the thing with documentaries is that it starts out from an idea and from there its very much a free forming. I didn’t really know anyone in the scene, I was just partying back in the day. I got in touch with some of the people who were throwing the parties in Toronto and started doing interviews. David Morales was the first real interview I did when we was in town doing an event for Pride Week. And he just really knew how to talk. That’s something that you learn from doing all these interviews. Some of these people are very good artists but they aren’t able to really talk about what they are doing. The sad fact is that with a lot of the big names, their interviews turned out to be a plane crash when you put them in front of the camera. I wanted to basically get an essence and an idea of how music was shaping their identity and also wanted to get people interested in the approach of the film and get them familiar with the Global Groove Network in general.
Can you explain in a little bit more detail of what exactly the ‘Global Groove Network’ is?
It started as a radio show back in the 90s, I then took over the reigns to try and recreate the idea of the brand. Ultimately the Network in my mind’s eye is a place where everyone is a DJ in their own life. We look at all the DJs in all their different genres and disciplines, and the idea of appreciating music and using music as a way of expressing themselves and their identity. Ultimately looking at the bigger message of music even though we use EDM as our medium. I want people to come to the movie and feel their own kind of musical expression and how music has shaped them. Everyone has their own soundtrack, and mine happens to be electronic music. I want to provide a history and show that there is more to the music than pushing buttons, weird sounds and strange samples. The one thing that was great about how long the process of this movie was and having it take as long as it did is that I got to watch electronic music go through these cycles again. I find that what is happening to electronic music right now is basically the same thing that was happening to electronic music back in the late 90s, especially here in Toronto. Now it’s even bigger from a global standpoint. I think it’s going to continue to grow; it’s not going to burn out. Everything keeps evolving, especially technology in general. It’s hard to not think that dance music is playing a big influence. Like today, I was listening to Benny Benassi’s remix of The Rolling Stones Doom & Gloom , if that’s not cross over than I don’t know what is.
You got out of the scene for almost a decade and you came back when your relationship ended. How can you compare the early days of the Toronto scene from back in the day to now. You speak of partying at Industry, Footwork and Guvernment. Industry is gone, but Footwork and Guvernment are still thriving. How do the generations compare?
To compare the two it’s a lot different. The advantage we had back in the day was that there was certainly more of an organic feel to it. We could do raves, and big parties. The idea of the Industry club was very unique to the city. There were parties going on but they were more underground. Everyone who went to Industry wanted to party—it was very close and intimate group of like minded people. This was back in the day of no social networking. People communicated through calling each other, flyering, going down to the record store every Thursday for the new shipment of music. To be a DJ back then or even someone who appreciated music, to walk into a shop back in the days to get their records, and to exchange music, it was a real coffee shop experience… that was the social network. My only real shit on where we are right now, as much as we are connected and exposed to so much more, we have lost the connectivity. We don’t have that one on one time anymore. We’ve
gotten so lazy as a society. That connectivity has been warped a little bit but—people are still going out and supporting each other. If you link up with the right groups everyone is staying loyal to those groups. It may not be a big community going to all the same spots, but small groups going to regularly to their own spots. The overarching community is there. Nowadays people just start shutting things down because you are always getting bombarded with information… new music, new event notifications, new talent all the time. We have a hard time communicating with one another in a weird way. But that’s the one thing about dance music is, you can go, and you don’t have to talk—the music does the talking. Less talk. More dance.
The debate around the transition, and evolution of electronic music is ongoing within every level of the scene. You have the old school DJs hating on the new school DJs, and old school promoters hating on the new means of promotion. In your film you talk about the current ‘Facebook Generation’, do you feel it has been a positive or negative thing for the scene?
I personally think it’s a good thing where the music is going. I think there are going to be certain genres within electronic music that are going to die away but then there will be other aspects that will continue to grow and continue to evolve. All that’s going to happen is that the underground and the commercial scenes are both going to get stronger. We can look at the ongoing debate like you mentioned with the old school DJs hating on the new school DJs—like the constant fight between Sneak and Deadmau5—but this debate is very childish. I think that half the time that debate is happening for the purpose of PR and both trying to stay relevant. It sucks that it becomes a component but you as a listener get to decide what you want to focus on and what you want to listen to. The thing about electronic music is that it is very positive, it brings the audience through this journey and its such a primal thing that you can’t deny, down to every last beat. You hear that one house track and you start bobbing your head even if you don’t like house music, you can’t ignore it. Especially in our current time where there is so much craziness, so much negativity, so much stress, I think that the reason electronic music has become so successful lately is that we have been in a bit of a depression as society for that last little while and dance music at its core, is a very positive thing. So of course there is a reason why people have been blowing off steam a little more than usual, and wanting to hear some of the positive energy that comes from electronic music. We need Sneak and Deadmau5 to pull it back a bit and not have this negativity so the music can continue to evolve in a positive way. It’s like a house of cards, when you have this negativity and start pulling away some of the support beams things begin to pull apart. Especially when you have these people who have such an influence with crazy numbers following them they need to try and project more positivity.
In talking about this positive energy that exists within the electronic music scene and the music itself—in your film you mention a few times a ‘modern tribal community’ and the dance floor as being ‘institutions of warship’ can you give us some more insight into this perspective?
At the beginning of this process and reconnecting with electronic music I was drawn more into the topic from the experiences I had out at these events and at these clubs. I can’t even imagine a person who is 19 years old walking into Guvernment in Toronto for the first time when it’s completely full and feeling that energy for the first time. That first time is very euphoric, with no trouble, just an amazing experience. The first time I
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really felt that way in a long time was when I walked into Burning Man for the first time. Just being around people who are connecting without actually connecting. Instead just letting the environment connect you to the world and ultimately that’s what I feel with house music, the DJs, the people you are around and the idea of these places being places of worship. You know, you have just had a long week, you want to clear your head, you go back to all the stuff I said about the time we are living in now—its needed more than ever. Its not about drugs, its not about drinking, its deeper than that. You know that when you’re at home listening to it, doing your routine to it, writing, cleaning, anytime you need to use your brain, need something to fuel the background the music is there.
There are thousands of clubs, events and underground raves in the world, but you chose to cover Burning Man, Miami’s Winter Music Conference and Ibiza specifically, how do you feel having these staple institutions dedicated to this culture has helped shape the scene?
What first amazed me with Burning Man is how excited people get from day 364 until the next one. It is something so beautiful. It’s so much beyond electronic music yet so strongly influenced around electronic music and a huge part of it is because of that tribal sensibility the music has. It’s important for history in general to have places and things that exist for long periods of time. For dance music to have the long history it has, it needs to be covered. Another reason I did this film is that you don’t see a lot of electronic music documentaries—the reason is that people think there is not an audience. And ultimately it’s here. Where can you go and not hear electronic music… on TV, within social media—it’s there, it’s everywhere; it’s in everyone’s subconscious. I feel that the timing right now for this film is perfect and we are ready to release it to the world.
When this is all said and done, where do you want this film to end up? How has this process shaped you?
This film has broke me. Emotionally. Physically. Financially. It has been hard to believe in something so much that someone else may not believe in. But there is an audience. I met my wife on the dancefloor and I am riding all of this to the very end. I have put everything into this. I am so in debt… but you have to do it to go after your dreams. What I am hoping with this article is to get this project out there to a bigger audience as part of our official Kickstart Campaign. It’s do or die time now. I want it to be available to the public where everyone can see it and have the audiences grow. I would also love to see it be an archivable project for the Toronto scene in general. Provide some history in a documentary on the culture to the public. This is something that hasn’t really been done yet. This film has shaped my identity and getting it sold will make me feel like it was all worth it. Life is crazy and the movie industry is very tough. You learn a lot, but at the same time I don’t want this to have all been done for nothing.
You can learn more about filmmaker Courtney James, the making of The Global Groove Network and help with the film’s Kickstarter Campaign by going to the films website,
www.groovetheglobe.com
OLIVIA WEIR
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