House And Techno Tastemaker Paige Talks 'Touch,' Spirituality, Positivity And Mindset – Forbes
by June 6, 2024Paige wears Tulum Essentials, which is a local and sustainable fashion brand.
When Paige gets behind the decks, it’s more than just a musical voyage. It’s a venture into his world.
The tastemaker, legally known as John Page, looks inward when producing and deejaying, allowing him to have an inviting sound that combines all styles of techno and house music with melodic beats, Afrohouse and organic tunes to produce warm and sultry sensations.
On Friday, January 12th, the sound designer stunned audiophiles with “Touch (feat. Aaron Pfeiffer),” out via LUSH SUNDAY.
The song features reverbing, swiveling and twinkling synths, driving and bouncy basslines, catchy lyrics, hypnotic sounds, Pfeiffer’s alluring toplines and more. The track certainly proves to be anthemic, made to get people stomping around on the dancefloor.
The Tulum-based producer says he spent the summer in Ibiza working with many vocalists via Zoom, including Miami-based Pfeiffer, who gave Page a vocal that was easy “to manipulate in really cool ways.” He adds that Ibiza is a hub for new music, boasting pool parties, daytime events and a lively nightlife scene. Being in that rhythm, emotional mindset and space helped him create a record that matches the island’s tech house scene, differing from his usual jungle-like sound that’s influenced by Tulum.
In addition, he says he worked during the day while in Ibiza, a different method from that of most artists who create music at night. Page says his grandfather was a musician, and so is his father, who is a disco deejay. The advice they gave him regarding the music industry was: “This is a business. This is a career. You are creating art for the world. Take it seriously.” Because of this, the producer works in the daytime, adding that he finds that making music in Tulum’s sunny and nature-filled atmosphere proves to be the most creative space for him.
“I think one of the most important things about moving to Tulum was to really become authentic and to find my true self,” the song creator says. “Along that way, I’ve become healthier, happier and more spiritual. That is really the driving force behind anything musically I do now—it’s to come from a place of love and authenticity.”
Certainly, that is precisely what Page does when he’s spinning. He grew up on disco music because of his father, and he later discovered house music when his older cousin played Louie DeVito’s NYC Underground Party CDs in his car.
“I felt alive when I heard that music,” Page says. “I was so hooked from that moment because it really is a natural progression from disco to dance music. [Dance music] has similar tempos, similar drums and a lot of other similarities [to disco]. It was a life-changing CD I heard for sure, because from that, then I went to nightclubs and everything. So thank you, Louie DeVito.”
However, it wasn’t until he attended his first rave that he knew deejaying and producing was his calling.
“The first time I went to a real rave in New York City, it changed my life,” Page says. “I know it’s cliché to say, but you walked into this big, dark warehouse with incredible music and all walks of life, and everyone was there to just release and be free. From that moment, I knew that this was my job—to create a safe space, take people on a musical journey, let go, celebrate life, have fun, be in the moment, make friends and make memories. It’s so much more than just the songs. It’s the journey through what you choose to play—to create a night for everyone.”
Paige spins at a Nora En Pure Purified event.
Since his introduction to deejaying and producing in the dance music scene, he hasn’t slowed down. Page has graced the stages of acclaimed clubs worldwide, including New York City’s The Brooklyn Mirage, Knockdown Center in Queens, New York, The Concourse Project in Austin, Texas, and Brazil’s AME. He has also played alongside top talents, such as Nora En Pure, Cassian, Agents Of Time, Yotto, Argy, Hernan Cattaneo and Meduza. His songs have landed in the crates of esteemed imprints like Purified, Odd One Out and SHÈN. Furthermore, his 2023 hit “Heavy Heat,” created in collaboration with Franky Wah and Jem Cooke, garnered the attention of deejays, fans and notable radio figures, including BBC Radio 1’s Danny Howard, KISS FM and SiriusXM Chill, where Page mixes monthly. Undoubtedly, the beatmaker has an impressive resume to date.
Recently, the musical storyteller took his career one step further by launching his imprint, LUSH SUNDAY. Page says it’s a “dream” for many artists to have their label because it allows you “to have a creative outlet where you are in control. You can create the direction. You can create the releases. It gives you this empowerment and this inspiration to do good.” Sometimes, music schedules, he says, don’t allow a producer to release on a specific label in the producer’s desired timeframe, and artists can only have so many releases on so many imprints each year. He adds that he does plan to drop records on imprints beyond his own. He also hopes to use LUSH SUNDAY to champion burgeoning artists.
“Having an outlet to release what I think is awesome at this moment and to give a platform for beautiful artists to release music on is something that I’m so proud of. There are so many amazing artists that the world needs to hear. I really want to allow them to have that availability,” the song selector says. “It’s so much bigger than just a music label because I want to collaborate with artists, painters, jewelers and people who create custom hats and home goods.”
Starting LUSH SUNDAY coincides with the launch of a new mix series dubbed PORTAL. Page says he’s always been inspired by BBC Radio 1’s Essential Mix with Pete Tong, adding that the radio mix series features some of the world’s biggest talents as well as up-and-coming acts, with both giving “it their all to create a mix that was something timeless and really authentic.” Page plans to do his own version of the Pete Tong mix series with PORTAL, where he will highlight his Paige project as well as other producers. With PORTAL, he intends for artists to “send a mix to take a listener really into a deep dive of what they feel on the inside.” The label boss adds, “You’ll notice that when that happens, a song could be 10 years old [or] it could be two days old. It’s really just a matter of the magic that that artist creates.”
The intention of both the imprint and the mix series is to bring Tulum’s sound, energy and essence, which is deep and melodic music that incorporates organic and cultural influences, to transport the listener to a jungle party, cenote or beach club.
The sound creator is also interested in spirituality, positivity and mindset, which he believes intersects with music. Page says: “We’re all vibrating on a frequency as a human being, and music is just vibration. If you can produce music that you feel internally, it’s going to vibrate to other beings in a positive way. So when going into a music session or creating a track list for a deejay set, to be in a place of excitement, love, fun and feeling good, you’re going to create that and present it to your party as well. It is absolutely contagious when you’re at an event or listening to music that you’re going to give off that vibe. When you leave a concert, or you leave a nightclub and it has a positive impact on you, you take that with you forever.”
“I’d say a huge reason why my career has taken longer than it has is because of my stubbornness to … [+]
Spirituality, positivity and mindset are also essential to his personal life. Page says he considered himself a healthy person when he lived in New York, but moving to Tulum allowed him the space and the opportunity to dive further into these three interests. He says he starts his mornings by getting sunlight and fresh water before meditating for about 30 minutes, journaling, exercising and lastly, creating music. Page notes that Tulum has many yoga and meditation teachers who help people have a mindset that allows them to explore what makes them feel whole. At the same time, though, he says it’s important to also delve into what makes one feel bad, which may include past traumas, negative beliefs and walls that one has metaphorically put up. By diving into the good and the bad, he says one can step into their “true power and true authenticity of a human being.”
“I think the better you feel inside, the more love you feel inside [and] the more love you give outward,” Page says. “That’s really the true essence of life—to lead with love. Because without that, we’ve got nothing.”
While he says this is essential to one’s well-being, he admits it’s challenging, adding that the biggest hurdle he has faced is loving himself. Loving himself, to him, has a deeper meaning than what some may assume. For the producer, it means loving oneself in a “full, authentic love.” Page describes this as loving oneself in the mirror, as a partner, as a friend, as a family member and as a deejay “in a way that’s not external, but really wanting to do your best and give your best to be at ease with maybe what you haven’t perfected yet.”
As for what’s next: “Music is a really hard journey to go on and a career to choose because it’s all on you. I really want creative people to know that I’m going to give it my all to represent other people’s artworks, mine included, and present to the dance industry beautiful music, beautiful artists [and a] beautiful vision for one day to be an extremely huge label. Maybe a wellness retreat, maybe a dance event, maybe even a beautiful flea market with dance music [and] all of my favorite artists selling what they do best. The vision is so big, and I want to invite everyone who’s excited about it to contact me because there’s no ‘I’ in music, there’s no ‘I’ in team. Without ‘we,’ we’ve got nothing.”
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