“Why did I want to be a vet? : Because I love animals. Why a tennis coach? : Because I love sport. Why a DJ? : Because I love music. And life provided the opportunities.”
Starting his raving career as ‘a foot soldier of the original techno scene’ (as his biog puts it’ French dance music legend Jack de Marseilles (aka Jacques Garotta) remains at the forefront of French dance culture, some 20 years after he first started DJing. Following his enthusiasms throughout his life, he’s been a vet then tennis coach, embracing techno fully after being inspired by influences including ‘the hedonism of gay clubs’ and later by legendary UK underground crew Spiral Tribe.
“I stopped high school just before training as a vet in 1981,to became a tennis coach and stopped that in 1990 to became a DJ,” Jacques explains.
“These were easy decisions because I was following my instinct and life gave me lots of gifts and surprises in return. It’s important not to miss chances. I was in the right place at the right time. It’s all about passion,” he enthuses.
Fast-forwarding to the present and he’s just released his latest artist album Inner Visions with no quarter given to the woes of the music industry, he insists.
“Why make an artist album when the music industry is changing so fast? ; Because I’m not thinking about money just about music,” says Jacques.
“Making an album involves a different approach than when you’re making a 12 inch record, I want to experiment with different musical directions and also do some collaborations. For example, the album artwork has been created by Vika Prokopaviciute a painter from Moscow, while in the CD box itself there’s some poetic text by Aline Soler. She expresses emotions from music with her words.”
IHOUSEU: It’s six years since your last album: why have you taken such a long time?
Jack de Marseille: “To get more experience and be more mature about how to make music. Minimal and electro were not my cup of tea.”
IHOUSEU: How much of a perfectionist are you on each track?
Jack de Marseille: “To create a track I need two or three days in the studio. I just go with my instinct then listen to the tracks at home every day then test them at clubs for the following few weeks. After that process I’ll know if the structure and production are good and then make whatever corrections are necessary.”
IHOUSEU: Your publicist described you as an ‘unsung hero’: how important is recognition to you: how much do you feel you still have something to prove?
Vika Prokopaviciute. I don’t feel I have anything to prove, I feel inside myself that I have a lot of experience and a good background to offer to people. Recognition is about being seen to be professional and on the other side about giving and receiving love.”
IHOUSEU: How important is image and marketing these days for success?
Jack de Marseille: “80%-90%”
IHOUSEU: What do you make of the rise of the likes of Justice and all these French electro-pop acts such as Yuksek and Brodinski): how much do you all form a community?
Jack de Marseille: “We’re not all part of a community, they are very much the new generation and I have no idea what they think of us. Justice is a big marketing project, and they’ve had huge success really from just one track ‘Dance’ and a fantastic video. Yuksek and Brodinski are more about music. The mentality of the dance scene is more individual nowadays whereas in the 90s there was a genuine community in France. We came from the ‘Raves’ which back then were a movement involving different kinds of music, the scene was more open-minded. Whereas now it’s more about being individual which in a way is more typically French. I hate that.”
IHOUSEU: How much as being associated with Marseille helped- or hindered you? (did you ever consider relocating to Paris?)
Jack de Marseille: “It’s more comfortable to live in Marseilles but for business it’s easier and faster in Paris. I’ve been playing at the Rex Club in Paris for 15 years anyway so I’ve had the opportunity to be in contact with party promoters and radio stations through that anyway. In Marseille though there is no night-life at all, you can’t compare it to Paris at all, it’s fucking hard here. There’s no club scene, just a few bars where they play good music. I’m a bimonthly resident at Cabaret Aléatoire, which is a little like the Arches in Glasgow, people go there for concerts and parties.”:
IHOUSEU: Living in Marseille, Laurnent Garnier’s recently moved to the South of France; how much are the two or you friends? And/ or rivals?
Jack de Marseille: “Laurent and I speak all the time on the phone and share news. We are really good friends, he booked me in ‘94 for my first ever gig at the Rex Club and I booked him for his first gig in Marseille at a club called La Luna in 1991. This year we’ll be playing some back to back sets in Marseille at my residency.”
IHOUSEU: Living in Marseille, I visited Marseille in the late 90s and was struck by how menacing the harbour area became after dark: have you ever encountered violence in the city or felt afraid?
Jack de Marseille: “It’s the city where I was born, so I know the codes of how to behave with others when you walk the streets but yes Marseille doesn’t always have good vibes. It’s like any other big city though, London, Paris and New York all have areas which are dangerous and it’s the same here. We just have the Mediterranean touch, which is sometimes blood-thirsty.”
IHOUSEU: Living in Marseille, I read an article with talked of you abandoning training as a vet in 1990: how far advanced were you with your studies? How easy a decision was it to take?
Jack de Marseille: “That is a mistake, I stopped high school just before training as a vet in 1981,to became a tennis coach and stopped that in 1990 to became a DJ. These were easy decisions because I was following my instinct and life gave me lots of gifts and surprises in return. It’s important not to miss chances. I was in the right place at the right time. It’s all about passion. Why did I want to be a vet? : Because I love animals. Why a tennis coach? : Because I love sport. Why a DJ? : Because I love music. And life provided the opportunities.”
IHOUSEU: Living in Marseille, What made you want to be a vet as apposed to a doctor?
Jack de Marseille: “Humans are nasties, animals are more subtle.”
IHOUSEU: Living in Marseille, Drug users thinking of vets may well think of ketamine: what do you make of K’s increasing popularity? How aware were you- and fellow vetinary students of its psychedelic properties back in the early 90s?
Jack de Marseille: “K is not popular in France.”
Jack De Marseille’s new album “Inner Visions” is out now on Wicked Music.
