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This edition of MY FIRST GIG: Italian DJ Uto Karem. "At first, my family didn't understand anything about what I was doing. Everyone kept saying that I should finally get a normal job."
“My family moved from Italy to the United Kingdom in the late seventies of the previous century. So I grew up in the eighties with influences of synth pop and electronic music that I heard on television. After ten years, I came into contact with techno in my early teens in Italy. That was around ’93/’94.”
Military service
“The first gig was actually just for fun. At that time, I collected vinyl. This was a passion I shared with a friend who lived in Germany at the time. I visited him often to go to festivals together and to have the chance to score new vinyl in Germany. He already had a couple of turntables at home at that time, and we spent a lot of time challenging each other in terms of mixing techniques. In the meantime, we tried to find the sound we heard at the festivals. I was around nineteen at that time. I had fulfilled my military service a year earlier, which was still mandatory in Italy at that time.”
Simply fell in love
“After a while, I had collected a considerable collection of records myself and knew most of the tracks DJs played. In the meantime, we occasionally visited a small club. One evening, the owner of that club invited us to play a few records. At that moment, I had no idea how to beatmatch, and I mixed by feeling the breaks. But when I stepped into the DJ booth that night, it felt so natural, and the feeling of sharing my passion with people who enjoyed it – that was so cool, that I simply fell in love. After this feeling had buzzed through my head for a few days, I felt I had to give DJing a chance.”
Serious try
“Of course, I was nervous during that first mini-performance. After all, I hadn’t prepared anything. I just played my favorite music of that moment. However, I wasn’t afraid and didn’t hesitate for a moment. And as I said: it just went by itself. Of course, it helped that I was only playing for about a hundred people, most of whom were my friends. It’s completely different when you stand in front of ten thousand people for the first time. Then I’m definitely nervous, you know.” (laughs)
Dark and tiny
“The location itself was an underground place, very dark and tiny. My friends and I always had a lot of fun there, and eventually, it became the place where my career development started. Later, I got the chance to play at after-parties. There I discovered my passion for long sets that I can play during the day.”
Favorite artists
“Did I get support from my family? At first, my family didn’t understand anything about what I was doing. Everyone kept saying that I should finally get a normal job. Nowadays, of course, I have their full support. Moreover, I’m lucky that I still have the same old friends who stood by my side from the beginning. I never had a mentor. It was purely sharing music with friends that brought me on this path. We went to countless events and listened to live-recorded cassette tapes. I started looking up some artists myself. My three favorites at that time were Sven Väth because of his charismatic approach to the crowd, Jeff Mills because of his mixing techniques and producing skills, and Richie Hawtin for his Plastikman releases.”
Naples
“From that moment on, I have constantly learned new things, from playing in a small intimate club to playing at big festivals. I think both are great. I also learned how to read the audience and how to create a certain atmosphere for the evening. After that first time playing, I started working as a promoter. This eventually led to my first residency at some clubs in Naples, where I got to open for the headliner.”
“Since those early years, more than 25 years ago, my DJ and producer skills have developed tremendously. This growth has taken me to many clubs and events that I could only dream of as a teenager. Over the years, I have played in so many places: Space Ibiza, Womb Tokyo, Ultra Miami, Zagreb, Industrial Copera in Granada, London, and Berlin. For the new year, we are preparing my North and South American tour.”
This interview with Uto Karem was originally published in November 2018 on This Is Our House.
Who is Uto Karem?
Being a DJ, producer, label manager and computer music editor, Uto Karem has a broad vision of what electronic music is all about.
Having spent his junior years in London, Uto Karem’s music ear was first shaken by bands such as New Order, Depeche Mode and Soft Cell. On his return to Italy as a teenager, it was Underground Resistance, Novamute and Plus 8 that were having most impact on the young man.
In his late teens Uto Karem’s DJ career took off, and over the years he has supported many of the world’s greatest deck talents. As a natural progression he took two years to study Audio Engineering that lead him to develop his own musical style. At the same time Uto Karem was working as an editor for a computer music magazine, where he was reviewing and testing all the modern technology available for DJ’s and producers.
In just a short period of time Uto Karem has produced hit after hit with forward thinking dance tracks that have fast become staples for DJs everywhere. As well as being an in-demand DJ, producer and remixer, Uto Karem also runs his own Agile Recordings imprint on which he explores deep techno rhythms and highly addictive baselines, from himself and brilliant forward thinking artists.
With his unique trademark Uto Karem has been busy producing groove induced, high-energy tracks for legendary labels, with the ability to infuse cutting edge machine music and soulful grooves.