Hernan Cattaneo Email Interview

One of Higher-Frequency and certainly Argentina's favourite DJ Hernan Cattaneo will make his 2nd visit to Japan this year with a mini tour starting at The Underlounge in Osaka on the 8th October. Following that he will play at O/D in Fukuoka on the 9th and where else but Hernan's favourite Yellow on the 10th to make a repeat of the amazing performance fans witnessed when he played there last year.

Its been a great year for Hernan with performances at all the major festivals such as Creamfields, Homelands and Global Gathering as well as countless clubs nights especially in Eastern Europe. We're sure that his visit to Japan will be the perfect finish off a year that has been his best yet.

In preparation for his visit to Japan Hernan did an email interview to tell us about his latest plans as well as his feelings on the upcoming Japan tour.

> Interview : H.Nakamura (HigherFrequency)

It's been about 6 months since you played at Womb last time. How have you been?

Hernan Cattaneo : It's been great 6 months, and I've been travelling all over the world, doing loads of gigs in Europe and America, and also been working on some studio stuff.

HRFQ : I think you played at many festivals and parties during summer season. Can you tell us which was the most impressive one for you?

Hernan : It's hard to say one, as many parties were really good. Definetly, festivals like Creamfileds, Global Gathering and Homelands were fantastic. As for club nights, Eastern Europe was the best in my opinion. Russia, Croatia, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Lithuania, all were really good parties. Also, North America was great, especially Los Angeles where I played 5 times this year, and every time, it gets better and better.

HRFQ : How was Ibiza this year?

Hernan : Very good. I playet at We Love Sundays @ Space, Renaissance @ Pacha with Sasha, and DEF Mix @ Pacha with Satoshi Tomiie, and had a great time as usual. Ibiza is always an amzing place to play.

HRFQ : This time, you're going to play at Yellow, which we believe is one of your favorite venues to play. How do you describe your feeling to come back there?

Hernan : For me, coming back to Japan has been special all the time, and as I've said many many times, Tokyo is, along with Buenos Aires, my favorite city to play. Japanese people are the nicest around the world and I always enjoy a lot playing long sets for them at Yellow and WOMB, both of which are amazing clubs. I also like a lot of cities and different areas like Harajyuku, Shibuya, Asakusa, Roppoingi and so. After so many visits, I've made great friends as well, so I always look forward to coming to Japan, and on this trip, I'll also play in Osaka and Fukuoka, so it will be great fun.

HRFQ : I have heard many of Japanese fans describing your gig at Yellow last December as "another legendary night of Tokyo club scene", and they believe it must be one of the best in your career for you, too. Do you agree with that?

Hernan : Yes. That was an amzing night. I love the fact Japanese crowds are perfect to do long sets, as they are very patient, so that allows you to go slowly at the beginning, playing some really deep and housey stuff, and then start building from there. Then during the night, you can go up and later come down again, and everybody will love it.

HRFQ : Last time you played at Yellow, you started the set with very impressive deep stuff, and slowly built it up to the climax by taking quite long hours. Do you have any ideas how the set is going to be like this time?

Hernan : Exactly ! As I said in the last question, I love to play that way and will do it again next Sunday for sure.

HRFQ : Are you planning to use any new technology stuff like Final Scratch or some effect devices or will it be a kind of simple set up just with a pair of turntables and CDRs ?

Hernan : I started working with Live 4, but haven't added it to the club set up yet. I've been using it at home and will be using it live in the future, but for now, it will be mainly CDs and records.

HRFQ : Can you tell us the best 5 tracks you're really into recently?

Hernan : Here you have 20!...

1 : Guy Guerber / Stoppage time [Bedrock]
2 : Hybrid / Higher than a skyscraper (Satoshi Tomiie) [Distictive]
3 : Innerstate / Sidewinder (Mike Hiratzka) [Sequences Recordings]
4 : G-Pal / 3rd of July [Swift]
5 : Marris / Knowledge & Happiness (Bart Van Wissen rmx) Nascent
6 : Bluefish : Been too long(Sleepfreaks dub)Electric Music People
7 : Trafik / Echoes(Mixes)GU
8 : Sander K : The Fruit [LMR]
9 : Jeff Benett / The long walk
10 : Depeche Mode / Enjoy the silence(Timo Maas) Mute
11 : Lega / Floating sequence
12 : 16b / Escape(Dj Paul&Stuart edit))
13 : Jarrod&Gilbey / Monkey Trousers {Musiq]
14 : Ozgur Can / Over nothing at all [Precinct]
15 : Oliverio & MOS / Same blood
16 : Blue Haze : Into nothing [SAW Recordings]
17 : Kintar / Natural Selection
18 : Weekend World : Slo Mo [Midnight]
19 : Dextro / Do you need help? [Border Community]
20 : Jay West / Absence

HRFQ : We have only 3 months to go to the end of 2004. What has been the biggest achievement for you so far this year?

Hernan : Well, it's been a fantastic year for me. I've been travelling around the world, and the Renaissance CD did really well. And, I'm very happy with some new tracks and remixes I've done, so it couldn't be much better.

HRFQ : Do you have any messages to Japanese fans who are really looking forward to seeing you at Yellow?

Hernan : Please get there early, and stay till late. Best things are for those who wait.

End of the interview

Hernan Cattaneo Interview in Tokyo (20/03/2004)
Hernan Cattaneo Biography