John Tejada

John Tejada was born in Austria on April 21, 1974 and then moved to Los Angeles in 1982 with his mother. He had an early start in music with piano lessons at the age of 4, both his parents are professional classical musicians. He started playing drums at the age of 8, at 12 he was given his first set of turntables, and at the age of 15 he received his first looping delay.
His early productions were in hip hop, but he soon moved into techno, acid house, and ambient house when he met his best friend Arian Leviste releasing their first tunes in 1994. After releasing music on European labels such as A13, Multiplex, and Generations R&S, he decided to start a label of his own, Palette Recordings. In 2004 he released two tracks, almost at the same time, that catapulted his techno career, "Sweat On The Walls," and "Mono On Mono", which sold over 23,000 copies on vinyl.
Palette Record's website states that he is "Known for crafting a brand of subtle, musical techno, his recorded output ranges across tempo and genre lines, from chilled out affairs with spacious arrangements to pulsating, densely layered, deeply energetic tracks that work magnificently in the hands of DJs as well as on the home stereo." www.paletterecordings.com.

John was kind enough to take some time out of his busy schedule and answer a few questions.

G: Why do you play/make music?
J: I've been doing so ever since the age of about 4. It just feels like that's what you're supposed to do.

G: Do you have a hobby outside of music?
J: I enjoy biking and running.  Also, I enjoy drumming and vintage drums quite a bit. I know that is music related, but it feels like this whole other collecting type of hobby.

G: What were your musical influences?
J: I got started on classical, then heard The Beatles, then Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. After that, early 80s hip hop and electro which really got me interested in electronic music. That led me to house and techno. Then I discovered all the avant garde music that's out there in the world, old, new, acoustic and electronic.

G: Do you have any clubs or festivals that you like to DJ at?
J: I really enjoy sunset boat parties and related events in San Francisco. I really love that crowd. I love playing in Japan. Playing in my home city of Vienna is always a treat as well.

G: Can you tell us a story from your travels that looking back on, makes you laugh?
J: There are so many after all these years. Traveling with friends is always fun because you have these experiences together. I found that roadblocks you encounter on your own can be an absolute nightmare, but with a friend it just becomes funny.  The other night Arian Leviste and I were laughing about a guy who took us to dinner in Reggio, Italy who brought his wife and constantly asked us through the whole dinner "Don't you think my wife is beautiful?" in his bizarrely deep voice until it just became way too weird.

G: "Sweat on the Walls" where did you get the idea for this track? What was the process making it?
J: It was the first time I worked with my friend Susan. She had offered to sing on a track and I thought let's give it a try. I had the music just about finished and had her track some takes on the mic. The singing idea didn't fit at all and after about an hour of  different ideas I told her to just do some words about parties she used to go to. Out of quite a bit of audio I found the few phrases you hear in the song and that was it.

G: What artists are influencing your music now?
J: I'm always a bit vague on this answer simply because so much new music sort of comes and goes. I enjoy a lot of modern more experimental electronic composition. I don't listen to very much club music. I do like when the two lines cross and work well together. Something too experimental for a club but to me it sounds like that is exactly what should be played in clubs! Other than that I find myself going back to early influences quite often when I get bored with new things. With both classic rock and early electronic music or early hip hop I find it interesting how you develop a new perspective on music you might have been listening to for years, but all of a sudden because of the way you grow, you now hear new things in the music.

G: How do we attract a younger audience to electronic music?
J: All I see at clubs is a young audience. I would ask how do we get the people who really know the music that have stopped going to clubs to come out again. These are the people that are fun to play for.

G: What new things are you working on?
J: At the moment we just finished our fifth "I'm not a gun" record. It's titled "Solace" and will be out on City Centre Offices soon. I'm also working still with Arian Leviste, Justin Maxwell, and Josh Humphrey all the time as well as trying to make new solo material.








Check out more info about John Tejada @ www.paletterecordings.com
Interview by Greg K