As one half of Easy To Remember alongside brother Elia Perrone, Niro Perrone co-founded Unclear Records off the back of their events in Arezzo, Italy at Klang Club. Niro also launched his solo imprint PADS in 2016 and recently released an EP on Fred P’s BOARDS label, picking up support along the way from the likes of Roman Fluegel, Leftfield, DJ Deep and Frtis Wentink and more.

We had the chance to talk with Niro Perrone as he recently released ‘Outlaw Trax 2009-2017’, a collection of
unreleased tracks from the vaults through to the present day.

Electronic Groove: Hey Niro, thanks for taking the time to talk to us. For those yet to hear it please tell us a bit about your new compilation and what it means to you?

Niro Perrone: Hey guys, thanks for having me. ‘Outlaw Trax’ is basically a collection of music I never had the courage to share with the world before, probably ‘cause I’m an insecure person or maybe because I’m easily influenced by anything around me, or maybe to hide my angry sentiment to how things are going in music. There are too many reasons, but for sure I wanted to show the hidden side of me that I kept secret for almost a decade, linked to my roots that drove me into techno music ages ago, even if with so many contaminations. Just two months ago I dived into my surviving hard disks and little by little I opened my disordered folders, figuring out that there was enough material to make this project real!

EG: You’ve been releasing your raw take on deep house and house for the past few years on labels like Memento, The Dub and Sound Of Vast. This album feels a lot more techno than your previous releases but still with the raw feel of your other work. Has this music been unreleased because you felt it was a different sound to what you usually release?

Niro Perrone: You know, my musical background it’s a fucking obsession for me, it makes me confused ‘cause I usually make music without any aim… It all depends on how I wake up in the morning. For instance, sometimes I set out to make a dance floor banger and I end up with an ambient track. For this reason, I feel lost anytime I have to arrange the next release. When I got seriously involved on the production side, I was heavily fascinated by the music that my brothers Fred P, Move D, Jus Ed were releasing on that period (2006-2008). That influence has been crucial for me, so I decided to spend all my energies on trying to recreate that wonderful sound that brought me to the space! But I always ended up caging in my creativity towards doing tough stuff which was mainly for personal use. So the answer is yes man!

EG: You and your brother Elia Perrone run the label Unclear Records which this compilation is coming out on and also release music together as Easy To Remember, could you tell us a bit about the origins of your label, when and why you decided to start it and also how your music with your brother differs from the music you release alone?

Niro Perrone: Unclear Records it’s a creature with many faces, as the name says, nothing is clear on Unclear! We did many releases through the years without any particular target on which genre we wanted to propose. The label is born from Elia’s mind, and after a year of life I decided to help him to get some decisions and then we started to share our thoughts, even if you know, dealing with a brother it’s not always easy but even if ideas are often opposites and sometimes we fight, he’s the best brother that a person could have. Just a couple of years ago we decided to make something together in the studio, trying to offset my useless picky approach with his facility to close a track, and right after ETR is born we got immediately some releases signed on Rebirth that helped to spread our project.

Looking back into the Unclear Records catalog I found two releases called ‘A Tribute To Klang Club’ and ‘A Tribute To Klang Club Vol.2’ which features some pretty huge artists like Move D, Roman Fluegel and Heatthrob.

“‘Outlaw Trax’ is basically a collection of music I never had the courage to share with the world before“

EG: Could you tell us about what Klang Club is and how you come to sign music from such esteemed producers and DJ’s?

Niro Perrone: Yeah man, Klang Club it’s been everything… a lighting that struck this little provincial city called Arezzo for 5 long years, a place that has influenced so many people in all the ways, it’s where I met the wonderful mother of my children, and where I spent all my energies. I opened it up when I was 23 years old with the intent to recreate that magical atmosphere I lived several times at Offenbach’s Robert Johnson. And I did it!

We’ve been much respected everywhere, and international DJ’s were so happy to find that mood in a very small club located in an unknown city in the heart of Tuscany. So with this unique experience we had the chance to create solid and intimate relations with many of them; this gave us the opportunity to share musical projects too.

Unfortunately in 2013 we closed the doors due to the many complaints that came from other fucking club owners envious of our revolution, but we never stopped doing parties, and we tripled our people moving always to new locations. This season we’ll celebrate 10 years of Klang.

EG: What would you say are some of your main influences musically, you’re born and raised in Italy, would you say that the Italian house and techno scene has played a huge role in shaping your musical landscape? It feels like there could be some italo disco influence in some of your work as Easy To Remember and your work alone could draw influence from the Italian house and techno scene?

Niro Perrone: My early club experiences come from a place near Florence called Jaiss (a title of a track on the album). They always had awesome music, with regular residents that made the history of the Italian techno scene like Gabry Fasano, Kighine, Kitikonti, Athos (RIP) and many others. That place fucked up my neurons. In 2003 I started clubbing outside Italy, especially in Germany, a country that taught me a lot.

First and foremost the beauty of dub techno, Perlon’s minimal house but also the infinite shades of techno music like Hardgroove, Neapolitan Techno and why not early Schranz too. Actually my relation with music is much older. I was 7-8 years old when I stole a Coltrane cd from the neighbor’s collection, and since I listened to his version of ‘My Favorite Things’, my life has been completely shaped by those crazy sounds and shortly after I started to have a huge addiction on the research side. I’m a son of the internet revolution, got my first PC really young and thanks to this I discovered music of all genres, from jungle to afrobeat, from soul to ambient and so on. To be honest, Italy didn’t play a very notable role in my growth.

EG: What’s next for Niro Perrone, Unclear Records and Easy To Remember?

Niro Perrone: We’ve many EP’s planned on Unclear this year, also the second album of Elia that will come before the summer, a wonderful ambient journey that I’m sure will be very appreciated, and we also got on board our homie Coltre, a very talented dude that will deliver his debut with a wicked album. As Niro and ETR we have several releases on the line, but unfortunately I can’t say more!

“We’ve many EP’s planned on Unclear this year”

EG: Could you tell us a little bit about your life in Italy, what are you some of your favorite pastimes? What’s your favorite food to eat? Favorite places to visit in Italy?

Niro Perrone: Oh man, when you have 2 little kids around, a full-time job as graphic designer, you’re a promoter and also a DJ/producer, pastimes are a luxury you can’t allow yourself. When I rarely have some free time I love hanging out with friends, get drunk, enjoy independent movies, and porn too. I spend it also searching for new music. It’s a real addiction! Talking food, as a tuscan I am, I really love the local gastronomy: pasta and steak are fundamentals for my mental balance! I don’t visit my country often,  for example never been to Milan, but if you like the Mediterranean atmosphere, there is nothing better than the Salento area (Lecce), where my father comes from.

EG: What’s the most prized record in your music collection?

Niro Perrone: At the moment probably is ‘Roman Flugel – Tracks On Delivery’. Maybe one day I’ll complete my vinyl collection on Discogs to figure out if there is something more “precious”.

EG: Anything else you’d like to tell us about your upcoming compilation ‘Outlaw Trax 2009-2017?

Niro Perrone: Love it or hate it!

Follow Niro Perrone:

https://www.facebook.com/nirounclear
https://soundcloud.com/niro-1