A key figure in the Chicago house scene for over 30 years, Ron Trent chats to Danny Turner about his latest project, WARM
American house producer Ron Trent has come a long way since his 1990 club anthem Altered States released on Armando’s iconic Warehouse Records. Whilst working alongside key house VIPs such as Maurizio, Anthony Nicholson and Chez Damier, Trent took sole ownership of Prescription Records in the mid-’90s, leading it to become one of the genre’s most influential labels. Raised in Chicago and one of the architects of the Chicago house movement, Trent’s vast knowledge of music and proficient production skills have sealed his standing as a world-class purveyor of soul-infused house. Under the concept ‘WARM’, Trent’s reputation precedes him on his latest album What Do The Stars Say To You. Paying ode to the vinyl long player, he not only plays guitar, drums and keys, but recruits some serious star power, including violin maestro Jean-Luc Ponty and mastering engineer François K.
Your father was a DJ and musician. Would you have gone into music if it wasn’t for his influence?
“Music gets into your DNA and becomes part of what you are, so becoming a musician was a natural evolution. When I was young, I’d be the person in the room playing records for the family, but my ear training came from my pops and hanging out with my mom and listening to what she was playing. Originally, I had an interest in archaeology and architecture and music was like a family member, but I was always playing around with instruments. I had a xylophone set and percussion and the family wanted me to get involved in playing keys. I resisted at first, but as I got older and more interested in production and creating tracks I wanted to do it.”
You grew up in an era where mainstream music was more diverse and your dance music influences had multiple generic touch points…
“That’s right. We figured that there was no genre called house music, which was a shortened term for Warehouse because it was the music Frankie Knuckles was playing at the Warehouse. He was a student of David Mancuso and Nicky Siano during a period where there was a necessity to create a new direction and vision. Mancuso was like a shaman or tribesman who would guide people into a different kind of force field.”
What’s your opinion of today’s dance music scene?
“Because of social media, popular music is a fast-paced marketplace where everybody is reaching for the next new thing. There’s a lot of diversity but I don’t see a lot of substance because that stuff doesn’t have much staying power. Innovation is few and far between and when I browse the internet there is a big move to look back in order to move forward. Being a label owner, I noticed how everybody was leaving vinyl alone and moving to MP3s, but I knew they would go back to vinyl eventually because people
