KACTUS had the privilege to sit down with budding artist, DJ/producer and entrepreneur, Emmanuel Diaz. Starting his musical journey in the south of France, he climbed his way up the ladder through playing various genres of music for different crowds at small bars and weddings to the most popular nightclubs with crowds of 2,000 plus. From France, Diaz made his way over to the oriental side of the world – Hong Kong – playing at some of the most frequented nightclubs and restaurants, like Dragon-i and Zuma.
Recently settling back into Hong Kong from his brief move to Bali, Diaz opens up about his life as a music artist to how he decided to start his own music school, Audiomeleon, alongside two friends Hugo Cantarra and Henry Wang.
K: What made you know that you wanted to get into the profession of music?
ED: Before I played in a rock-band when I was 13/14, I was a guitarist. So, we played for a couple years together in a garage every Sunday, it was very fun. We played covers on YouTube and the like. Then after we graduated, went our separate ways for university and ended up living in different cities. I was in Nice, in the south of France, and still wanted to make music. I was thinking, alright – I need to find new friends, a new band, create something all over again. At the time, this was when electronic music started popping up everywhere on social media – Facebook, YouTube, Google, etc. Because of this, I thought I could still do music but without needing a band by DJ-ing. I would do a concert, but alone. I don’t need a singer, a drummer and everything. I really wanted to perform live and share music. So, I started DJ-ing for this reason. I was 17 then, at that time you want to party but you don’t have much at that age and you can’t go clubbing because you’re too young. I started at house parties and at these parties there’s always someone who plays the music – that someone was me. You would see me with shit equipment- a mouse and a laptop that crashed every 10 minutes. It was a fail but we were with friends at home, so nobody cared.
I didn’t bring coffee, I brought vodka.
Emmanuel Diaz
K: Do you have any artists that first drew you into EDM or admire in general?
ED: Daft Punk has been a big influence for me. Also, David Guetta. He was one of the first superstars in the scene. Guetta opened a lot of doors for DJs and artists alike and showed that it is possible for anyone to be a DJ. But, I would say Daft Punk was my biggest inspiration.
K: What made you want to start Audiomeleon?
ED: It has been a few years now that I started to give lessons here in Hong Kong. It started when I was playing at Dragon-I and a guy came up to me asking if I give DJ lessons. I said, no, but I can teach you. I was willing to teach for free, why not. I quite liked to teach. I started to teach another kid, another guy, then girl, etc. I really enjoyed sharing what I know and seeing them smile and enjoy themselves, too. It started like this. Then I moved to Bali briefly, came back and really thought about what’s next in my career. I didn’t want to go back to the club scene, it didn’t exactly make me happy. So, I thought about teaching music and working in a studio. There are schools in Hong Kong for this, but I decided why not just start one on my own. I have two other friends associated with me for Audiomeleon – Henry Wang and Hugo Cantarra (https://www.audiomeleon.com/).
K: Do you have any advice to give other creatives who want to start their own business?
ED: I would say, just do it. If it fails, it fails. You have to try, that’s the main thing. Don’t be afraid about criticism or people judging you.
Order a copy of Issue 01 of KACTUS to read the full interview.
