INTERVIEW: Charles Meyer’s Bicoastal House Career is Just Warming Up.

Charles Meyer, house producer and DJ, is a household name in NYC. As a producer, he has signed with labels like IN / Rotation, Box of Cats, and more. Charles also has hands involved in bookings for Electric Zoo, and we were able to catch up with him at the festival

Run the Trap: How does it feel playing at a festival like this? It’s a great indication of what is popular in New York, how does that feel?

Charles Meyer: It’s a massive honor! I’m not even from here, I’ve been here about eight years, and even before I was on the EZoo team, the community was so welcoming. And the fact that the EZoo team wants to put me on because they believe in what I’m doing musically is a huge honor. I’m so grateful.

Electric Zoo has a ton of great artists coming through the festival. Have you had any cool opportunities to show artist friends what the  New York music industry is like?

Totally — these days of course you gotta take them to the Mirage because it’s just an amazing sight. But you really know you’re in New York when you find yourself at a random afterhours warehouse party at like 7 or 8am and you’re just on another level, and the person that you’re with kinda gives you that look, like, “wow…you couldn’t find this in LA or Miami.”

Oh yeah that’s the best. So I want to hear a bit about your musical journey, tell me about that 

So it started back in 2007. A switch flipped in my brain when I went to the Coachella (in the Sahara Tent), EDC LA, Vegoose w/ Daft Punk, Ultra, & Together As One. That string of events completely changed who I was, and I knew that nothing else mattered in terms of the direction of my life other than contributing to this endeavor called electronic music / house / techno etc. So I started DJing at the end of 2007 and started throwing parties at my college where my DJ partner and I were seen at first as these weird leftfield people, yet by the time we graduated, the entire university had switched over to electronic music because of us. From there I started playing gigs in San Francisco and then ended up getting involved with Insomniac in LA doing street team promo and marketing coordination. I started playing gigs all over LA and started producing in 2009. I was focused on more of an electro sound back then. In 2013 I fully pivoted to tech house and I’ve kind of been in that broad lane since then.

That’s awesome, I love how involved in the scene you are. So, on your artist side, how are you preparing for your set tomorrow?

In the past I used to purely wing it every time, but lately when it’s a set I really care about that’s going to have great consequence, I’ve come into the belief that I should put a little more thought into something that’s going to affect a lot of people’s experience.

For the set for the festival, I have a pre-ordained order of tracks, but the details of the transitions are mostly improvised. But on Monday for the closing party, I’m completely going to wing it because I’m going back to back with Hyde for three hours. 

I love doing both — I love going up there and knowing exactly what I’m about to deliver, and I also love going up there and feeling like, “This is anybody’s game right now, let’s just roll the dice and trust the universe.”

Nice I love that. Outside of your own, which sets are you most excited to see?

Loco Dice and Chelina Manuhutu.

Charles Meyer

INTERVIEW: Charles Meyer’s Bicoastal House Career is Just Warming Up.