intergalactic identity

Because we were rebels of the DJ thing, we were already playing records by Italian groups like Capricorn, ‘I Need Love,’ Klein & MBO, Doctor’s Cat. What happened was, because my mother was living in Chicago, it gave me the chance to go and visit another city. This was before house music was even thought of outside of Chicago—in Chicago it was just starting to happen. When I went to Chicago it was a real baptism for me because I had a chance to go to the purist clubs, man. Oh God, when I just think about it now! … I ended up at the Power Plant, this was Frankie Knuckles’ club, and Frankie was the man. This was before they had anything called house music, when they were playing Jamie Principle on reel-to-reel, and everybody in the crowd would be singing the record in a real warehouse where these parties would go on until 9 in the morning, every week. For me, the reason I think I progressed in dance music or have done things that I’ve done was because I had a chance to see a little bit of the future—gay black kids, straight black kids, everybody just going for it, and that was something you didn’t see much in Detroit. When I saw those things, I called Juan up on the phone and said, ‘Juan, I’ve been to the Power Plant and the Music Box, where Ronnie Hardy—who I still believe to be the greatest DJ of all time—played. Just his whole style of mixing and how he used to remix records and do things like pitch a Stevie Wonder tune up to plus eight with a kick drum put underneath it and—pheww—the kids would go crazy. Amazing, man—amazing! If you talk to Farley Keith or Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley, man, they’ll tell you about Ronnie Hardy. There was no DJ in the world who could touch Ronnie Hardy. He was possessed—phew. I was inspired by all of that and I took Kevin along as well, but first I called up Juan and told Juan what was happening. I said, ‘Juan, you know, something’s happening here, man.’ But Juan wasn’t interested at first, he was like, ‘Oh man, fuck that fag shit.’ I tried to make him understand, but he weren’t having none of it. So I stayed in Chicago for seven months because something was telling me to stay.

Well, I was hustling at the time, I was still a kid, and I came across a Roland TR-909 drum machine, that the standard sound is used for now. Only a few people knew what it was, and I knew at the time that Frankie had a stable of young musicians that wanted to put out records. People like Craig Loftus, Chip E., Steve Hurley, and others. Well, I sold that drum machine to the Power Plant and from there they had all they really needed to develop house music. Now, I don’t know if that was the key that started the engine, but it’s fun to feel that I might have had a little bit to do with the development of house music. It’s so funny, the chain of events and the way things work. When I play now as a DJ, I’m always thinking in that frame of mind, and trying to give people the purest form of the music, in the most raw and minimalist way possible. Most people don’t understand it, but I still try.