Think Local, Swing Global: Garrett David
Chatting Global Swing, Ohio Roots, Queen! and More
Garrett David has figured into my dance music education from the jump. He was the first DJ I heard blend two records together – a pivotal experience that inspired me to start DJ’ing shortly thereafter. In the nearly 15 years since, Garrett has released over a dozen 12”s, gigged around the world, been a staple behind the counter at Gramaphone Records and held down a residency at Smartbar’s weekly Sunday bash, Queen!. Gary’s new label, Global Swing, launched this summer with ‘The Dirty Work’ EP.
T: Gary! What’s new? How you livin’?
G: Can’t complain. I’m currently in South Carolina visiting my brother. Apparently a hurricane was supposed to be hitting us today but it seems it changed its mind and went further north.
T: Good news. My girlfriend’s family is near Orlando and I know things got pretty scary there for a while.
I heard you and Shyam saw Ricardo in Chicago a few weekends ago. How was it? Are you a RicHead?
G: The venue where it was held isn't where I’d typically find myself – bit of a mega-club vibe. But despite that and almost not being let in, I had a lot of fun that night. Honestly can’t say I'm a “RicHead” yet haha, probably due to the fact i’ve never seen him before then.
T: Please confirm or deny: Shyam spilling tequila on Ric in the green room was your fault.
G: I can’t be held responsible for Shyam's nervous and shaky hands
T: So you and I go way back to like 2008 / 9 (though we didn't become friends until much later) at Scotty Niemet’s Sweatin’ parties in Columbus. I was probably 19 or 20, which would have made you 16 or 17? Does that sound right?
G: Yeah, I believe I began playing Sweatin’ my junior year of high school.
T: I’ve been telling mutual friends for nearly a decade now that seeing you play at Sweatin’ is the reason I started DJ’ing. I assume this has made its way back to you by now? Is this cringe? Should I stop?
G: I wasn't aware of that! it's a bit wholesome to be honest. I feel like we all have that moment and i'm stoked I could be yours haha.
T: I have no real memories of what was played at those nights besides the time I asked Dustin Knell to play dubstep and he dropped Ramadanman’s “Work Them” as I watched the Traktor wheels spin in bliss. The rest is all filed under Blog-House, rightly or not. Do you remember any tunes you played there? Any of them hold up? Was there a Sweatin’ anthem?
G: I don't remember specific songs but we were really into the Institubes guys at that time. Like Paraone, Surkin, Bobmo… it's funny because they were really just recreating a lot of the elements I would later find myself seeking out in “truer” forms. One of my favorite memories was playing a Surkin song, I think “White Knight” and an older guy from the ele_mental crew (Titonton, Archetype, Todd Sines) came up and was like “huh, this samples Big Fun” and I'm like “what the hell is Big Fun?”. The next night I looked it up at home and was blown away, like that feeling your soul has been searching for something but you didn't know it fully yet. It was like all the music i was consuming until that point was just hinting at what i was truly looking for. It was over after that moment, and I started to teach myself the history of Detroit / Chicago / New York and the true history of dance music in the states.
T: I’m guessing that was Ed Luna. Ed, Charles (Archetype) and I were on a call talking about a new was / is project a few weeks ago and we briefly reminisced about the Sweatin’ days. 21/22 Corporation (the first label born out of the ele_mental crew) was a partnership between him and Charles.
G: Haha yes, it was Ed!
T: 16 / 17 is pretty young to be DJ’ing, particularly at the space / time locus of Columbus, 2008. What got you started? Did you grow up with music in the house? Do you have any musical family members?
G: i was the only one at home doing music. I started playing cello / stand up bass in 6th grade and did the neighborhood punk band thing in tandem most of those years. I think the initial spark to electronic music was me skating with my best friend who lived beside me growing up. We would focus a lot of our free time making skate videos and we always wanted our own beats to play in them. It just sort of grew from there. I also really loved the idea of not having to rely on other people to do music haha. Working with bands was frustrating to me because most the time was spent making plans or messing around.
T: I went to college with a bunch of Columbus kids and was subject to many nights of non-consensual high school skate video viewing. I think they soundtracked theirs with Sonic Youth, Modest Mouse, etc. They did turn me on to Daft Punk, Justice and Skream though, so respect.
So after high school you pretty quickly bounced to Chicago right? I remember you becoming a resident at Smartbar’s Dollar Disco (which would shortly thereafter become the Sunday night institution, Queen!) pretty much as soon as you got there. How did you land that gig?
G: When I arrived in Chicago I was really motivated to go out and meet like-minded people. I had already been releasing some music but under an alias, doing a lot of disco house and edits. Through the music I was releasing and meeting other DJ’s going out, I started getting invites to do guest spots at small things around the city soon after I arrived. I learned really early on they never ID the DJ haha. I guess through some minor visibility in the local scene and the music I was proliferating on the internet, the stars aligned and I gained the attention of the Smartbar talent-buyers at the time. They invited me and my roommate, who was also active doing music and DJ’ing, Erin Keeffe, to a meeting… After which they invited us to participate in a weekly party called Dollar Disco on Sundays that was just $1 to get in for students (if I remember right.)
They paired us on the night with Michael Serafini, the owner of Gramaphone Records, and the assistant talent buyer, Kyle Woods, who at the time went by Kid Color. Also should mention I was still performing under an alias. A few months after it started, Erin moved out of Chicago then it just became us three. The night went for about two years and wasn’t very popular by any means haha. Eventually Kyle moved on to pursue another job and the head talent buyer at the time told Michael and I we had about three months to basically try whatever we wanted, but after that he was going to change Sunday night’s programming.
Boom Boom Room, a legendary party that Michael was a long-time resident of, had just ended and there was a big gap in the city. During the years spent playing with Michael we became close and bonded over a similar taste in music. He even invited me to work at Gramaphone during that time and really educated me in the record store. When they gave us the opportunity at Smartbar to try whatever we wanted, Michael brought together legendary Chicago hosts like Byrd Bardot, Louis Lazu, and JoJo-Baby – all of whom were fixtures of Boom Boom Room for decades – to conceptualize the answer to Boom Boom Room’s absence. Thus, Queen! was born. And here we are 10 years later.
Byrd Bardot on Ralphi Rosario’s ‘Bardot Fever’ from 1992
T: I had no idea Erin Keeffe was involved. He moved here a couple years ago and recently wrote the program that runs the new lighting rig at Hot Mass.
Its pretty unique for somebody of our generation to dive head-in and pursue a life in house music the way you did. What was going on in your head at the time? What were your aspirations? Expectations? Has the life turned out to be everything you wanted when you left Ohio for the big city?
G: I really felt that it was my purpose. I moved the same week I graduated high school because I wanted to dive in as fast as I could. I didn’t have many expectations, and my aspirations at the time were a bit naive – basically “as long as I can pay my rent and pursue music life will be just great”. Obviously getting older some new questions start to surface like “should I have health insurance?” haha but I never could have imagined that music would take me all over the world and allow me to connect with people like it has.
T: To the topic at hand: your label, Global Swing, launched this summer with The Dirty Work, an EP of your own material. You and I briefly flirted with the idea of collaborating on Global Swing in 2019 / 2020. I remember my motivation being the almost total lack of labels releasing quality, US-rooted garage. What was the initial spark for you? Did that change in the 2+ years between our chats and you smashing the launch button this year?
G: The idea for the label had been in my mind for probably about five years before taking the step to get it started. I felt similar in that there wasn't a label I felt like I belonged to, or could imagine being a home for my (more club oriented) music. The opportunity came at a time that I probably needed it most, during the height of lockdown. It was a really hard time. With morale at an all time low I really needed something to grab onto and be excited about. Baldo at Subwax, who has been a good friend for years, hit me up saying he was taking over operations and he basically offered to do whatever I wanted to do. That’s when I proposed the idea for GS that had been swimming around my mind for awhile. He believed in me when I felt really down amongst all the uncertainty and I’m super thankful.
T: Shoutout Baldo! TerraFirm wouldn’t exist without his belief and support either.
What is the general concept behind GS? What do you want to communicate with its releases? What are your aspirations for the label?
G: The general concept was to create a platform that embodied this attitude I find hard to articulate with words. I've always been drawn to music that has a bit of a carefree sensibility. This isn't my first time starting an imprint, but I feel like all the projects before this were learning experiences leading up to this. I feel much more confident now in what I want and have a vision. Before, I felt like I was unearthing that as I went along.
“Maturing in music has shown me the best things you can offer come from meeting your own standards, not trying to fit into someone else’s story”
T: The first release on a label is a big deal. A friend who owns a distribution company recently told me “there are a lot of 001s but not a lot of 002s” coming out right now. The stakes are high, particularly in this moment of crazy production costs, plant delays, etc. What was your plan of attack for the first 12”? Did you change your approach to production? If so, what distinguishes it from the rest of your catalog?
G: I would say my approach hasn’t changed but my focus and decision making has. I’m very inspired by all kinds of music, and always want to experiment with different things and play off different inspirations. Maybe when I was younger I was more concerned about how my music fit into the landscape of what's going on. Especially living in Chicago, surrounded by so much history. It’s a bit intimidating. I think maturing in music has shown me the best things you can offer come from meeting your own standards, not trying to fit into someone else’s story
T: I know the artwork was a particularly important aspect for you. You worked with an artist whose name escapes me. Let's give them their dues. Can you talk about them a bit?
G: Isaiah “Esoe” is an artist I met in Chicago around 2018 / 19. Our first time actually hanging out I was buying some paintings from them. It was just one of those moments where it just clicked. I felt their visual style perfectly reflected the same energy / attitude I wanted to convey musically with the label. They aren’t new to this world, being a serious collector and DJ themselves. I can see in the future Isaiah making a big impact on the culture, wether it’s through their design or through their music and I’m really thankful to be working together.
T: What does the future hold for the label? You told me 002 is in the works. Care to share any details about it or other future releases?
G: I guess here could be an appropriate place to drop details about 002. It’s actually from Sweely and the EP is called “Bring it On”, titled after one of the tracks. William and I first met at a show we did in London in 2016 but didn’t become close until a few years later after a weekend at Glasto. I feel like it’s very easy to relate to each other and speak the same musical language, so it made a lot of sense to invite him onboard for the second release.
T: Very cool. Sweely has been on quite the tear recently. I preordered a VA with a weirdo vocal tune from him recently.
What else is on the horizon for you musically? Personally?
G: Right now I'm almost 100% focused on building my own platforms to release and curate music, also as a means to help foster others to get involved and contribute. I wouldn’t have anything if it wasn't for those people in my life that believed in me, pushed me and gave me opportunities to grow. The most fulfilling thing I can imagine would be giving that back and helping continue the tradition I've dedicated so much to.
The Dirty Work EP is out now worldwide. Nab the 12” or digis from Gary’s Bandcamp
Go Gary 🚀🚀🚀