#MusicInTheAir Podcast hosts this week :
DIRTY FLAV

Born in Portugal, in the seaside resort of Leiria and resident in Switzerland for thirty years, not far from the mountains, in Lausanne, Dirty Flav began his musical journey at 16, when he bought his first Technics, and at 18 he started playing in clubs. Raised in Switzerland, with a great history and culture of electronic music, inspired by the raves of the late 90s, today he almost always plays deep house, minimal, funky or more melodic. In the past, since 1999, for him much more progressive house, mostly deep house, techhouse or techno. Lover of soul and funk like Marvin Gaye or Prince, on the DJ side he has been very inspired in the past by New York house music and DJs like Danny Tenaglia.

Former member of the duo The Vintage together with Bruno, in just over a year from their formation, thanks mainly to the assistance of Los Angeles producer Eddie Amador with his new label MochicoPrimo!, who has signed and remixed many originals and remixes such as the track of The Vintage “To Believe” remained in the top ten of Beatport for many weeks, they have scored several successes. Like “The Vintage” with Wake Up America on Sondos, a sub-label for Subliminal Records run by DJ star Erick Morillo, which was distributed worldwide and took only three weeks to sell out.

With The Vintage he has released for several labels: the French label Mañana Records, the American Groove On Records of George Morel, the Italian label DreamBeat records of Joe T Vanelli, the Spanish Tusom, the Swiss Helvetica Noir, the Bresilian label Eletrodomesticos Records, the Portuguese Magna records and the Australian Bellarine Records, with the support of djs such as Erick Morillo, Eddie Amador, Roger Sanchez, David Morales, Pete Tong, George Morel, Danny Rampling, Dubfire, Richie Hawtin. Featured in some high-quality radio broadcasts such as Pete Tong’s BBC1 radio show, Roger Sanchez’s Release Yourself and many CD compilation sessions.

He has played with The Vintage as a headliner in the most important clubs of their country of origin, Portugal and several times in the past in the most important media such as Danceclub magazine, the radio program Antena 3 and several other interviews in Dance TV (sic radical). In their country of residence, Switzerland, they have been present in some great Festivals such as Sundance, Polaris, Montreux jazz, Afterseason, 1er aout in the city, love boat, Paleo, Fete de la Musique, Electroziles, Aftersun, Lake Parade, Rock oz’arenes, Chocolate, Label Suisse, and touched the main cities such as Lausanne, Zurich or Geneva and have established residence at the D! Clubs from 2003 to 2007 and from 2012 to 2021. But also at the & Mad Club, one of the best Swiss clubs, and for the Mad’Attitude, among the best Swiss parties from 2007 to 2009, in addition to the Silencio Club in Geneva from 2012 to 2018.

Since 2009, Flavio has returned alone to his first love, deep & techhouse, with the new name Dirty Flav, releasing in particular productions for mature music or DeepStitched records.

Now he is resident at D again! club, one of the best Swiss clubs, and plays in different cities such as Ibiza, Berlin, Paris, London, Miami, Punta Cana, Lisbon, Sardinia, Bulgaria, Porto, Rome, Brussels, Ghent, Madrid.

Known in Switzerland, Ibiza and Portugal, today he is concentrated with the organization of his parties: he is a resident at the famous monthly party We Are Deep in Lausanne at the ABC bar Club, and also at Pure Ibiza Radio for the second season.

How do you live now and have you experienced in the recent past this particular moment for humanity of epidemic? How did you make up for the lack of being able to travel for your dj sets?

Fortunately, in Switzerland we are the country in Europe that has the least closed clubs, i had the chance to play a few months in a club while all other countries were closed. The conditions were difficult because we had a moment with a maximum capacity of 300 people, and for a club of 1000 people it gives the feeling of being empty. We also had a moment with obligatory mask which is not pleasant at all neither for the customers nor for the staff of the club nor for the dj. During the months I was off I had a lot of fun doing some high level streams, in a warehouse with sea containers, with a helicopter on top of a mountain, live from the D! club, for New Year’s Eve for a very well-known Swiss newspaper and tens of thousands of people online and also in studio.

What do you think of the Switzerland music scene? What do you think are the differences with Europe?

The scene in Switzerland is very strong! it’s a small country but it has a lot of good clubs recognized worldwide and very strong cities for clubbing like Lausanne, Zurich, Basel, Geneve. There are also a lot of festivals, in winter every weekend there is a different festival in a different mountain with very good djs. Electronic music in Switzerland has always been very important, already in the 90’s Switzerland had huge trance raves which were the best in the world. There is also a strong demand for techno since ever and the new generation also loves techno.

What evolution do you think electronic music is experiencing on the international scene?

I see a very good evolution, because the new generation likes a lot the electronic music. that it is techno or the new fashion now… the style glyterbox or defected…which makes me very happy because I like a lot this kind of music and the friendly atmosphere of the vocal house & disco house.

How were the months of July and August for you? Have you had any DJ sets? Restrictions permitting, but now the clubs are gradually resuming business, do you have dj sets planned at the moment for the future?

Very good, especially in the club where i’m resident, I could play with great dj’s like Danny Tenaglia , Sven Vath etc… I could also organize my annual rooftoop party, and I could even travel and do a gig in Portugal: to sum it up itwas a good summer for me, I just took the month of September without parties for my wedding planning.

Given the difficulties of the pandemic of the past year, which we now hope have been overcome, how do you deal with the issue and in what direction do you think the music world should move to overcome the impossibility of live events?

I think that unfortunately it’s not over yet, even today the pandemic is increasing again and many countries close again. Switzerland also has already introduced new measures and at this rate I think that we will have to close again in some weeks. I don’t see the mix of pandemic with parties/clubs/festivals because it is totally opposite. Going to a party is a moment of sharing, meeting, kissing or hugging their friends. which means exactly the opposite of what you should do during a pandemic, so I think that the marriage party/covid is impossible.

What could you tell us about your We Are Deep? What are your roles?

We Are Deep is a party that I founded almost 10 years ago and I’m the founder and I manage it, they are parties that we do to put forward the deep house and the good atmosphere, we like to do the We Are Deep in places of 250 to 500 people to keep it intimate, we explore all genres of deep house, either minimal or more funky or melodic. We have a monthly residence for 7 years in a club called ABC (one of the rooms of D! club), we travel to other cities too and we always do outdoor parties in summer like sunsets and rooftops. In winter we also do mountain parties and we have already exported it to Lisbon, in beaches in Portugal, made showcases in Ibiza like in Cafe del Mar and even in a festival in Punta Cana.

You are Resident at D!Club Lausanne, one of most important clubs in Switzerland. What could you tell us about D!Club Lausanne?

I have the pleasure to have been a resident at the D! club for about 15 years and it’s clearly one of the best clubs in Europe, a must stop for all the big dj’s… the programming is very strong and every weekend we have top world dj’s… so as a resident I have the pleasure to play with huge dj’s like, Sven Vath, Danny Tenaglia, Erick Morillo, Luciano, Loco Dice, Back Coffee, Louie Vega and many others.