{"id":17315,"date":"2015-03-09T10:29:30","date_gmt":"2015-03-09T09:29:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deephouselondon.com\/?p=7087"},"modified":"2015-05-14T13:54:51","modified_gmt":"2015-05-14T11:54:51","slug":"exclusive-interview-ripperton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/exclusive-interview-ripperton\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive Interview: Ripperton"},"content":{"rendered":"

We love a bit of Ripperton here at Deep House London, so when we got the chance to talk to him about his new release with DFTD we jumped straight on to the phone! Ripperton is based in Lausanne, a small town in Switzerland where he toils away in the studio every day, making superb house and techno, which has been signed to a variety of top flight labels over the years including Cocoon, Music Man, Poker Flat and his own Tamed Musiq. He also works under the alias Headless Ghost, with a stunning remix package of ‘Let’s Fall’ released just recently… so we knew he’d be a great candidate for a chat.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Have you started 2015 with a fixed plan or are you taking it as it comes?<\/strong>
\nYes, well I\u2019m always going to \u2018work\u2019, which means I go to the studio every day and when I get something I put it in my folder. But I\u2019m never stressed about whether it needs to be released or not \u2013 I don\u2019t have plans really, I just make music every day and I\u2019m not in a hurry. I see some producers these days stressing about their next releases and I\u2019m the complete opposite. Sometimes I might do something and someone likes it and they want to release it right away but, if not, I have my own label so I can put stuff out when I feel like it. There\u2019s no pressure in that respect at least.<\/p>\n

I guess it can be good for your creative process to be relaxed?<\/strong>
\nBecause I live in Switzerland and there\u2019s not really a scene here you can be more chilled but at the same time it\u2019s expensive like London .You have to make money, so you have to be creative. It\u2019s a double edged sword because, on one hand, we don\u2019t have much of a scene so I feel very free in making what I want but then there is the money pressure; I have kids, a family\u2026 so there is that.<\/p>\n

Do you give yourself typical \u2018working hours\u2019?<\/strong>
\nI stay here until I\u2019m sick of it. For example, yesterday I started making stuff I liked at around 6pm, which was funny as I spent the whole day in the studio and hadn\u2019t made anything worth continuing with until that last 20 minutes! When you\u2019re making music you have to be in the studio for anything to come to fruition\u2026 you never know when it might happen, so you have to be there, working. Sometimes it comes right away, sometimes it comes at the end, sometimes it comes the day after but you have to be there because if you\u2019re in the cinema or anywhere else, it won\u2019t come.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been reading a book called \u2018The War Of Art\u2019 and one of the tips the author gives is to get up every morning and make yourself sit at your desk and write, whether it\u2019s crap or not, because inspiration will come if you put yourself in the right environment to conduct it.<\/strong>
\nThat\u2019s true \u2013 the more you work, the more your brain is making connections and the ideas that come in get better. You\u2019re also more familiar with your space and your equipment, so you can get ideas down immediately. You work a lot faster and smoother, I mean of course there\u2019s also some magic involved – everyone I speak to always says the best tracks they\u2019ve made have come from mistakes.<\/p>\n

[youtube id=”NfMJhmhHA5s” width=”620″ height=”360″]<\/p>\n

Totally, a lot of artists (audio and visual) say that they\u2019re just a vessel or a conduit for creativity and that it actually comes from a mystical force outside of them.<\/strong>
\nExactly, I feel exactly the same way. Sometimes you experience stuff, or you meet people or you go somewhere and you go back to the studio and something strange happens – you\u2019re exactly like a messenger.<\/p>\n

Talking about inspiration, tell me about \u2018Searchin\u2019 4 You\u2019?<\/strong>
\nThat came really quickly actually. I\u2019m really into Jai Paul, I was inspired by him, that album blew my mind \u2013 the really cool singing and compression and a lot of Turkish percussion in his music. I was trying to do something similar but I\u2019m really bad at copying people so it came out like that! Sometimes I really feel something someone else has done so I try to do a track that sounds similar \u2013 it gives you tips on how to do things, how to create sounds. You can never stop learning and this is a great way to boost your production skills. Yeah so it was quite rapid this one, sometimes you\u2019re on a roll \u2013 in two weeks you\u2019re just making tracks, tracks, tracks it\u2019s really incredible how this happens. So anyway, I gave the track to Deetron for his fabric mix and then Defected guys heard it and contacted me to ask if it was released, so I said no and they took it, which was really nice. It was great actually because it helps to get my name out to people who may not know me, it\u2019s always interesting to be presented to a new audience \u2013 I was pleasantly surprised that they wanted it.<\/p>\n

Is that you singing on the track as well then?<\/strong>
\nYeah I write hooks and sing them, then spend a few hours making it sound \u2018normal\u2019! I like to put my own sounds into my music, so I record a lot of my own percussion for example with plastic bottles, or I make shakers and so on\u2026 It gives it a really personal sound, if you use plug-ins it just sounds like everyone else. Then, when you add field recordings and so on it gives it a more personal sound. Right now it\u2019s the perfect moment to be different because everybody is doing the same thing, it\u2019s the right time to shine \u2013 people are ready for it.<\/p>\n

For sure, there\u2019s such an abundance of music as well.<\/strong>
\nYes, I\u2019d rather release two nice tracks in a year than 20 ok ones. Everything is so saturated and over-promoted at the moment. On one side you have the guys who are making super nice stuff and only releasing it on limited edition vinyl so everyone\u2019s fighting to grab it on Discogs for 50Euros or more, which I don\u2019t understand. Then, on the other, you have people giving out music for free \u2013 it\u2019s such a mess!<\/p>\n

It is a bit and I wanted to ask \u2013 the career path you\u2019ve taken isn\u2019t exactly a \u2018safe\u2019 one. Having a family and living somewhere expensive, do you ever worry about when your next pay day is coming or consider getting an office job on the side?<\/strong>
\nI really don\u2019t know how to do anything but this. I\u2019ve tried all the rest, so many different jobs. This is really my job; DJing and producing is the only thing I can do properly. Of course I worry, but at the same time the interesting thing about this scene is that you get out of it what you put in; you surround yourself with good people, you do the hard work and the results should be good. I\u2019m very lucky to be in this position, but I also work really hard to maintain it. Right now it\u2019s going ok but a few years ago when my kids were born I was working less because I wanted to spend time with them, so it was a bit tough for a time. But it\u2019s not that bad, I don\u2019t have a car or a big flat, I live a modest life \u2013 that way it\u2019s easier. You save your cash during a good year because you never know if the next year will be a bad one, or the one after. I keep my life understated \u2013 I have this chance to do what I do and I feel very fortunate. Doing a job I love, having kids\u2026 these things are so precious. I\u2019m spreading my music around the world and I\u2019m from Switzerland, Lausanne! Jesus Christ, it\u2019s just a small village! I feel blessed every day to have this life.<\/p>\n

Ripperton’s track ‘Searchin 4 You’ is out now on DFTD – pick it up by clicking here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Facebook<\/a><\/span>Soundcloud<\/a><\/span>Twitter<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We love a bit of Ripperton here at Deep House London, so when we got the chance to talk to him about his new release with DFTD we jumped straight on to the phone! Ripperton is based in Lausanne, a small town in Switzerland where he toils away in the studio every day, making superb […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":7088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"audio","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3971],"tags":[4596,4118,4451,4597,4452,4453],"class_list":["post-17315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-audio","has-post-thumbnail","category-interviews-london","tag-defected-london-2","tag-dftd","tag-lausanne","tag-ripperton-london-2","tag-searchin-4-you","tag-switzerland","post_format-post-format-audio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}