ROBERT DE LA... GAUTHIER The long Biography THE VERY BEGINNING: EXPERIMENTING PLAYING WITH RECORDS Robert started to play with vinyl records around the age of 4-5 years old, and remembers having lots of fun with a record player, on which he could use singles 45 rpm, 33 rpm long players, and 78 rpm (which was quite fast. There weren’t many records on that format anymore, but the older record player still offered the possibility to play records on the 78 rpm format). Right from the start, Robert experimented with the vinyl’s and all possible options offered by the record player to listen to music and story records, using the slower, normal and very fast speed, and even played some of the records backwards. The record player & records was already his favorite toy and kept his attention for long periods of time. He drove his parents crazy, doing these crazy things with the records, like repeatedly changing speed and playing some records over & over at the different speed. ALREADY THE CALLING TO PLAY RECORDS FOR OTHERS & HAVING THE NEWEST RECORDS FIRST The urge to be the 1st to have the newest records and to play them to others, to this day, started at a very young age. In his pre school year, he was already the first to have the latest records (TV shows, stories) to bring to school for everyone to hear. One time a female class mate broke one of the new records on Robert’s head because she was discontent that he always had the newest records, and that the class preferred to hear his instead of hers. FIRST INVOLVEMENT WITH MUSIC AND LIGHTS One of Robert’s first involvements with music and lights was with a school project, where he was responsible to operate the lights during the performance, pick the colors and places where they should be, and start the appropriate music for the appropriate scene for a Muppet show. This was a marking experience. He then noticed that he liked that experience very much, and that he had the affinities and aptitudes for such things already. MUSIC IN THE FAMILY Other members of his family we’re involved in music, like his father, implicated in the management of a band and very passionate about music, buying lots of records. Some of his cousins are musicians, and Robert’s grand mother, who had a piano at home. Whenever the family was visiting, Robert ended up playing around on the piano for hours. PLAYING AROUND WITH MUSIC INSTRUMENTS At one of his schools, there was also piano, and Robert often locked himself in the room for hours playing. Unfortunately, his mom being a single mother couldn’t afford piano lessons, so Robert never learned how to really play reading music on the piano. His sense of harmonies and sounds were good and some teachers noticed and thought him how to play songs on the piano and then on the guitar using music sheets with diagram showing points on the strings of the guitar forming chords. Later Robert played flute in the school orchestra, where he learned the very basics of reading notes, play, and especially experience harmonies in a group. The teacher once told his mom he was really talented and should pursue music. Later on, Robert’s dad got a Hammond organ, with those incorporated rhythm drum machine, on which Robert experienced with the rhythms. His dad then offered Robert his first synthesizer. The first synthesizer he ever held in his hand. A Casio VL-Tone made famous by the German group TRIO, who used the rhythm for their smash hit “Da Da Da”. We see the German influences already making its course on Robert. DISCO MUSIC INFLUENCE Robert first started buying 4 track tapes (cassettes). The album from the group “Musique” with songs like “In the Bush” and “keep On Jumping “and the “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack are the first tapes he bought. He was at a party during his summer holydays, where there was a “mobile disco“. They played many of the songs from this classic album. Robert was really impressed by this disco music played on the loudest sound system he had yet ever heard, and was also fascinated by the flashing disco lights and people dancing. His dad then had one of those mini vans, with the inside walls decorated with carpets, lights, sink and fridge, and was equipped with a loud sound system with nice “boomy” bass where he’d play some of the early Donna Summer, Giorgio Moroder, Village People and other disco records that had lots of funk & groove. This was a big influence on him. Whenever he visited his dad Robert would rush through the disco records & tapes collection and go crazy listening and recording them on tapes. The soulfulness, the funk, the disco with its repetitiveness and electronic flavor, feelings and energy of some of the songs he discovered & listened then all contributed to the education & evolution of Robert’s style and opened ness for different styles of music. One of the first vinyl records Robert bought was this B-52’s classic album with songs like: Planet Claire, Rock Lobster, 52 girls, Dance This Mess Around.. SOUND SYSTEM Totally obsessed about getting a sound system, the issue was a serious matter of life and death. Already feeling extremely inspired by music, he wanted to live it and be immersed in it. He needed it and was aching for the sound system really badly! Thanks to his grand mother who offered him one! FM RADIO Getting his first sound system gave him the opportunity to discover and listen to FM stereo radio. It sounded so good on his new sound system, compared to the AM radio he was used to. Two specialized disco shows particularly got his attention then, one with Michel Jasmin, and another that was his favorite. The show was moderated by Alain Montpetit on CKMF in Montreal. This was the most informative show about the newest disco releases and current information about international and local artists, since at that time, Montreal had a lot of internationally renowned disco & funk artists being big names topping the top of the charts for the most sold music of that time. It was also about djs and discothèques. Robert was totally obsessed and fascinated by those shows, he recorded them all, and they greatly contributed to his musical knowledge and education. Michel Jasmin Alain Montpetit Dionne Warwick DISCO TV SHOWS (ET CA TOURNE & SOLID GOLD) “Et Ca Tourne”, on the French channel was moderated by Alain Montpetit and “Solid Gold” by Dionne Warwick. Many of those disco acts also appeared on television. Saturday night TV shows, ancestors of MTV, where they would invite the latest disco & funk groups. Artist like: Instant Funk, The Bee Gees, Earth Wind and Fire, Donna Summer, Chic, The Village People, Sugar hill Gang – Rappers Delight and many more. .. They left a long lasting impression on Robert. Solid gold, on the English Channel and “Et ca Tourne “on the French channel were amongst Robert’s favorite TV show of the time. COCO DOUGLAS LEOPOLD on CKMF “ THE NEW WAVE ERA” He was Alain Montpetit successor and Robert loved that show and listened to it religiously. This was about a different type of music. No more disco! All about New Wave music, clubs, events, fashion. Robert wearing purple pants discovering many of his all time new wave favorites, like: The Buggles “Video Killed the Radio Star”, B-52’s, Godley & Crème “An English Man In New York” Cult Hero “I Dig You” Puzzle “Weekend rock” Flying Lizards “Money”, The Knack “My Sharona”, M “Pop Music”, New Music “Straight Lines/Living by numbers” Lene Lovich “Lucky Number” Marianne Faithful “Broken English” Teenbeats, “I can’t Control Myself” Roni Griffith “Mondo Man” The Clash “Rock The Cashbah”, The Buggles Godley & creme Cult Hero – “I Dig You” 45 rpm Canada and import front and back M- Pop Muzik Marianne Faithful – Broken English The Knack – My Sharona It’s obvious that the music was already passion for him and that he was driven to listen and keep informed about the newest music coming out. ROLLERDISCO & LEARNING THE SKILLS At 15, he started doing indoor roller skating at venues set up as a discothèque with a dj & disco lights. But he didn’t skate much; he spent most of his time in the dj box, where he became acquainted with the djs, talking about the latest releases. Back then, at that place, the dj used two loud speakers as monitors. One channel for what was playing in the room outside (Dance floor, or the roller skating ring in this case) and the other box/channel, for the cue (previewing & adjusting the tempo of the next record to be played). Nowadays, most djs use headphones. That’s how Robert figured out some of the djing technique and learned at first. He could hear everything they we're doing. Where and how they cued the next record, how they matched the tempo and scratched to find the first beat. Once in a while, he was allowed to operate the light show. Since he knew all songs very well, and was good at being in time with the rhythm, the djs liked the light effects Robert was doing since they matched the music. At that time, there was no computer doing this automatically. It was mostly switches and pin ball machine buttons. He then even built a small light show on the ceiling for his bedroom with the lights from the Christmas tree.