Without him, we all would be nothing thats how WestBam described him.
I was surprised to learn that the two had never met.
It was a coincidence that Juan, whom Id met earlier, was in town that night.
Courtesy of the Atkins Family
So we spontaneously invited him over, and 20 minutes later, he joined us for dinner.
WestBam treated Juan with extreme respect.
I first met Juan Atkins in Berlin, at a party, more than a decade ago.
The architect of techno music turned out to be a very easygoing, warmhearted, funny person.
Our backgrounds and careers couldnt be more different.
He, the DJ, the son of a drug dealer inDetroit.
Me, the journalist and media CEO, born into a sheltered middle-class German family.
A DJ Stingray remix will appear on the B side.
Single townhouses on small lots.
Most of them built in the very early 20th century, red brick buildings, cozy family homes.
Juans house is on a corner, right down the street from where Aretha Franklin used to live.
He sat down at his desk, straight-backed, like the boss.
Behind him was framed sheet-music of Amazing Grace.
We opened two bottles of Heineken and began the journey into music history.
So, she noticed I was reacting.
Did she tell you which songs?She mostly listened to Motown.
That was the Sixties, and I was born in 62.
The first songs I can recall, also after I was born, were mainly Motown stuff.
Cool Jerk,for example.
Cool Jerk,and Aretha Franklin.
Respect and most of her early hits.
Was it more melody or more rhythm?I was more into rhythm.
My mother told me I used to bat back and forth on the couch like this [demonstrates].
I can even remember that myself, although I dont know exactly what I was vibing to.
My dad was 17.
He was actually a barber, but he also worked at Ford Motor Co. for a brief time.
But then he actually got locked up when I was two, maybe three years old, for manslaughter.
My grandma more or less took over my mothers role, because my mother was really too young.
Ive got a brother whos 10 months younger than me, so it was a heavy burden on her.
My dad had just got this car, and it was brand new.
It had a barbecue restaurant where everybody hung out.
And so, my dad decided he had had enough.
His friend handed him a gun and said, Hey, go and take care of it.
And he went and took care of it in broad daylight.
I think he got sentenced to [eight-to-15] years for manslaughter.
Is your father still alive?Yeah, hes serving a life sentence right now.
He did something bad again.
What was it this time?This time he got a life sentence for murder.
My father was a drug kingpin.
He was a drug dealer.
It sounds like a comandplicated childhood.
That was a given, something you could count on?I dont know what it was.
Hes been in jail since I graduated high school.
Because you wanted a guitar?No, but I was always musically inclined.
It was something everybody kind of noticed.
He didnt really want them, but I talked him into getting a set of drums one year.
My first instrument was an electric guitar.
It was a Slingerland, and the case was the amplifier.
Was your father very musical?He played alto saxophone.
And he taught me a little bit about it.
But you spent most of the time with your grandmother.
When we went to live with her, she played on it.
And I used to play around with this organ.
Did you practice a lot?
I played the drums along with those records by ear.
I taught myself to play various instruments by ear, as they say.
Motown mainly because thats what my parents were listening to.
James Brown is one of the most influential musicians of all time.
For me this is a crucial and very telling scene.
All the players in the brass section were trained to play in a rhythmic way.
Like percussion instruments or the guitar.
And this is exactly what, years later, led to electronic music and techno.
Its all about rhythm.
Rhythm is in the center.Exactly.
How did the bass as an instrument come into your life?Actually, my grandmother bought it.
Did she already realize at that point that you were particularly talented and wanted to support you?
Yeah, she was always supporting me.
She bought me my first synthesizer as well.It was a Korg MS-10.
How old were you at the time?Fourteen or 15.
A pop star?Yeah.
Something I organically felt that I was put on this planet to do, or supposed to do.
What was your favorite instrument?
As you know, I used to be a bass guitarist as well.
For me it was the combination of rhythm and the deep sound.
The sound and vibrations that you feel with your whole body.
Why the bass for you?Because you could play the bass on the synth.
And then that became my obsession.
When I discovered the synthesizer, my whole horizon, my whole world opened up.
So, as a boy of 14 or 15, you already knew you wanted to be a musician.
Did you play in bands?Yeah, we had what you call garage bands.
One of my best friends at the time was Jimmy Smith, and he was a bassist.
We got together to play.
Of course, I couldnt play bass because he was playing it.
So, I played drums or whatever.
The instrument didt matter to me.
I didnt discriminate one instrument against the other.
Mixing records and mobile DJs had not yet been invented.
Basically, I wanted to be Sly Stone with a new Juan Atkins twist.
So music and only music.
Any interest in school?Music and only music was always my main focus.
However, I always got good grades in school, even though I was just a bad kid.
I was just mischievous.
I was taking kids lunch money from them.
I got into my share of fights, but I never got beaten up.
It wasnt strength; I just knew when to punch and how to punch.
I knew what move to make and what time to grab somebody.
I was smart at keeping myself safe.
Was there a teacher who influenced you in any way?
Someone who was inspiring or had love for music?Yeah.
I took a course called Future Studies in high school.
And the reference manual for that class wasFuture Shockby Alvin Toffler.
That was the book that took my mind into technology.
He was like a hippie.
By taking his class I learned about the techno-rebels [a phrase of Tofflers].
The label Metroplex is short for metro complex.
And a metro complex is the merging of two cities, like the Dallas-Forth Worth metroplex.
Eventually, Detroit and Chicago will become a metroplex, if its not already.
When did you then develop serious ambitions to become a musician, a producer?
Or even a DJ?When my grandma bought me that synthesizer, I saw I had the ability.
So, I had to figure out a way to do all this stuff by myself.
But the thing about it was, it was all electronic.
I could even make drum sounds off the synth.
So thats how I started making my own tracks at home.
Thats where I did most of the Hammond B3 organ stuff.
It was right down the street from here.
That was the time when I had my bass guitar.
It was a Rickenbacker copy; it wasnt real, but I liked the look of it.
It was really rock & roll.
During that time, I would be around the house doing make-believe concerts and jumping around with this Rickenbacker.
My father used to ride motorcycles, so I would put on his helmet.
So, I would put this helmet on like I was KISS or some rock- & roller.
TheMidnight Specialconcert show was on TV at the time.
And another web connection, ABC, hadIn Concert.
They would film concerts and all my favorite stars were on there, like Parliament-Funkadelic.
Sometimes they would have on Sly and the Family Stone.
Somehow me and Derrick became friends, and I would beat him in chess or whatever.
But one time I was sitting on the porch playing my bass guitar.
I didnt have an amp or nothing, but you could still hear it.
He was riding down the road on his bike, and he came up and started talking to me.
We kind of became friends, but it wasnt on a musical thing at all.
Rik Davis was a fellow electronic musician I met in class at college.
He had his studio situated in the bedroom of a two bedroom apartment on the Eastern Michigan University campus.
It was like walking into the cockpit of a spaceship.
I brought my Korg MS-10 synthesizer, and we proceeded to jam.
When you say released …We actually made a record and put it out.
That was my first professional record, and it wasnt with a record company.
That record with Rik Davis was all electronic.
The DJs could essentially play whatever they wanted.
Mojo captured the imagination of the youth of Detroit before rap and hip-hop.
My music then was very loose and organic.
Still all electronic, but it wasnt as precise and regimented as Kraftwerk.
It was basically very regular on the beat.
Not groovy at all.But Kraftwerk told me their influence was James Brown.
It froze me in my tracks, man.
It was like the best, baddest shit Id ever heard.
You know what Im saying?
And I was making music by this time.
I didnt have anything released yet.
This was around 1979, 1980.
I was making these demos while I was still in high school.
I wish I still had them.
I was amazed at how the music sounded like what I was doing but more precise.
By the time I came out with Alleys of Your Mind, there was definitely a Kraftwerk influence there.
Except Kraftwerk werent calling their music techno, while I obviously was calling my music techno.
And why did you call it techno?Because of my high school course in Future Studies.
Toffler was talking about transcending from an industrial society to a technological society.
Those are the main ingredients?Heres the thing.
Flash Light, by Funkadelic, was closest to my sound.
Thats when I learned I could put a record out.
At that time, I thought I had to go to a major company.
Then I came across a book calledMake & Sell Your Own Recordby this author named Diane Rapaport.
When I met Rik Davis, he had this book as well.
Looking at the Belleville Three: Id like to understand the magic of that trio.
Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May are always mentioned in connection with the creation of Detroit techno.
So going back to when we released Alleys of Your Mind, Rik Davis was my partner as Cybotron.
Derrick introduced us to Mojo, but Derrick wasnt a musician.
When we released this record, and Mojo started playing it, we were all engulfed by Mojo.
So, people were hanging around me, and Kevin and Derrick were my friends.
Derrick and Kevin wanted that too.
They were athletes, they played high school football.
Eventually, as we were hanging out together, [music] kind of rubbed off on him.
Kevin was Derricks friend.
And this was also the same time we started spinning records and stuff together.
Thats basically how our kind of thing got started.
That came about with mixing, and mixing came about in the disco era.
Sampling came later, scratching came later.Scratching was at the same time as mixing.
Scratching records was all out of New York.
New York was responsible for mixing, blending records on beat.
Gay clubs had been around forever, so that was the music that was being played there.
Some disco records crossed over to R&B and vice versa.
Cameo was a funk band, but they made a record calledI Just Want To Be.
That was one of my favorite records, but it was basically a disco record.
A lot of R&B groups were trying to come out with a disco record.
At the time there were fraternity and sorority parties at college, they called them icebreakers.
They would hire us for these parties, along with other DJs.
But back then a DJ just played records, like a radio DJ.
What was your ambition at that time?
You were also a DJ, gradually transforming the role.
Did you develop any specific ambition in relation to that?No.
The DJing and a lot of this stuff happened organically.
There was never a blueprint to it; nobody knew what the hell was gonna happen next.
We were just some kids doing what was fun.
Having technology propel our ambitions or make it easier.
You know what Im saying?
It was like it went hand in hand.
It was loved by a crowd but of course far from mainstream.Well, the term techno got exploited.
I mean, even now, techno in Germany is different from techno in Spain.
Here in Detroit everybody loved the music.
Nobody knew that it was techno music.
Especially the Black kids in Detroit.
All they knew was that this was a new sound.
And whatever it was, whatever the frequency makeup was, it just pushed a button somewhere.
When it got to Europe, Europe had to give it some kind of title.
Tell me the Berlin story.
The U.K. was where we started dabbling in international affairs.
And it was him who made the Virgin Records deal with Richard Branson.
They released the first Detroit record, and they called it techno.
And he got us together with Virgin Records.
The record came out and they were going to call it theHouse Sound of Detroit.
And then I put my record on there, called Techno Music.
And they changed the name to the Techno Sound of Detroit [1988sTechno!
The New Dance Sound of Detroit] And thats how the Detroit boys got rolled out into Europe.
Of course, a lot of people caught wind of it.
They used to hold it every year in New York.
All the dance music people would go to the conference every year.
And Dimitri was there one time.
I had heard about the Tresor.
Dimitri had put out theDer Klang der Familierecord, and he was there promoting it.
So, the Tresor clubs reputation preceded itself.
I think one of the first DJs to play at Tresor was Jeff Mills.
Tresor was licensing music from Detroit.
It was kind of a fad for a minute.
Do you remember the first night at Tresor?
Can you describe it a little?I played with Jeff Mills.
It was in the basement.
It was surreal, blue white neon.
Thats what I remember.
Hard to describe into words.
So, everybody wanted to play at Tresor.
Because the description was that it was like heavy, banging, crowded, with people going for it.
Was that an important step for your career?Definitely into Europe.
And how long did you play the first set?An hour and a half.
And did it go down well with people?Yeah, it was flawless.
Did you prepare in a particular way for it?No.
The funny thing about that night is that I lost the records I had at the airport.
I had to buy records from Hard Wax.
So that was kind of crazy.
The first time I played in London was at a film studio capacity 5,000.
So, there were 5,000 kids in this place, right?
Me and one of the technicians were the only two Black guys.
And they were just loving it.
And thats something that I could never have fathomed in America, as a matter of fact.
That really felt like a cultural shock.
It was definitely a lightbulb moment.
And that was when I realized that this music was bigger than I thought it was.
How about Berghain in todays Berlin?
Itstheiconic Berlin techno club.
Why dont you play there?Because I play Tresor.Its politics, definitely politics.
I actually did play Berghain once no, the Panorama Bar [a smaller upstairs space].
I played twice at Panorama Bar.
But that was an exception.
You have to decide.
Either Tresor or Berghain.
Its interesting that theres so much politics.
Its all about territories.It was crazy.
Isnt the birthplace and the capital the same thing?
Lets talk a little bit about technology.
How did technology change techno music and the life of a techno DJ?
When you started, it was vinyl records that you put on the turntables.
There would be no techno music without technology.
I can remember the time before they even put wheels on record boxes.
That gig was the hardest thing I ever did in my life, so I welcome the progress.
The vinyl thing just looks cool.
But you know, it has so many disadvantages.
Yeah, man, thats embarrassing.
And if you miss the synchronization of a beat, too.
Today, there is no risk because you have the technology.
Its done automatically by auto sync.But real DJs kind of look down on using auto sync.
He literally carries his whole collection to the club.
How political is techno?
But Id be naive to think that politics arent there.
But its nothing that I like to partake in.
But it had an indirect political impact, you might say.I like to think its deeper than politics.
Well, its universal.
And there are frequencies that alter your cellular makeup.
There used to be a saying, think long, think wrong, you know?
You could probably see this when Im playing I feel a synergy with the people that Im playing for.
Its not an acoustic guitar, its not a horn.
You wont usually find any acoustic essence in techno music.
Its basically music born out of technological advancements, technological gear.
Does techno have a message?The future!
Toffler doesnt have an exclusive on the future.
The future is just simply the future.
I do know that much, I think [laughs].
So maybe I would have ridden that roller coaster one or two times less.
In a figure of speech.
Riding the roller coaster doesnt do anything but give you an instant high.
So it was kind of unavoidable.
Although Ive never used heroin or pills or stuff like that.
Ive dabbled with cocaine.
Did drugs make your playing better or worse?Let me flip it for a minute.
Does that Heineken youre drinking right now make this a better interview?
I mean, nobody can say.
You could say that the effect of techno music is very euphoric.
You could say, the music does it, you dont need the drugs.
Just dance and go with the flow?Yes!
I mean, listening to other DJs is good for you.
Good DJs in particular are always an inspiration for a DJ.
I learn a lot of things to enhance my craft from other DJs.
What distinguishes a great DJ from a mediocre DJ?A great DJ is a leader.
A mediocre DJ is a follower.
Any idea what the future of techno music will look like?
How techno is going to sound and be?Like nothing we ever heard.
And there is no way to forecast that because we aint heard it yet.
Thats what I try in DJing and making music and presenting music.
The public attention span is pretty short, and people are always interested in whats next.
Not so much what happened yesterday.
Not so much whats happening right now.
It started with these old heavy records 100 years ago, then the vinyl records were lighter.
Then they got smaller as singles.
And then you had CDs that were even smaller and lighter.
Then you had the MP3 players smaller and smaller.
And then you had the thumb drive.
Now you have everything on your mobile phone.
So, theres a constant line of dematerialization.
Or how you access music, or how its brought to the masses.
What role will artificial intelligence play in that context?I dont know.
Doing about this scale.
And just speak it and it will arrive, right?
Or merging humanity with artificial intelligence?I dont know.
The use of technology has improved your music.But it still needs a human to push it.
I think the source is human.
And this leads to my latest Cybotron single called Maintain.
He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Warner Music Group and Netflix.
