Stacey Pullen still plays every gig from the heart seeking to surprise and engage, to provide an unforgettable experience, to offer up his unique catalogue without predictability - defying expectation.
An innovator from the Second Wave of Detroit techno, Stacey Pullen grew up under the mentorship of Detroit's legendary three: Derrick May, Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson. Still continuing to produce his characteristic atmosphere laden electronic sound, Stacey Pullen compounds his reputation as a producer with that of being one of the world's most in demand DJs, playing weekly across the globe year in, year out. With a font of passion for music and performance that never dries up, Stacey Pullen still plays every gig from the heart seeking to surprise and engage, to provide an unforgettable experience, to offer up his unique catalogue without predictability - defying expectation. Above all, from his earliest attempts to the current day Stacey Pullen has stayed true to his one goal: to become and to always be an Innovator.
Around 1985, while Stacey was still drumming and travelling with his high school band, the Detroit Techno movement was born, and provided a revolutionary sound to the youth of Detroit. The Electrifying Mojo filled the airwaves with this radicalism through new electronic rhythms, and showed a generation or more of musicians and DJs what true musical eclecticism means. Jeff Mills began to take musical technology to new levels redefining the borders between DJing and production in a way which had never been done before. DJs in Chicago like Farley Jackmaster Funk, Ralph Rosario and JM Silk were spinning proto-Chicago tunes on WBMX and Hotmix: they were the leaders of the new school of black music. The youth of Detroit, including Stacey, were listening and learning.
Stacey graduated and went to university in Tennessee, which was devoid of the progressive sounds of Detroit, and artists like MC Hammer reigned. He DJed at a few gigs, playing Model 500 and Rhythm is Rhythm and clearing the floor. He would make the eight-hour trip home at weekends to go to legendary Detroit club 'The Music Institute', and get his fix during the week with tapes he would share with fellow Chicago and Detroit students also left high and dry in Tennessee. In 1989, while still at university, Stacey bought his first drum machine – a Yamaha RX7, he thinks. Between the excitement he felt playing and the experiences he was having on the weekends, Stacey was left wanting more than he could fit into his university life. He decided to quit school and return home to Detroit and make a life of music. His parents, with his father's own musical history, supported Stacey's decision and he returned home, moved back in with his parents, and quickly started to develop his musical ambitions.
Almost living at the Music Institute, Stacey quickly got to know the leading lights of Detroit's underground: Alton Miller, Chez Damier, Derrick May. Alton was living in the same building as the club, and showed Stacey a lot of the background activity, including watching Derrick May making his tapes for his weekly radio show. Stacey approached Derrick, and told him that he made music - Derrick invited him to play some to him. From here, Stacey started hanging out at the Transmat studios and became friends with Jay Denham, who was recording on Transmat sub label Fragile as 'Fade to Black'. Jay was the main studio engineer for Transmat, and had full access while Derrick May was away. Stacey watched Jay work, and absorbed a lot of knowledge. Stacey started putting more sophisticated beats together, making his first real tracks. He played some to Derrick who told him “ it's cool but you need to work harder”. This pushed Stacey to become more thorough, to understand music better. He says:
“It was a good thing. It made me work harder, it made me realise that it's not just about making music. It's more than that: the passion you needed to have, the innovation we needed to have, what it is to be an artist.”
After some more time perfecting his craft Stacey again played some original sounds to Derrick, who agreed to release his first Silent Phase track 'Wave the Rave Goodbye' as the 'Bango EP' on Fragile, which was Derrick's experimental label. Stacey was also invited to submit this track to a compilation of new Detroit artists on KMS. At this point Stacey truly became part of the Transmat/Metroplex/KMS team – the three studios worked very closely together, and were housed on different floors of the same building in downtown Detroit. Stacey now felt he had truly arrived as an artist:
“It made me feel really well, once we released Silent Phase I felt I was part of the crew. I had respect amongst my peers, so I didn’t care how much money it made. That record introduced Stacey Pullen to the world.”
“I'd say I'm one coin with 2 sides. Heads and tails can't have one without the other. I have built my reputation more on being a good DJ, but the music I have put out and created has been well received. I have always strived for longevity, and I think right at this moment, my fans haven't heard the best of what I have to offer. I've also got loads of unreleased material that will be released, from 8 years ago and it sounds like it was made 2 weeks ago. It's going to be coming out on Black Flag in summer time here: June or July. Right now all I'm doing is sitting in the lab making the masterpiece. The future of music for me is exciting and will be an adventure, I'm excited about it and this is just the tip of the iceberg.”