I liked not knowing who the hell they were. But being anonymous is almost a gimmick now. You have to try really hard to be anonymous.”
It was in this vein that he started his own label, aged just 17, called OMNIAM (standing for ‘one man’s noise is another man’s music’). He would contact people like DJ Godfather, DJ Nasty, Mike Huckaby, The Operator and The Advent in the UK, naively thinking that they’d just agree to make music for him. They must have admired his front, because they often did. He’d release 200 or 300 white labels without catalogue numbers, destined to disappear without trace.
Tenacity was clearly native to him. He was DJing weddings aged 13. When he encountered the rave scene, and music by the likes of Ectomorph (another project with involvement from Drexciya’s Gerald Donald) and the early electro stylings of German don Anthony Rother, it was eye-opening. A cracked copy of Fruity Loops kicked off his appetite for production, after which he studied sound engineering. He had a few releases on Nervous but fortune struck when a house track he’d made, ‘Your Everything’, was given to a friend and it somehow found its way to Seth Troxler. While Troxler didn’t think it suited his Visionquest label, he handed it to Jamie Jones and it was signed to Hot Creations. But though the track was a breakthrough for Daze, it was to be something of a one-off, his sound soon shifting back towards his electro roots as opposed to the unmistakable house sound Hot Creations has become known for.
“I was never a house guy,” he says. “I was always into robotic sounds, vocoders and weird things. Now I’m trying to get in the middle and find a balance. Not just bouncing out a formula. I don’t really belong in the deep house scene, as people put me. I don’t play deep house!”
But it was through his roots – and, oddly, the aforementioned notion of trying to be anonymous - that he’s hooked up with his latest collaborator, Maceo Plex, aka producer Eric Estornel. “We’re basically the same guy,” says Daze. After meeting, the pair realized they already knew each other from an online forum called the Electro Alliance where they both used assumed names.
“We come from the same exact background. So we didn’t really even talk about it. We were just in the studio making music together and we said ‘alright, I guess this is one of our tracks’. We made the music first and then we put a name to it. So we picked something that was a touchstone for both of us.” The pair are now calling themselves Jupiter Jazz, in homage to the legendary Underground Resistance track, and their home is Estornel’s Ellum Audio, running since 2011. Like Estornel, Daze has also recently moved to Barcelona.
“We’re not trying to think too much about it, and just flow with whatever happens. It’s hard for me to collaborate with others. Someone ends up taking the lead and then it’s not cool. You want it to be as close to 50/50 as you can.”
He has a new solo EP on Ellum after the Jupiter Jazz tracks, led by a track called ‘The Calm’, and despite his previous protestations, it’s deep and it is most certainly house music. As for what may come next, Jupiter Jazz will continue, he’s got his forthcoming collaboration with Godfather to make, and he’s kicking about some new ideas too.
“I’m going pretty much back to my roots on all the music I’m making at the moment,” he says. “I want to do this for the rest of life. My goal isn’t to be huge, and make millions. Just to make music and be happy.”
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djmag.com top Miami bass tracks
Danny Daze's of all time...
MC ADE - ‘How Much Can You Take’ (4 Sight Records)
“Adrian Hines, aka MC ADE, may not be known to many, but in Miami he was a staple and pioneer in Miami bass music. When I first got into Miami bass, I’d go for all MC ADE records as they were known for being used at car audio contests. When you get below 40hz, you can’t be in that car. Your hair stands on end. Plus the fact that loads of his music had fresh vocoder work!”
Dynamix II - ‘Just Give The DJ A Break’ (Dynamix II Records)
“Dynamix II consisted of Dave Noller & Lon Alonzo (who was then replace by Scott Weiser) back in the day. They were considered pioneers of Miami bass/ electro and took it to the next level by getting a bit crazier with their sound design. This track is considered one of the most influential in Miami bass and has been sampled countless times.”
2 Live Crew - ‘Ghetto Bass’ (Luke Skyywalker Records)
“2 Live Crew are probably the most well known Miami bass artists as their dirty lyrics got them into trouble, but their slow ‘dub vocal’ tracks were rattling my car every day. We were never about the dirtiness of it. The main reason for a lot of people was just the bass. But 2 Live Crew was the first act to be banned.”
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