Canadian James Teej earns Grammy nomination for remixing Paul McCartney
Music producer James Teej never expected Paul McCartney would give his stamp of approval to a dark remix of one of his songs.
And he certainly didn't think his collaboration would take him to the Grammy Awards either.
On Sunday, the musician will be in the running for best remixed recording alongside German producer Timo Maas for their update of Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five.Their version takes the song from McCartney and Wings' 1973 album Band on the Run and reshapes it with a new edge.
"Quite frankly, doing an electronic remix of a rock 'n' roll song is pretty tricky," says Teej, who spent his childhood in Quebec and Alberta. "You're going to have some people that absolutely love the outcome and ... some people that absolutely hate it."
Unlike many remixes contracted out by record labels, Teej says this collaboration came out of a happy series of events that began while he was staying at Maas's European countryside home in 2015.
As they kicked back with glasses of wine and music samples, Teej — whose real name is Thomas Mathers — stepped outside for some fresh air. That's when he heard the unmistakable voice of McCartney playing over Maas's sound system.
Stunned at how his friend could've obtained isolated vocals of the former Beatle, he bolted inside to confirm his ears weren't fooling him.
Source: CBC News
