Swiss Export

September 20, 2005 9:19 PM
by

Riding high after a summer which saw him tour both Europe and Australia, in addition to securing a spot on the main stage of Detroit’s Fuse-In Festival, Switzerland’s Deetron (Sam Geiser) arrives in Chicago as a DJ everybody seems to be talking about.

Known for his three turntable mastery and blinding sets that fuse together techno, house and Detroit techno, Geiser has paved the way for fellow countrymen such as the Mental Groove crew and Diego from Kanzleramt, gaining respect globally as a DJ and producer.

It may come as surprise to many though that this trailblazing techno DJ actually began his career playing hip-hop in his native Switzerland.

The son of a jazz musician, Geiser was born in Bern, and was influenced by the music of groups such as Gang Starr, A Tribe Called Quest and Prince Paul at an early age.

“When I was into hip-hop, I was fascinated by its DJ culture. So one day I got a pair of cheap belt-drive turntables and started to practice as a bedroom DJ,” said Geiser when asked about how he got started as a DJ.

He began DJing at local clubs all around Switzerland, playing mostly hip-hop. As Geiser began to pick up more gigs though, his musical horizons expanded and he discovered techno music, the hard driving sound being championed by DJs such as Jeff Mills.

“I had already discovered quite a lot of hip-house by the likes of Todd Terry and others, as well as New York and Chicago house things in the early nineties. A friend of mine who was working at a record shop eventually introduced me to some early Detroit-stuff by the likes of Kevin Saunderson and Juan Atkins and I was instantly hooked.”

Eventually he landed a residency at the legendary Zurich club night Trax at the Rohstofflager, where he carved out his niche and grew as a DJ. He also got the chance to play alongside legends such as Mills, Laurent Garnier, Carl Craig and Luke Slater.

“I think it is important for a DJ's experience to play at different time slots during the night, a warm-up for example, or to play longer sets, which is what a residency allows you to do.”

Trying to get booked outside of Switzerland, which had never been thought of as a hotbed of electronic music talent before, had its own set of challenges for Geiser though.

“It most definitely was a slow and difficult process since I was mainly working it out on my own and I couldn't rely on relationships or support from others in my country too much,” said Geiser.

“Luckily I met Stefan Riesen around 1995 who used to run Phont Music and who helped me release my first records. Another really important step was when I hooked up with Music Man Records and my agency Deep'art in Belgium and I believe the Mix-CD I did for Music Man really made the difference later on as the music I play out as a DJ got introduced to a much bigger audience.

As his profile as DJ grew, so in turn did his reputation as a producer. His tracks in the late nineties won him fans such as Richie Hawtin and Laurent Garnier and he also began to get noticed and booked outside of Switzerland, beginning with a trip to Tokyo in 1999.

His production work also opened the door for Geiser to enter the music industry full time, a career which he has embraced wholeheartedly.

“Having grown up in a very musical family, it was always my dream to work fulltime on music and make it a living so to me it was just a matter of time,” said Geiser.

“I used to do a part-time job a while back which I quit around four years ago in order to be able to focus 100 percent on production and DJing. I am really grateful and happy to be able to work on music, to be independent and to be able to work on what I enjoy working on most.”

More recently his productions have graced labels such as Cosmic, Ongaku, and SLS and he has remixed the likes of Ben Simms, Samuel Sessions and Green Velvet Geiser will also release his debut album next year, “Music Man.”

Deetron will be playing with Gaetano Parisio at Vision, 632 North Dearborn Street, on Saturday, September 24. For more information, please go to www.purefuture.com.