I sat down with Alex to get his thoughts on where he’s going, what he’s doing and how it feels to go from gurning it up alongside me at Twilo seven years ago to wrecking shit around the city as a headlining DJ.

Let’s start with the really basic stuff that people might not know about you.

Where’d you grow up?

NYC. Born and raised in Manhattan. A native, yes we do actually exist. The child of Greek and Puerto Rican immigrants, you know the usual.

So then how’d you get your start in house music? Stroller ride through the Paradise Garage?

Actually, it was at a rave in Toronto, one of Destiny Production’s events. It was unreal. Art of trance, Union Jack and Rowland the Bastard on the bill I think. I fell in love with the music/the scene instantly, my whole life’s been different ever since.

That sounds familiar. What made you decide to jump out of the crowd and behind the decks?

I just loved a lot of the music being produced out there and was like “why
don’t I play all of my favorite tracks for my friends to hear?” Why not
just hear the best tracks put together all into one set?

Alright, then what made you want to make the jump from DJ to producer?

Producing is the true art form of Electronic music. In a sense its where you define yourself as an artist, where you actually create your own vision. So I think as a DJ/Producer producing regularly is where you want to end up. Over the years getting that wide ranging body of work out there that defines you as an artist. You have to position yourself to spend the majority of your time producing and remixing; that’s why I built a studio in my house last year.

One last jump related question and I’ll drop the metaphor completely, I promise. In January you launched Quarterlife Records, why the jump from Producer to label head?

Ah, well the two go hand in hand. Running a record label has taught me so much about producing, mastering, marketing music in the digital age, etc. I thought to myself what better a way to learn how to master, fine tune and market my own productions than mastering, fine tuning and marketing other people’s productions through my record label. I like to dive into things head first when possible. I’ve been really lucky as well; I have two record label partners (Eric DJ Ebar and Shaun O’Farrell) that I’ve learned so much from. Eric has previously run two successful record labels (Sifted and Central Park) so he brings so much experience and technical expertise to the table. Shaun is a marketing whiz so we have a really strong team all around.

We’re about the same age, we cut our teeth in nightlife at the same clubs. How do you feel its changed?

The club scene in NY is definitely not what it used to be. I mean from the days when Twilo was peaking (and I was a Twilo head big time) and there were 5 to 6 big rooms open in NY at any given time the scene has definitely shrunken in size. The rave scene is pretty much nonexistent and the club scene is down to 1 or 2 big rooms and a number of midsized venues.

But bigger isn’t always necessarily better. There are still plenty of great parties out there (sometimes with even better vibes because they’re in mid size venues). If you look at the parties Rob Fernandez and Benny Soto have been doing (Dance.Here.Now, the Water Taxi Beach parties, etc) they are top notch and always have a great dancing vibe to them. If you look at the events Made Event does (PVD in the park and now at the pier this year, Armin at the McCarren Pool, etc) these are really great events at unique outdoor locations. Nothing better than that.

People shouldn’t get too negative on the NY scene.

Absolutely agree. Speaking of the Dance.Here.Now parties at Cielo, how are those going? I heard that after the last one they were peeling scantily clad bitches off the walls for weeks.

Unreal. The last one we did on July 22nd was bananas. Place was rammed.
Its a Quarterlife Records night, so yeah we’ve been doing the parties there quarterly. But come the fall we’re going to move into doing it monthly. My manager Paul and I have been working so hard on our nights at Cielo; Rob and Benny have been so supportive of us there, it’s unreal. Those guys know how to throw events like no one else and we’re so lucky to be able to work with them.

Plus Cielo is such an amazing venue, Tuesday nights there are better than
most Fridays and Saturdays at other places. That sound system, that room,
when I die you can bury me in Cielo.

I plan on it.
Wait, I mean, you’re playing at Pacha on the 15th, how do you compare playing at such a large venue with all the other, more intimate places?

Pacha is a room that I really like. Unlike a lot of other big rooms I’ve
played, Pacha has a DJ booth that is very close to the crowd. I’m huge on
crowd interaction, the energy between a DJ and the dance floor is crucial I think. When you go to Pacha on a night when Morillo or Danny [Tenaglia] is spinning you can really appreciate that.

Daveraver
Alright, enough with the stock questions, lightning round:

Best genre?
Ambient jungle. It’s taking over the free world.

Minimal techno?
No comment. It’s called Dance music for a reason.

The Faux Hawk, wtf?
I liked the Mohawk! Every month or so I would get a different design
carved into the side of my head, it was cool. I was just trying to be as big a sex symbol as Daveraver. No dice.

Touché. Final question:

If you could kill and skin one DJ and be him or her for a day, who would it be?
Danny Tenaglia. How much fun does that guy have? I love it.

Head’s up DT!

Alex Pearce headlines Pacha NYC on Friday, August 15th.

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