Would make rats extinct
This summer in Ibiza, exclusive monthly resident to We Love, Jeff Mills took the Discoteca by storm with his own uniquely futuristic take on electronic music. From the founding of Axis Records to playing live with the Montpelier Philharmonic Orchestra, Mills breaks new ground in every aspect of his professional life. One of the most revered and respected names in techno took a moment out of his busy schedule to answer these 11 questions…
Q. Is there one book that you have read that has been life-changing for you?
A. Probably John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men”. We had to read this in high school. It was the first real book (besides Silver Surfer comics) that I ever read. The book was short, but vivid in its description.
Q. Did your parents encourage you to work in music?
A. No, they pressed me to consider working as a electrical engineer or electrician. I wanted to pursue Architecture or Advertising. In Detroit where I grew up, Music was compulsory. Everybody was connected to it in someway, so jumping into that professional wasn’t really a big step.
Q. How did you begin to work professionally in music?
A. I auditioned for a DJ group called the Dale Willis Organization. My older brother was part of that organization. They provided the Dance Music for parties and events around Detroit in the 70s/80s. After begging him for months to arrange a audition, I got the chance to display what I had been practicing for and in a real club with grown up people. I was 17 at the time. Dale Willis liked what I did and started working at a club called The Lady in Detroit on Tuesday Nights. I was under age, so I had to stay in the DJ booth the entire night. It was there, Dale and others taught me how to program, read, measure and pace the crowd and a lot other things that I still practice today.
Q. How do you apply your past experiences to what you do today?
A. I think to be a DJ, one generally has to have a un-bias view of people and on the other side, a realistic way of generalizing. A understanding that the distance between you and your audiences isn’t really that far. Rationalizing is a big part of the profession. As a child, I could get along with everyone and never had any problems expressing myself. I think that at a early age, I understood that people are not perfect. This is only something we can strive for.
AXIS-001
Q. Where is your current studio and what is it like?
A. The main one is in Chicago. It’s a small room, many keyboards w/ all red MIDI cords, 2 desk lamps, no overhead lighting, no signs or posters, 1 small window with a view of other buildings. In Berlin, it’s all on the floor in the bedroom. Using the boxes the equipment came in, the keyboards and units sit atop. I rarely use the return studio monitors, but prefer headphones.
Q. How much have you had to consider marketing issues since embarking on your career and how has that affected your creativity?
A. Marketing issues consume about 70% of my time. Between our label, Axis and the clothing shop Gamma Player, structuring ways to relay to people what we’re doing takes a lot of time, preparation and execution. For this, we’ve assembled a team of people that I’ve worked with for over 10 years to handle certain tasks. Because we creating so many projects at the same time, it can be difficult to make sure we’re all on the same channel, but we managed a system of shuffling information quite well considering. The marketing does not drive creativity. It’s the opposite. Every project is different and requires various strategies. From this, we’ve learned a lot over the many years.
Q. How would you describe your work?
A. It’s difficult. My actions are moving towards something, but I’m really sure. I feel that it’s important, but I really don’t know why. Luckily, work has never been a struggle. I’ve never had a creative block or anything – it evolves on a time system that I control. I favor the subjects of Science Fiction and the work is just a reflection of how I envision it.
Q. Who were your teachers?
A. My father and brother. Dale Willis, Arthur C. Clarke, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Jimi Hendrix, Martin Luther King Jr, Pierre Cardin, Oscar Niemeyer and many, many other. Without knowing their individual names, decades and decades of people at parties have taught me how to communicate musically.
Q. Your home is burgled but fortunately the culprits are caught and your possessions returned to you. What would you deem a suitable punishment for the burglars?
A. Moderate jail time. How much time should be determined by the true reasons of the burglary. Was the culprit committing a crime for necessity or preference? Was their a family or a addiction to feed?
Q. You have to make one species of animal extinct. Excluding insects, which species would you make extinct?
A. The Rat. We’re longtime enemies.
Q. If you could spend one week in any period of history, which period would you choose?
A. This is a tough one. Musically, I’d have to say in Harlem, New York between 1939-1945. The Great Jazz era. Spiritually, during the completion of the last Egyptian Pyramid to see what they were really made for?
Tags: Axis, Detroit, Gamma Player, Interview, Jeff Mills, Techno
The daddy.
interesting intw!
the 2 last questions are the best!!!
Hello!
very interesting interview, I did not know some things like the fear of rats by Jeff or his parents wanted him to electrical engineer.
Curiosa the stage where they would have liked to live in Harlem, just 6 years of World War II, living in Harlem at the time of experimental jazz.
Thank you very much for the interview and send them to my myspace page.
Jeff is unique in the world …