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Interview with Paul Sawyer

WeRave Music interviews Paul Sawyer

This week, we had the pleasure of interviewing the legendary Paul Sawyer, an English DJ and producer renowned in the electronic music scene.

With a three-decade career and an extensive discography, Sawyer is a prominent figure, boasting original compositions and remixes featured on labels like Pure Progressive, Armada Music, Toolroom, and ICONYC, to name a few.

Paul Sawyer’s global presence is highlighted by performances at iconic venues such as Ministry of Sound and Cream, earning recognition from Mixmag and DJ Magazine. In 2021, he expanded his influence to BBC Radio 1 with his Krafted Records brand, and for over 2.5 years, he has been hosting the captivating monthly radio show ‘Textures,’ broadcasted on DI.FM, Proton Radio, Subcode, and Soundcloud.

Paul Sawyer’s reach extends to other radio shows, where he has been a guest mix on Toolroom Radio, Planet Perfecto, and Pure Trance Radio, solidifying his standing in the global electronic music scene.

Get ready to learn more about this electronic music giant in our exclusive interview with the one and only Paul Sawyer, here on WeRave Music. Let’s go!

Full Interview

Hello Paul, first of all thank you so much for having us for an interview. It’s amazing talking to you! In which part of the world do you currently live, and how has your 2023 been so far?

Paul Sawyer: Thanks for inviting me to the interview, much appreciated. I live in the South of the Uk just outside of the old capital of England Winchester.

Your recent remix for ‘Storm Song’ is truly a blessed track and a significant release in 2023. Could you please tell us more about this remix and why you chose to revive this track after nine years?

Paul Sawyer: I came across Phildel due to another vocalist that I have worked with called Carla Werner. I noticed Phildel comment on a release of mine with Carla, so I looked her up and loved her music. That prompted me to get in touch and see if we could work together.

We actually started work on an original track which is planned for 2024 and then the remix of Storm Song after Phildel mentioned she would like me to work on remixing one of the tracks from her album. I jumped at the chance after hearing the complete album and chose the track that I thought would work best with my music.

PHILDEL – Storm Song (Paul Sawyer Remix) | Krafted Records

PHILDEL - Storm Song (Paul Sawyer Remix) | Krafted Records

Thirty years in the electronic music industry is truly impressive, Paul. Congrats! What have been the highlights and low points throughout your career, and are you ready for another 30 years (haha)?

Paul Sawyer: Oh wow, that list could be endless!! Massive highlights that you never forget when you get your first break. I quite often get asked how to get gigs by younger DJ’s and I always refer to when I got my first big booking. There was a club in London back in the early 90’s called Club UK and this was a huge club for around 3000 people booking all the big names. I went one night to try and meet the promoter who turned out to be Steve Harvey and he was dj’ing at the time.

So I introduced myself to him and he asked if I promoted my own events. I knew back then that I had to run my own events to create gigs for myself, so I’d started the Menage a Trois boat parties in Southampton. Steve had heard of them through the music press and suggested we swap bookings. So I got to play the main room which ended up with multiple bookings at the club and on tour around the World with him.

There’s also events that I played at like Renaissance, Cream, spending two seasons in Ibiza and flying to the USA to play over the years. I love going to the US. The majority of my audience that I see from my stats are US based.

Low points not getting paid was a biggie I guess as I was DJ’ing full time for 10 years and relied on the income more then. Now I’ve got older, DJ’ing and producing is my sideline for fun.

Collabs

Over the past 30 years, you’ve collaborated with a multitude of singers and music producers. Is there any specific name from this journey that you’d like to collaborate with again?

Paul Sawyer: Funny enough I’ve just finished a collab with Betoko again. We worked on a track called ‘I’ll Be Here’ in 2020, so it’s great to work with him again. This one will be out on ICONYC in the new year.

Paul Sawyer – I’ll Be Here (Betoko Remix) | BASE Music

I'll Be Here (Betoko Remix)

In 2022 and 2023, you released excellent tracks through Pattern Music, including masterpieces like ‘All The Way Down’ and ‘Downunder.’ Could you please share with us how it has been collaborating with Pattern Music and how this partnership originated?

Paul Sawyer: I’ve always been a fan of Future Sound Of Egypt, Paul Thomas and Dylhen so they were always on my radar to see if I could release with them. My music was more suited to their Pattern label, so I am pleased to have some releases with them. All got great support and I’m sure I’ll be releasing with them again at some point in the future.

Paul Sawyer & Danny Stubbs – All The Way Down | Pattern Music

Paul Sawyer & Evan Henzi – Downunder | Pattern Music

Krafted Labels

Shifting gears to Krafted, in 2022, the brand reached 300 releases and is now considered a major player in today’s electronic music scene. Looking back to 2013 when you started Krafted, and seeing its size today, did you ever imagine the scale the label would achieve?

Paul Sawyer: No, never!!! It was a dream to get to this point and release music from so many notable artists. But when I started I never envisaged that would happen. IT’s been a huge ladder that we have climbed with so many great achievements along the way.

If anyone had said back then that we would be invited to host a radio show on BBC Radio 1, I would have laughed at them. But here we are, with over 15 shows on the station.

Currently, what’s your routine within the record label?

Paul Sawyer: It’s changed a lot over the years. I would never be able to do it all now without my team. It’s a collective effort now with all of us doing different tasks to make the label work.

For me personally, I tend to oversee Krafted Underground and the Textures compilation albums. I also make all the artwork for all our labels and sort the promos too.

It’s always difficult to keep on top of everything as there’s always so much to do to make it all come together and promote everything.

Precious tip

In one paragraph, what would you sincerely say to the new generation of electronic music producers?

Paul Sawyer: One of the biggest things is being prepared to put lots of effort in to promoting yourself. Labels don’t always have big budgets to plough into releases, so producers really have to accept that they need to financially committed to promoting their releases. I see so many who don’t bother and then make a fuss when their release doesn’t do that well.

Present and Future

In your opinion, what is the most exciting thing happening in the dance music scene currently?

Paul Sawyer: I think it’s great to see so many female dj’s and producers really making a name for themselves these days. The majority was always male driven in the scene, but that’s changed and I’m pleased to see. We have always supported lots of female producers on the label and our events and so they should be.

And now looking ahead, how do you see the electronic music future in the next 10 years?

Paul Sawyer: It seems to be going through a funny stage this year, with less events doing so well. Lots of huge one off events with big names are doing well, but there’s a massive decline with small clubs events.

I do think that will change again and there will be more small events popping up as the bigger events are getting so expensive.

All set for 2024? Or do you still have significant projects for 2023?

Paul Sawyer: We are celebrating 10 years of Krafted in 2024, so we have a 10 track album that’s already planned with some great producers involved. We also are planning a big event at ADE already, so that is going to be a great way to pretty much complete the year and the year long celebration of 10years.

Thank you so much again for this interview Paul. It was amazing and we wish you all the best! Please, do you have some message to electronic music fans around the globe?

Paul Sawyer: Thanks again for having me, I hope that anyone intrigued to find out more about Krafted will check out our label playlists on Spotify and always feel free to give us a shout or follow.

That concludes our interview with electronic music producer Paul Sawyer. We hope you enjoyed this post, and please, remember to share it with all your friends who have a passion for electronic music. Feel free to explore our interview section for more content. Thank you!

Follow Paul Sawyer on Instagram | Spotify

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Image via Paul Sawyer