Ian Carey is one of the major players in the House music scene worldwide. After growing up in the USA, he moved to Europe to refine his “funky bass line” sound and with massive success. The demand for his productions and especially his remixes went through the roof. He has had Top 40 hits and is respected by the likes of Roger Sanchez and Pete Tong. Liz Sheehan chats to the Summadayze headliner before he’s about to experience a hot NYE!

Some people may remember Ian Carey as The Ian Carey Project under which he released the chart topper “Get Shaky”. This was a name Carey began to use when dance music wasn’t as open to the “mixing” of genres and he felt the “project” aspect of it would indicate the experimental side of his productions.

“My thought behind The Ian Carey Project was introducing new genres and mash ups into House music. When I first started it about 4 years ago, it was pretty appropriate as I was doing something new and adding these new genres to dance music back when it was really rigid and it was very strict. The reason why I dropped the name is because now dance music has got to a point where everything can be put into a blender and people aren’t so rigid on genres anymore.”

The point that dance music isn’t as rigid with genres is an interesting one. Carey has seen the bridge closing between dance music and the urban genres such as RnB and Hip Hop. This is something that Carey believes is a good thing for the USA where dance music isn’t as big as it is in Europe.

“The biggest thing I hear now is the gap between urban music like RnB, Hip Hop and dance is starting to be bridged. The house guys are starting to do a lot more RnB and Hip Hop sounding things. And the RnB and Hip Hop artists are starting to do stuff that sounds like dance music. That’s the new big thing to be honest. In America it’s a good thing because dance music hasn’t really been big here. Now it’s changing, so it’s getting bigger and bigger every day.”

Electronic music becoming bigger in the USA will, without a doubt, help the new producers trying to get into the scene, where as Carey found he had to move to Europe to be closer to the epicentre of his style of music. He moved there at the beginning of his career and found that his “funky bass line” sound flourished. He even played at Space in Ibiza which was a massive honour for Carey.

“I spent six years in Europe and I still spend summers back there. It was a great decision to go to Europe at the beginning of my career. It’s the centre of dance music, I was around it all the time and it was easier to get the gigs. Playing at Space was a huge honour. It’s one of the biggest and main arenas to play in Ibiza and it was an awesome party.”

Carey is the owner of the electronic label “GFab”, which was originally started to release his own music on. Having now outgrown the label, Carey uses it to help new artists gets their tracks released.

“I’ve kind of out grown the label and I just don’t have the staff or the capacity to promote the kind of records I am doing now. So it’s turned into a platform for new artists for when we hear something that we think ‘wow that’s really good’. We love trying to take on new artists who have never had a release before and maybe I’ll do a remix or something to help them out. It’s a good platform.”

On the subject of releases, Carey seems to let his tracks loose on Australia just in time for our summers. Future Music Festival saw the track “Get Shaky” get rinsed like no tomorrow and this summer Carey has just released a new track “Shot Caller”. It seems that we’ll be getting a double hit of Carey this summer with another new track ready to go in time for Summadayze.

“I have my next one that I can tell you about, it’s called ‘Let Loose’ and it’s featuring a new artist from New York called Mandy Ventrice. You will be hearing a lot about her in the near future. We did a collaboration and it’s a big record! It’s a full on party record that will do well in the clubs!”

Carey’s funky style of music seems suited to festivals. There is something about the vibe in our great southern land that Carey particularly likes.

“In Australia the festivals are awesome. There are tonnes of people with a big festival vibe. I play a lot of festivals in Europe but it’s different in Australia, it’s like you guys live for your festivals. There is a massive culture for it and people are really in to it. It almost affects the nightclub turnouts! Sometimes it can be a bit stressful because people expect you to be full on for the 2 hours that you’re playing but it’s a lot of fun!”

Besides our awesome festival vibe and intense crowds, what else is Carey looking forward to about his visit down under for Summadayze?

“This will the first time I have celebrated New Years Eve in the southern hemisphere where it’s warm... so that will be different for me! I can’t wait!”

Don’t miss Ian Carey letting loose on stage at Summadayze – 3rd January!