British music producer and label founder Daniel Miller is featured in this Electronic Beats video profile.
Miller released the industrial classic Warm Leatherette as The Normal in 1978.
He’s probably best known, though, as the head of Mute Records. Miller discovered and produced Depeche Mode, signed classic acts, like Throbbing Gristle, Fad Gadget, Erasure, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds as well as contemporary acts, such as Moby, Goldfrapp & The Knife.
Daniel is underrated. He is one of the pioneers of electronic music, and his production work on some of the early Depeche Mode records are a testament to his genius, and were DM’s best records such as the classic (Black Celebration).
His contributions to electronic music and bands such as DM, and Erasure, will always be admired by millions of us that grew up in this era, and influenced us to be where we are today. I am glad that I have been a part of that great period in electronic music history.
it’s a nice interview. I like the story on how he came to music. I think we can recognise a bit of our personal journeys in there. I also like the way he realised where his strengths lied within the industry. He must have a massive record collection. I also like the way he mentions how he listens and doesn’t listen to music, i.e. depending on the moment of composition.
Lovely interview. Seems like a top bloke. Great tip about not listening to other peoples finished work while writing in studio.
Seems like a regular dude…I am comfortable just listening to his interview and retrospect. Yeah, the part about not listening to music while focusing on creating music is worthwhile. I’ll be 40 this year so those special years of the late seventies up into the late mid eighties passed me in terms of being an adult, but those years are the primary source of inspiration and motivation for me as a synth lover. DM, Erasure, New Order, Pet Shop Boys, the SAW stuff (yeah, cookie cutter shit, but damn good cookie cutter shit…then again, Dead or Alive “Youthquake” mother fucking rocks, is epic, and is NOT cookie cutter). Dude, I just can’t bring myself to comprehend, appreciate, or whatever else it is about the “electronica” of today. I just don’t get it: the dub step, the mega club celebs, the dirty south/hip hop (or whatever incarnation of late) stuff…I don’t know what it is, I can’t connect. I listen to shit like Gary Numan (Tubeway Army) and I feel it. It is unique, strange, personal. I listen to one of the albums from Soft Cell “Songs from the Sex Shop” (I think that’s the name)…it is raw, real, there’s connection. For me, in self teaching myself the ins and outs of electronic music making from scratch, the hardest part is the melody or hook…the sound effect shock and awe shit is cool for about a minute and then whatever really. But the melody is really the sweet memory in music. That’s kinda lacking in today’s stuff I think. That’s a BIG draw for me in my passion for Italo. I’ll be the first to admit, the lyrical depth in Italo are pretty much zero at best, but the melody is king. Take the bullshit song “Capsicum” by Stargo, what senseless crap…but such infectious and sweet. Lime is another example (genre debate aside HiNRG/Italo) the lyrics are pretty lame, but the musical package is all there. Patrick Crowley/Paul Parker stuff…dude, seriously heavy. Probably the biggest gem: Fancy. The entity known as Fancy, and his creations/side projects, are really something else, there’s a lot of weirdness…unique and wonderful, in his productions.
The Soft Cell album is “Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret”
I appreciate seeing someone in his later years still being focused on his music while remaining sensible and forward thinking. He’s not stuck on an image, or a back-looking ego trip, or any of those other traps and powerful illusions that so many musicians fall into. Instead, he’s still plugged in and relevant and very much alive. As a middle aged guy I can take a lot of inspiration from Daniel as a guidepost for going forward in my own creative life.