Ibiza by night meets Rony Seikaly!
Seikaly (in the pictures below), an avid lover of music, started DJing on and off at the age of 14 whilst living in Athens. After retiring from basketball, he developed his passion into a musical career as a professional DJ and a music producer. “Sports will always be my love, but music will always be my passion,” he said. He also had his own studio in Florida. Seikaly has been producing and working in the genres of house, deep house, tech house and techno and has played in many major clubbing meccas across the world as well as numerous performances across the world in the likes of Ibiza, Beirut, New York, Toronto, LA and Miami.
He has released many solo EPs including a lot of his early work House Calls in 2010, East West EP in 2012 and East West EP volume 2 in 2014. This was then followed up by Holdin On, and Signs EP in 2015 and The Sword EP in 2016. In 2012, he released a full mix album titled Nervous Nitelife Presents Rony Seikaly and has singles released on esteemed imprints such as Suara, Yoshitoshi, Nervous, Stereo, Subliminal Records and many more.
Since 2019, he has started his own record label STRIDE, that has involved mostly his own work, with standout producers around the world joining him on it to remix… and this is the interview!
IBN: Hey Rony, great to meet you! How do you feel about 2020? How have you been affected personally and how have you managed to deal with it all?
RONY:I mean, to me you can look at it two ways; One as a disaster, and two as a period to grow and to be able to come out of this at a much higher level and a much better place. It was a time for reflection, looking at things, getting better at things, learning new things and figuring out what’s next. So to me, it’s been productive in the sense that I made the best of it.
IBN: You seem to be prolific right now. What motivates you to make music?
RONY: I mean, it’s the creation, it’s taking an idea and seeing how far I can go with it. I don’t need any motivation as I’ve got it inside my head. If I hear some kind of beat or some vocals or anything, I would take that as a challenge to turn that into a song and at least create an idea and see how I can go with it. That’s the motivation. It’s kinda self-motivation. To me it’s like buying a puzzle and trying to put it together, except that this is the puzzle I am creating myself.
IBN:Are you in the studio every day, trying to make tunes, or only when the mood takes you?
RONY: I mean I don’t really have a time specified that says that I have to be in the studio tomorrow. I don’t put that kind of pressure on myself. It’s just whenever I feel like I wanna jump in, any time that I feel that I have an idea. It could be everyday for a few weeks and then I could stop for a while. There is no timetable for it, I just do it whenever I want to. If I feel that I’m flowing, I’ll keep doing it for a few more days, and if I feel like I’m running out of ideas, I’ll stop it for a little bit.
IBN: Tell us about the MO for your STRIDE label – what’s the sound, who do you look to release with?
RONY:The reason why I created STRIDE is to give me an avenue to release my tracks, and to give other Djs who don’t fit in certain boxes the opportunity to put out the music that they feel. I just think that if you’re gonna release on a certain label it’s gotta be a certain genre of that kind of music. To me, I give a little bit more leeway and let people do their thing within certain constraints, but as long as it is in the same sound that we are looking for, then you have the green light to take wherever you want.
IBN:I would imagine you have many memories from Ibiza, but what does Ibiza mean to you, and do you have one special memory that sticks out to you?
RONY: Obviously Ibiza is a very special place. I’ve had some amazing memories. What sticks in my mind is the nature, the beaches, the landscaping, the clubs, the restaurants, the people… I mean everything. It’s just a magical island that has taken a quiet break this year, and I’m sure it’s going to be back alive in the future.
IBN: Given your deep roots with Beirut, what was it like seeing the Beirut explosion? How do you judge the reaction to it locally?
RONY: This is a situation that has hit home in the sense that we`ve lost our home both myself and my parents. Also my parents were gravely injured; thankfully alive. But all my friends and my neighbours, everybody suffered; and it’s at a time where people don’t have the luxury of having to go through without help. The situation financially has been a disaster. Politically, these guys have been running the country for the last 40 years and basically have left nothing to the people, so it’s in a very severe downwards spiral. And to have this explosion happen it’s mind boggling. So it has affected me personally and for my people as well.
IBN: You donated to a relief fund, right? Might you ever move back one day?
RONY: I mean right now my life is here in the US and my kids go to school, so for the time being I’m not going anywhere, but I wouldn’t mind moving and living somewhere else after being in the US for so long.
IBN:You were born in Beirut, but grew up in Greece? What was it like? What was your first exposure to electronic music?
RONY: Music to me it’s just second nature. This is my passion. I have listened to music, and made music since I was 14 years old. I`ve had a club in my parents garage. So music to me is just second nature and it’s something that I would do whether it meant anything or being in the public eye or not, this is something that I would do regardless because I just enjoy making music, playing music and listening to music.
IBN: Let’s talk abut Rony as a sportsman…What are the best and worst memories you have from your time as an NBA baller? How does it compare to your life in music?
RONY: A lot of people want to make the comparisons between the two but there’s absolutely nothing to compare. One is something that you do at night, and the other one is something that you do in the day. As far as the travelling, the health part of being in the NBA, the constant competition and the constant breaking of the body, of injuries and stuff like that, has nothing to do with the constant travelling of djing and being out in clubs having a good time. Each one is amazing in its own way, but there is nothing to compare them to each other.
IBN:Did you watch Last Dance, did you ever interact with Jordan? What did you make of the series?
RONY: I loved the Last Dance and I think Michael Jordan is one of the best players to ever play the game. I was fortunate to play against him during all those years; those were my years, the 90s. The series was a good reflection of who Michael Jordan is as a person. He is just a fierce, fierce competitor; he will do whatever it takes to win and that’s what a true champion does. He just doesn’t take no for an answer and will go through any wall to get where he needs to get to.
IBN:Had you always been into electronic music throughout your playing career? How quick did you transition and how easy was it?
RONY: I was always into house music. I would play my house music in my car when I went to the games, to the stadiums and stuff like that. My teammates would listen to the music when we got to the parking lot or sometimes one of them comes with me to hitch a ride and I have the music on. You know, at the time they called it “Euro-trash”. They didn’t understand what house music is even though house music started in the US. So it’s funny that it took many, many years for them to understand the genre of music, but to them they just labeled it as “Euro-trash”.
IBN: What have you got coming up both for you and the label that you would like to share?
RONY: I mean, I don’t have anything specific. We are just gonna keep pounding, making tracks and getting them out there; really creating a niche for the fans of this kind of music. When it comes to the label, this is a dream that I started because of so many people telling me “No, no, no but my own music”. I figured, let me start my own label and put out the music and see whether really it works or it doesn’t work and so far we ́ve had insane success for a label that is less than a year and a half old. For us to have so many hits and charting tracks and so much success with all that stuff has been amazing and we are just gonna try to continue on that path staying humble and successful.
Thanks Rony!
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