RB Exclusive Interview: Arty Shares His Most Memorable New Year’s Eve Moments

Arty, Russian musician and DJ, has been making strides ever since he made it on the scene in 2009. At just 19 years old, Arty released his first production. His breakthrough came in 2010 when Above & Beyond signed him on their label Anjunabeats and over the past years his momentum on has only grown.

Arty will join us at this year’s Decadence NYE AZ. To prepare for his set, check out our exclusive interview to learn more about his music, passions and of course some of his favorite New Year’s memories:

Your big release right now is your remix of Moby’s “Porcelain” how’d that remix come about? And what was your creative thought process of taking a more mellow approach on that track?

So Moby’s management hit me up and was like “Here’s a roster of our songs from 1990 to 1999, just pick whatever song you want to remix you’re more than welcome.” For me Porcelain was such a special song when I was a young kid, and I asked if I could mix it. It’s not much of a remix it’s more of a re imagination for 2016.

Very cool! And you released this on Above and Beyond’s Anujanbeats, what is it like being so closely associated with an act like Above and Beyond and on AjunaBeats, what does that mean for you as an artist?

It means a lot because they are my family. We’ve been together for pretty much the last 6 years and I will always consider Above and Beyond and all the people behind Ajunabeats as my family. We’ve always been in touch. When I release an album and it’s not on Ajunabeats, they support me. It’s getting back to the full relationship circle. I love those guys a lot. They gave me so much support and I was trying to pay them back with whatever I have.

This year you also remixed 3lau’s ‘Is It Love’ and it’s a lot different than the Moby track you remixed, much more up beat and lively.

Well you need to hear the background story of the remix and why it’s upbeat. So when it just came out on Spotify I listened to it and it really gave me good memories from the good old days of progressive house, like 2006, 2007 2008. There was something about the track that I really really liked. I was texting Justin (3LAU) and was like “So you just released this track but do you suppose you have a club version of it? Because you know you want to play it in your live shows.” He was like “Not really. Do you want to make one?” So he sent me the stamps and I did it and he was like “Yeah, that’s perfect! That’s exactly what it needed”

Yeah he actually ended up using it as one of his promotional videos on Facebook.

Yeah, I imagined it at EDC you know, with fireworks and everything, but I did it because I really liked the original one. So I did my best!

So with taking on different sounds in a lot of your songs, do you ever feel restricted to a certain sound because of what your fans expect?

Nope! I don’t give a shit about that anymore. My boundaries just all of a sudden got so wide. I kept releasing the music that certain fans liked, but I wanted to do something for myself that takes me out of the comfort zone. So I can express myself in a wider way. All my new music is coming out and I’m super excited about that.

I think that’s a super important ideal of artist integrity.

I’m that person who can’t be stuck to one genre, you know? People were associating me with trance for such a long time but I’m not really trance. I appreciate the style and that’s how I came into the dance music scene. I have so much respect for everyone who’s representing the actual trance but that’s not what I would do on a daily basis.

So we have you coming out to Decadence in Arizona for New Years, and we’re excited to hear what you’ve got to play. What is you most memorable New Years Eve moment that you’ve had?

We’ll there’s way too many! I feel like I’m cursed for New Years Eve. So 2011 to 2012 I did a show with Avicii at Pier 94 (in New York) that was one of the first dance music shows on a pier I think, and capacity was 10,000. So Avicii by that time, he became so enormously huge that he sold out this venue without even announcing the additional lineup or anything, I was hidden in that. I mean all the support lineup were there just for the sake of having someone else to play there, because he sold out this show in like one hour. And I remember we were driving to pier 94 and there was this insane fucking line! It was like 5 degrees Celsius and the girls were staying in this night dress shit, and I was like “What the fuck is wrong with you? You’re going to get cold!”

So Tim’s plane got delayed because he played a show somewhere else earlier that night. So I had the honor to do the ball drop! There was like all this production and it was amazing, I felt so blessed. And the next day me and my manager went shopping on 5^th Ave, and when I was getting out of the cab I lost my passport (which was in the back of my jeans and that’s the reason I don’t put anything in the back of my jeans anymore because it’s way too fucking dangerous) So I lost it and I couldn’t get back to Russia and I had my visa and I had about 10 shows scheduled in the next two weeks in America. So we fucked it up.

And 2012 was even worse. The Canadian Embassy for some reason held my passport for a month and a half with an American visa and I had another 8 shows lined up for New Years Eve and I missed them all. I couldn’t do anything; the Embassy wouldn’t let me in.

But the fact is, two years in a row my New Years was so fucked up. I had a conversation with my booking agent and he said “Dude, this year we’re going to make it right. This year is going to be a good one. We’re going to Arizona, you have your visa, your passport, this is going to be an amazing show! Arizona doesn’t have snow or anything, but if you want we can make snow for you in the green room or with confetti.”

Yeah, it’s going to be a little warmer than you’re used to! So moral of the story.. don’t store things in your back pocket.

Not even don’t store things in your back pocket, it’s more “If you’re not from here make sure your passport is safe!”

Outside of your own performance is there anything else you’re looking forward to being out in Arizona?

I don’t know you tell me! What’s the catch in Arizona?

Well, good weather, no snow.

No cold weather?

Nope.

Like you go outside and you don’t see your breath when you exhale?

Well, there’s a little bit of that, but it’s not below freezing.

What else should I be prepping for?

There are a lot of pretty girls in Arizona!

That’s it! No need to go any further, that’s enough!

So to close, what’s one piece of advice you’d give to aspiring producers?

I mean, be inspired! It’s all up to the people. It’s about the personality. You can be super talented but you still have to be a hardworking person. All the people out there now, have been working so hard. DJ life is not a dream come true in a second. You can’t just make one track and then you’re out there. It happens sometimes but you still have to put the work behind it. You should be passionate, you should be patient, and you should love the music!

I read on your Facebook that you got into electronic music kind of through a love for electronics and video games, is that true? It’s in your Facebook bio.

Really? That’s on there? I mean I do love video games! At the time I was loving video games and making music but they had nothing in common, except certain games have soundtracks like Fifa. But now it’s blending a lot.

Do you still play video games?

 Yeah a lot! I play the new “Doccex” and I play a lot of League of Legends. It just takes so much fucking time. You want to get better but it take so much time!

 I don’t even know how you could find time with touring!

Connect With Arty: Facebook | Website | Twitter | Soundcloud