San Soda alias Nicolas Geysens comes from Deinze, a small town near Gent in Belgium. His releases on We Play House Recordings, produced both solo and together with the label owner Red D as FLC, have caused quite a stir. We are impressed as well, and invited Nicolas to play a DJ set at Nolla this Saturday. As usual, we the hooked up with the maestro for an interview.

 

Could you give us a brief introduction to your musical background. 

 

– I started mixing Justin Timberlake with The Beatles using a CD player and a turntable without a pitch control. I bought crappy records for a year until I heard local veterans play disco, house and techno. When Tyree Cooper played Move Your Body at 6 AM in our local bar in Deinze, I knew that was the real deal. Started learning about different kinds of music, going back in time. Producing used to be a way for me to imitate sounds or tracks I liked.

There's a good amount of influential people listed on the San Soda Facebook
page. Can you point out a couple of artists or producers that have been especially important for you over the years?

 

– Theo Parrish: he shows us wrong can be very right. Jimmy Edgar: one of the best producers of this decade. Little Dragon: very innovative ideas. Kerri Chandler: for his tracks that are raw and beautiful at the same time. Greg Carmichael: for defining the disco sound.

 

 

Is there a production of your own that you're the most satisfied with? 

 

– Not really, I usually never play or listen to them once they are recorded.

 

Do you have a certain method you usually use to create new music? Any equipment or software you enjoy using a lot?

– I just bought an Akai MPC 2000XL again after I sold it a couple of years ago to get a 2500. I absolutely love its sound and groove. That's often my starting point for a new track. When I want to try out melodies or chords, I mostly turn to my Juno 106.

 

What are you favorite clubs or parties in Belgium at the moment?

 

– One of my favorite parties in Belgium is simply called Our Party, thrown by the wonderful Onda Sonora crew in Brussels. Anything else with Lefto or On Point involved is always worth checking out.

 

San Soda Live At Cocadisco by Red Bull Elektropedia

What's coming up from San Soda in the near future?

 

– I'm excited about my gig in Helsinki of course, and I'm playing in Toronto and New York the week after. Also looking forward to Sonar festival in Barcelona and Panorama in Berlin in July. There are some remixes coming out on Kolour Recordings for Iron Curtis and on Freerange for Andre Lodemann. I'm working on some vocal tracks at the moment I’m very excited about!