What's your take on the overall state of the music industry?
I think the state sucks in terms of sales. The only reason why things are the way they are is because of the people that run the labels. The majors don't think dance music is a viable commodity, even though everyone wants a dance track now. Dance music these days is definitely the 1990s all over again, but not necessarily a true representation. In the 1990s, dance music was becoming mainstream, but there were a few things that killed it - primarily, that there was no face to it.
Today, David Guetta is extremely popular and I'm not mad at him at all for it. But Kelly Rowland - why is David Guetta getting top billing over you? Instead of this "feature" stuff, how about David Guetta produces a dance album for Kelly if she wants to do a dance album? The other thing is that there are too many singles and not enough albums. Singles aren't as accessible to the average person. They want a body of work they can hum along to and singles just aren't cutting it.
Why do you think Deep House has become mainstream music in South Africa?
A lot of their original music already has the Deep House feeling to it. But it goes back to what I was saying: they put a face to their music. Have you seen Dennis Ferrer's "Hey Hey" video? Why is Dennis not in the song? I don't get that.
On my album, I share the billing with the artists I work with. I hate the word "featuring." How could I say, "Quentin Harris 'featuring Ultra Nate?'" I think you do the vocalist a disservice when you "feature". We need to sell a face.
Speaking of Ultra Nate, let's finish off with the inside scoop on your future project with her...
I'll be in a band with Ultra Nate titled Black Stereo Face. We'll be exploring funk rock with influences from Talking Heads, Rolling Stones... We'll be flipping it into something modern. I actually had half of the album done for Black Stereo Face before I even had three songs done on my solo artist album. But be on the lookout for it sometime in September of next year.
Quentin Harris' new album Sacrifice is out now on Strictly Rhythm. The first single - "Do The Right Thing" with vocalist Inaya Day - dropped in March; a maxi-single and sampler with remixes is on the street now. For podcasts and touring information, check out the glitzy quentinharris.com.
