Morgan Page is well known in the DJ world and has received two Grammy nominations for Best Remix with Nadia Ali and Best Remix of "The Longest Road." The man from Burlington, Vermont, has come a long way over the years, remixing songs for Madonna, Katy Perry, Adam Lambert, The B-52s, Coldplay and Alanis Morissette.
His latest album, DC to Light, continues to make him one of the most innovative dance artists in the world. We sat down at a recent event in Chicago to discuss his overall work.
Windy City Times: Morgan, you must travel all the time.
Morgan Page: Yeah; a light week is three or four shows on a regular tour. A hard tour is Sunday through Monday. That is on a bus tour.
WCT: Where is your favorite place to tour?
MP: I love going to Asia. I have played India, China and Australia. The best venue is Red Rocks in Colorado, with the natural amphitheater. People will climb and get stuck up in the caves. It looks amazing and the only natural venue. There is also The Gorge near Seattle. There is a huge festival out there every summer called Paradiso.
WCT: Talk about how you use Alienware from Dell computers in your act.
MP: We started with 3-D tours and I wanted to work with a really good technology brand. We did special 3-D visuals and did rehearsals at James Cameron's sound stage. He came in and got to see the show. Alienware was a big part of that and the first big sponsored tour I had ever done. We wanted the experience to be different than a typical DJ show. The choice was to do a regular LED wall on tour or do something innovative. I use Alienware for performance and making music. We are getting into virtual reality and making lyric videos. Everything is powered by Alienware and computers.
WCT: Describe your new record.
MP: It is called DC to Light because it was made on solar power. It is a geeky title for technology. It is an audiophile term so technically it would be "Light to DC." I have solar panels on the roof and I drive a Tesla so it just made sense. The record was made with the sun I wanted that to be the concept. There are solar panels on the cover of the album.
WCT: What guest stars do you have?
MP: I have Lissie who has been on a lot of songs in the past. She was on "The Longest Road," which got nominated for a Grammy. Angela McCluskey is on the album from my song "In the Air" and a lot of new names like Chris Batson and Angelika Vee. I try to find voices that are really distinct but not household names yet.
WCT: How do you find guest artists?
MP: I like to find them live to make sure they have not been auto-tuned or anything. With Angela McCluskey I had heard her song from Telepopmusik with "Breathe" that is in every hotel lobby. There are too many vocalists that are in the EDM world that all sound the same. I wanted people that have grit and staying power.
WCT: Is there a current song on the radio that you feel needs remixing?
MP: They can all be remixed. I have done some really challenging remixes before, everything from Yoko Ono to Madonna to Stevie Nicks. They are all a challenge especially when you get those original masters that were done. I did a remix for Stevie Nicks and she is hitting the microphone stand between takes. You have to make sure everything is on the beat.
On the radio now, I love the stuff The Weeknd is doing so I would like to make a fun remix for him.
WCT: How do you interact with the artists to remix them? You don't get to run over to Stevie Nicks' house, do you?
MP: No. [Laughs] Usually, they are pretty hands-off and the label will hire me and it is a marketing thing. Madonna didn't call me but she would call the label and personally approve all of the remixes, so that was fun. She will have things changed and that is refreshing to have someone hands-on.
When I hire someone to remix my songs then I do a similar thing. It is a lot of work.
WCT: You are originally from Vermont that had gay marriage before everybody.
MP: They were ahead of the curve.
WCT: You have worked with out and proud artists like Tegan and Sara. How were they?
MP: They are super-professional and really good. We did a live show at Avalon. They were really good and we did rehearsals for that. They were very easy to work with. Some are very hard to bring on the road live to sing. It can be difficult. People are expecting to sound at least as good as the record or if not better. They can only come out for two songs so you are paying to fly them out. Everyone at Coachella brings people out for a live moment these days.
WCT: Do you have a particular remix that had significant meaning to you?
MP: There are a lot of personal favorites. The Madonna song was a career-changing thing for me. She hires a lot of people for remixes but that was a bucket-list moment for me.
WCT: Is there someone you would like to work with but haven't?
MP: A lot of people. We actually sent a song to Adele and she got back to us. This was a few years ago. She was busy having a baby. I was amazed she got back to us. Ellie Goulding and her are my top two wish list artists.
WCT: You were just here for Spring Awakening. Wasn't that crazy?
MP: Yes; Diplo and Skrillex were riding IOHawk Scooters. It is a like a Segway but just controlled by leaning into it.
WCT: Is it overwhelming with a crowd that large?
MP: You get used to it. What is funny is people ask me what it is like to play for 60,000 people, but after 10,000 it doesn't really change for me that much! You can't see the whites of people's eyes past the buffer of the front of the stage. When you play the first show of 10,000 people it is unbelievable though.
WCT: The energy must be incredible.
MP: It is an adrenalin rush for sure.
WCT: How do you stay up all night?
MP: Red Bull. I go to bed about 11 p.m. on a normal night. When I come home from touring I catch up on sleep but Red Bull and vodka is a necessary evil on the road!
Visit www.morgan-page.com to keep up with his latest projects.
