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The day after Brazil had suffered the mother of all footballing humiliations at the hands of Germany in the World Cup semi-final, I sat down with D-Edge owner and world-touring DJ, Renato Ratier.
Luckily Renato wasn’t too upset when I met him at his hotel – the big man proved very easy to talk to as we sat down with a few beers and the conversation led us to Brazil's political and social issues, EDM, Berghain, fine art and everything in between.
What kind of effect do you think the world cup has had in Brazil? Of course football is the most popular sport in Brazil, but I think that we need to realise what the country really needs. Maybe the team didn’t deserve to go out so badly, but I think it’s good because the people will start to think differently. The bad things will turn good in the future.
What needs to improve? I can’t generalise everything and everybody, but Brazil has a certain spirit. The Brazilian people are too peaceful and accept things too easily. They don’t fight for things or fight for what they really want. Of course you can’t talk about the whole country though because it’s different. In the south, because we have more Germans and Italians there’s a different attitude.
Many people left their countries during the Second World War and came to Brazil to escape – it’s that spirit, “I don’t want to fight for anything”. The country is peaceful and so relaxed, and the Brazilians like to get things easily, they’re not prepared to be patient and to work to get things in the future.
The people need to change this mentality. It’s not just a superficial thing, they have to go deep and see the values and the way they do things in life. That’s going to change my life and everybody else’s too. You have to prepare.
Have you felt the effect of the World Cup in D-Edge? Yes, around this time we had around 50percent tourists and on some nights more. I think it’s a good thing because I like people to see it.
Does it worry you then that people may be going to the club not because of the music, but because it’s renowned as one of the best in the world and featured in top 10 lists? No, I think most of the people who go to D-Edge realise. When you’re in a club and everybody is listening to music, what do you do? We don’t have a VIP area to get champagne and stuff. You have to do what the people are doing. So if you’re not going to D-Edge with this intention then you should change your mind. Everybody is into the sound, they are there to dance and listen to the music. If you go there because it’s top 10 and everybody else is into the sound, what are you going to do? You have to get into the sound too.
How do you think electronic music has been growing in Brazil recently? I think what happens is similar to Europe, but not as much to the US. I’d like to separate electronic music and have two sides – one is more conceptual and underground, the other is EDM. EDM for me is a whole other thing, like samba pagode or something! [Laughs] I don’t put them in the same package. I can’t put EDM in the same package – it’s a totally different thing.
So I see the underground sound getting bigger, but not bigger like, ‘Wow we have so many more clubs and festival!’ I see people interested in commercial and looking at what we are doing and saying, ‘Fuck, this is good!’ The people are starting to understand and realise that.
I think in the US, EDM is growing and growing, but in Brazil people are starting to pay more attention to underground music.
I think it has happened here [in Ibiza] too, I don’t know if I’m right, but I think the EDM and commercial music was bigger. We have more of a slice of that in Europe and Ibiza for example. Before I don’t think there were many good underground nights, but now there is many. Before you had Cocoon, now you have Cocoon and more. Maybe last year it was a little bit too much.
There’s too many, and then you can bring it back a little bit. But then when you’re outside, you still notice more underground parties than commercial parties. Sometimes it’s not bad to go a little bit too far, then you can come back a little bit. It’s good because then you push and even if you pull back a bit, you have gone further than you have before. Like in Sao Paulo for example, I think the people are scared about opening other clubs. I think they are scared to compete with D-Edge.
Am I right in saying you’ve always tried create a scene and culture in Brazil?I know back in the early days you had a magazine and a shop as well. Yeah, and now I’m back working on that. [D-Edge] Rio is going well – man, it’s hard though. Because of the World Cup it was hard to find the people and the road and the access to the area was difficult because they were rebuilding the whole area. It was meant to open a year ago, but it’s not my fault because I need access to the place. The access is better and I think the whole area will be ready in a year and a half, but I’m going to open before that.
Is it similar again, where you create culture in Rio? Yes, Rio is important because you can influence the whole country with the media and things like that.
How different are Sao Paulo and Rio? Sao Paulo is a proper industrial and financial city. Rio is like a beach city and the people like samba, funk and street art – it’s more that kind of direction. You don’t see many people wearing black in Rio – in Sao Paulo you see it all the time!
Rio is more house-y than tech. They have really good DJs and it’s a really good base for people involved in art, it’s a good place. I think it’s going to be hard to find the right people, but the most important thing is if you have a good idea. I think the idea is really good – if it was just a club, it would be harder.
I have other arts involved in the project, so there’s art, a gallery, a studio and we’re going to open in the day. It’s going to be a place to evolve and to get inspired – to inspire other people and get inspired by other arts. That’s the most interesting thing.
Is it a similar feeling to Berlin – where there are lots of creative influences centred around one area that drives the inspiration? Yeah, it’s kind of like that – they had places like Bar25 and Kater Holzig, it’s kind of that, but also different. It’s different because almost everywhere there now, the style is the hippy-garbage thing. It’s not a problem, but you don’t see much other art, like fine art, it’s just that one style. You have a little bit – some installations of photography, like in Berghain, because Sven the doorman is a photographer. But in Berghain they are closed.
Back in the early days you were booking people like Derrick Carter, Kevin Saunderson and Craig Richards – were you the first person to bring these people to Brazil? Yeah, in that time we started to bring these artists and we had a festival in Brazil called Skol Beats, which we don’t have anymore. The organiser of Skol Beats started to get the influence from us to start to bring these artists to the festival, so this music started to develop more in Brazil – the house and techno underground.
There was strong drum and bass, and hard techno and psychedelic. In Brazil psychedelic trance is huge – you didn’t have much house and techno in those days. So we had to anticipate that.
What was it like when you first started travelling to Europe and discovering these new artists? I still discover and I hope I never stop! I’m very open. I’m not just closed to one thing, one style or one kind of sound. I can’t do that – as a DJ sometimes I’m more house-y or more tech-y. How people can just play one style surprises me.
Sometimes I find it very interesting. Sometimes I think, “Fuck, is there something wrong with me?” because I’m more versatile. D-Edge is also like that. We just spoke about Berghain and Panorama Bar. Before they were more closed and now they are more open to other styles and they have guys like Todd Terje. You have to be open, but not too much.
The main thing is to respect others and to give the opportunity to the others to let them be with you. Respect and be nice!
Talking about Europe – what’s your relationship with Ibiza been like over the years? Now we have a good relationship with Amnesia, I played the opening, which was a good opportunity for me. On the 5th August we’re going to have a Warung party on the Terrace, so now we have this door open, and Sankeys too. We’ll see what we can do next year. I had a plan to do nights at Sankeys, but we didn’t make it in time.
I am also starting to work on a new album and I have a strong concept for that.
It was only recently that you started releasing music – what made you start? I started producing a long time ago, but I just kept it and I didn’t release it. It was hard because I didn’t have my own studio and I had to go to other studios. Then I started to build and to have an engineer with me. Because I have worked in the office all day, sometimes it’s hard to focus and concentrate – I didn’t have time to do that. Then I started to think, “Fuck, I need to do that!”
So I started to separate some time to work on the album. Once you’ve started you get more involved and have more fun – like when you start as a DJ, it’s more hard work than pleasure.
Why albums rather than singles? When you make music, why do you make it? It’s because you have a concept behind it. Behind the music you have to have some reference. So you make music - what kind of music? If you do clothes, if you do painting, or any kind of art, you need the influence.
The album is more than just a piece of music – it’s a whole concept. That’s what happened with Black Belt, it’s more than a track – it’s a concept. Why am I doing this now? I have another idea so I have to put it out!
Tell us about the new album. I have some other people featuring in the album, but I can’t say the names yet. I have six tracks for the album already and before I was thinking about releasing it in time for ADE, but I don’t think that’s going to happen because I don’t have time. I want to do a box, vinyl, and put the strong concept into it. For a strong concept you need more than a year. The music will be ready, but maybe I will do a live show with a visual concept.
For me the idea is more important than the music. The music is important, but without the concept you can’t build the music. You have to get some reference, so the reference is the main thing. How can you build a house without the right materials? The materials are the ideas.
Also I have another remix album [for Black Belt] coming out as well with Laura Jones and M.A.N.D.Y, that’s coming out next month.
(At this point we became distracted from our conversation as David Guetta entered the hotel, and our attention subsequently turned to the World Cup semi-final between Holland and Brazil's arch rivals Argentina).
Listen to Renato Ratier on Pulse Radio.
