“I came from a musical background,” he chimes. “Most of the members of my family are in music so I felt like it was going to be something that happened kind of naturally; basically I got into electronic music via my older brother – and from there, I met a whole bunch of DJs and promoters that I started to hang around with. Later when I went to college it just expanded with the usual stuff: I started going to raves and parties, being the DJ at people’s house parties and so on.”
So while he still lives in London, he does question the logic. “I do still live here, although I ask myself why pretty much every day! I’m never really here and when I am it is cold, expensive and nothing really works! The problem is, I love it for some sick twisted reason. London is close to everywhere and the scene here seems to be growing nicely pretty much everywhere. The only place I would say it’s getting out of control and quite frightening is the United States. The underground is still amazing there but big business has cottoned on to it now and I think they need to be careful because when big business get involved things tend to go wrong – from an artistic standpoint anyway.”
Studio-wise, the lad hasn’t had as much time behind the desk as perhaps he would have liked – which doesn’t mean he hasn’t been busy though. “I’ve been touring so heavily during the last four or five months that I’ve been away from my studio and not really finishing anything; I’ve done lots of sketches and had a few ideas but there haven’t been any finished records, which has been quite good actually.”
But when he’s ready to go, he usually sits down in the studio and gets down to writing until something is finished. “More recently I’ve had four or five ideas on the go. I quite like the idea of changing the way you work – your workflow – it keeps things interesting and the results are often varied. Otherwise, I can’t really give you any reason why I’ve been quiet in the studio to be honest. Nor do I have some crazy master plan; I just write music and work with the people I like – it’s simple really!”
No less, he’s done the odd collaboration with the odd legend – but he still dreams about doing more. “I’d love to work with Ewan Pearson,” he says. “I love that guy and his music is sublime. Also I’d love to do something with Amirali or Luca C. They both have the ability to do totally different styles. I’d even write a rock’n’roll jam with Lucas for sure!” Question is how does that reconcile with his love of the deeper side of house?
“I’m not sure to be honest,” he says. “I really like some of the harder stuff too – I started off playing acid techno and hard house but I guess I got into the deeper stuff because it feels closer to my heart. It’s gentler and more meaningful maybe? It’s also funny, because you can kind of see everything going round in circles. When I play nowadays, I still play loads of funky jams and lots of older UK garage. I love so many different types of music that sometimes it’s difficult to string it all together in a cohesive manner!”
So finally then, the man behind the most recent Balance project is rather pumped about getting down to Australia to represent. “I’m very excited – both about Australia and the mix project – it was very, very exciting. I was surprised and honored to be asked. I love almost all of the Balance CDs, so it was really a special one for me. I approached it much like all of my mixes and wanted to create something that could be listened to before or after the club – or even in the car. I wanted it to be something funky enough to get you going but also gentle enough to keep you swaying!”
And with a soothing track list that includes material from Steffi, Ian Pooley and jozif himself, he is getting ready to live up to a reputation that has billed him as a generational talent – one who is well placed to continue to move the scene onwards and upwards. Forward thinking music, going back to its roots. Enough said.
