.
FMG: Which bands did you play in Brazil and did you participate in the songwriting process?
AR: My vocal coach tried to push me into some local rock bands but I’d never fit in, so I talked to my best friends from school and made our own band called Reckless. Everyone contributed to the productions somehow in anyway they could, writing lyrics, making arrangements or simply by bringing booze to the sessions. Those were beautiful times!
FMG: How was your entry into the world of electronic music? Was it still in Brazil?
AR: Me and my bandmates have always been little party monsters, we used to attend many electronic music festivals (they were called “Raves” back then, damn I’m old) and we tried to incorporate these elements into our own productions. I’ve always been in between rock and EDM, to be honest I love both scenes!
FMG: Does your stage name Ash R. have any meaning? How was the choice?
AR: I was real young, watching “The Crow” (the second, trashy, movie) and the main character is called “Ashe”. I was white like a ghost and had long hair back then and my buddies thought I look like the Crow so they started calling me that way.
FMG: And how was the decision to leave Brazil? Was there something established in Europe or was it with the heart and soul?
AR: I just left everything behind and jumped on plane. One of my aunts lived in Florence (Italy) and I got to stay at her place for a couple of months which helped a lot. Besides that I had nothing planned really, I could speak some Italian but mostly I pretty much restarted my whole life.
FMG: Your first city in Europe was Florence… was there some relation to the world of fashion?
AR: Not really, no. Like I said I mostly went there because I had family there and that kinda makes you feel safer somehow, but generally speaking that was all coincidence.
FMG: Currently you have made tracks for fashion shows and even came to walk the runway as a guest model. How was the entrance in this world and what is the difference of a track for a specific fashion show?
AR: This whole thing chases me somehow! It’s all been quite natural thru mutual contacts to be honest. There’s a lot of people producing and creating a lot of new and exciting things specially in the European capitals and opportunities happen to those who keep their eyes open. The music itself depends a lot on the designers concept and ideas. In one occasion the designer requested a bunch of Disney princesses’ themes so I just mixed the movie tracks. In another occasion, for exemple, the designer just let me do whatever I wanted so I produced, from scratch, an entire 25 minutes theme for his Fashion Week catwalk show.
FMG: How did you establish yourself as a Brazilian musician in the universe of European electronic music? Was there any discrimination at first?
AR: To be very honest I’ve never felt discriminated in any way. Living from music is really hard anywhere, the most important thing it to go all in, give it 100%, never give up and learn how to deal with rejection on a daily basis.
FMG: Tell us the way you compose the tracks. The mixes are formed before in your head or is it in the pick up, just trying?
AR: Most of the time I just show up, look at the people, the venue and improvise everything. Of course in some special occasions like bigger events, festivals or theme parties I will do my homework and organise special playlists with special tracks just for those. With time and experience you end up knowing which track matches which and the effect they have on the crowd, after that all you gotta do is to apply this knowledge on the dancefloor.
FMG: You are part of an Italian rock band called Dope Star Inc. How did the invitation come about and what is it like to be an electronic musician in a rock band? Does it not create images and agenda conflicts?
AR: Well Dope Stars Inc. haven’t been playing in more than 2 years, our last show was at a very cool festival in Germany called M’Era Luna together with Nightwish, Rob Zombie and others. I went to record some few final tracks for my personal project at the studio where Victor Love (the singer) was working as a sound engineer. We met there during the recording session and we instantly got along really well. At the end of the second day of recordings he invited me to join the band. There was never much conflict since Dope Stars Inc would just play sporadicly, it was easy to find time for everything else.
FMG: What is the process of choosing a song for you to make your mixed version?
AR: Most of the times it’s just some track I really wanna play in my DJ sets but I can’t find a version I like so I just make it myself, Other times I simply like a track and decide to give it a different touch, it’s nice to rework music you love.
FMG: How is the relationship between artists and the electronic music audience?
AR: I think nowadays, just like anything else, it’s all thru social networks. The EDM scene is generally very peaceful and open to new styles, I love the vibe, people really get lost in the music.
FMG: Electronic music is very related to synthetic drugs, how do you see this problem? Does it damage how the image of events and the style itself? Have you ever felt any discrimination for that?
AR: Unfortunately that’s true but I don’t think it’s a major problem.It happens much more in the Underground Techno scene and maybe at festivals. In other types of events the drug use is just the same as in any other environment outside the EDM world. Personally it’s not something I support but I respect everyone’s right to get high if that’s what they want, as long as they know how to handle their shit and don’t spoil other peoples parties.
FMG: What differentiates the DJs from electronic music from one another basically?
AR: Well there are DJ Producers, those who make their own tracks and remixes. They are easy to recognise for obvious reasons. The majority of the DJs tho are those who simply play music made by other artists, it’s a lot harder to stand out this way but some try to create their own mixing style based on the music selection, others develop advanced mixing technics like scratching or live producing which I think also helps making them stand out from the rest.
FMG: There are several styles within electronic music. Could you explain basically the difference between them?
AR: Oh, answering this would be like trying to pin point every different style inside the Rock n Roll genre. There’s just way too many, from Dance Pop like Madonna all the way to Japanese experimental mad Noise Music which is pretty much just noise and distortion.
FMG: We recently had the suicide of DJ Avicii, a victim of depression, who had retired from the stage due to overwork. How do you see this issue?
AR: It was a huge loss to the scene in general. Tim was a visionary and one of the most important figures in the contemporary electronic music in the last years. As far as I know he loved producing and working in the studio but he hated performing live and the extensive life on the road took it’s toll on him. To be honest this crazy rush is quite normal, I myself played more than 250 gigs in one year and many of the famous DJs play even more. I think Skrillex did almost 300 the year he released his first album and Steve Aoki is another example of a DJ who plays somewhere this afternoon and somewhere else in another country later in the same day. This is the job, it’s not meant to be easy.
FMG: You are releasing a new single “Still Into You”. Tell us the story of this track.
AR: The track comes out this month on the 29th in every online platform, Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, Deezer, etc. It’s my best song yet, I wrote the lyrics almost 2 years ago, based on a relationship I had in the past. It’s been in the oven since then together with a bunch of other ideas I have in store. Just recently I made a beat that fit those lyrics so I finalised the whole thing.
FMG: How will the track release process be?
AR: It’s gonna be online like almost everything nowadays. There’s already the possibility to pre-save the track on Spotify so it shows up on your like instantly at the release date. To celebrate I’m giving away the BEATS EP headphones to one of the lucky people who pre-saved it on Spotify so they can listen to it in style!
FMG: What big festivals have you played?
AR: Depends on what you consider to be big. With Dope Stars Inc I’ve played in some Arenas on different occasions, usually supporting a bigger act. We also played on some really cool festivals in Germany like M’Era Luna that’s 30 or 40.000 people attendance. As a DJ I’ve been playing at the Stockholm’s Parade for the last 3 years which is the largest street parade in Scandinavia gathering dozens of thousands of people. Actually, literally 2 hours ago I got the invitation to perform this year again, in August, I’m pretty thrilled about it!
FMG: Have you ever played in Brazil as a DJ? If not, do you dream about it?
AR: Believe it or not I never did DJ in Brazil.I even looked for some venues but most of them play local sort of “country” music, which is not one of my favourite genres. And to be honest I don’t spend too much time in Brazil, I only go to visit my family and old friends. Of course I’d love to perform in my home country, I’m 100% Brazilian, but the right opportunity hasn’t showed up yet, maybe one day!
FMG: What message do you leave to our Fanatic Media Group readers?
AR: First of all I’d like to thank all the readers and also you, Andre, for the opportunity. I think it’s really nice to be able to share a bit of my experience. I know many people in the performance and arts scene in Brazil has a very wrong idea of the reality in Europe. We do have to work hard here too! Congrats for the great work you guy’s have been doing.
Por: André Luiz Bona
https://www.instagram.com/ashrexy/
Fanatic Media Group 