1.- IBR.- For the great celebration of these 20 years of Stéreo Productions, you have prepared a 5 volume sequence of STEREO 2020 REMIXED with the participation of more than 80 artists.How has it been to carry out this project of such high importance in such difficult times as we have lived and in a certain way we are still living?
CHUS: Hello everyone and thank you for this opportunity, as you said, it is a very big project that began to take shape last year, when no one could imagine that a global pandemic would come to paralyze the world.
The most important thing is the illusion with which we have prepared these 5 volumes, taking great care of quality and above all trying to show the wide spectrum of sound that our catalogue covers, playing genres as different as Techno, House, Melodic, Afro House and Tech House with artists who are in line with our philosophy, most of them great friends who have accompanied us over the years and many others, new talents and producers who somehow reflect the philosophy of Stereo
2.-IBR.- You have had artists from the label and others related to it like Steve Lawler, Mathias Tanzzmann, Roger Sánchez, Mark Knight, Nick Curly, Joeski, D- Formation, Sparrow & Barbossa or Dosem among others, (many of them have their radio shows programmed in the station like you, everything has to be said)..- Tell us, how has it been the experience of being able to count on such diverse artists, from different countries and with the social distance...
What has been the biggest difficulty you have found and what have you liked the most?.
CHUS: It has been a formidable and very enriching experience, because it has given me the possibility of enjoying the diversity of genres that coexist in electronic music, as a good lover of quality electronic music, being able to bring together so many talents as part of the celebration of our anniversary has been a prize in itself.
I feel very proud of this Remixes album that is a very wide sample of the musical legacy that Stereo has left in these 20 years, also the excellent predisposition of the artists when they were contacted made things much easier, without them this project would have no sense.
On behalf of myself and the entire Stereo team, a million thanks to each and every one of the artists involved.
3.- IBR - The 5th Volume of STEREO 2020 REMIXED is baking and you plan to release it soon, when will it be available?.
CHUS: Indeed, we are currently closing the last volume of the collection, which will also be the final chapter where we will gather the best remixes of the 4 previous volumes and add new remixes of artists such as Danny Tenaglia, Cat'z & Dogz, Markus Homm, Josh Butler, Dennis Cruz, Harry Romero, Mathias Kaden, Enai, Yamil, Sparrow & Barbossa or Dean Mickoski among others.
The departure date is set for December of this year, and we hope that it will serve to say goodbye to a strange year and to start a 2021 with hope and illusion that will give us all back the magic of music, tours and parties that we need so much.
4.- IBR.- It has been a super prolific year in new productions as well as in remixes and collaborations with other labels and artists like Dario DÁttis, Siwell, Oscar L, Markus Homm, Collective Machine...Tell us what is the formula to be able to combine, study, creativity, family, because we imagine that you don't have time for much more?.
CHUS : Well I always say that music is not a job but a way of life, absolutely everything in my life revolves around music and that makes all the work involved much more bearable. I try to divide the day to organize myself better, assigning the first hours of the morning to office work and paperwork, then work on the label and leave the afternoon to listen to demos, promos and prepare the sets and the night for the music production.
That moment of the day when the phones don't ring and I have the family asleep, my natural habitat and where I find more inspiration.
5.-IBR .- Chus, you are incombustible, we have heard that you will have new solo remixes in the next months with very important artists and labels, can you tell us when and where they will come out ?.
CHUS : Yes, the truth is that confinement has given me back a wonderful time of study that I have taken advantage of very well and these are the next releases that will come out soon:
Matthias Tanzmann - Chano (DJ Chus Remix) [Moon Harbour] September 3, 2020
It's a very special remix for me because the original track is 10 years old and I played it a lot in all my sets, when Matthias asked me to remix it to celebrate the 15 years of Moon Harbour I said yes, without hesitation. You can see a turn towards organic and melodic house in this remix, a genre that has touched my heart in these months of confinement, where I wanted to make music to enjoy listening to it but without losing the groove of the dance.
8.- IBR.- What advice would you give to the new generations?.
CHUS : I always say that they have to be patient and not give up, but now more than ever, we are facing an exceptional situation without precedent and all you have to do is be patient and not throw in the towel, take advantage of time, train, work hard and manage to leave your mark in a world that is saturated. They have to know how to understand that in times of crisis, opportunities appear, not to let them pass.
9.- IBR.- Tell us about the festivals, gigs you have already prepared for this immediate future.
CHUS : It is a quiet summer with few closed dates in small places in Spain, France and Hungary, we are not accepting dates in big places, I think that prudence is very necessary at this time, we have to set an example.
10.-IBR.- As I said before, Chus, charismatic par excellence and a hard worker, does not stop there. We have heard that you are preparing a new project together with the Afro House duo Sparrow & Barbossa, what can you tell us about this project?.
CHUS : I have known Uru (Barbossa) for more than 20 years, he was the percussionist of one of my most popular tracks, the one I did with Joeski called 'El Amor'. I had lost track of him until I listened to the remix that they made of Mory Kanté's Yeke Yeke, I played it a lot and whenever I like a track a lot, I usually contact the artist to congratulate them and show them my support, that's how I discovered that behind that name of Pirate there was an old friend, we got back in touch and we embarked on several projects, the three of us, Bryan (Sparrow), Uru (Barbossa) and me.
In the fall there will be a release on the Afro House label, Madoras in the house, called 'Lloro' with a very powerful Latin voice and a little later there will be another release with them on Nervous Records.
On the other hand, I gave them the opportunity to choose 3 tracks from my repertoire to be remixed and now in September we will release on Stereo an E.P called DJ CHUS REMIXED by SPARROW & BARBOSSA which includes their remixes of 'El Amor', 'World Routes' and 'Black Rain'.
11.- IBR .- Which artist would you like to collaborate with that you have not done so far and why?.
CHUS : Personally I would love to collaborate with Damian Lazarus, I think he is a guru, a visionary who has opened new horizons to electronic music and his label Crosstown Rebels is a reference to be taken into account.
12.- IBR.- What do you think is or will be the impact on the electronic scene due to the fact that there is no summer season in Ibiza 2020?.
CHUS : The impact is devastating, there is no doubt about it, it has hit very hard an industry that was immersed in a frenetic pace, in an endless race to get results without taking into account the means and taking its toll on the physical and mental health of many artists around the world. I think it's important to stay with the positive, now we have time to reflect and take stock, time to analyze and reorganize, to stop doing what doesn't make us happy and focus on what brings us well-being and guarantees our personal and artistic integrity.
Thanks Chus for sharing with us such as important news and for having the possibility to know you much more.
All the best in your new journey
Interviewed by Paul Ross