Gaydar Radio presenter and club DJ Gary H shares a musical moment with top producer Jon Cutler, and chats about his latest remix, featuring Pete Simpson, divas, taking complete control and the jet set life of a global DJ.

When you started DJing back in the 80's, did you ever envisage that you'd end up as a highly-respected producer?
Thanks for the kind words. Not at all. All I ever wanted to do was spin records and work on tracks. Obviously, I knew in the back of my mind that the more records you do the more gigs you get. But it’s been a great journey and I can’t complain.

Tell me about the single, 'It's Yours’, which has to have been the anthem of 2001 and is still played by many DJs, myself included.
‘It’s Yours’ was a great experience and obviously opened up a lot of doors for me. I will always be grateful to that record - if it’s possible to be grateful to a record - but at the same time it’s almost 4 years old now and it’s time to move on.

You’ve had the honour of remixing a lot of divas. What was it like remixing people like Kathy Brown and Kim English?
Doing a remix for an established singer is more than you can ask for - for many reasons. First off they sing in tune - you end up learning a lot when working with the accapella’s - and you usually begin to discover different ways of approaching things.

The Kathy Brown remix came about through Brian Tappert, who had signed it to Defected and then asked them to let me remix it.

I’d have to say that the Kim English remix was a high point for me due to the fact that I was a huge fan or hers for many years and always wanted to work with her.

You have your own record label, Distant Music, which has been going since 1996. How different is it having total artistic control over what you release, as opposed to being commissioned by another label to remix an artist?
Well, that’s the main reason I started the label. Sometimes people don’t get what you're trying to do. So being the owner and the one who makes all the final decisions is always a plus!

People obviously ask you re-interpret a track because of your soulful reputation. Has anyone ever interfered with the final product and then asked you to re-do it?
Two times. Once for Central Park Records and once for Estereo. With Central Park it was due to the way I put the vocal in. I never listened to the original, which many remixers never like to do. I heard the vocals differently and put them in a beat before or after, I forgot. There was nothing wrong with it but they wanted the vocals to sit like the original, which I agreed with because I like my releases on Distant to be remixes the same way.

With Estereo, I was told the track was to ‘musical’ and told to remove a bunch of the musicians used on the remix - but at the same time keep it tough and soulful?! Exactly. How do I do a soulful track without any music? I must have changed the mix 10 times. At the end of the day I didn’t feel they were too happy with the results, but after all the time wasted they decided to push it through.

In your opinion, what's been the most pleasure to work on?
I’ll go with the most recent, Runnin’. I was asked to do this record by MN2S, who are also my DJ management company in the UK. It was recorded in London with  UK musicians, singers and engineers. With the exception of Mike (Keys) and Shovell (Percussions), I had never met Pete Simpson (Vocalist) or Tony (Engineer) before. We had just three days to make the track from pure scratch!

Your CV is very impressive and you seem to have DJ'd just about everywhere from Eastern Europe, to Asia and Australia. What's the life of a huge star really like?
Having lunch in New York on a Thursday afternoon; drinks before the London gig on Friday night; and then dinner on Saturday in Belgium before my set. And watching MTV re-runs on Sunday night before being back in my bed in New York. Nuff said.

So what's next for you?
More productions and more remixes. Plus, I do a weekly internet show every Wednesday from 8-11pm (GMT) over at www.cyberjamz.com.

Gary H presents The Edge on Gaydar Radio, 10pm-12am seven days a week. Listen live on www.gaydarradio.com. He is also resident at Nightingales in Birmingham and plays next on Saturday, 27 November. 

JON CUTLER featuring PETE SIMPSON: Runnin' (MN2S)
Finally, we have new material from New York based Jon Cutler. This is the first of 3 singles for the Milk 'n' 2 Sugars label and I simply can't wait for the rest. Jon is probably best known for his anthem ‘It's Yours’ from 2001, but when you think he's been on the Dance Music scene since the late 80's it goes to show the road to success is not always easy.  Since then he has remixed Kim English, Kathy Brown, and Bob Sinclair to name but a few. not to mention DJ residencies at Pascha (London), Tank Club (Australia) and Queen in Paris!  Copyright lead the way with the remix duties, and stand out for their soulful and sexy-deep interpretation.  This is not to be missed!

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Released: out now
More info: www.mn2s.com