EXKLUSIV-INTERVIEW WITH MARC HOULE – SPECIAL NIGHT BY RESET VIENNA

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RESET Events & Black Star Entertainment haben am 7.12.2015 Minimal Techno Pioneer, Producer und Live-Act Marc Houle für ein Techno-Special in die Pratersauna nach Wien gebracht.

While the global EDM scene still debates the merits of “pressing play,” techno veteran Marc Houle has been wowing audiences for over a decade with a live performance that is constantly evolving night after night, in city after city, at clubs and festivals worldwide. The skill and effort that goes into creating these truly “live” sets is the result of an entire lifetime dedicated to electronic music and a deep love of the machines that make it.

Raised adjacent to Detroit in Windsor, Ontario, in the same fertile music community that spawned his former label boss and mentor Richie Hawtin, Houle’s obsession with electronic sounds goes back to the noise of ’80s video games and vintage synthesizers. And while too many electronic artists use their machines as merely tools of convenience, Houle regards his with a dedication found in few producers.

The results have been extraordinary. A decade-long career of seminal records on Hawtin’s Minus label, as well as his own Items & Things imprint, that not only helped define the beloved minimal sound of the mid-‘00s (“On It”), but had a laugh at its expense (“Techno Vocals”), before transcending the limits of the sub-genre completely by incorporating industrial, disco and new wave influences (“Undercover”).

No wonder Houle’s records have found their way into the crates of DJs far-flung from his typical list of peers. How many producers can create a track as adaptable as “Bay of Figs,” an underground club favorite favored by his Items & Things partner and star techno DJ Magda that also managed to find its way into the hearts of stadium-trance audiences via megastar DJ Tiësto.

No matter what time or tempo, Marc Houle has exactly the right Marc Houle tunes needed for the nightclub, after party or festival stage.

hennesy.cc:
What is your feeling when you perform live with your own voice, instruments and electronic equipment?
Marc Houle:
At the beginning of my set I’m always trying to feel what the people are dancing, what they want (do you want Techno, do you want House?). So the first couple of songs when I’m singing I’m not just singing for the song that I’m singing, also to see people’s eyes, how they dance, and the next song I just go from there. It’s like a treat. At the beginning of my set I’m always kind of worried, I’m not comfortable yet, I’m not partying yet, I don’t know what they want yet. But by the 3^rd or 4^th song I get the idea of what people want to hear.

hennesy.cc:
How many instruments can you play?
Marc Houle:
I can play zero instruments like expert but I can play like 50 instruments shitty. But that doesn’t stop me from having fun. In the studio I have guitars, basses, drums. I think if I was a real good guitar player I would not make the kind of music I perform.

hennesy.cc:
How do you get your creative input? Do you have any musical influences or sounds, movies?
Marc Houle:
I listen to all kind of music, but nothing modern. So I listen to old Country music for instance, such as “King of the road”, I include the snap in one of my songs.

hennesy.cc:
How was your development from graphics to Electronic music?
Marc Houle:
When I was little I played drums and my sister played piano. I don’t know why my parents bought me a Casio keyboard, and from there I just went crazy. I recorded non-stop with my shitty keyboard and I had so much fun and after that I got a real Roland keyboard and from there I just kept going. I recorded a lot of tapes and I started to go to Detroit parties, and that gave me more fuel for the fire. I’ve got a drum machine and I kept going because I was obsessed with this electronic sound.

hennesy.cc:
How did you get to know Richie Hawtin, when did you first meet him?
Marc Houle:
It was about the same time, he was always going to these electronic parties and was already famous. We didn’t have Google in 1993 so I asked Richie about electronic equipment – he was my Google.

hennesy.cc:
What is your favorite club in Europe?
Marc Houle:
Every city goes up and down, everything changes from one year to another, I can’t nominate one single club.

hennesy.cc:
How do you like Vienna?
Marc Houle:
When I first came here, 11 years ago, it was super underground, crazy people…

8 years ago pyramid (City Club Vienna) was one of the best clubs and now Vienna is a good place to party right now. In the last 2 years all the parties have been so good and Vienna is now on my radar. I want to play here whenever I can.

Interview by hennesy.cc