Bob Sinclar In The House Interview

Awesome French dj and producer and main man @ Yellow records talks with us about his new 'In the house' mix comp for Defected records.

What were your initial ambitions and dreams for Yellow Production? Do they remain the same, or if not, how and why have they changed?
Its amazing having people asking me to do promotion! I started Yellow Productions, my label, in 1992 and I wanted to stay behind the scenes. I never wanted to be an artist, I just wanted to produce different musicians, I couldn’t imaging that one day someone would be asking me to do an interview, or appear on TV or even play in a club. It was my dream.

What did you really want to be when you grew up?
Somebody! I wanted to be like Bjorn Borg or Michel Platini, a sportsman, but I was a bit skinny; not strong enough for sport! That’s when I discovered music.

What are your memories of the musical landscape that you grew up in?
Musical influence in France is a nightmare! There is only the French variety! Funk and Black music didn’t arrive until really late; around ’84 or ’85. It was the radio really, first Pirates then official stations. In about 1984 it started to get better, they started to play Funk like D-Train, Earth, Wind and Fire, Prince, all the classics. We discovered that and it was amazing.

What’s the first record you can remember dancing to, when and where?
The first time I saw a DJ scratching records. In ’89 Hip Hop was arriving from America; we had Public Enemy, LL Cool J also Jungle Brothers and the Native Tongue, and all the Def Jam crew. We had all of this Hip Hop scene arriving; the dancing, the scratching, it was amazing!

Where did you play your first gigs, and where did you really learn your craft? The bars, the areas, the crowds?
I didn’t know how to get into the music industry, I was DJing in my bedroom as a hobby, mixing tapes for myself, but I didn’t know how to introduce myself into the industry. I wanted to work in music, I didn’t know which area, maybe a record company. I started working for two different guys, one on a TV show called Rapline, they didn’t have enough money to keep me on so I started to DJ around Paris. I organised Hip Hop and Acid Jazz parties in ’91 and ’92.

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