DJ Gregory

Defected, Faya Combo, Africanism

2008.02.21 ::: Words by Andrew Reid

‘Faya Combo’ translates to English as ‘Oh It’s Hot!’ – and if you’ve ever heard any of Gregory’s tracks you’ll know this is accurate! Elle, Attend 1, Tropical Soundclash – if you know anything about house music you’ll know that these are just some of the landmark House tracks brought to you by one of France’s finest house producers . This album showcases all of his classics alongside remixes from today’s heavyweight producers and new exclusive Gregory cuts across 3 Cds.

DJ Gregory is one super-cool player, highly intelligent, passionate about music and more than a little bit crazy, this producer holds great respect from all heavy hitters in the dance music community.

His DJ sets are unmissable and he has an army of fans that follow him wherever he performs. Never selling out and always wary of commercial crossovers this is a person who has absorbed all the various cultures around him and reproduced them in his highly individual House sound. From Paris, to New York, London and Tokyo, he travelled the globe to hone his production and DJ techniques and absorbed everything that House had to offer.

He has been regarded as the king of the afro beat scene with his highly percussive tracks that feature many African, West Indian and Caribbean flavours. His biggest production ‘Elle’ has touched every house DJ that has heard it and became an instant classic. It is a permanent fixture in most of their record boxes.

Gregory was one of the first pioneering house producers that was invited by Bob Sinclar to become part of the legendary Africanism project; a project that embraced the percussive riffs and flavour of Africa and translated them into energetic house tracks.

However the success he enjoyed here made him realize he could do bigger things with his own label. "After Africanism, I wanted to do exactly my own shit, I wanted to release my stuff, I wanted to be on my own also not to be under someone else’s is record company. The first release was Tropical Sound Clash so the success of this first release has made a name for the label".

So Faya Combo was born. Named after the translation that Faya means ‘On Fire’ and ‘Combo’ derives from the fact that 70's West Indian and Caribbean music that Gregory loved always included a ‘combo’ of people. He thought that Faya Combo sounded cool and the label was born.

In this package he puts together his inimitable own sound. You will find CD1 is an energetic mix by DJ Gregory himself. He combines a few of his classics along side some heavyweight remixes from the likes of Ame, Kerri Chandler, Yass and Argy and some exclusive new cuts from the Faya Combo camp. CD2 showcases his classic releases on an unmixed format which is ideal for CD DJs. Elle ,Attend 1, Don’t Know Malandro, S2 and Solaris; these are essential tracks for any self-respecting House DJ to own. This CD is simply a comprehensive guide to the tracks that lead to his legendary status he has today. CD3 is again unmixed CD, featuring remixes of Greg’s classics by today's high flying producers. Ame, Tiger Stripes, Karizma, Argy, Yass all contribute as well as brand new production from Gregory showing us that after years of banging out the hits, he’s not going anywhere.

Nocturnal: How did you get to be so lucky to make your living in music?
Gregory: It kind of started in 1993 when I became friends with DJ Deep, who was playing with Laurent Garnier all around Paris. He was doing a midday show on the radio from Monday to Saturday and I came and played on that. I slowly built a reputation through the show and started to play in more clubs. I went to New York for a couple of years and when I got back I started on the ‘Africanism’ project, and started my own label, Faya Combo and since then it’s just been getting better and better.

Nocturnal: Do you prefer DJing or producing?
Gregory: I like both, it’s two different worlds. When you’re DJing, you’re in front of a lot of people whereas when you’re producing you are totally on your own. That’s what’s cool about it really, you can be totally alone and absorbed in your work and then you can be up there expressing yourself to hundreds of people and having a real party. Especially when you make a track alone, then you play it out and you get the reaction – that’s when you get a kind of link between the two worlds and that’s what you aim for when you’re in the studio.

Nocturnal: Who have been your inspirations?
Gregory: For the last ten years I have really been inspired by New York house music. All those duets – Sleeveless & Cole, Masters At Work, Mood 2 Swing, they’ve been very inspiring for me. I like the ‘taste’ of electronic music, I look out for that twist that some tunes have where they are just outside the general formula. I try to make danceable music, but with something else on the side. The more you make music, the more you understand how it is done. So you go through jazz, classical music, reggae, rock and whatever, and you start to take inspiration from older music after a while as you see how it was made.

Nocturnal: Which other DJs are you good friends with?
Gregory: I live in Paris, and in Paris you could say there’s a community. I get along of course with my old friends like DJ Deep, Dimitri From Paris, sorry – Mr Dimitri, Chris – that’s Bob Sinclar, Alan – DJ Yellow, and Martin Solveig. My very close friends that I share the studio with like Julian Jabre, Michael and Maxine from Next Evidence, and Claude Monnet. There’s other people I’m sure I’ve forgotten. You know, Paris is a small town so it works in a different way, especially in this industry so you get to know a lot of people on the scene. Bob Sinclar lives on the same street as me; DJ Yellow, Michael and Maxine from Next Evidence, and Julian Jabre – we all share the same studio. Martin Solveig lives about three minutes from here. Dimitri lives fairly close. It’s a ‘hood’!

Nocturnal: Would you call yourself a vinyl junkie?
Gregory: Yes, I’m really fond of records and I buy lots of them. I’ve kind of lost count but I’d say it’s somewhere between 9,000 and 14,000 in all kinds of music, I love music.

Nocturnal: What are your all-time favourite house tracks?
Gregory: ‘Can You Feel It?’ by Mr Fingers, ‘Can U Party?’ by Todd Terry, all the first Transmat stuff by Derrick May, all the early stuff by Carl Craig… in fact everything by Carl Craig, all the Chicago acid house period – Tyray Cooper, Adonis and Marshall Jefferson of course.

Nocturnal: Why did you start your own record label Faya Combo?
Gregory: After Africanism, I wanted to do exactly my own shit, I wanted to release my stuff, I wanted to be on my own also not to be under someone else’s is record company. I’ve been very lucky, I’ve been more than lucky. The first release was Tropical Soundclash so the success of this first release has made a name for the label, its now well recognized because of my first release. So I’ve been very lucky, I’ve a good platform from which I can release better tracks.

Nocturnal: Where did you get the name Faya Combo?
Gregory: That’s very simple because with my friends when something is dope I always say “oh it's on fire.” When we were working on Africanism I was always listening to West Indian and Caribbean music that’s how I came up with that ‘Torment D’ Amour’ break beat that’s been sampled by two hundred and fifty thousand people, [laughs] which is cool. But, in all those seventies Caribbean records there always were Combos of people, so I don’t maybe it was the in thing during that period. So I was like; Faya Combo sounds cool.

Nocturnal: You’ve just done a collaboration with Defected Records. What did you want to achieve with this compilation?
Gregory: The idea for this compilation in the first place was a collection of DJ Gregory tracks that were to be remixed by several super cool producers and put together on one disc. Then we thought that with Defected that it would be cool to add some of the other Faya Combo tracks that I had ready for release. When I mixed down those cuts, I felt that it would be great to feature a few new tracks too, like "Breeze" with K-Alexi or the t.o.k remix that I did especially for the compilation and VOILA, the Faya Combo Sessions was created.

Nocturnal: What is special about disc 2 on the compilation?
Gregory: CD2 features a choice of my Faya Combo essential tracks and forgotten Dj Gregory cuts... all in a DJ friendly format. This will be very useful for those people who like to have exclusive tracks.

Nocturnal: Can you tell me about any of the tracks that you are particularly proud of at the moment?
Gregory: I really like "Breeze" which is one of my new singles off the compilation, it's a new track with K-Alexi, that has this raw basic sexy feel, I love it.

Nocturnal: What do you think about Defected Records?
Gregory: It’s one of the main dance records companies in the UK, and I think that’s why in France everyone from Martin Solveig to Bob Sinclar goes with Defected because they really know how to work the scene. When you think of Defected you also think of Simon Dunmore, and Simon Dunmore was the guy who picked up on ‘Tropical Soundclash’ and ‘Elle’, no-one else really noticed it, but he passionately wanted to do it and I’m really happy that he put that trust in my work.

Nocturnal: Where do you see yourself in ten years time?
Gregory: In ten years time I hope I will still be making music. Perhaps a different kind of music, I really love jazz so maybe a mixture of that with electronic music or something. I love the production aspect of things – finding the right texture and putting the music together, so I hope to be working on that in some way.

::: Related Links

::: www.myspace.com/djgregoryfayacombo

::: www.defected.com

::: www.fayacombo.com