Producer/DJ Gene King

Gene King, a world renowned DJ, music producer, re-mixer and CEO of Shines Records, has been a mainstay in house music for over twenty years. His family are originally from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, but Gene was born and raised in Montreal where he listened to a lot of music. Tantra Zawadi caught up with Gene King and below is the little talk they had.
AF: Gene, what kind of music did you listen to when you were growing up? What were your influences?
GK: Wow! There is too much music and too many bands, musicians and producers for me to mention or to think of spur of the moment. I listened to a lot of my parents’ music when I was a boy; everything that they were into: West Indian music like Calypso (this was before Soca), Reggae, Latin and African music, Spouge (a groove from the island of Barbados that’s related to Calypso with a funk edge to it), and a lot of the soul and pop music that they were into at the time.
As an adult, now I actually appreciate the music they grew up with in the 50’s (laughter)! I hated it when I was a kid. Through my dad and my older cousins, I discovered a lot of the soul, funk and R&B stuff that was out there and that taste evolved into the music I listened to during the disco era. My influences are from generations of musicians, bands and producers from the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. People like: Billy Preston, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Eumir Deodato, Ramsey Lewis, Herbie Hancock, Roger Troutman, Norman Whitfield, Larry Graham, Greg Rolie, Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, the Jackson Family, Marvin Gaye circa 1970-1976 and King Curtis. Later, I discovered Jimmy Smith, Byron Lee and his excellent musicians, Frankie Mcintosh, Giorgio Moroder, Kraftwerk, George Clinton, James Brown circa 1968-1976, The JB’s, Fatback Band, War, Osibisa, Manu Dibango, Nick Martinelli, Jaques Fred Petrus and Mauro Malavasi, Jellybean Benitez (who is the guy that inspired me to get into producing being a DJ himself and becoming a superstar re-mixer/producer in the 80’s), as well as Arthur Baker and Robert Ouimet of Montreal. Honestly, there is so much music that has passed through me, it is impossible to name everything and everyone. But all of these people and more have influenced me musically throughout my life. My parents have been an influence on my life in general aside from musical influences.
AF: Given Gene’s longevity in the house music industry, I was curious about his thoughts on house music in the 21st century.
GK: That can be taken many different ways. In the 21st century, I really like the digital age for its conveniences in making the world smaller, but I think we as artists, producers and label owners are paying a price for that. Many studios, record stores, distributors and labels have closed in a short space of time, and there is no quality control anymore. Technology is great, but it has its downside. These things really hurt sales, and yes some people don’t seem to think so or understand how important circulating money is, but this is the reality whether you like it or not, or whether you disagree with me or not. I definitely miss the days of manufacturing hard product that people would pay money for instead of a virtual piece of information that can be copied, shared, pirated, altered and deleted in a split second.
I really don’t know what’s in the future and to be honest I think I am glad that I don’t know. I’ll just keep making my music as long as I am able on my own terms and my own way because now, that’s all we really have isn’t it? That is, until we start getting some big money marketing in this sub-genre. As for sub-genres, house music in the 21st century has become confusing. I am still trying to make sense out of it. There are now so many sub-genres that it’s become more segregated and cut into little pieces; so depending on what style of house music you are talking about, I can see certain genres evolving into something big and others falling into oblivion to be forgotten in the years to come. Business-wise, I am hoping that we can find ways to actually make money again to keep it going.
AF: There is a huge presence from South Africa in “house” (artists, producers and record labels). What is your take on the South African influence?
GK: It’s nice to see that there is a scene, and from what I understand, is larger than life in Africa right now. Hopefully the trend will go all over the world and bring it back to the rest of the global dance world. I love getting messages from people that enjoy what I do and it seems to come from that part of the world mostly. It’s refreshing and also nice to see that a lot of younger people are into the music over there. It’s not really the case in North America at the moment. It’s a relief to me that younger people can feel this music and their support is really keeping it alive. The onslaught of producers and artists coming out of that area is also refreshing. It just makes the music still relevant today.
AF: You are a D - http://www.afrofutures.com & www.motionfm.com

Gene King, a world renowned DJ, music producer, re-mixer and CEO of Shines Records, has been a mainstay in house music for over twenty years. His family are originally from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, but Gene was born and raised in Montreal where he listened to a lot of music. Tantra Zawadi caught up with Gene King and below is the little talk they had.
AF: Gene, what kind of music did you listen to when you were growing up? What were your influences?
GK: Wow! There is too much music and too many bands, musicians and producers for me to mention or to think of spur of the moment. I listened to a lot of my parents’ music when I was a boy; everything that they were into: West Indian music like Calypso (this was before Soca), Reggae, Latin and African music, Spouge (a groove from the island of Barbados that’s related to Calypso with a funk edge to it), and a lot of the soul and pop music that they were into at the time.
As an adult, now I actually appreciate the music they grew up with in the 50’s (laughter)! I hated it when I was a kid. Through my dad and my older cousins, I discovered a lot of the soul, funk and R&B stuff that was out there and that taste evolved into the music I listened to during the disco era. My influences are from generations of musicians, bands and producers from the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. People like: Billy Preston, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Eumir Deodato, Ramsey Lewis, Herbie Hancock, Roger Troutman, Norman Whitfield, Larry Graham, Greg Rolie, Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, the Jackson Family, Marvin Gaye circa 1970-1976 and King Curtis. Later, I discovered Jimmy Smith, Byron Lee and his excellent musicians, Frankie Mcintosh, Giorgio Moroder, Kraftwerk, George Clinton, James Brown circa 1968-1976, The JB’s, Fatback Band, War, Osibisa, Manu Dibango, Nick Martinelli, Jaques Fred Petrus and Mauro Malavasi, Jellybean Benitez (who is the guy that inspired me to get into producing being a DJ himself and becoming a superstar re-mixer/producer in the 80’s), as well as Arthur Baker and Robert Ouimet of Montreal. Honestly, there is so much music that has passed through me, it is impossible to name everything and everyone. But all of these people and more have influenced me musically throughout my life. My parents have been an influence on my life in general aside from musical influences.
AF: Given Gene’s longevity in the house music industry, I was curious about his thoughts on house music in the 21st century.
GK: That can be taken many different ways. In the 21st century, I really like the digital age for its conveniences in making the world smaller, but I think we as artists, producers and label owners are paying a price for that. Many studios, record stores, distributors and labels have closed in a short space of time, and there is no quality control anymore. Technology is great, but it has its downside. These things really hurt sales, and yes some people don’t seem to think so or understand how important circulating money is, but this is the reality whether you like it or not, or whether you disagree with me or not. I definitely miss the days of manufacturing hard product that people would pay money for instead of a virtual piece of information that can be copied, shared, pirated, altered and deleted in a split second.
I really don’t know what’s in the future and to be honest I think I am glad that I don’t know. I’ll just keep making my music as long as I am able on my own terms and my own way because now, that’s all we really have isn’t it? That is, until we start getting some big money marketing in this sub-genre. As for sub-genres, house music in the 21st century has become confusing. I am still trying to make sense out of it. There are now so many sub-genres that it’s become more segregated and cut into little pieces; so depending on what style of house music you are talking about, I can see certain genres evolving into something big and others falling into oblivion to be forgotten in the years to come. Business-wise, I am hoping that we can find ways to actually make money again to keep it going.
AF: There is a huge presence from South Africa in “house” (artists, producers and record labels). What is your take on the South African influence?
GK: It’s nice to see that there is a scene, and from what I understand, is larger than life in Africa right now. Hopefully the trend will go all over the world and bring it back to the rest of the global dance world. I love getting messages from people that enjoy what I do and it seems to come from that part of the world mostly. It’s refreshing and also nice to see that a lot of younger people are into the music over there. It’s not really the case in North America at the moment. It’s a relief to me that younger people can feel this music and their support is really keeping it alive. The onslaught of producers and artists coming out of that area is also refreshing. It just makes the music still relevant today.
AF: You are a D - http://www.afrofutures.com & www.motionfm.com