Coachella 2010 Preview: Interview with DJ Steve Porter

Steve Porter

In the stale and overproduced era of electronic music, few people are carving out niches in unexplored territory. While some like Pretty Lights are exploring the technology side of the art form, DJ Steve Porter is blending words with music in a whole new way. He's been a part of the NBA's newest ad campaign, and his skill for mixing dialogue and beats together is unparelelled. Take a look for yourself.

Porter is collaborating with rock icon Perry Farrell in a number of ways, but most importantly the duo will be performing together at this year's Coachella festival. Here's an exclusive interview we conducted with the DJ this week:

Q:How was Ultra fest? Have you done festivals like this before?
A:Ultra fest was amazing! I've played festivals around the world but you never know how the crowd is going to be, the crowd in Miami a few weeks ago was all for it.

Q:The Henry Rollins video is so ingenious, since the audio you use is him basically bashing your profession, yet his movements and jokes are great fodder for your remixing. What’s your reaction to that original bit and what inspired you to take something negative about electronic music and turn it into music?

A:There's always sort of a revolt in techno music when somebody bashes it, such as when Eminem wrote "nobody listens to techno" and every dj producer remixed that line to basically trash that theory. I think Rollins is hilarious and I didn't take what he said personally, but that video byte was just too good not to remix. He gave almost all of they music that I needed when he mocked techno which his beatboxing and scratching, all I had to do was take it home and work the visuals a bit. And I suppose it was another opportunity to shed positive light on dance music in the form of comedy.

Q:So I read you have something going on with HBO…is it limited to Entourage? What’s going on with that?

A:Yeah! I was blown away to get the opportunity to remix the "Entourage" theme song "Superhero" by Janes Addiction. Perry Farrell is going to be performing the remix live next week at Coachella for the first time and I'll be djing back and forth with him. We have plans for the "Superhero" remix beyond Coachella and we'll be announcing those shortly.

Q:The NBA commercials you did are excellent, and bring a huge crowd to your work. Most B-Ball fans I talk know knew which commercials I was talking about right away, and instinctively could quote them to the beat you made for it. What comes first on a project like that, the beat or the vocals?

A:It's a great question because it goes both ways, sometimes I'll be inspired to start a track and find my way with the vocals, and sometimes I'll run across an undeniable vocal hook that I'll create a beat around. It's usually easier starting with vocal first because they are usually the hook & lead. Always harder stuffing the big stuff into the stocking when the stockings already stuffed.

Q:With the collaboration with Perry Farrell, you’re dealing with an icon in the rock world. Who else would you like to work with and in what capacitiy?

A:It's an honor to work with Perry and I could have never imagined doing so. The cool thing about remix art is that almost any genre in society is fair game. It doesn't just have to be music, it can be comedy, politics, environmental, sports, you name it. Outside of the NBA campaign I'm also doing stuff for Cougartown on ABC, and have some standup comedy remixes coming soon. If you're interested in staying in touch you can tune into www.porterhousemedia.com for what we're up to.

Q:What bands are you looking forward to at Coachella?

A:Jay-Z actually! I've never seen him live and I'm a huge fan! I don't get to many concerts so I'm really excited to rock out!