Exclusive Interview: Dirty South

Long time member of the site, Nic Toupee, got an interview in with “Just Can’t Get Enough” remixer Dirty South and was kind enough to let us share it with you. They discuss remixing, his projects, and more.

Just can’t get enough or just had enough? Dirty South vs Depeche Mode.

Melbourne, Australia’s own Dirty South was delivered the heavily responsible task of remixing Depeche Mode’s iconic track ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’. Faced with the task of either tastefully enervating the poptastic fluff of the original Vince Clarke smash, or kicking it screaming and rolling into the twenty first century, Dirty South has opted for a combination of retro drum patterning and contemporary arrangements – giving the song current club potential without an entirely flashback-centric character but enough of the original for hands-in-the-air singalong moments. With only snippets of Dave’s original vocal, the remix is loved by some but canned by many fans of the original, it certainly says ‘Dirty South’ as much as it says ‘Depeche Mode’.

Many Depeche fans hadn’t previously heard of Dirty South – not the southern US style of hip hop, but the electro/techno remix project. Hailing from the remote southern climes of Melbourne Australia, Dirty South, aka Dragan Roganovic, has swiftly moved from remixing friends in Melbourne (e.g. Seargent Slick, TV Rock) to remixing world renowned artists like Depeche Mode. He started as a bedroom DJ in the late 90’s, and, inspired by the classic 80’s ‘megamix’ format, transformed himself using an old pc and dodgy software into a producer, making strictly whitelabel “mash-ups” – bootleg mixes of two tracks fashionable around 2004 -5 and still continuing to filter through clubs today. Some of his legally dubious early fusions reached the ears of other artists, and Dirty South’s talents began to be hijacked for remixes of Australian artists, with his remix of Evermore’s “It’s Too Late” being featured on Pete Tong’s infamous Essential Selection. Dragan’s remixing talents have been in demand, and he has remixed some of the highest profile artists in club and pop charts today: Fedde Le Grand, Roger Sanchez, Cicada, Ferry Corsten, and, of course, Depeche Mode.

The question is, how did this all come about? How did an underground recording artist from the other side of the world end up on a Depeche Mode official 12″ single? It seems the answer is that Mute/EMI are definitely on the pulse and approached Dirty South to work with DM.

Dragan explains that while he wasn’t born in a bubble and had, of course,heard of Depeche Mode, the remix was offered to him rather than something he pursued.

“I was asked by the Depeche Mode label to do this remix. I wasn’t a crazy fan but I knew some of their music. I think everyone at some point would’ve heard of these guys. This is my first time I’ve ever worked on anything by DM. I’ve never met any of the members but it would be great to hook up one day and maybe even write some stuff. Who knows?”

Seemingly, the chance to remix Depeche Mode’s possibly most famous – certainly most infamous – single was handed to Dragan on a plate:

“Their label chose the track I would work on. It usually works like that with a remix. I was quite happy to remix Depeche Mode’s probably biggest ever hit. It was a little bit of pressure, but I was very happy with the result.”

Using Dirty South’s characteristic soft setup with a dash of actual outboard, Dragan’s remix used the same method he has developed and used on other remixes – self taught and idiosycratic.

“My setup consists of mainly computers, keyboards/synths and soft synths. Sometimes I use guitars in my production, but for this remix it was just a combination of hardware synths, soft synths, drums/percussion and some of parts from the original DM track.

“I’ve basically taught my self everything I know about music. I think that’s the best way to learn and absorb new things. I’ve been making music properly for the last 3-4 years. Before that, I was just playing around with other peoples music and beats and making bootlegs. I have a few things coming out this year, a lot of remixes and a few original productions too. Best is to check my myspace (www.myspace.com/dirtysouth909) for all upcoming things.”

Listening back, Dragan is still one hundred percent happy with his mix, and thinks it reflected what he sees as important in a sympathetic remix.

“I’ve been getting a lot of very positive feedback from people and fans, and I’m very happy with the remix – I wouldn’t change a thing. A great remix is one that uses the right elements from the original record and adds a new flavour to it. It also helps if the original record is a good song so the remixer has something great to work with.”

No more Depeche Mode related work is on the horizon for Dirty South: this was a one-off project for Dragan. In fact, despite being in demand with a string of remixes about to come out in 2007, it seems he’s ready to move on from remixing to concentrate on original production.

“I’ve done remixes for artists like Mark Ronson, Tiesto, Kaskade, Josh Wink and a few others. They should all be coming out this year. There are no plans to do any more remixes for DM, in fact I’m cutting down on remixes and concentrating on my original stuff.”

Anyone wanting to check out Dirty South’s own sounds can check his myspace, as above. For those of you in Europe, you might also get a chance to see him perform – Dragan mentions:

“I’ll be all over Europe between july-october doing dj gigs. I usually just do dj gigs.”

Guest Interview by Nic Toupee. (C) HOME. Do not steal this article without giving full credit and a link! Photo appears courtesy of Dirty South.