Recent years have seen Tuscan hotshot Taster Peter emerge as one of Italy finest Techno exports. His exploits on renowned labels such as Suara, Octopus Recordings and Tronic coupled with the establishment of his own respected imprint Extraganza, have pushed the talented producer to the fore of the seen.
This month, he closes out an impressive Summer campaign and marks the start of a prosperous Winter with an impeccable new release alongside Sasha Carassi (in a remix capacity). This week we caught up with Peter to talk shop, while he shared not only his Italian food expertise but also all the news from the label and an exclusive premiere of the original mix of ‘The Scarlett’.
WWD: A nice easy one to start us off Peter. You got your alias from the name of your old band. But what foods do you have a taste for?
I’m Italian, and I guess it means a lot if we’re gonna talk about food, plus I come from Tuscany, which is one of the best Italian areas for food! I’m a pasta lover, a pizza lover and a Fiorentina lover (a typical Tuscanian food, it is a T-bone traditionally sourced from Chianina breeds of cattle a grilled over a wood or charcoal fire) obviously accompanied by a good red wine!
Favourite restaurant and why?
There are many amazing restaurants in my area, for steak, fish and pizza…if you are looking for an amazing pizza, I’d suggest to go to Florence, at Vincenzo’s place called “Osteria del Caffè Italiano”, then if you are looking for a good Fiorentina steak, you should go at “Zio Gigi’s Restaurant” (still in Florence), here the owner is very cool, also the location is very traditional, and trust me that you will eat something special! Then if you are looking for some good mediterranean sea food, you should go to Livorno, it’s my home town, and there you can eat the best sea fish of the Tuscany!
What’s the best food you’ve ever gotten while touring and where?
I’m also a big sushi lover, and I think that maybe in San Francisco, for NYE last year, before my gig I had the best Sushi of my life! But I don’t remember the name of that restaurant, I was so excited… ahahah it was NYE baby, don’t forget it!!!
Now onto the music 🙂 The Scarlet release is quality. Your original was certainly the pick for us. We loved the fast rhythm the hi-end brought to the track and the euphoric feel to the break downs. How has it been going down on the floors?
Thanks a lot for these kind words!
Yes’ it is really big on the floor, I’ve played it in my DJ sets so many times during the summer always with super big reactions. I saw people sweating hard and dancing like there’s no tomorrow, but I saw also people kissing hard with this track, because the nature of this record is very big, but smooth and sentimental at the same time!
So, when I saw people dancing and making love with my track I thought “ok the job is done here”!
You founded the Extravaganza label which hosted the release. Have you been happy with it’s progress?
Yes, so much! Extravaganza is my baby, I worked very hard to build this record label.
In the beginning no one believed in this project, so it was all about me and my ideas to carry on, and today it is one of the things I’m most proud of!
Try to imagine an artist that you’re a big fan, and one day you receive a demo from this artist asking to release on the label, because he loves the style, the way you move with it etc etc…and this happened many times in the last few months of activity.
I’m sure you’ve been happy and liked every release. But has there been a standout release you’ve been proud of and said ‘yes! that’s my favourite track the label’s put out’ ?
Yes, of course I love everything that I’ve put out on the label, but If you want to know my favorites…maybe the first one to mention is the EP from Seph called “CBGR”, with that stunning remix from Glimpse…and the other one is the EP from the Swedish artist Per Hammar called “19999” packed with a huge remix from the hands of the master of techno Joel Mull.
Obviously these 2 EPs come after my very own debut EP on the label from the last year, called “Oculus” 🙂
Are there any big plans in the pipeline for the label that we should know about? Releases, label nights etc?
Yes,of course!! We have few big artists coming on board… if you want a preview, I can confirm Konrad Black, DAVI and Peter Pardeike from Innervisions among the names that will join the label very soon…so, stay tuned because there are amazing records incoming!!
On the Showcases side we’re constantly working hard on it, and I can say that there will be many showcases in the near future in France, Italy and Germany, plus few partnerships with cool Festivals in the Europe…stay tuned!
Sasha’s remix is fairly big too! Did you approach him following your collab for Phenom on Tronic? What was that collaboration process like ?
Me and Sasha are close friends, we’ve played together many times in Europe, he invited me to play in Naples at his party, and I’ve appeared many times on his imprint with remixes and EPs, there is a good chemistry between us! I always send him my new music, as you know he is constantly on tour, so in this way he always has something super fresh to share with the crowds!
He loved “The Scarlet” sooo much, and I thought immediately that he would create the perfect banger version of it…and that’s it!
Any memorable moments from your summer season?
I run a party called LIQVID every friday night in a unique place: a big terrace directly on the sea. We worked hard in this last 2 years to create something really special!!
Trust me that there are more girls than guys on the dance floor, all the people inside want party and dance hard, here I use invite the artists that are involved in my label, and every Friday night was massive!
What were the big tracks of the summer for you?
Good questions!!! My picks of the summer are “Woods” from &Me / “Cloud Generator” from Kink, my very own “The Scarlet” of course / “Orient Express” from D-Nox & Beckers (released on Extravaganza), and finally the Ruede Hagelstein’s rework from Alice Rose – Servant track…absolute banger!
Did you get to catch any gigs or festivals this year you weren’t playing at? If so what was your favourite set you heard?
Pan-Pot’s DJ set at Watergate Night during OFF Sonar was for me the best DJ set I’ve heard this year…the guys have a lot to say with music!
’Danza Inquieta’ on Traum earlier this year was quite experimental. We loved it. Is this something you’re hoping to do more of?
That track comes from a need to do something more experimental, I’ve personally recorded every single sound in this track, I went to beach to record the sea sound, then I went into the forest to record the melodies of the birds singing with no idea about how to use these samples.
I was only sure that I wanted to create a very experimental track… after few days of brainstorming I went in my studio, trying to create it, and everything came directly without any doubt, it took only 1 day of work, not so much time! From this experience I think that I will create again something similar in the future for sure, everything came in a very simple and natural way…so why not!
Having come from a hardcore band where you played drums, do you find it difficult to move away from making music with drums at the heart of the production and make more music like Danza Inquieta say?
Playing drums in a band is amazing and really hard at the same time! as you said, there drummer is the heart of the band and of the song, it’s the rhythm… so you have a lot of responsibility, which turns into the need of taking care, helping in the drafting of each instrument played inside the song. My 10 years of band experience helped me a lot, it opened my horizons in the music production, and tracks like “Danza Inquieta” came without any difficult!
What’s next for you? Any releases or gigs you’re excited about?
I will be in Berlin the first week of October in Kosmonaut on Friday and Sisyphos Club on Saturday, then I will be at ADE on thursday 15th to spin some records and to meet new friends…and on the final part of the month I have a gig in my hometown in a really amazing venue, the ancient fortress of Livorno…if you are in the area, come and party with us, you will love it!!
Then with my agency we’re working on a new US tour which is still working progress, stay tuned!!
On the releases side, I’m very excited about 2 more Eps coming out from me on Extravaganza in addition to “The Scarlet”, which will create a trilogy called “Three Colors Trilogy” with amazing artists featured as remixers! so, keep an eye on the label!
Going forward for you. I know it’s early but do you have any goals for 2016 yet? Maybe a label you want to sign a release to and some festivals you want to add to your schedule?
Well… I think that I will just continue doing what I’m doing right now. I work hard in the studio, my goal is to keep it up with the good music, experimenting with sounds, trying to reach my own mood with all the music that I will produce, and and hopefully good things will come!
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Follow Extravaganza : Facebook // SoundCloud