În ciuda vârstei sale și chiar dacă nu este încă un nume sonor pe scena dance, Glenn Morrison și-a câștigat rapid respectul fanilor și producatorilor mai vechi. Pe lângă piesele de calitate, Glenn a fost implicat și în alte proiecte cu branduri precum Hugo Boss, Chanel, Mercedes Benz, EA Sports sau Nintendo. Cel mai important însă este probabil faptul că reușește să combine talentul său de DJ cu abilitățile sale muzicale, ceea ce-l face unul dintre cei mai exclusiviști DJ.
1. You’re very young, yet you are very implicated in the music business by being a producer, a dj, and you have your own label, Morrison Recordings. How can you handle all this, in the same time having gigs all around the world?
To be quite honest, this whole “business” of the music business consumes my life. I live for it and it’s the reason why I wake up in the morning. I’m never the kind of person who is content to just gravitate towards one particular area of the industry. It makes me feel free and open to experiment and explore my creativity in various ways. It can be exhausting at times but I wouldn’t trade it in for the world.
2. Do you get any free time? And if you do, how do you choose to spend it? Do you have any hobbies or do you have a favourite place to go on holiday?
Of course I need to balance everything with time off otherwise I’d lose my mind; it’s not healthy to be all work and no play. I go on vacations with my girlfriend Yvette whenever I can or my parents cottage which is a nice escape. Golf with some close friends is great too. My favourite vacation so far was earlier this year when Yvette and I went to St. Lucia for a week. True bliss at Calabash Cove!
3. What artist influenced you the most in your musical productions?
I’m influenced by so many wonderful musicians that it is hard for me to centralize and polarize my statement here with just one or two artists. If I had to pick a couple off the cuff I’d say Queen, Jimi Hendrix, The Prodigy, Leftfield, Florence & The Machine, Radiohead, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Mozart, Chopin, the list goes on and on…
4. Do you prefer being a dj or a producer?
That’s like asking if you love your son more than your daughter!:) Each one has it’s own specialities and skillset and I love both very much.
5. How do you describe/define you music best? Because it’s a mix with a lot of music genres.
I don’t want to pigeonhole myself because my moods change and vary pending on the project I’m working on or playing. I just love amazing music and I like musical works with substance, soul, and imagination.
6. Would you be interested in making a track in a different genre besides the ones you are producing you music now? (like hip-hop, r’n’b, rock or others)
Actually I am making tons of music that is non-dance related at the moment. I am just holding off from showing them to the world right now until I feel it all makes sense to get them out in the right way. I have symphonic creations, pop rock, hip hop, boy band rock, psychadelic rock; TONS of records here sitting in hard drives being polished and worked on.
7. You produced and remixed a lot of great tracks, but will you release a full album in the future?
Absolutely I will and I promise it will be sooner than later. I just want to get my first artist album done properly and I want it to truly be incredible; something that people can really believe in and relate to.
8. What artists are you most keen in doing a feature with and who is your favourite artists you have worked with?
I love a lot of my friends work and I usually get at some point to remix my records. Lately, Tom Middleton has remixed one of my records ‘Triangle & Strings’ and I was so happy with the final result. He has always been a great inspiration for me growing up as a kid, and through time we became friends. His remix is amazing and will be released in September of 2010. Also Robert Babicz did a wonderful job of remixing my record ‘Orange Glow’. Of course there is the constant work I’ve been doing with Peter & Aad from 16 Bit Lolitas – we are great friends and have been for many years now. And lastly, my newfound work with Charley May has been really inspiring.
9. In your opinion, how has electronic music evolved since you started producing music?
Electronic music has shifted tremendously since I first started listening to this music. The positives that I can pick out off the cuff would be the rise in technological advances which made way for the process of production to be much easier and stronger. The negatives is that you get a lot of kids these days who take shortcuts and release music desperately to try and get two minutes of fame. I’ve noticed a gradual trend in records becoming louder with hardly any range of dynamic motion and simply put, louder does not mean better! Producing and writing records is a craft that ages nicely with time if you allow yourself time to learn about different techniques and theories. Rushing things just saturates the market with nonsense. I hope a lot of new producers can take these words to heart!
10. I’ve noticed that you communicate often with your fans and you have a web site, twitter, myspace and facebook accounts. Do you think that having an active online presence has a major impact in your career?
To be quite honest, I’m not really sure at all! I just enjoy doing it and I like letting my fans know that I really appreciate their support. I work a lot in the studio so I’m always around computers. Maybe in a few years this will not be possible because the schedule will get even more insane but for now I try to do what I can.
11. At the beginning of an event, do you already know the set you’ll be playing or you just have an idea and wait to see on what kind of music the people there react more?
I have an idea of some records that I’d like to play but it is never planned out. I go with the ebb and flow of the people; a nice analogy is the way waves come in on a beach. Finding a natural rhythm comes not from preparation but from feeling the energy of the room and the people in it.
12. What was the most exciting place that you have performed until now?
I have played in so many amazing venues and cities over the years that it is really impossible for me to say one place to be honest! Cavo Paradiso in Mykonos and Ageha in Tokyo really spring to mind though when I think of some unforgettable nights of mine.
13. It is known that you also produce music for video games, commercials and movies. How did you get in this business and which movie or video game features your productions?
I got into this business when I was around 17 years old through a friend of mine at the time who was working for Eggplant Studios. I started out doing commercials for Cheerios and Gain Laundry Detergent, and then it was like a snowball effect. I was head of sound design for the Nintendo Wii last summer of 2009 and most recently have done 2 new games for the Nintendo DSi platform. One was a fishing game puzzle and the other is a strategy RPG. You can check out my discography and video game project list through www.glennmorrison.com
14. I know this will sound like a overused question, but what kind of plans do you have in the future and will you have some new interesting artists released under the Morrison Recordings label?
I plan on continuing with production work for records as well as film scores and videogame soundtracks, as well as touring live. There will be a slew of new records being released through Morrison Recordings over the course of 2010 and I will be starting a second label entitled Factory One Records which will feature a more classic techno label sound. For all information concerning these things you can check out www.morrisonrecordings.com and www.twitter.com/glennmorrison for updates!
15. Some final words for all your Romanian fans?
Thank you for all of your continued support; it means the world to me and YOU keep me doing what I am passionate about. I will always be grateful to you all for that so thank you and I cannot wait to be back in Romania when the time is right.
