Born and raised in the western suburbs, Carter was into music from a young age, but during his teens Chicago's house scene sucked him in for good. Before long Carter became a strong presence in the city's underground dance scene. "When I got my driver's license at 16 my sneak ability was validated," he laughs. "I was a fierce bedroom jock for a long time. After you mix for the love of it for six or seven years, you get it pretty tight and you can take it on the road." He got by working at dance-music specialty stores like Gramaphone and gigging at parties. Later he landed regular DJ stints at Shelter, Foxy's, and Smart Bar. Though he doesn't spin much Stateside anymore, when he does, he attracts large crowds. His sets are rooted in house, but he freely travels outside club tastes, seamlessly incorporating old-school disco, soul, jazz, and whatever else catches his fancy. Most of the time he works in Europe, where he's become a major celebrity among dance-music aficionados. And the money's a hell of a lot better there. "It's hard not to laugh on the occasions when you'll make 20 times what you make in Chicago on a Saturday night, but there are also times when you do it just for the fun, like at home. So many people come up to me and say, 'Man, I had the worst day. My girlfriend left me, I locked my keys in my car, but you turned me for two hours, and that made me able to get up in the morning.' That's the best thing going." Pioneering, innovative tracks and consequent critical acclaim have marked Derrick out as one of the most important players in dance music. Most notably through his more recent releases on Classic. As co-owner and close friend of the company his musical and conceptual input has resulted in Classic becoming one of the leaders in the world of deep house. His first release was as Rednail with 'I Think of You', followed by 'Nu Pschidt' and 'Hope' under his own name. Nü Pschidt combined woven scatting with sleepy minimal beats on 'Dreaming Again' and skilfully cast his own low, sexy drawl over his trademark Carter grooves to form 'Boompty Boomp Theme', described by acid house legend Andy Weatherall as 'the greatest house record of the year, if not the next two years. Besides his Subliminal residency at Centrofly, New York, with Eric Morillo, and his Chicago Madbar residency, he has just started a new bi-monthly Classic residency at London's The End alongside Luke Solomon & Rob Mello. Derrick spends most of his life continually touring regularly playing in Europe, America, the Far East and Australia.
All Artists
|
