Carl Cox. Photo Credit: Dan Reid.
Veteran electronic musician and British trance star Carl Cox chatted his upcoming show in Brooklyn, New York, and his music and songwriting inspirations.
Cox opened up about being a part of the digital age, and he shared his thoughts on AI on the future of the music business.
“The important thing in life is not victory but combat; it is not to have vanquished but to have fought well,” said Pierre de Coubertin, French Educator who was primarily responsible for the revival of the Olympic Games in 1894. This quote applies to Carl Cox.
Brooklyn show
On March 21st, Cox will be performing his “Teksupport” show at Brooklyn Storehouse in New York.
“I’m always excited to come to New York. It’s always a challenge,” he admitted. “They say that when ‘you break New York, you break America.’ The last time I played New York was at Avant Gardner, but I also played Central Park when I did the live show.”
“It will be nothing like either of those shows,” Cox said with a sweet laugh. “Beyond itself. I’ve come prepared to change the game once again. So, get your dancing shoes on because the level of what I did last time is another level today.”
Ultra Music Festival in Miami, Florida
At the end of the month, Cox will be performing at Ultra Music Festival in Miami, Florida, which has become an annual tradition for the electronic music trailblazer.
“Last year, I did my biggest live show at Ultra Music Festival. This year, it’s their 25-year anniversary of Ultra, and I’ve been there for at least 24 of them,” he said.
Music and songwriting inspirations
On his music and songwriting inspirations, Cox shared, “I have a whole library of music. Sometimes, I just go in there, and I pull out a few tracks that I’ve completely forgotten about.”
“Then, I play them and I go ‘Wow, now that’s what I’m talking about.’ Then, I get inspired by what I’m experiencing or something I haven’t heard much of, and I utilize that in what I do next with making music,” he elaborated.
“Most of it comes from my brain into my heart, and then, into my hands. Sometimes, I just need a little bit of help and inspiration because this is my sound library,” he noted.
“This music goes all the way back from my collection from 1964, which was started off in my dad’s collection. So, you can imagine how much of my sound library I have to be inspired by. It’s a lot,” he admitted.
“A lot of my inspiration comes from Jean-Michel Jarre,” Cox said. “I love how he had all of equipment laid out and he just went to his analog and his sounds. He put together some new digital sounds and ‘Oxygen’ was made. It was very simple but very effective.”
The digital age
On being an artist in the digital age, Cox said, “I mean, the thing is now it has turned a corner. Now, you don’t need to have a college band set-up with a friend that can play the bass, a guy that can play or a girl that can play the drums, or someone that can play the harp or the oboe, or someone that can basically play the triangle.”
“You open up your laptop, then you have the accessibility to have all these things, and then some. So, it was always going to happen. It was going to go from analog to digital,” he observed.
“We were already crossing those boundaries in the ’80s with Gary Numan’s ‘Cars,’ obviously Kraftwerk, Visage, and The Human League. We were already crossing those boundaries,” he said.
“Even if you go back to golden years, listen to David Bowie. Herbie Hancock, for instance, was a purveyor of electronic music and Stevie Wonder was, of course, too,” he noted.
“So, it’s not new or it’s not surprising the way we’ve gone digitally, but it has also made a lot of people very lazy,” he said. “Rather than going to Berklee and music school, and learning how to play the piano, you don’t have to do that anymore, especially now with AI.”
AI on the future of the industry
“You have to use AI very, very carefully. It’s a good tool to be inspired by… the things it comes up with is actually unbelievable. It comes back to you with things that you never really thought about. It can be incredible,” he said.
Especially now with AI, even though you have to use that AI very, very carefully, to be inspired by it is actually really unbelievable… when it comes back at you of things that you never really thought about. That’s incredible.
“The good thing is that something that you make with AI, you can’t call it your own because it has been created digitally. I like the way it is being protected. You still have to basically own the idea of your original composition,” he said.
“AI can make you a techno record, and it can probably come back better than you ever thought, but you can’t actually sit there and own that right to the idea of that,” he acknowledged.
“I think that’s still important at the end of the day based on who you are and your talent and the ideas of what you have to stand by your music,” he added.
DJ Mag recognition
In 1996 and 1997, Cox was named “Best DJ in the World” in the DJ Magazine Top 100 DJs poll.
Fast-forward to 2023, Cox was honored with the “Outstanding Contribution Award” at the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs ceremony, where he was recognized for his 30-year career as a pioneering techno DJ, producer, and label owner.
A staple in the Top 100 poll, he was lauded for his enduring influence on rave culture and for continuing to innovate in the electronic dance music (EDM) landscape.
“Oh my God. That has been incredible,” he exclaimed. “My journey of being where I am still today has been an incredible one because if anyone asked me the question, ‘How come you’re still here doing what you’re doing at a level that you’re doing it at?’ I think that I’m probably the wrong person to answer that question.”
Cox continued, “You’ve got to speak to the people who still support my music, and still come to my events… You’ve got to ask the people, ‘Why do you still go to a Carl Cox show?’ or ‘Why do you go all the way to Ibiza, stand in a queue to go into a club called UNVRS, after Space, and still have a best time on a Sunday night with me playing my music all night long?’”
“So, I feel like I still have something to give to the world based on my musical abilities, my professionalism to the game, my heart and soul, and passion for the music and how I basically portray myself as someone that’s still enjoying the idea of sharing the love of music,” he acknowledged.
Superpower
Cox feel that “sharing the love of music” is his superpower. “I think that’s my superpower… no matter what the algorithms say, no matter how many followers I have on TikTok, Facebook or Instagram, it’s all about sharing the love of music,” he said.
“To me, that’s just the icing on the cake and what I always laid down as a foundation, and one of the reasons why I’m still here,” he admitted.
“As a forefather or a godfather or a groundskeeper to the music, I’m still going to be doing exactly the same as I’ve always done. Here’s a great record. I’ll put a needle to the record, or I’ll put it in digitally, and I’ll play it,” he explained.
“I’ve always been there for the music,” he underscored.
Stage of his life
On the title of the current chapter of his life, Cox revealed, “I’m a more electronic live performer now.”
“Especially with my live shows, and what I’ve been doing the last two years… I wanted to really show people that outside of DJing, I can actually create my own music,” he said.
“I can actually perform my own music from a live digital point of view and analog point of view while having all the machines that I would normally produce music in the studio, and present them on a stage with a stage presence, and that’s what I have been doing and I have been really enjoying that,” he explained.
“The embodiment of most of the music has already been made, but I do a lot of overdubs and overlaying and live performance on top of what I’ve already created. So, that is a live electronic performance,” he elaborated.
Carl Cox honors the legacy and influence of James Brown as part of Black History Month
Most recently, in honor of Black History Month, Cox paid homage to James Brown’s musical legacy and influence with his new remix project titled “I’m Black And I’m Proud – Say It Loud (Remixes),” released via Universal Music Enterprises (UMe)
The James Brown and Carl Cox remix project is available on digital service providers by clicking here.
To learn more about Carl Cox, follow him on Instagram, Facebook, and visit his official website.