Uniting Souls

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Got a party on a boat coming up fast! Here’s the information, a short interview with Ramiro of Uniting Souls below.

DD: How would you describe the energy of the Seattle electronic community when you first arrived here, compared to it’s current state?

There’s always waves of ups & downs, things seem to ebb & flow over the years and over the last decade since I moved here from SF, but for the most part I’d say Seattle currently is at an unprecedented peak, as far as talent, creativity and community in particular. We are very fortunate & blessed here in the Northwest to have a tremendous sense of unity and engagement amongst the major players who make it all happen – from the original pioneers such as Michael Manahan/Starborne, our own Uniting Souls, Decibel Festival, Innerflight, Shameless, SunTzu, the Burning Man community, Infinite Connections, and even newer/younger crews like LiveNLove,  Sweatbox, Booty Resin, and Condiment, along with many others. There’s an amazing sense of unified and collaborative energy – we’re all friends, we all support each other as much as possible, and it’s pretty awesome that we all make an effort to go the extra mile, to make sure that our commitment to furthering a strong sense of community takes high priority in everything we do, everything we set out to accomplish through our musical and creative endeavors. We’ve got some amazingly talented musicians, producers, and performers in our community that have reached international acclaim, support and recognition, really putting Seattle on the map in a new unprecedented way, and this is across genres, house cats like Pezzner & LawnChair Generals, our own Uniting Souls label, to the techier end of the spectrum, like the 0-1 label, L’usine, Jeff Samuel, Truckasaurus, and so many others, who have really charted new territory for Seattle music culture. And the Decibel Festival in particular, whose success is completely grassroots-driven, with so much energy from so many different crews, including volunteers, who have just worked so hard to build something truly special.

DD: What’s been one of your most memorable Seattle events?

Oh man, there’ve been so many, where do I start? Definitely the Magnetic/Kinetic series we did at The Pacific Science Center, not only due to the nature of such a unique, landmark venue, with so much of a personal connection to childhood memories of a lot of the attendees/dancers, but to Seattle culture in general, very special & memorable! Also, the Uniting Souls/Innerflight and Uniting Souls/Decibel boat parties we’ve done on The Islander, some incredible memories from those. And of course, some of the outdoor camping summer parties, like Photosynthesis, every single one has been pretty epic! But going way back to early 2000’s, our parties at I-Spy/Nation, and the early days of the Baltic Room, we did the Life parties from 2001-2004, so many great memories from those… some of the parties we did at Church of Bass, and there was the Om Records Tour in 2001, which we did at The Showbox Market (back when there was only one Showbox) – we had Mark Farina & Marques Wyatt with Soulstice & aFRO-mYSTIK both playing live, it was an amazing night, by the end of it as Farina was closing the night, the stage had filled with all the musicians from both bands and even people from the crowd up on the stage playing percussion & congas, and Gina Rene doing vocals on the mic, totally impromptu, and they told us that it was their favorite stop on a 50+ city tour they did that year. We’re really fortunate & humbled to hear that quite often from touring headlining artists, they love the vibe in Seattle, and even the crowds may not be the largest they play to, they definitely recognize that we have something really special here, and that seems to be truer now more than ever.

DD: What’s kept you motivated and encouraged throughout the years? Running a production company, plus doing work as a record label is a major commitment, and it takes a while to get everything rolling.

It does require quite a bit of energy and ongoing motivation for sure, especially after having been doing it for over 15 years. But you know, first and foremost, what keeps me going I’d say is my love of the music, and the intention behind what we do, which is to promote community and “cross-pollination” if you will, among the different groups which make up our tribes. And right up there with that is the huge outpouring of love & support & appreciation which we receive back from all of our friends, supporters, music lovers, and everyone who comes to the shows and enables us to keep it all going. It’s amazing how much that appreciation is constantly expressed, not only verbally, but through people’s attitudes and actions, it’s quite empowering and motivational, without a doubt.

– jimijaxon