Caleb Calloway Interview

This Saturday Caleb Calloway plays at Egg Presents for a summer tech-house fiesta, joining Jay Lumen, Metodi Hristov and Emery Warman.

A protege of Loco Dice, Caleb Calloway was originally born in Puerto Rico, but has lived across the US and is currently stationed in Dusseldorf, home of the Desolat boss. Already a star producer back home for his hip hop productions, he's been making inroads into the international house scene thanks to the minimal groove of tracks such as 'Makin' It' and 'Da Side'.

We spoke to the young rising star to find out more out about his musical connection to Santana, hanging with Loco Dice and what's coming up next...

Buy tickets for Egg Present on Saturday July 16th here.

Can you tell us a bit about growing up in Puerto Rico. Your uncle is the drummer with Santana, right? That sounds a pretty big deal. Are your whole family musical?

Growing up in Puerto Rico was awesome. Although I lived most of my life in the States, I always spent summers and holidays on the island. The island is vibrant and full of creative people to vibe off of including, of course, my family who are extremely musical. Growing up around them shaped me, not only as a man but also as a musician, my uncle probably being the number one influence. He recently started playing with Santana but before that he toured with many Latin acts and is also a producer. I learned a lot from him at an early age.

When did you start moving away from the Latin music of your youth and start getting into clubs and house music?

I’ve always been into electronic music, my musical taste has always been broad. I learned of early salsa music from my father, but I kind of moulded my sound through R&B and hip hop first. When I moved to NYC for music school I was really exposed to house and techno music and decided to sway my sound that way permanently.

You've lived in Chicago, Texas, and New York. What influence did each of those cities have on you, both musically and in a wider sense?

I was really young when I was in Chicago but the vibe of the city created that love of the busy urban jungle, which I feel my music reflects. Texas was the place I learned how to actually produce, and it’s where as a teen I started experimenting with sounds, recording my own vocals and sampling old music to make something new. NYC was the finalising element which got me into club culture between it’s golden era of hip hop and the New York house scene. I think other than that, Puerto Rico was my biggest musical influence.

How did you come to get to know Loco Dice? You produce hip hop too, is that correct, like he used to? There must be a lot of shared reference points.

We met at a gig in Puerto Rico. My manager booked him and I was one of the supporting artist on the bill. After the set I showed him some music and we hit it off. The track I showed him had some hip hop vocals I had done myself and was really an ode to 'Pimp Jackson Is Talkin' Now'. After this he decided to take me on tour in the US, and from there I kind of stayed on the road from then till now. We definitely vibe from the hip hop side, but also reggae and salsa music, even with the age difference. We grew up with the same musical heroes and that's something that made it easy to work together.

What do you have coming up on the production front house wise? We really liked your 'Makin' It' EP on NOEXCUSE Records.

This summer I’m releasing some remixes on New Violence Records, Underground Audio, Italian label Amazing Records and I have an original track on this year's Desolat X Sampler, which I’m really excited about. They all are different vibes, but all kind of keep the kick breaks I’m known for.

Are you living back in Puerto Rico now? What's it like in terms of a house music scene? Are there any other acts we should watch out for?

I’m currently living in Dusseldorf, Germany. I’ve been in Europe now for almost a year, which has been dope. But in Puerto Rico there is nothing but talent in every type of music, including house and techno. We’re known as star island for the many stars we’ve exported.

Can you tell us three tracks that sum up what you'll be playing at Egg?

Emery Warman - 'Miami (Caleb Calloway Remix)'

GruuvElements - 'Imagination'

Kreature - 'Access'