PRAIRIES - LOCAL ARTISIT SPOTLIGHT
NAME:
JOE SILVA
WINNIPEG
HOMETOWN:
CURRENT TOWN:
GENRE:
TECH HOUSE, ELECTRONIC
FACEBOOK:
TWITTER:
WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/JOESILVAMUSIC
@DJJOESILVA
SOUNDCLOUD:
BEATPORT:
JOE SILVA is one of Winnipeg’s most
respected electronic music artists, his
involvement dates back to the late 80s
with his first release in 1987 with Roman P
of legendary Wild Planet—one of the only
record stores in Winnipeg at the time. Joe
plays in the city quite often and enjoys his
time at home in the studio producing
movie and television scores along with
working with other talented artists on a
number of projects, including a Jazz duo
performing as Gabrielle & Architect,
Tonepushers with Ali Khan and countless
releases over his 27 years in the industry.
DJ MAG CANADA: Joe you have been a innovator
who has pushed the Winnipeg music industry
forward for several years, what started you down
your path as a producer/DJ, who influenced you
most over the years in production?
I started off just writing electronic music. It wasn’t until
much later that I taught myself how to DJ. It was a natural
progression for me because I fell in love with house music.
Producers like Diz, Inland Knights, Derrick Carter,
Plastikman, Slam were all influences at that time. They
were all DJs too. So that made me want to learn the skill
of DJing. I wanted to emulate them.
DJ MAG CANADA: You started a label in 1995 called
Purespace Records and your first release was “Love
Forever.” You later released more tracks that
included remixes with other local Winnipeg talent.
How was it working with other talented guys in a
smaller city like Winnipeg?
DJ Raz hosted a weekly Friday night radio show where
he played the latest techno and house tracks that
would come in to Music City, where he worked. I would
always tune in and eventually we met and I played him
my tracks. We agreed to collaborate on something and
it went really well. Raz brought in a DJs sensibility to
the writing process and helped me to make tracks that
were DJ-friendly and worked well on the dancefloor.
The first EP on Purespace Records was Love Forever and
it had a DJ Raz remix on it that did really well.
032 djmag.com
WINNIPEG
WWW.SOUNDCLOUD.COM/JOESILVA
WWW.DJ.BEATPORT.COM/JOESILVA
I also worked with Cheney Lansard, also a local DJ then.
Cheney did two amazing remixes with me and it was great
to work with him too because he had really creative ideas
and a very clear vision of what he wanted to hear.
I’ve worked with a lot of talented local musicians
throughout the years and it’s always been a positive
experience for me.
DJ MAG CANADA: You are performing live as
Tonepushers with another talented local artist, Ali
Khan; what gave you two the idea to play live and
what gear do you use for your live performances?
We both enjoy playing live and back in the 90s we both
were doing our own thing, performing live electronic
music at raves. We’d lug our synths,