TB: Have the collaborations helped you get through the pandemic period?
ET: 100% The first months of lockdown were tough: I didn't leave my flat for almost 12 weeks in total and only saw my flatmate and maybe the shop owner of the grocery next to my flat. Coincidentally I broke up with my girlfriend the week before we went into lockdown. I am an extremely social person and not seeing anyone eventually took the toll. I have been in clubs pretty much every weekend since I was 12 years old (we had afternoon clubs in Rome, where I am from!) and not being on the dancefloor for so long really adversely affected me.
Toward the end of May I had an emotional, psychological and physical breakdown. I would wake up in the middle of the night multiple times and then feel extremely tired and depressed the entire day.
Collaborations are among the few things that saved me from a very dark place: first, I launched producer masterclasses with my label Metempsychosis cofounder Flaminia, Alessandro (Tapefeed) and my team at Home of Sound that kept me going by making me virtually hangout with the electronic music community that I have been missing. Second, I decided to approach my music in a different way and produce for myself instead of for targeting a release schedule. In hindsight, I think me reaching out to these bands, was a subconscious rope to prevent me from drowning into loneliness and depression.
Generally, I felt more than ever the importance of being close to your loved ones. I would have not made it sane if it weren’t for the hundreds of video calls with my teammates, my close friends, my family and my girlfriend.
TB: Have you picked up any new or expected routines, hobbies or activities?
ET: Yes - drinking wine. LOL!
Jokes aside, I have been doing a lot of sport and consistently. And because lately I moved to Berlin I have formed some kind of outdoor gym club (it’s all outdoor and social distancing compliant!) with… you can guess… other djs / producers. Berlin has such a high concentration of DJs / producers that it’s practically impossible to do anything without bumping into one. I am happy that I get the chance to do sport with old and new friends such as Lorenzo Raganzini, Tapefeed, Jean-Philippe, Paàl, Dennis, Paddy, Hurtado and VSK.
...and I actually do drink more wine now - probably because of my girlfriend (we are back together) who converted me into this little shared pleasure.
TB: What's coming up next?
ET: With Home of Sound we just launched a mixing/mastering series, a programme to help artists financially affected by covid 19, and a female led program (more info on this very soon).
With my music, I have few more releases coming out that I can’t yet announce, including a first collaboration with another dancefloor oriented producer (if you know, you know!). I will continue preparing my new live set as I have a lot of fresh material that I want to bring to the dancefloor. And who knows… maybe I will continue with the RMXD project with more interesting artists.
Thank you Jeremy and The Brvtalist for the questions!
