Eric Sheridan Prydz, or Pryda, or Cirez D, or as we’d like to call him, “The Godfather of Electronic Dance Music”. He is arguably, one of the best producers of electronic music, and one of the pioneers of synth-driven, dance-floor thumping progressive house. He is literally considered dance music royalty (though we’d like to think of him as divine), and as much as we would love to list out reasons as to why he’s our pick for Artist Of The Month, we’re afraid, there are just far too many. But the primary reason HAS to be that he’s finally gracing the beautiful land of India, with his god-like presence, as part of Vh1 Supersonic.
Eric’s tryst with music started when he was 8, from playing around on a piano, to convincing his parents to buy him a keyboard so he could make his own Depeche Mode tracks it was always “just a bit of fun.” Moving on to 1994 Eric became the drummer in a synth band called ‘Enemy Alliance’, touring Sweden and dreaming of becoming the next Kraftwerk. He lived his youth years almost penniless and made his money from local gigs.
Eric’s first release came about almost by accident. Having made a bunch of new material solely on a Roland MC-505 Groovebox he gave a cassette to a friend who ran a clothing store in Stockholm. Eventually finding its way to the London offices of EMI’s New Religion, in 2000 they released ‘By Your Side’/Mr. Jingles’ and Eric was at last on the hallowed grooves of black vinyl.
Defining moments like his work on Steve Angello’s ‘Voices’ & Woz Not Woz firmly established Eric’s trademark electronic sound and he went on to remix the likes of The Shapeshifter’s, Alter Ego, Pet Shop Boys and Switch to name but a few.
Then things went a bit crazy. A record that he made to play out for friends in Stockholm that sampled a vocal hook from Stevie Winwood’s ‘Valerie’ became a local club anthem. A year later in 2004 ‘Call On Me’ (the same track that sampled Valerie) was out on Ministry of Sound’s Data imprint, topping half the national charts of Europe and remaining at number 1 for six weeks in the UK, cementing Eric Prydz is place in the International club space.
From then on, we know the rest is pure history. His labels Mouseville, Pryda, & Pryda Friends are positively brimming with underground club hits. Eric is now in charge of three of the best electronic music labels whose releases are in feverish demand. The labels are arguably proving to be the most successful and forward thinking imprints currently existing. After he’s initial successes, Eric simply wanted to release music without outside interference, without schedules and without pressure. He wanted to take charge of his image, and his career path. The ethos behind his labels were truly underground; in terms of having scarcely any promotion and no press intrusion.
Releases on his more hard-edged Mouseville Records under the pseudonym Cirez D have been tough and powerful a throw back to the underground techno roots his native Sweden has become so famous for. The more melodic based Pryda imprint showcases his early house influences with harmonies, melodies and hooks fused with his trademark powerful basslines. Therefore Pryda Friends was created to release friend’s productions as currently there was no other outlet for the growing list of tracks submitted to Eric by his close colleagues. Collaborations such as the hugely successful Paolo Mojo “1983” & Axer “123”/ “321” written with fellow Swede Axwell proved the worth of this new imprint.
Eric Prydz is also one of the only artists ever to be given the official permission to remix one of the most iconic rock songs in history, Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick In The Wall“. His version, called “Proper Education” turned out to be a massive club smasher, and even rocks dancefloors, till this date.
Eric Prydz, along with fellow swedes, Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello used to unofficially call themselves the “Swedish House Mafia” They used to fool around in the studio together and always exchange ideas. Though they never went official back then, they were a pretty close knit group. When the latter three finally decide to go official, and launch themselves as a combined project, Eric decided to drop out.
Prydz’s music has formed a great source of inspiration for countless other DJ’s. While composing his track, “Miami to Atlanta” he used a snare sound called the “Pryda Snare“. This became so famous that literally every EDM DJ like Nicky Romero, SHM, Martin Garrix, Hardwell, Armin Van Buuren and many others have used it in countless releases of their own productions.
Eric has been known to have some of the best visuals and performances. Each set of his literally takes you on a journey of sound. Once you hit play, you get lost in the process. Taking advantage of this very fact, Eric Prydz instituted a new concept, called EPIC. These EPIC shows, were to shift the focus from the himself on to the performance, giving the audience a wholesome, immersive treat.
Prydz’s primary goal for each EPIC installment is to outdo the last. Given that the series is now in its fourth iteration, this comes as no small feat, so to achieve his goal, Eric Prydz and his team of visual designers and sound engineers spare no cost in employing the most advanced technology possible for their productions. Technology aside, however, it is the organic beauty behind its production that truly sets EPIC apart from other shows.
Within his epic, Eric Prydz ventures from world to world, purveying a visual canvas as mature and varied as his own music. At times, Prydz resides on our earth, evoking the changing of seasons and supernaturally controlling the weather. Not content with merely conquering power over the terrestrial realm, Prydz ascends to the stratosphere and darts into the Wachowskian matrix like some sort of trans-dimensional explorer.
Prydz is also a philanthropist with a massive heart. One of his biggest fans, named James Lillo, had put out a thread on social networking site Reddit, requesting for the opportunity to see his favourite DJ live. Lillo, at the time, had already been diagnosed with cancer, and was on his final stages.
The post spread quickly through the dance music community, and Prydz’s team reached out to offer him a trip to LA for a personal show, with all ticket sales going to a charity of his choice. Lillo passed away before it could happen, but with his family’s blessing, Prydz played two charity shows at Hollywood’s Sound Nightclub on December 18 and 19, raising over $60,000 for the Cancer Research Institute.
In the following days, Prydz closed out the December 23 episode of his EPIC radio show with the on-air debut of “Lillo,” first telling listeners, “In the days leading up to these events that we did for James, I locked myself in the studio to write a lot of new music. This track that I’m going to play to you now is a track that I’ve dedicated to James Lillo. It was really nice to see that so many of you guys who were there when I played this track understood what this track was.”
If these aren’t enough reasons for you to see Eric Prydz live, well, then, we you’re really missing out on something. He visits India, for the first time ever this February, in Pune. Why this is SUCH a big deal, is because Eric prefers to not fly via plane. So he hardly ever tours, unless he can do it by road.
Catch the Super Swede headlining Vh1 Supersonic on Day 1 (10th February). Buy your tickets for Supersonic, here.
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