by RAF KATIGBAK

What if you had a choice to live anywhere in the world, where would it be? An island paradise off the coast of Hawaii? A remote farm in the highlands of Scotland? Or how about a vibrant cultural metropolis like Berlin? Well, what about a city that has ranked in the top five of the American national crime rate for arson, robbery and murder and where one out of every 63 vehicles gets carjacked?

On any given weekend you can find Derrick May moving thousands of people with his spiritual techno and house in festivals and clubs all over the world. But at the end of the day, there’s only one place he calls home: Detroit, Michigan. It was here, almost two decades ago that May and fellow school chums Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson fused the rigid electronics of Kraftwerk with the driving feel of disco and house and the soulful legacy of Motown and funk to create the sound we now call techno. The Mirror recently caught up with Mr. May on the phone for a frontline report on the current state of the birthplace of techno.

Mirror: You’re one of the most successful and in-demand DJs in the world. Why stay in Detroit? Is it because you believe in the city?

Derrick May: I don’t believe in the city at all. I can’t stand it. I hate it. Just to love someplace is not enough. You gotta be angry. You gotta look at it inside out and realize the problems firsthand, without just admitting or not admitting there’s a problem, and dealing with it creatively or structurally, whatever your agenda is. But you have to deal with it, man. You can’t just like, live there and say you love the city, you have to make a difference. I stay there because I’ve seen so many things around the world and I believe I can open people’s eyes.

M: Some have criticized Detroit producers for living in the past and rehashing a certain sound.

DM: Artists that can live anywhere in the world but choose to live in a city like Detroit are, to me, looking far into the future, because to live in Detroit you can only think about the future. You cannot think about the past or you will suffocate in misery.

M: I take it things are still pretty bleak there.

DM: Let’s just say that opportunity is not always knocking at your door in Detroit. It’s hard to keep people living there, especially if they can live a somewhat better life elsewhere.

M: You’ve been fighting that fight for over 15 years now, enough to make even Robocop want to give up and move elsewhere. What keeps you coming back?

DM: Detroit is just a mysterious place. When you ride through the streets of Detroit, it’s like a floating museum, sort of like seeing the Titanic above water. Detroit is in my blood. Once you live in Detroit, it’s in your system. I think that that is the spirit that comes through in the music. I think it’s a vision, a quest. It’s not about wanting something better, it’s sort of a melancholy thing, you know? It’s a hopeless romantic feeling.

M: So you’re a romantic?

DM: I think of myself as a professor on sabbatical. Just here doing my own thing. I’m not in a hurry, I’m just taking it really easy, but I’m also watching the sunset to see what tomorrow will be like.

With Stacey Pullen, Saeed & Palash, Scott Bond, Laflèche and more at Cream at the Bell Centre on Sunday,
August 31, 10pm, $60

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