< Continued from page 3

RS: The apex of Widelife's career seemed to correspond with a peak in the circuit sound. What's your take on the circuit music scene?
Ian Nieman: Rachid and I always joked that we were 2 years too late. We found the party when the party was almost over. As far as the circuit scene itself, I personally don't feel it is what it used to be. But I think that is for many reasons. I was first introduced when Hex Hector and Thunderpuss ruled the dance floor.


I thoroughly enjoyed those moments as DJ's played back-to-back vocal records and the atmosphere in the club was of celebration and love. Those days are unfortunately gone. A lot of it is due to the lack of great songs by great artists and I think drugs have become a necessity to a lot of clubgoers.

With the MP3 download phenomenon killing sales, remixers/producers just aren't getting those $10,00USD+ payoffs anymore. "I Don't Want U," for example, sold around 5000 copies of the single. I certainly can't make a living off those numbers. If labels are only willing to now pay a fraction for the same product, you can't expect the artist to give it that little extra.

RS: How did you react the first time you heard "I Don't Want U" on the radio?
Ian Nieman: I don't think I have ever heard "I Don't Want U" on the radio. Funny as that sounds, but it never played in Canada. I do remember Dezrok calling us at the studio one afternoon, so excited. I will never forget that call. A friend of his left a message on his answering machine screaming that the song was on the radio, and Dezrok was so excited that he had to share.

It gave me a small glimpse into the 'reality' of what was really going on. I can tell you though, I have heard other records of mine on the radio for the first time, and it is a moment that you feel almost in disbelief. I think that it is one of the most wonderful times of being somebody that creates for a living. To see/hear others enjoying the fruits of your labor is truly a pure and revealing experience. Sort of like running down the street naked and hoping people won't laugh.

RS:Where did the name Widelife come from?
Ian Nieman:We were throwing around names and Rachid came up with life is large, infinite ... so we had Wide Life ... but we wanted something that people could do a search on the internet and only come up with us, so the two words were put together as Widelife ...

We never did anything easy :) It confused alot of people that name. Wildlife, Wide Life, Wild life etc ... the rest is history!!!!

RS: Whatever happened to the Widelife mix of Mariah Carey?
Ian Nieman: First off, The One was actually the second song we were hired to remix for Mariah. Def Jam approached us to remix "Through the Rain" but we couldn't do it in the time frame they needed. So, a few weeks later they called us back to remix "The One." We got paid for our mix, but unfortunately the single was never released. Later, somebody leaked our mix and the rest is history. It is too bad because it was one of our favorite projects. That was around the same time that another one of our mixes wasn't released. People used to eMail us regarding our mix of LeAnn Rimes' Suddenly. I am thankful that Curb has since made it available to the fans.

RS: Will "Haven't I Cried Enough?" ever be released?
Ian Nieman: Ohhhh? that is a sore spot, that song, and one of my biggest regrets to all of you. It was to be the follow up to "I Don't Want U". Nervous actually signed the record before we even did "All Things." Then Nervous closed and we got the record back. "All Things" came out and we felt that we didn't want to confuse people with what record to support. After Widelife broke up, I did shop it to a few labels and they actually passed on it. I do remember us offering it to Simone as her first solo record, but she never really responded. It is too bad. I still believe today that it would be well-received. Maybe I should place a clip on myspace.com/iannieman. It was featured on an episode of Queer As Folk.

RS: So as a fellow Canadian - if eSthero and Nelly Furtado got into a fight, which side would you root for?
Ian Nieman: Being that Nelly hired me to do a remix for her, I would have to show her some love. Fighting in general is wrong, unless of course there is some Jell-O involved!!!!!

RS: In that same mode, what was the deal with that infamous Widelife photoshoot - the white clothes and eye makeup?? Was that styled by Carson from QEFTSG?
Ian Nieman: No ? actually you would have to ask Rachid about that concept. I am still waiting for my Queer Eye makeover and them coming to my place and fixing it up. That would have been awesome!!!! But I guess it is a compliment in a way, and that there isn't anything too wrong with me ? or maybe the show's budget wasn't big enough.