Sebra Cruz grew up between the clubs of the Riccione and Rimini Riviera and has been working as a DJ for almost 30 years. His productions are characterized by this knowledge and appreciation of dance music, mixed with the spontaneous sounds of these powerful Italian composers. A keen experimenter, several of these musical sensations can be found on his upcoming album, “Don’t Worry Psy Happy”.
“Don’t Worry Psy Happy” is releasing on DJ Tennisâ revered Life & Death imprint. The daring eleven track LP is as experimental as it is definitive and encapsulates the Italian spirit in perfect style. Striking an impeccable balance between abstract and obscure sonics and more methodical and conventional melodies, ‘Don’t Worry Psy Happyâ is a body of work that exquisitely expresses Sebra Cruzâ personality via different worlds and mediums.
With a lengthy 30 year career under his belt as well as hype surrounding his new album, Sebra talks with SIX AM about the last few decades, as well as what he sees in the decades to come.
Howdy Sebra! Itâs a pleasure to have you here at SIX AM, how are you doing?
It is a pleasure for me to answer your questions! Thanks for contacting me.
Everything’s ok, I’m very well thanks!
Youâve been working as a DJ for over 30 years, which is no small feat. How did you end up in the rave scene in the first place?
From a very young age I was into dance floor club music, and especially house and hard house beats.
GiagaRobot, my lifelong teacher and partner in the Margot project with which we later produced records such as ‘Er Suonone, Magico Disco, France 2’ and others, taught me how to play records one afternoon in the mid-90s.
It was immediately very easy to put two vinyls in time, I succeeded on the first attempt and from then on I never stopped starting to work as a DJ in small clubs.
Riccione, the city where I lived, was also full of notorious clubs in the hills.
When I went to these clubs as a client, for me it was like going to study, listening to as much music as possible and learning as many things as possible from the greatest DJs. There was a huge choice from techno to house, afro, disco, drum & bass rock and it was a real paradise for clubbers.
Places like Peter Pan / Echoes / Cocorico / Pascia / Prince / Classic Club / Melodi Mecca / Velvet and many others that have made the history of Italian clubbing and were real icons at the time (some of them are still active).
Within a few years I was a resident DJ in some of those clubs on the hill as well as in the various parties that gravitated around these clubs and throughout Italy.
Youâre new album âDonât Worry Psy Happyâ is releasing on DJ Tennisâ revered Life & Death imprint. How does it feel to have your work released on such a touted label?
I have known Manfredi for almost 15 years and I am happy to publish on his label because Iâm sure that he is happy to release my music. I have already made several tracks on this label both with the Margot and Sebra Cruz projects.
I feel at home working with Manfredi’s team and everything is very spontaneous and normal.
Buy / Stream âDon’t Worry Psy Happyâ Here
Coming in at a lengthy 11 tracks, what was your main influence for the album? What was going through your mind while producing it?
The result is some tracks to dance and explore curiously with others. When I go to the studio I never decide what to do before starting, I follow my instinct of the moment and start playing, often stumbling over arrangements of any kind. There is no strategy and there are no rules as far as I’m concerned, the important thing is that everything is spontaneous. Music is not a religion; it has wider horizons and art, in theory, should have a duty to explore.
I like listening to main stream pop songs just like I like listening to experimental artists and in my opinion the major influence on this record is the Italian spirit that ranges between simple and more complex sounds with absolute freedom. I like to think that Claudio Simonetti, for example, produced crazy rhythms and atmospheres with the band Goblin and he is the same who wrote the music for âGioca Jouerâ by Claudio Cecchetto which is one of the simplest pieces there are.
In my head “Don’t Worry Psy Happy” means something like this.
In general, what emotions do you aim to evoke when producing/playing music? What did you aim to evoke when you first started out 30 years ago versus what you aim to evoke today?
In the mid-90s new genres were coming out that had never been heard before all the time, there was a lot of buzz that came from the 70s/80s and it was a continuous assimilation of new sounds because everything was constantly evolving. Obviously I hadn’t yet formed a well-defined musical personality that started to emerge using production software by myself, such as reason, cubase, logic and I had a groovebox mc 303.
Over the years my sound has clearly become more personal also playing later in more underground parties. Furthermore, all the experience lived with Margot from 2005 to 2018 both in the studio and live brought out the more experimental side using unbridled analog synthesizers, drums, sequencers, etc.
When I play records, however, the spirit is always the same as I had as a kid and the DJ eye is always very present even if sometimes where there is an opportunity I really like trying to float the dance floor with improbable tracks in the middle of the set.
Basically at first I was just a DJ and now I am in a relationship between making people dance and exploring.
With such a lengthy career under your belt with lots that has come from it, where do you see your career going in the future?
Playing and producing music both for my own projects and collaborating in parallel projects from other producers.
Thank you for your time Sebra! Is there anything else you would like to share?
Thanks to you guys, it was a pleasure. And thanks to all the people who appreciate what I do.
Connect with Sebra Cruz: SoundCloud | Instagram
