salute has a crazy run. BBC and Boilerroom celebrate the native Viennese. And for the very prestigious Mixmag, he is one of the 22 DJs who defined the past year.
How proud are you of your Triple XP “Condition” at sinks?
salute: That was my first project where I really got involved with UK dance music. That’s why I was afraid of how it would turn out. So many people ask me regarding it and it has a lot of my best songs on it. I can be proud of that. “All About You” is one of my favorite songs. I love “Lafiya” because it reminds me of an era ten years ago, non-shuffle 2-step with dancehall influences. Only a few know the track because it is instrumental.
Does it need vocals?
salute: Already. If not, the synths must be pop. For me, the vocals often make the difference between something being just cool and insane.
How do you find your sound?
salute: Make a lot of music. I’ve been making music for fourteen years and I haven’t always had my sound. I listen to relatively little electronic music. My sound is made up of all the influences from all other areas, city pop, soul of the eighties or gospel. For example, what I like regarding City Pop is that it’s chewy and so colourful.
Are people in England more competent when it comes to electronic music?
salute: People are proud of garage, grime, bassline or drum’n’bass, these genres arose in England because black people brought their culture to England from Jamaica or the Caribbean. Through Black Lives Matter, many have grappled with this story and realized that this music used to be political. So yes, that’s why there’s a greater competency. The country is a melting pot, there is this hunger because poverty is a big problem. In Vienna it’s less like that. Affine Records were way ahead of their time, I can still hear that to this day. Props to the label, that was crazy.
“Racism was the reason I moved away.”
How does racism differ there and there?
salute: In Vienna, people like to pretend that it’s not so bad and that people with dark skin are too sensitive. It’s happened fairly regularly to me that someone says the N-word to me. Racism was the reason I moved away. That would never happen in the UK, there’s a lot more civil courage, people deal with it. The racism there is almost unintentional, when people think, for example, that I should play this and that music because it corresponds to their idea of what black music sounds like.
Was your big performance at pop festival then a satisfaction?
salute: I mean. I’m in 2017 just following my performance with Valerio – so Move – stood in front of the backstage area, we smoked a cigarette there, two police officers looked at us and whispered something to each other. I didn’t think anything of it, but Valerio has eagle eyes. The two police officers looked at me and at the same time put their hands on their guns. And Valerio says, do you see what’s happening? And me, yes! You wanted to scare me. Just this mind game. Valerio came to me, spread his chest and shoulders, we stood there for a minute and stared at her. If I move wrong now, the gun will come out, I felt at that moment. That happened twenty minutes following my set. Last year was cool, large and very motivated audience.
when are you happy
salute: When I know the people I care regarding are doing well. Quiet makes me happy. Good music.
You stopped making music during the pandemic.
salute: I joined UK Garage a few months before the pandemic and had good bookings. That was completely gone with the lockdowns. At first, like many other artists, I had a creative boost. And then came the winter. The days grew shorter. I was tired the whole time, didn’t do anything anymore, scrolled doom and checked the current corona numbers. I didn’t get out of bed before 2 a.m. and I didn’t want to see anyone. I was extremely depressed. I’ve never felt so… so bad. I mightn’t look at my laptop anymore, gave it away, locked myself in, smoked weed and drank. It was really bitter. At some point I researched that dark-skinned people produce less vitamin D, so I took that as well, and I felt a lot better.
And then?
salute: And then one day I started making music once more. I needed that. Shortly therefollowing I finished “Jennifer”. I have to say my happiest tracks come when I’m sad. Before “Honey” I mourned my grandparents, I didn’t know them very well. It was more what it did to my family. So much has come up. Before that, someone from the extended family died every year. I did the track in two or three hours at the end of 2018.
You often went to church with your family.
salute: Every Sunday. My parents are evangelical Pentecostalists. Nigeria is a very religious country, Muslims as well as Christians. And the Nigerian community in Vienna likes to go to church. I went to church every Sunday. You hear there that you go to hell if you have sexual thoughts regarding other men. As a bisexual person… I knew people who were gay as a teenager and I was like, well, why do they have to go to hell? Then I started questioning all of that.
When did you start music?
salute: Drum’n’Bass was my first love, I was an introverted kid and spent ages tinkering with my parents’ computer. Music was an outlet for me. I wanted to do hip hop instrumentals with a second project, at the same time I have James Blake, Sbtrkt or Rusty heard. Then a blog became aware of my Aaliyah Remix, shortly followingwards Trishes von FM4 messaged me for an interview and the station started playing my music. I djed for the first time when I was 17, and then there were a few people from my class.
Did you make up with your Sam Smith remix?
salute: I did a lot of remixes back then. someone from Capitol Records wrote to me, probably because they were hoping for a cheap remix. That was crazy, I was on a release with the house legend with my Sam Smith remix MK. I still hadn’t found my sound, it was almost midnight and all of a sudden Flume released a new remix. I was just nervous. And I thought, why don’t I do something like that? I managed that okay. The A&R of Capitol was even in Vienna and wanted to manage me, but that didn’t last long. The remix gave me my first big moment in Vienna. It seemed to me that everyone knew the remix.
How do you find the right balance between functional and innovative?
salute: I know how club tracks work and how they are structured. When you have that structure and the right sounds, nothing else matters. You can be much freer with the rest. Technically perfectly produced music can be very boring, I often find the vibe much more important.
Do you still worry a lot?
salute: Now I’m much more relaxed regarding my music and my career because I’ve been through a lot. I’m not afraid of anything anymore. That sounds cocky, but I was already so screwed. My family had no money. I came to England alone because I wanted to be close to London but it was difficult. I had very little money for a very long time. For more than eight years it has slowly gotten better, for some it happens very quickly, for me it wasn’t the case at all. But I’m almost glad regarding that.
There were many impressive releases at the same time.
salute: Everything looks much better from the outside. I wasn’t satisfied, jumping from genre to genre and just having an identity crisis. I didn’t pass lineups. Festival bookers see how many tickets you can sell. The streams from Soundcloud and Spotify didn’t translate for me. It went okay, but I wasn’t satisfied.
You moved to Manchester at the time.
salute: I stayed with my roommate for a Warehouse Festival where he hung up. The next day we walked through the city with a hangover, it was crazy how cheap everything was there. And I thought, why don’t we move here. Half a year later the time had come. Karma Kid and Bondax were there, we shared a studio, for me it was a golden era.
You have an inclusion rider. Why is a minimum level of diversity important on lineups?
salute: Because the audience is more diverse and the mood is better. You discover new music. Ten straight white dudes are often on the program. That in itself is not bad. But if they’re boring, then yes. After a bad evening, I talked to my agent to see if we might do something. And in America, a few people already had these inclusion riders, so I took elements from that. Good support acts are so important to the flow of an evening. So far this has worked well. The year before that I accepted everything. But as an artist, I want to help the organizers to put in a little more effort. That’s just fairer.
You speak up, even if it can harm you.
salute: If I see something that isn’t right, I say something before another woman is molested or a DJ thinks he can do it because he’s been around for twenty years. If we really want racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia to have no place, we have to start somewhere. What are these gatekeepers supposed to do to me? I just want to play in places where they won’t blacklist me because I stand up for people. Talking is cool, action is better.
“Everyone knows it’s like that. But nobody talks regarding it.”
How dirty is the music industry?
salute: Many make their money from music, but they don’t love music. There is a lot of lying. Drugs and alcohol are also a huge problem that nobody wants to talk regarding. Drug use is out of control. And the things that happen because of that are crazy. I personally know people who fall. Everyone knows it, nobody talks regarding it. There are so many talented people who destroy their lives with it. Take a little, well and good. But there are people who get on stage every weekend, everyone sees how exhausted they are and the promoters get them cocaine and ketamine. They accept it as long as they make a profit. And if you don’t hit anymore, you’re gone. Music is my greatest passion. But that’s just depressing.
What does it mean from DJ Mag to be portrayed or im Boiler Room to perform?
salute: It’s a big compliment. After Boiler Room My bookings have skyrocketed just because people are seeing how to DJ, it makes it a lot easier for a promoter. This can completely change your career.
salute, “17 years old, with an afro, from Vienna”?
salute: Ah! I’m from Vienna but I’m in Manchester, I’m 27, I have locks on my head. Today I am much more confident and satisfied with myself and what I do.
Was it hard to always stay with the music?
salute: (thinks) There’s nothing else I want to do. No matter what it costs me, time, nerves, I need it. Otherwise I’m unhappy. There’s nothing I want more than making art than making music.
Stefan Niederwieser
++++
Salute live in Wien
8.4. Bright trout
++++
Links:
health (Facebook)
salute (Instagram)
