A demi-god on the techno scene, Stacey Pullen is one of those Detroit legends that’s still out there showing the ‘young cats’ how it’s done. “Those guys go hard at it every night, they don’t understand it’s about moderation and pacing yourself,” he reveals as the secret to over 20 years in the music industry. DJ Mag caught up with Stacey in his studio, working on a follow-up to his ‘Circus Act’ tune that’s been cut with a Nic Fanciulli mix and was released recently on his Black Flag Recordings label. He’ll be spending half the summer in Ibiza at his ‘semi-residency’ with Marco Carola at Amnesia, as well as playing a couple of dates at Ushuaia and Pacha.
Words: HELENE STOKES
What’s the track that really sums up your childhood?
“I would say probably one of the first would be ‘Never Can Say Goodbye’ by the Jackson Five. I just remember hearing this young voice that was probably as young as mine, and this grooving bassline, which really captures you. “My dad grew up in one of the Motown groups, the Capitols, so music was always around the house. I remember specifically hearing the Jackson Five, and also Marvin Gaye was really big in my house. My dad sang alto, he sang really high, so he was always into that range. He was part of the travelling group, they had a studio group and he was part of the touring group. I remember going to some of the rehearsals when I was little and probably beating on a cowbell or a shaker or something like that.”
What’s the first record that you ever bought?
“It was a Ramsey Lewis album called ‘Love Notes’, it was written by Stevie Wonder. I remember asking my dad to take me to this record shop called Detroit Audio. I remember getting off school and getting excited, knowing that I was going to get this Ramsey Lewis album. I remember grabbing it, because the sleeve was a really close-up picture of his hands playing the piano, it just looked so massive to me, being seven or eight-years-old with these big black hands coming out of the darkness playing the piano, which is a powerful statement of that time.”
What’s the most embarrassing record in your collection?
“Haha! That’s a good question. You know what I do have, is the first Milli Vanilli release, ‘Girl You Know It’s True’. That track was around the time when I started DJing on a more serious level, and I just remember the guys had long extended hair and looked like they were just about to go to aerobics or something, and it was a real popular song. It was one of those tracks where you wanted to play around with it, because it was so poppy, and listening to guys like Jeff Mills, he was the first guy to drop all sorts of music in his set.”
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What’s the track that’s guaranteed to make you cry?
“Sting ‘Fragile’. It’s got that beautiful guitar in it. It’s smooth. And every time I hear that song, it’s so beautiful, and you listen to it and the words, it just brings goosebumps, because we really are fragile creatures when you think of it. We have to realize that we really are fragile human beings, and sometimes we take that for granted.”
What’s an album that you’re currently into?
“I mean, I’m into Flying Lotus, man. Flying Lotus is the bomb! I had a chance to see him live at the Detroit Movement festival last year. I remember seeing him and [he had] this bottle of vodka, and he turned the bottle up to his mouth and then said, ‘Okay, let me stop, I’m getting too out of it, let me be cool’. He’s always going to be number one in my book.”
What’s the most valuable record in your collection?
“My very first album, it came out on Transmat/R&S Records in 1995, because that right there was the point in my life and my career that I realized that I could do this too. Growing up listening to albums, buying albums, understanding the music business and from the point of view of my dad. I got the album framed for my parents and they still have it up there now. It was a message to myself.”
What’s your all-time favourite track of all-time?
“Does it have to be danceable? I could go down the genres! My favourite all-time track would probably be a Mr. Fingers track, ‘Can You Feel It?’ Because I remember that track was a cool track, but was still danceable. For me, it’s all about the melody. I can remember being up in my friend’s bedroom, practicing, and wow, that was a powerful track. And then it had the Martin Luther King speech
that he put underneath the track, and that just made it even more powerful.”
Stacey Pullen
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