Skimming through his new “Authorised (sic) Biography” (written by Richard Norris) while listening to his “Gimme More” remix of pop star/train wreck Britney Spears only makes it harder to give Paul Oakenfold a proper introduction. The man is arguably the biggest and the first Superstar DJ. He has transcended dance music and the club universe not just with remixes of rock, pop and alternative genres, but via movie soundtracks, commercial themes and even video games.
His end of the year tour came on the heels of his new album, Paul Oakenfold’s Greatest Hits & Remixes. More of an eclectic collection than a “best of” compilation, the double disc seems to cover something old (Underworld - “Born Slippy Nuxx,” classic remix), something new (Mark Ronson - “Stop Me,” 2008 remix), something borrowed (David Arnold - “James Bond Theme,” off the Die Another Day soundtrack), something blue (Madonna – “Sorry?”). You get the point; it encapsulates Oakenfold’s artist albums, remix hits, and collaborations with stars like Pharrell Williams and Brittany Murphy, along with his newest ventures into film scoring.
CP had the chance to catch up with Paul before the holidays. If you saw him on Thanksgiving, count yourself lucky – even Oakie’s vulnerable to cold season, he called off two gigs that followed (Chicago and Detroit, 11/23 & 11/24). If you missed him, you’re stuck waiting to see his Winter Music Conference performance. He’ll be holed up in his LA studio until March when he will perform with a 35-piece orchestra in Miami. We’re counting down the days. When you read about it (below), you will be too.
Clubplanet: So how do you like the crowd at the clubs in New York?
Paul Oakenfold: They’re up for it. It reminds me of back home in terms of like Christmas Eve you stay in, Christmas you have the big dinner and then come Christmas night you want to go out. So it kind of reminds me of that when I speak to some of the people; they’ve stayed in the night before, or the two nights before so they’re ready to go crazy.
Clubplanet: And how do you feel about playing on the same night as your artist David Guetta? He’s on your label, right?
Paul Oakenfold: Yeah. Well, he’s just around the corner from me. I’m going to try to pop over and see him. It’s good. David’s doing well so we’re happy with him.
Clubplanet: So as far as being in L.A. versus New York and London, how has that been going?
Paul Oakenfold: Well it’s good because I do a lot of music for movies. I’ve got two movies coming out in the first quarter of next year that I’ve scored. I enjoy doing film. And I like the climate. I really do.
Clubplanet: Especially compared to London I imagine.
Paul Oakenfold: Yeah. It’s minus two in London at the moment.
Clubplanet: Oh my goodness.
Paul Oakenfold: Yeah, so you can imagine it’s the last place you want to be.
Clubplanet: What were your thoughts on selecting tracks for your new album, Greatest Hits & Remixes? I know movies are what you’re focusing on a lot now, but the album seems like a complete mix.
Paul Oakenfold: Well the idea was three-fold: to give people the classics, show people where I am now in terms of The Pirates of the Caribbean, and Collateral and all those tracks from films, and then also remix and update some of the original mixes that I’ve done. So you’ve got like the Everything but the Girl, the Mark Ronson, the Second Sun, the Radiohead. You’ve got three different avenues rather than just putting a bunch of old mixes on a CD and putting it out, which I would never have done in the first place. I’m certain there are enough albums out there in the market without putting something like that out. So when I spoke with the record company I was like, well if you want me to do it, we’ve got to make it interesting.
Clubplanet: Right, because it seems to go across time and genre.
Paul Oakenfold: Yeah, it does. And that’s exactly right. That’s exactly what I was trying to do, time and genre, make it very current, but also capture the classics.
Clubplanet: Ok. And have you played at Pacha here before?
Paul Oakenfold: I haven’t played at it as Pacha, no.
Clubplanet: But did you play it when it was Sound Factory?
Paul Oakenfold: Yeah, but I heard they changed it a lot.
Clubplanet: Yeah, it’s entirely different, but there are still the people who cling to the old Sound Factory iconic status.
Paul Oakenfold: Those old timers. Move on, times have changed come on.
Clubplanet: Well that’s probably what’s kept you at the forefront, you always seem to be very future-thinking.
Paul Oakenfold: You have to embrace change. My opinion, for whatever it’s worth, in life embrace change. Don’t be scared to fail. And if you’ve not scared of failing then amazing things can happen to you. And the older you get the more risks people do not want to take. I don’t agree with that. You have to embrace change.
Clubplanet: So, what are your plans for the future?
Paul Oakenfold: After the tour I go back to Los Angeles to start work on the computer game Bourne Identity.
Clubplanet: I thought it was a video game. It’s on the computer?
Paul Oakenfold: It’s both. They’re going to release it as a computer and video [game].
Clubplanet: And are you excited about that?
Paul Oakenfold: I am. I did the James Bond game a couple of years ago and this is my second game, and it’s a completely different process from doing film or doing your own music. They want it dark and dangerous, but keeping the elements of the sound of Bourne, which believe it, if you’ve seen the trilogy there is a sound of the tone. So I like the idea of that. I’ve written a song for it. They want to get a singer from a rock band to do a collaboration; we’re in the process now of talking to a few people. And they really want to push the envelope. We’re tying it in with a show that I’m going to do in March at the Miami Music Conference, where I perform with a 35-piece orchestra doing bits of the game in terms of music and then also performing the single, which is called Fallen, with the singer. It’s a really big deal. I’m really looking forward to it. It’s really pushing it for me to play with an orchestra, I’ve done it a few times and it’s a big challenge. I played the Boston Pops with a 75-piece orchestra. So, I’m getting more and more in that world. And because I’m obviously doing film I’m quite comfortable with it.
Clubplanet: So, the video game comes out in March, will you play it?
Paul Oakenfold: Oh yeah, of course I’ll play it. I used to play a lot of games and I had to slow down because I wasn’t getting enough work done. I’d have mates come over and we’d sit in the studio and say, let’s just have an hour on the game, we’d play a lot of soccer, and then we’d be sitting there for hours. So I kind of c
