Rightfully dubbed the master of ‘soul house,’ Michael Calfan has brought euphoric house music to the forefront in the last year with his hits Treasured Soul, Brothers and Nobody Does It Better. The latter racked up over 15 million streams on Spotify, nearly 4 million on Soundcloud and was playlisted on the ever prestigious BBC Radio 1.
Recently, fresh from his Michael Calfan & Friends event in Paris and a show stopping performance at EDC Las Vegas, Michael showcases a deeper, darker side to his musical personality with the release of Thorns ft. Raphaella via Spinnin’ Records.
We got in touch with Michael to speak to him about this single. We also discussed his thoughts on the ever-emerging streaming platform – Spotify, touring, skateboarding and more! Read our chat below. :)
T.H.E – Hey Michael! Thanks for taking the time out for this interview. How’s it going?
Michael Calfan – Hey, thanks for doing a Q&A with me too. Everything is going great! I have been playing to some incredible crowds at a lot of festivals, working on new music, eating lots of good food. Life is great right now!
T.H.E – Your recent singles have been racking up huge amount of plays on Spotify. What do you think of the platform and how integral is it to an artist?
Michael Calfan – Of course Spotify is what everyone is talking about at the moment and it’s always nice to have this kind of success. But I think the most important thing is to connect with people and to share experiences and emotions with them. That might be writing a track which people add to their favourite playlist on Spotify, or DJing at a show, or just talking to people afterwards. All of these different ways to reach people change and different platforms like Spotify or Soundcloud can come in and out of fashion, but connecting with people is what it’s all about.
T.H.E – Speaking of your recent singles, you recently released ‘Thorns’ with Raphaella which has been described as an evolution of your sound. How would you describe it? How have fans received it?
Michael Calfan – So ‘Thorns’ is the first “real” song I ever made. All of my tracks before were just made with a sample or without vocals, so this one is really an important step for me. It took just over three years to make and to become the real song that it is now. I’m very happy with the reaction it’s been getting.
T.H.E – You’ve described ‘Art’ as one of the major sources of inspiration for you while producing music. When did you realize this?
Michael Calfan – When I started I didn’t really know myself, I was just making music for fun, then when you get older, you know more things, you have more culture, you saw more things etc… so I think when I was 24/25 I started to understand that my music is inspire by what I see, what I feel.
T.H.E – These days, we hear a lot of artists speaking about the cons of being a DJ and constantly on the move. What’s your take on it?
Michael Calfan – I get to travel around with my friends, do what I love and see so many amazing places. It can be tiring and you can be away from home a lot, so I can understand why some people can find it hard sometimes. But I get to play my music to people all over the world and have so many amazing experiences. Honestly, I feel very lucky. Maybe it helps because I keep myself grounded. When I am not DJing and travelling I just live a normal life. I think it’s important to do that, or at least it’s important for me.
T.H.E – You’re known to be a big fan of skateboarding. If you had to use skateboarding as a form of transportation in any city, which one would it be?
Michael Calfan – Of course I have to say Paris!
T.H.E – Apart from skateboarding, you also like photography. Are there any dance music photographers that you are a fan of?
Michael Calfan – There are a lot of cool dance music photographers like Freedom Film for example, but I prefer something more Theo Gosselin, Emanuele Ferrari, Tamara L, Manu Fauque and this kind of photographer, I’d love to see what they can do on the live side.
T.H.E – Describe Tomorrowland Belgium 2016 in one word for us.
Michael Calfan – Incredible!
T.H.E – Thanks Michael! Hope you make your way to India soon.
