To call Erick Morillo a living legend is an understatement – the man is responsible for more hits in dance music then most people are even aware of. It all kicked off with Reel 2 Reel’s I Like To Move It and hasn’t slowed since. He’s now known across the globe as one of the world’s seminal DJs. But don’t take our word for it… you can find out at the upcoming Future Music Festival.
What would you say are some of the key ingredients to your success? I think hard work, from a very early age, I think that’s one of the key things. I think that as far as being a DJ, I’ve always had the mindset that you’re here to please people; it’s all about a good party, that’s my attitude and I always aim to please. And I think, you know, keeping an eye on what’s going on around the world and always trying to bring what I learned in one place to another and really trying to take care of the entire globe as I go along. From an early age, I always travelled around, it didn’t matter whether I went to Australia, South America, Canada, Europe; I always tried to go everywhere and I think that’s contributed to being a global success.
For some of the readers who potentially aren’t familiar with you or your style of music, how would you describe your style? For me, I think it’s sexy house, but something with balls. I think I like to have good energy, but it’s definitely got to have soul, it’s got to have funkiness to it. I would say funky house with balls, but I’ll throw a little bit of everything in there. I think since I was young, it’s always been hard to put my finger on what I play, because I always play a little bit of everything. I think that again maybe that’s another reason for my success, because although I did like house and I grew up in New York listening to the likes of Louie Vega and Frankie Knuckles and David Morales, I also liked the more sloppy, hard stuff. So it’s hard to put a finger on it, but I would just say funky house with balls.
Do you have an all-time festival horror story? It’s going back maybe about 8 years or so, I was doing the dance tent and I remember David Morales was playing before me and it was dark, very dark and the way the stage was set up the stages divided into three parts and there was like a crack in between each stage and walking in front of the stage, whilst everybody could see me, I kind of slipped in between the stages, straight down and not only was it embarrassing but it hurt a little bit. So I was a little bit stuffed up before my set. I think that was a bit of a horror story.
Do you have any hot predictions for the sound of dance music in 2010? I don’t know if there’s gonna be a new style, if you will, but there’s definitely going to be a mixture of the old stuff and I’m really excited about it, because not only is it funky and soulful, but it’s sort of driving and bringing minimal and techno into it. I’m really excited to see what to has to bring.
Erick Morillo will be appearing at Future Music at Ascot Racecourse on Sunday February 28. For further info about the festival’s lineup and to purchase tickets visit www.futuremusicfestival.com.au.
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
