Javier Ferreira B2B Diego Montiel

JAVIER FERREIRA

Birthplace and years as a DJ?
I was born in Buenos Aires and I've been DJing professionally since 2004. I got my first gig in 2006.

Your first gig was in? What do you remember?
My first "official" gig that I remember was in my city Buenos Aires, in the neighbourhood of San Telmo. A party organised with friends that we called "Der Keller". I remember that as I had no experience I went with a mix where I had prepared the order of my tracks and although we had a lot of fun and had a great time, since that day I realized that my mixes must be spontaneous and improvised 100% to reach the point of connection and empathy that I want on the dancefloor. That first meeting was very useful for me.

How did you meet Diego?
I met Diego through Martin Noise, a friend and owner of the label "Playground records", who put us in contact to do some mastering work on Diego's old label before launching Side Up Works (his current label).

At that time I was living in Buenos Aires and then when I came to Barcelona, we met personally. We connected a lot and to this day we still work together on many projects including the BeSide School.

Your musical influences (bands, djs, records) when you were young and now?
I started listening to punk rock and playing drums from the age of 12 with my first bands. Then as I got older and having worked as a session drummer, I got to know many styles and also having a recording studio and working as a producer for many bands I got to know all genres of music. I am very open in that sense and one day I can listen to reggae, the next day jazz and the next day death metal. I always had my headline bands like Radiohead, Air, Massive attack, and the indie genre in all its branches.

Today I could say that this style is the one that most identifies me and nourishes me with musical ideas.

If you take Diego to your city, what can't he miss?
First I would take him on a tour of the city, which is beautiful. Palermo, San Telmo, the city centre are classics you can't miss. A good pizza at "La Mezzeta", "Guerrin" or "El Fortin". But something (for my point of view) that characterizes the city is the diversity and quality of cultural events. There are few places where I have experienced so many good parties and so many people ready to have a good time as in Buenos Aires.
The party atmosphere is very contagious.

The track that always works for you on the dance floor?
I try not to repeat too much music on the dancefloor. If a track works well for me, I can repeat it a couple more times and that's it. I like the challenge of new things (I'm a Sagittarius). I could tell you that one of my brother Gabriel's tracks never fails, any time I play it, it works. I usually play a lot of music from my label "Ninefont" which always works for me.

Particularly from my tracks I like to play "Ss Hh Aa Kk Ee Ii Tt" released by United Colours Of Rythm label.

What's your next gig/release that's keeping you awake at night?
I'm currently wrapping up a pretty extensive Latin American tour that includes (for now) over 14 gigs in 1 month and a half.
I've been wanting to do it for a long time, and as we know, the pandemic stopped everything, so I could say that today that would be the big dream to fulfill in my professional career as a DJ. As for the production, the next confirmed release will be on the Mexican label "Duro", and on the Madrid label "Rotten City", which are labels that I respect a lot and I've been wanting to collaborate with them for a while.

DIEGO MONTIEL

Birthplace and years as a Dj?
Buenos Aires and more than 17 years as a professional DJ.

Your first performance was in? What do you remember?
My first performance was in an industrial warehouse in Poble Nou, Barcelona and I remember that just when I arrived I was thinking about where to enter the venue, and right there some friends shouted Diego to me, from the shovel of a crane, and I was thinking how they climbed and they thought of sitting up there, ha ha, then I helped them down and they showed me the entrance, once inside I also remember that I was very impressed that the booth was all surrounded with that kind of wire mesh to fence a land, It was about two meters high and the bars that supported it had very big cement bases, in no time it dawned and the people crowded on the wire mesh like zombies, just like in some Walking Dead episode, the thing was that the mesh was wobbling with the weight of the people and those who were leaning on it and many times I came to believe that everything would fall on the turntables, the party lasted 12 hours, a real Rave, at that time Barcelona was much more free and with less restrictions than nowadays.

How did you meet Javier?
Through music of course, I invited Javi to play at one of our SUW parties, which is the party of my label Side UP Works, which was held at the club This Side UP, in Parallel Avenue, in the central district of Poble Sec, in Barcelona, Tio played a great dj set and from there we made good friends until I told him about my teaching project, which was already well underway and we decided to join forces and share a partnership in the music production area of that project, which became the current BeSide School, a school that has produced several of the djs who are currently moving the Barcelona underground and also several producers who have signed to renowned labels.

Your musical influences (bands, djs, records) when you were young and now?
I had a very Grunge and Indie adolescence, then I joined the Nu metal movement, and I was part of a band of this style which led me to leave my native Buenos Aires for the first time and settle in New York for a month to make music, then I moved to Europe and the turntables came to my house because I wanted to do Scratch for the Hiphop band where I sang and rapped, but little by little when I went to the shop for vinyls, I was buying more and more records, I bought more and more electronic records from producers like The Hacker with whom I had the pleasure to play and close his closing set after his powerful performance, I also had records from Jennifer Cardini and her label Correspondant, with whom I also had the pleasure to share the booth, and some vinyls from Rex The dog, who came to do his live set in our Suw Party, I also had some records from Ewan Pearson, who 15 years later has released on my label and I also liked Vitalic and Miss Kittin among others.

Nowadays I am very lucky that my favourite artists like MARC HOULE, DAMON JEE, DANNY DICE, THEUS MAGO, STEPHAN BARNEM, ZOMBIES IN MIAMI, DARLYN VLYS and CURSES among others, all of them have been able to come to my SUW parties and have released on my label Side Up Works, all of them excellent producers and very cool people.

If you take Javier/Diego to your city, what can't he miss?
I consider my city Barcelona, since it's the city that saw me become a man, or become responsible, haha, and what you can't miss if someone visits it is clearly a plate of baby squid in a traditional tavern in Barceloneta, as well as an afternoon in the Park Guell, then stroll through the Barrio de Gracia and at the weekend you can't miss eating a good barbecue or if it's the season, a good Calçots in a traditional restaurant near Collserolla.

The track that always works for you on the dance floor?
Well, Red Room which is an original track by THEUS MAGO & MODERNA, remixed by EWAN PEARSON, released on Side UP Work, a bomb always effective and timeless that doesn't leave you indifferent and lifts a dead body, look if it's good enough that even Primavera Sound bought it for us to use parts of it in their advertising campaigns 2021!

And I have another track for sure, it's called MUSSMAN original by FIBERROOT remixed by DAMON JEE, very effective, timeless, forceful and fine, also released on Side UP Works.

What's your next gig/release that's keeping you awake at night?
I'm looking forward to sharing the booth this April 24th with LA MVERTE at SideCar, one of the most emblematic and oldest clubs in the city, where I haven't had the pleasure of playing until now, and as a release there are many bombs coming on my label with some of the biggest names in Dark disco and International Indie Dance, but although this fills me with happiness the dream is taken away by the new work I'm preparing as it is where I will present my musical formula as a producer, based on a disruptive balance between Rock and techno.