The show must go on!

During my 20 years in this career I've hardly taken any days off sick, and I've been through some horrific things in the past…being hit by a speed boat being one of them! I often see my friends taking the odd sneaky 'sicky' day off work, even when they only have a hint of a cold or simply can't be bothered to work that day. In my position it's impossible to do this, not that I want to though! Something inside me fights through; flu's, colds and other bugs that we all pick up. Somehow my body fights them off until I get home, then they hit me hard. I never want to let people down that come to see me at a club or festival, it eats me inside knowing that I'm letting people down. Unfortunately I had one of those weekends just the other week.
I have a very high pain threshold, but the other day while in the studio I got hit by the most intense pain I've ever had in my life, so much so I had to call an ambulance. Once in hospital it turns out that I have a problematic Kidney stone. That's a typical scenario of my life, I can't have something simple! Immediate surgery was needed to protect my kidney from getting infected, worst case being possible losing my kidney.

This all happened on a Wednesday, and while lying in my hospital bed the following day I was planning how I could make it to my gig in Houston, Texas that weekend. I was even texting my agent in the USA, overruling my UK managements decision telling them that I'm going to try and make it. Unfortunately that was the pain killers talking and the severe pain was hitting me hard, also they had just inserted a stem (tube) inside me that need time to settle and this was also causing discomfort and pain. I'm afraid it was a no go and I was devastated that I couldn't make it the Houston. I'm really sorry to everyone who was going to attend or made it to the club to see that I wasn't there. I promise that I'll be back there very soon to make up for it.
Eventually the following week I was allowed home, once they where happy that the stem was working OK. But it wasn't over yet, the dam Kidney stone is still stuck inside me. They called me back into hospital the following Thursday to laser blast the stone. I was now worried because I had two North American gigs lined up for this weekend. I was reading the pamphlet they gave me on this treatment: possible side effects; nausea, vomiting, intense pain and peeing blood….oh great!! So battling on I went ahead with the treatment and made sure I got back home the following night. Putting a brave face on things I nervously took the flight to Seattle the following morning, knowing any of the aforementioned symptoms could happen…but I didn't tell my family! I was in quite a lot of pain, my stone had been blasted but the kidney also gets very bruised in the process too, so you could imagine how uncomfortable that 12 hour flight was. I arrived at the hotel at 9:30pm and was being collected at 11:30pm to be taken to the Last Supper club, so no time to get some much needed sleep. I battled on through my set (full description of my gigs in my diary below) and arrived back to the hotel for 2:30am. No time for much sleep, 6am pick up for my flight to Toronto. Eventually I had my first long (6 hour) sleep and my body needed it. So much for the doctors rules of saying that I must rest after my laser treatment, try not to be too active….little did he know I was flying to North America for the weekend! I played my set at The Guvernment in Toronto, I LOVE this place and any opportunity to play and extended set I do. Mark Oliver, the resident DJ, asked me the question as I was playing. How long did I want to play? I was nearing the end of my 3-hour set and I was in agony, a hated to decline the offer of playing until the end of the night, but my body was at it's limit. I needed to get back the hotel and rest as I had been jumping around like crazy during my set really enjoying myself. But I knew my limits and needed to stop.
Again another long flight home and here I am almost on the mend. One more visit to hospital to have this tube taken out of me, then its all over. So think of me next time you take a sicky!!


Diary

As you can see from above it has been a pretty eventful month! Returning from my Australia trip I took a few days to rest and try and get my head into studio mode. I'm now on a serious deadline to put the final tweak to the 00.db album. I have this never ending cycle of getting over long haul flights, then trying to snap out of being tired from jetlag and no sleep over weekends. Just as my head starts to feel creative once again, the cycle of the weekend is back upon me. It's this reason I've taken plenty of time off in August. My studio work is very important to me. As I work alone (or with Digital Blonde) I want to have some quality time in the studio to finish off the many unfinished projects that are sitting in my computer….how long have I been talking about my own artist album??!!
Back on the plane this time I'm back in LA for the huge 'Awakening' event. I wasn't expecting a show this size, it was packed! I was playing alongside my mates Infected Mushroom and the crowd where going crazy…seriously crazy. LA is becoming one of the best places in the world for clubs and events. A last minute booking meant that I was hitting another event after this gig, heading for Vanguard. Now this is a club that I love. Last time I was here was with Christopher Lawrence and this night was amazing. I was a little worried because the gig was added last minute and they didn't have much time to advertise, but I was shocked to see a full house. The crowd here really know their music, so I can pretty much do what I want and they follow me. I can play pretty hard too!!
I also took a trip to Jersey, one of the British isles of the North coast of France. I haven't been there for ages, so it was nice not only to be back on the island but to see all the big development changes. I played a Gatecrasher tour night alongside AJ Gibson to a very excited and vocal crowd. It felt like they needed to get this event out of their system and was fun watching them jumping around like mad on the dancefloor!
Then it was time for my hospital trip. So much for my studio time that I desperately needed. You've seen the story above, so now you know how much pain I was in while playing at the Last supper club in Seattle. I put a brave face on and played to my regular crowd who passionately support me in this city. They where out in force again, and this is what got me through the night. I find I can play pretty dam hard in this small club, I'm not sure if I'm the only DJ who dare to play so hard, but I get the feeling I am so it encourages me to throw everything at them!
The next night I was at one of my favourite clubs in the World, Guverment in Toronto. I've been playing at this club for almost 15 years now…WOW! They always give you long sets, and having one of the best resident DJ's in the World (Mark Oliver) professionally opening up for me, makes my life much easier. Having 3 hours to play with, I can start of really dark, deep and the tempo is slow thanks to Mark. I love building my sets gradually. Everyone who's familiar with my sound, know it will get pretty hard near the end. So I feel them with me on my journey because they know what's eventually coming around the corner. The others who don't know me, get a surprise when I let out the onslaught of harder beats! Its this reason I love this club, because the punters give you the time and space allowing me to do my job…meaning no impatient clubbers waiting for the candy. My 3-hour set flew by, but as I said above I was in a huge amount of pain and couldn't continue anymore, I knew my limit and asked mark to take over for the last few hours. I'm really sorry to everyone who thought that I may be playing longer, also that I didn't say hi to you at the end of my set. I needed to get some fresh air and a sit down.
So that pretty much sums up my month. Luckily, I have plenty of time off this following month so I'm looking forward to getting stuck into the studio and not forgetting having this surgery done.

One last thing, the DJ mag poll is upon us again. By now you all know my thoughts, so I'm not sure what to do. On one hand I have many of you wanting me to push to get a really high place, then on the other I know what's involved getting the higher number, so I refuse to employ a team of people in order to play these games. At the end of the day I don't want to be a superstar DJ, I simply want to get respected for the music that I play, and I feel that I have achieved that. I'm currently at a very happy place in my career and many doors continue to open. I don't need a number to sell me into clubs and festivals, so it doesn't make much difference to me. But if you really want to place a vote I wont stop you and thank you for your support ☺

10:58 PM - 9 Comments - 12 Kudos - Add Comment

Response to last month’s diary

Many thanks to the massive amount of emails and private messages supporting last month's diary/blog. I even had clubs and A list DJ's contacting me thanking me for speaking out because they felt the exact same way but didn't know how to put it in words; so I know that I'm not alone (in my heart I felt this too). As I expected a few people got the wrong end of the stick and thought I was having a dig at colleagues that where musically different to me; many of you know I'm very close friends to these A list DJ's and I fully support and admire what they have achieved in their careers. The point I was making that the masses where jumping on the commercial bandwagon and forgetting about the more specialised side of things. Without your support we wont see new music in this scene or people attending the more specialist clubs. I can't singlehandedly change things myself, it's down to you the consumer/clubbers/DJ's to support this side of things by attending more specialist events. Promoters/clubs will create more club nights and events if this happens, then we all benefit. As things currently stand, it is too much of a risk to open such a night; because people are following the latest trend of following celebrity DJ's. So as you can see, you can make a huge difference by simply supporting specialist events.

Producers can also do their bit, by snapping out of that misconception of making a huge anthems to get their careers of the ground. You should know by now, if it was that easy people would be doing it week in and week out. Every week a producers hearts will be broken, a few weeks prior an A list DJ played their track on his radio show making him think the doors are open to his career taking off. A few weeks later, that dream is broken and they become aware of the reality of how this industry works. These talented producers aren't opening their wings, they're making music for another DJ in that DJ's specific sound. They will never find themselves musically as they're trapped in this cycle. Theses guys can do their bit
producing some music from their hearts. Don't worry about the obligatory drum rolls and crescendos, follow what your heart is telling you and I know you'll have more success.

I also had a few comments saying 'oh no, another post about Fleming moaning about the state of the scene'. The only reason I speak out is because things aren't changing! If anything getting worse, I find it impossible to keep quite about this because this is the scene I love so much. It's my passion, so I don't think there's anything wrong about me sharing my feelings on this. If I can use my position to bring it to the attention of the masses, then I'll do it and I've certainly seen support from my colleagues too. For now I'll leave it for now…..until next time!!!


Diary

Things started well for me last month as I continued with my semi-resting period…. well it was supposed to be! The time was spent finishing yet more tracks in preparation for the 00.db artist album. Many of you are patiently waiting for this album since hearing the teaser attached my Euphoria compilation earlier this year. Myself and Ricky (Digital Blonde) thought it would be unfair to put the same tracks unmixed on the artist album, so we've negotiated a new deal with Fektive recording and made it into a double CD, unmixed with many more new unreleased tracks. This explains the slight delay and also the extra time Ricky and myself have spent in the studio. Now you can expect a very special album, with a few surprises on there too! I have to say, I'm dam proud of this project and can't wait for the release date now set for August.
Last month I prematurely announced that I'll be a laptop DJ. Things didn't quite work out to plan! As this is a new concept for me, new problems arose before leaving on my two-week tour of Australia. My Apple Mac told me I have a few software updates to download, one being an OS (Operating system) update. From my experience of doing these for many years in the studio, once installed you often get a few niggley problems. The new OS may cause software or hardware to malfunction. This isn't an issue in a studio environment, it's often a case of visiting the manufactures website and downloading their latest update so that everything works fine with then latest version of the Mac OS. So was I going to take this risk before setting off on a two-week tour? I don't think so. If something goes wrong while playing out in a club, I can't ask everyone to wait 10 minutes while I download the latest updates…now that would be entertaining! So again I come back around to this previous debate that I had with myself a couple of years ago, do I proceed with my venture of playing on my lap-top? Will it be all too much hassle? These forgotten issues and problems have now resurfaced; the ones that originally sent me back onto CD's. The thing that attracts me to the Laptop is having all my music on a hard-drive, and being able to sort my 'record box' instantly by dragging files into different sections. To do this with CD's is hard work, and involves burning many new copies of CD's, simply to move a few tracks around. In an ideal world if Pioneer CDJ's had a USB port, then my problem would be solved and this would be my solution. I know many manufactures are making the move towards this, so hopefully sooner than later. I'll keep you posted with my dilemma.
My trusty CD wallet was once again taken on the road, this time for a JOOF weekender…the first of many more! From the success of the JOOF night at The Gallery in London, I took the Astral Projection boys on a road trip in the UK. We started things off at Digital in Newcastle to very receptive crowd! I had to play early due to a second gig at The Ministry of Sound in London, so I opened the night and waved goodbye to the Astral boys. Somehow I managed to make it from Newcastle to London in four hours….with a little help from Dave the driver…in the passenger seat sleeping LOL! The next evening was the big one, another JOOF night, this time at Digital in Brighton where I was reunited with my close friends, Astral Projection. I have to say, this was the best night I had in the UK for a very long time. The crowd where amazing, dedicated music lovers and each and every person stayed until the very end. This time around I heard all of their live set, their new album is going to be outstanding, I was hassling them all night for the new music I was hearing! The following weekend I was back on a long haul flight, heading off to Denver USA. I'm starting to get a little paranoid with this city. A few moths back I played 2 minutes of my first track, and then the cops stopped the party. This time around the turnout was very low and the event finished early, meaning I only played 30 minutes!! The event had a huge line-up and should have been a sell out, but I think the promoter underestimated the power of the Electric daisy festival the week before. I don't know any city in the World that can sustain two events one week apart. It was destined to be a disaster; unfortunately the slightly new and naive promoters didn't see this. They are a great bunch of guys and often in life there is only one way to learn, and that's from mistakes like this. I've seen many of today's biggest club/festival brands in the world make mistakes like this in their early days, they bounced back and learnt from these mistakes and become hugely successful. I have a feeling these guys will do the same. So will it be third time lucky next time around in Denver???!!
The following week I headed off on my two week tour of Australia. It's been a while since I've done a club tour here, so I was very keen to make this happen; and I did! First stop was a Melbourne's QBH club. I have one of the fondest memories at this club, playing a 5 hour set to one of the best crowds in the World. I only wish that I could have replicated that experience, but I think I was slightly out of my depth in front of a hard-style crowd. I tried to do my thing, but ended up throwing some candy at them to keep them happy. Don't get me wrong I still enjoyed myself, but really wanted to experience that special Melbourne crowd. Am I sensing change here, or was I playing on the wrong night? One city I had been struggling to play at for a while was in Brisbane. The past few years these guys wanted Hardhouse, so anything I was doing simply didn't hit the spot. With this in mind I was kinda expecting the worst. Dam was I wrong…completely wrong. The venue was an old pub, but this place was huge…more like a mid sized club. psychedelic decoration along with a whopping sound system filled this place along with one of the best crowds I have played to in Australia for a long time. They followed me with whatever I threw at them and responded well with constant cheering and screaming. Two hours simply wasn't enough, I wanted to play longer but needed to make room for the next DJ. Brisbane is way back up on my fav cities in Australia. The following weekend I found myself at Home, Sydney. I have the same feeling as Melbourne, and look back at all the fantastic nights I've played in this city. It was a packed night and I had a great time, but again found myself reaching for the candy to get the crowd going. I feel something is missing; this being on of the biggest Cities in Australia. I'm used to it being at the forefront of music, but not anymore? Syrup in Hobart the following night was a surprise. I've never been here before, this being the most southern point of Tasmania/Australia. I was expecting the worst, but was pleasantly surprised that it was a repeat of my night in Brisbane. The crowd where going nuts and reacting well to everything I threw at them. Again, I wish I could have played longer, two-hours flew by. BTW, what an amazing city, so beautiful, next time I'll certainly be spending a few days down there.

So another month fly's by, and next month I promise no to mention anything about our changing scene! I think you all know how I feel now.
See you then ☺

2:07 PM - 7 Comments - 8 Kudos - Add Comment

Where’s it all gone wrong?..

This is going to be a long one, so bear with me…….. Many years ago I was faced with a life-changing event; a thing that you only believe will happen to others and not yourself. There were times where I was frightened to go to sleep because I thought that I would never wake up. I often hoped that I wouldn't wake up so that it would all be over. I pretty much lived in an environment where I would get very close to friends, then be next to them as they died. I wanted you to get an insight of how John Fleming works and thinks, I've never opened up my heart like this before. My fight with cancer all those years back has been a personal memory to me, yes people are aware of it, but not these, my personal feelings. My good friend; music, has been my personal healer. Music can be a powerful thing; it can make you happy, sad, emotional, energetic or pretty much anything you want it to be for you. Music got me through those low points and the long fight while in hospital, it played a huge part in my recovery and it's why today I have this passionate connection with it. You've all noticed by now from my blogs I'm always speaking out about it! I'm not a purist, I'm far from that, I'm just a person who likes to keep hold of something special and I see that something special is slipping away. Many of the people/clubbers in today's scene haven't experienced what the older generation went through. Yes you must get tired of hearing the oldies talking about the 'good ol days'! But they were the good days and something I've been craving to come back. Being totally honest, I'm not sure if I'm happy with where things are at present. I've been feeling this for a while and also as a DJ. I often feel I'm alone on a single-handed crusade to hold onto the real meaning of clubbing and Trance music. This is where the scene has changed and I feel a new 'genre' of clubbing has been created. For many years there where two styles of clubs; commercial and underground and the two were very much separated. The underground clubs would concentrate on serious music, dark rooms and loud sound systems while the commercial clubs would be lit up, big stages and invite celebrity DJ's from the radio to attract crowds and VIP's. Now does that bit sound familiar? I believe we have a new style of club/clubbing culture that fits somewhere in the middle; the crowds want the celebrity DJ on the stage and want to hear all the hits and have their hands in the air constantly, but manage to stay clear of the slow dances at the end! Somewhere along the line these nights have got into underground clubs, but no fault to the clubs as I feel the scene is lost and confused. Today's clubbers have grown up only knowing this newborn 'celebrity' style DJ and events. For myself as a DJ it's very frustrating because I probably don't play 70% of the music I truly want too, I end up playing to the crowd giving them the candy they are after. Many years ago it would have been the other way round for me, the dancefloor would go crazy hearing brand new music, they where blind as they didn't know the tracks and this is what made things exciting. To me, that's the true job of a DJ, actually using the music as a tool to take the dancefloor in the direction you require it. A commercial DJ throws all the big anthems at the crowd, then continues to be the 'showman' in the DJ booth thus exciting the crowd even more; this I still admire and respect because you have to be a certain style person to do this. In both fields it's a very skilled job. With this new born commercialism comes; competition, greed and rivalry. It's a battle of who headlines, who has the biggest font on the flyer and who grabs the longest set, ensuring they grab the limelight. Thousands of pounds are spent ensuring DJ's are placed in popularity poles, after all this is a business now and higher places insure a fat wallet for the managers. Today's DJ's are getting into this scene with one purpose; to become famous and earn as much as they can. This is something I've been watching evolve and this something is killing the main thing that got me through my cancer treatment; my love and passion for music. Those good 'old days have been taken away from us; those days where we all used to be a happy family and support each other. The days where DJ's used to phone each other to swap sets, or have a sudden inspiration to play back to back sharing sets. The days where you could share your new found music with your colleagues, even meeting up in record shops or on the phone. Look around us; where have all the weekly specialist clubs gone? The UK used to be at the forefront of the whole dance music scene, now we have one off 'events' with huge door prices. Today's DJs and producers are heading straight for the fame and fortune by trying to produce big hit records in order to fast-track their careers. Just the other week I was watching the DJ before me jumping on top off the DJ booth, then into the crowd, then running along the stage. I thought to myself, is he really into this for the music or just to be a superstar? I think the former fits! Again I emphasize, I'm not a purist; look at me like an activist trying to preserve a rare species, that species being real Trance music and specialist clubs and festivals. If somebody doesn't speak out who will? There's a few of us that chat about this and are bemused of what is going on around us, at such a fast rate too? I suppose it's only natural that human nature sees the superstars with $$$$, flying in on private planes, flash cars and multiple homes etc so they want a piece of that. You CAN crossover gracefully; The Prodigy and The Chemical brothers are testament to this, but acts/DJ's like this are few and far between unfortunately, and I can hardly think of any new DJs/bands that have broke through like this. I suppose I'm an example of someone who can have a successful career without heading down the commercial route. With all my compilations I make sure I steer well away from the anthems, after all this is what the record labels want as it generates sales, but I argue like hell, get my way and prove them wrong. My albums sell just as many as the others, thus indicating there is a hunger out there for a more specialist market. I admit in the past I had a few wobbles with the wrong advice from my old management company trying to push me in a direction I didn't want to go. I could have easily taken that path if I wanted, at the time I had a single and album in the UK top 40 charts. I'm not in this to be a superstar, I don't want VIP treatment, I don't want to make pop videos and lead this life. I simply want to share my love and passion for music with people with the same mind frame as myself, for me that is more rewarding and why I chose to take the musical direction I did. I've been in this industry for well over 20 years and have seen many changes and regular patterns; this 'superstar' thing being one of them. I see this as another 'cleansing' period, soon everyone gets tired of the same generic soundtrack and starts hunting for something new, interesting or more specialist. I feel that time will soon be upon us and we're already seeing a few signs of this. Lets hope things change and we see producers making music from their hearts again and DJ's who are truly DJ's and not performers as we're a dying breed.

Again I emphasize (I have to because of the way forums work LOL!), I'm no purist and I completely respect everyone in all types of industries. We all have different goals in life and I admire and respect those who fulfill their dreams and make it to the top, it's their personal achievement and their chosen love and passion no matter what music they make or play.
I'm speaking out to preserve something that is very special to me, and I see slipping way.
Today's DJ's and producers are brainwashed into believing that they need to make a string of hit records or play all the anthems to get noticed, I want to make them aware that you don't have to, and I'm living proof of this. Let hope a few words may change things.


Diary

As you can see from the above long Blog, I've had some spare time on my hands.…well forced spare time. Every weekend for the past year (probably more) I've been taking long-haul flights pretty much every weekend, and eventually I knew this would catch up on me. I've been really exhausted to the point where I had no motivation to get any studio work done. I'd get back home on Monday and struggle to get through until Thursday when the cycle would start again. So a few weeks off were in order and it's the best thing that I have done in a very long time. It made me think about many things, the above Blog being one of them. It gave me the time to see where I am musically and address this, I'm simply going to play the music I love and believe in from now on, get the old elements of the deeper darker side of John Fleming back. You'll also see this reflection in my productions. I've never felt so good about where I'm at. As you all know, I'm a huge fan of technology, this time off has given me a chance to do something I've wanted for a long time, and change my format for DJing. I'm now officially a Lap-Top DJ. I'll be using Traktor as my chosen program, because you still actually have to mix the tracks together unlike Ableton where they are held in time for you. It will be a little bit a work setting up getting to a show (I'll do this myself!), but having this tools will improve my DJ sets as I will be much more organized. It makes complete sense because 90% of my music gets sent to my server as a file, or I end up editing tracks. It can takes hours forever burning CD's and duplicates. I can also do my emails while playing too…..only kidding LOL!
Gig wise has still be amazing. I specifically took time off now, due to a spree of UK gigs, then I'd have a good month at home, and not living in Heathrow airport; though they must miss me there! I did a couple of live sets with my mate Digital Blonde as 00.db. Passion at Coalville being one of them, and that place was rocking! It took them 10 mins to get into the stride of the live set, then we had control of them. It's funny seeing the difference between Live and DJ set. There's always that anticipation for the first few minutes of a live set as peoples curiosity changes to enjoyment. Once they realize we're not going to do anything to upset their dancing strides, they get into it. After the live show I took over the turntables from Ferry who played a storming harder set, I loved it, nice one Ferry!
The next night was a HUGE event at the Brixton academy. Antiworld have been becoming a popular brand in London focusing on the more Psy side of things. They invited me to officially launch my 'Psy trance Euphoria' album to a full house of 4000 people. Dam that place was rocking!!! This give me an indication that the good o'l days (in my blog) are starting to come back, as this place was full of pure music lovers. I'd make sure you go out your way to attend the next Antiworld event if you are in the UK.

My only trip abroad last month was to the USA, where I played the second of our shows with Christopher Lawrence. Our partnership certainly seems to be working, our first show at Vangaurd in LA was sold out and again this time at Ruby Skye in San Francisco was sold out too. We are two like minded people and share the same passion for our music, hence why we are not only music partners but very close friends. We have some exciting news, not only will their be more shows with us together, but we are compiling a CD compilation and plan to have a US tour. This will eventually hit the UK and Europe, so exciting times ahead.

From then on it was time off for me, and I've loved every single day of it…as I sit here in my garden writing this. I'm usually at 30,000 feet writing my diary! It's been a treat doing normal things, visiting my friends and family and simply having time to enjoy my home and not using it as a work station.
I'll make the most of it, as soon the crazy cycle starts again with many long tours lined up… wish me luck!

See you back here next month.

12:50 PM - 19 Comments - 27 Kudos - Add Comment

Everything JOOF

I haven't given an update in the World of JOOF for a long time, so I thought I'd keep you posted on what's been happening with everything JOOF.
As many of you have noticed, JOOF artist management (JAM) has surfaced. Regular readers of my diary's and blogs will know that I've been threatening to start an agency to support the artists on JOOF for many years, and now the day has come. I always believe that things happen for a reason in life, and the agency was one of them. Late last year I had a forced hand decision into leaving my old agency of many years, we where suddenly thrown in the deep end of finding a new agency. During our search our friends at Elite took care of me as we persisted with our search and weeks passed without a decision. All the time the answer was staring us in the face, and we became aware when we had a meeting with my management company. It made sense for our team at JOOF to run the show! After all, my staff has been at my side throughout my whole career. Having my wife at the helm will ensure that know one-steps out of place!! As soon as we announced our news we got inundated with DJ's wanting to join, it's been crazy. For the time being we will only focus on JOOF artists; Astral Projection, Wizzy noise and Vibrasphere being some of them. Airwave is the only exception to the rule because he is one of the best dance producers in the world and also shares our same passion for quality music. I believe wholeheartedly in my team myself, that I gave them my diary too, that's how seriously we are taking things. My own career is so complex that I still need my 3rd party territorial agents, so promoters reading this, check the website for details. www.joof.co.uk
We're two months into the project and already I'm seeing so many benefits, JOOF nights being one, I'll come to that in a minute. The main thing, that I now have more control over own diary. As you see with many DJ's, the more successful they become, they only play at high profile events, festivals and head for the big cities. Well I've been guilty of that over the past few years, and I really miss playing in smaller towns and clubs, quite often these events are the best because they are so personal and intense, plus they appreciate that you have made the decision to visit their town. I also take into consideration that many of these people might not be able to make it to the nearest big city to see me, but importantly I must remember that's it was these smaller towns that supported me in the early days, and they have played a huge part in putting me where I am today. So now I have more control, I will actively make sure that I reach out to those towns again.

Have your say?

For many years you guys have given me your passionate support over the years, so I think it's important that I listen to you and that you have an import of where you would like me to play, either as a DJ or a 00.db live set. I have completely lost touch of what is happening in theses aforementioned small towns/cities across the world, this is where you can help. Let me/us know of any local clubs/promoters that are putting on decent events, somewhere that I would suit and we'll try and make this happen. In fact, if I haven't been to your town, city or country, let us know contact details of the promoter or club and we'll contact them. Email my team here; bookings@joof.co.uk
It's important for me to listen to you, my fans, as you are the ones responsible for putting me where I am today. Dam this makes me even happier with the JOOF agency, because it feels more personal already, reaching out asking you to be involved with where I perform :)

JOOF nights
Yet another thing I've been wanting to get my teeth stuck into was some JOOF tour nights, and we kicked things off nicely at the beginning year at The Gallery in London with Wizzy Noise and Astral Projection. I wanted to inject something new into club land, instead of the same old tours that do the rounds. Next up is a JOOF weekend in June at Digital Newcastle, then Digital Brighton UK with myself and Astral Projection. These venues solely focus on being places for music lovers, and the Funktion 1 sound system ensures this!! We are looking to take these tour nights with a selection of our artists, so watch this space for many more tour nights.

JOOF recordings
I made a huge decision this year with JOOF recordings to just concentrate on quality rather than quantity. As more and more producers head towards making music to please the masses in hope to fast track their careers, I find it harder to find quality music that meets the JOOF threshold stamp of approval. So now we're happy to wait for a decent product and focus all of our energy on that. Judging from the reaction of our first release of 2008 from Vibrasphere, it looks like we got it 100% right. Plenty more gems lined up for the rest of the year, our producers are taking their time to get them right


Diary
Crikey, where do I start this month because it's been action packed! Things got off to a great start in April with my Birthday, yes I'm an April fool! Many thanks for the well wishes on my forum and Myspace :) I'm starting to do more gigs back in my home country in the UK, I've always been upset that the good old' days of the UK had gone. I remember 8 years ago I would be constantly hammering up and down the country doing multiple gigs on each night because the scene was so fruitful. So this specific weekend was a novelty doubling up, I haven't done this for a while. Is this a sign things are starting to come back? I started of at a Gatecrasher tour at Timeflies in Cardiff. These guys have a new venue in the centre of the city and its really impressive. Great sound system, and the layout of the club has been very well thought out. As usual the Welsh crowd are crazy, and certainly showed their colours as I was playing. I had to quickly rush to the car after my set as we only had 2-hours to get down to Plymouth. My famous driver Dave, of 12 years has just had a baby; Harry, so I was driving myself tonight. You all know that I love cars, so was really enjoying the novelty of driving myself in my homeland. The downfall is that I really feel the fatigue of driving, it took 4 hours to get to Cardiff, then 2 hours to Plymouth and it was now 3am, so I was feeling a little tired. The Candy store in Plymouth was a real surprise! It was like a full-on rave. The people where going nuts!! I played a pretty hard set because of the reaction they where giving me, the deeper, darker and harder, the better thing got, amazing! 5am arrived and it was time to head home. Most weekends I spend in hotels rooms so I turned down the offer of a stay over so that I could head back to my very own bed at home, ahhh what a luxury. However I had a 4-hour drive ahead of me. Things turned bad an hour into the journey as freak cold weather rolled in and thick snow came down. We ended up driving at crawling pace as the roads where traitorous, I perused with it thinking of my own bed as the prize. 8-hours later I eventually got home, what a nightmare???!!!
The following weekend I found myself away from the freezing cold snow at home to boiling hot humidity in Asia. First up was a visit to a new club in Shenzhen, China called Chocolate run by a very good friend of mine Eddie. Usually clubs in China focus on a table culture, it's the Chinese way of how they go clubbing with their friends. They like to stick together in a group and have fun drinking and playing games around the table. Eddie however is slowly introducing them to the western way and offering them a dance floor! This added with a Funktion 1 sound system gives them no other choice but to get up and dance! The next night I was playing KL in Malaysia. Due to limited flights in and out of Shenzhen airport, the best option was to fly in and out of Hong Kong airport, a 2-hour drive away. The flight left really early in the morning, meaning I had only had a couple of hours sleep and I was still exhausted from the 13-hour flight into Hong Kong the same day. The driver asked for my passport as I got into the van, and I filled in my immigration forms and I promptly fell a sleep. I got woken as we arrived at Hong Kong airport, and realized this was the first time in my life that I had gone through immigration asleep!! My passport was stamped as I left China and entered Hong Kong, funny!
I grabbed much needed sleep when I arrived in KL in preparation for my gig at Zouk with Adam Sheridan. This is a great club dedicated for music lovers, the sound system is aammaazzziiinnnggg and they keep the lighting very dark. I hadn't been to KL for a couple of years, so it was great to see so many familiar faces that came back to see me again. Adam and myself then headed to Bangkok the following night for Thailand New Year celebrations. I seem to be getting quite a following in Thailand, especially following the huge festival that I played earlier in the year. Again a no nonsense crowd just interested in decent high quality music, and I love them for it!! I could have kept playing all night, but licensing laws and big security guys prevented this!
My usual cycle of fighting for time happens as I arrive home. First I need to get over my long flights and jet lag, while trying to catch up with studio projects, and before I know it the cycle begins again as the next weekend falls upon me. This time I'm heading to Finland for Lazerpoint festival, and a novelty taking a nice and short 3-hour flight. This is one of the best parties that I've played at for a while. I'm not just talking about the 4000 people going ballistic to the music, but the production. As the name suggests, there where around 10 lasers with a whole array of lights. Then we had none stop pyrotechnics, along with flames being shot in the air, all professionally programmed in time with the music by a team of people. Now this is how a party should be run, and puts to shame many of the big name festival organizers in the UK. The whole event felt special, there was a real sense of occasion and I can see how this fuelled the energy of the evening, I was really impressed.
The following weekend, back again in the UK, this time the Coach in Northern Island. I've been playing here for many years and always remember this club as the most misleading venue. From the outside it looks like a pub with typical Tudor style frontage with 'The coach' written in brass letters. But once you get inside the place is huge, and keeps going back and back. They can get a good 2500 in this venue, and they climb on every nook and cranny screaming, typical of the great Northern Irish crowd bless them. It maybe in the UK, but its still a flight across the Irish sea to get home, then home for a day then a 20-hour trip down to Buenos Aires, Argentina to celebrate the coming of May day. I was a little bit anxious playing here at Pacha, as they are predominantly a Progressive/House club, so was hoping that they would understand what music I would give to them. The DJ before was doing a grand job of opening keeping the tempo down to 125 Bpm and playing very deep. So now I'm assessing the dance floor and going into DJ mode, it can go either way for me here, they either want progressive or will go wild to my Trance. I took the risk and open with a powerful track.....phew they went mad, the energy exploded! I had a 4-hour set, so this allowed me to express myself musically building to some pretty dam hard stuff, then taking thing back down, very deep in places and they stayed with me all throughout my set, it was wonderful. I can see myself wanting to head down this way more often.
So that's it for this month, I'll be back again next month where I will open my heart and be brutally honest of my feelings of the current state of the dance scene.

10:39 AM - 5 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

March Diary

I had the smart idea to take time off the past couple of months, mainly to concentrate on studio projects and to have some time for myself to relax and catch up on, what seems like, ten years of jet lag! I have no idea where the time had gone and was soon back into my heavy touring schedule, so much for relaxing. I seemed to work harder than ever yet still didn’t catch up on studio work. I achieved loads, importantly the 00.db album is all mastered and ready to go. We wanted to add more unreleased tracks for the unmixed album, and we also tweaked current tracks to make them special for the album. I have no idea how some producers claim they can make tracks in one day. I honestly don’t think this is possible well maybe if you throw a load of loops on top of each other and head for your favorite presets, and then maybe yes! But where’s the creativity in that? It takes me two days alone to get the engineering correct on a track. I also like to spend time searching and making new sounds, this makes each track individual. Its can be so easy to keep using the same kick hats and bass etc. I love experimenting, also Ricky ( Digital Blonde ) sometimes spends days making new sounds/patches on his synths.
I absolutely love spending time in the studio, I get completely lost in my zone making music and lose track of time and days. Unfortunately those days ran out and I’m back into my cycle of having long haul flights, getting home tired. I start to feel good by Wednesday giving me two good days in the studio until the cycle begins again. Oh and don’t think I’m lounging around the house on Mondays and Tuesdays, I still have to cram running a record label, finding new music, radio show, journalism, media, and mixing the odd compilation. Bang goes the misconception that DJ’s on work two nights a week and sleep the rest of the time!

I’ve had a cracking few weeks of gigs. The standout one for me was playing Vanguard in LA with my mate Christopher Lawrence. We’ve been trying to make this gig happen for the past three years, so the hype created was huge because everyone has been waiting so long! The club was packed and atmosphere was immense! dam it was a good night! Everyone was asking who was playing first/last. The great thing with myself and Christopher is that’s there’s no rivalry, we kept asking each other politely who wants to play first, we both kept shrugging our shoulders saying that we didn’t mind! We hung out the day of the gig, still all day we didn’t decide. Eventually Christopher made the decision to play first, we’ve done exactly the same thing on each and every gig we’ve played together.... we need someone to make this decision for us. After the Vanguard gig we decided that we need to do more gigs like this together, not only did we enjoy it but also the crowd’s reaction was so special that we need more of these nights, so watch this space....
The Guvernment in Toronto was also a standout gig. Would you believe I’ve been playing at this club for over 12 years!! I have so many memories there and also seen many changes too. The thing I love about the Guvernment is that the resident DJ, Mark Oliver, is so easy going. Usually Mark will open the club then the guest plays and he will close the night. Upon arrival Mark always asks, how long I want to play and always offers his own closing set if I want it. I know he plays there every week so I don’t feel bad jumping at the chance. Like last time, I kept playing until I was told to stop by the management. Four and a half hours to be precise, and I could have kept going!
Things don’t always go so well at gigs, as I found out a few weeks later in Denver. I don’t usually go to the US for just one gig, but on this occasion I did because the organizers really wanted me to play for them at this event, so I agreed. Because I stick to my favorite airline either Virgin or Star Alliance group, I had to transfer via Chicago, it was a long tedious journey to Denver that got me there 2-hours before me show. Upon my arrival Lee commes was playing before me, it was great seeing him as I hadn’t seen him for a very long time. He had the crowd rocking, so I was excited to play. I stepped up to the DJ booth, the MC introduced me and I played my intro. The anticipation was building and the room filled up. As my intro was playing I had the promoter tugging on my leg giving me strange ’cut’ signs. I tried to ignore him, as I was cueing in my first track in my headphones before the intro ran out. Then he shouted to stop because the cops where outside and where stopping the party. To say I was gutted was an understatement. Some cases I try and get away with playing just one track, but as the police where outside I had to stop. Everyone looked devastated and I felt so sorry for them. It had just taken me 12-hours to get there and I played 3 minutes of an intro track????!! It seemed such a waste, but what could we all do, what a shame. The promoter did everything he was told to and got almost 30 permits in place. They forgot to tell him about one, so this one missing permit out of 30 got the party closed, I felt for them. The following morning I was back on the plane heading home feeling really frustrated that I didn’t get to play.

I’m writing this diary on the way back from the Philippines, so would have shouted about this gig earlier so I’m adding it now. I’ve just played on the Philippines equivalent of Ibiza, a small island South of Manila called Boracay. I played here a few years ago and was really excited when they invited me back. It’s a bloody long flight with connections, one of them on a tiny plane with 14 seats. Then you have to take a very small boat to the island it’s a very exciting adventure. It’s a painstaking journey but its worth every minute because once you get there it’s like you stepped in paradise. The islands are breathtaking here, golden sand beaches and crystal clear waters relatively un-commercialized. All the party people head here for the Easter weekend break and the island was packed. I played Big Fishes beach party until the early hours of the morning and only stopped at 7am due to a morning rainstorm. Dam it was a good event, with people going crazy dancing in the sand in front of me. Heading home from this island made me think, I really don’t understand why people visit them same places every year on holiday and don’t explore the rest of the World. Musically people presume Ibiza is the best place in the world, but I’ve disagreed for many years. There are many other places out there that have awesome scenes, especially for music lovers, this Philippine island is just one of them. Also these places wont charge you a fortune like they do on Ibiza??!!

That’s me done for this month. See you in a club soon.

5:28 PM - 7 Comments - 14 Kudos - Add Comment

What are you getting yourself into…..the dreaded F-word?

As you all know my Euphoria album got released last month, and there has been lots of press and reviews around it. both the label and the press office keep reporting in with all the feedback and reviews from various media and the dreaded F word.....Forum!! It's not often I venture into these places, but have been clicking on links sent to me getting some feedback on what people think, and this is what bought me onto this months topic. Forums. Forums can be both great places and also terrible places to be. They can offer a never-ending resource for information, and people often fire back and answer questions instantly helping you. But quite often a decent discussion will take a sideward's step when some smart arse person makes an unnecessary comment, then the whole thing turns into a tit-for--tat bashing? Why do they do that? Suddenly they become the 'brave' expert, but hidden from the safety of their computer screen.
I'm always trying to help new talent get into this scene and this is where the connection of my diary title and forums comes into play. Do you know what you're getting yourself into when trying to break it into this industry? Unfortunately the hard truth is that when you make public your first DJ mix or first track is that it will more than likely get attacked by some people on forums. I've already had experience of giving words of advice to some new guys who took it really badly that they had a few negative comments, this can really affect unconfident people especially if you have a weaker personality. It bugs the hell out of me these 'brave' people who unnecessarily speak out, I dread to think how many people have given up on music because of this, they have no idea what damage they are doing. Unfortunately this is human nature and there is no way I can change this, but I can try and make you change the way you think.
Whatever you do in life, it's impossible to keep everyone happy or make something to everyone's tastes. If everyone in the world; wore the same clothes, drove the same cars, eat the same food it would be a boring place to live. We're all individual and are into different things. The first thing to is erase from your mind is that you'll be able to please everyone with your music, it's impossible. You will always get negative feedback, so prepare yourself mentally for this. Especially in your early days, you'll be super excited with your first; set, DJ mix or track, you are so proud of yourself with your own personal achievement, but then you see people attacking it on a form, it will be demoralising for you. This WILL happen, so prepare yoursef. There's nothing wrong with negative criticism, in some ways it may help you and point out mistakes that you where unaware of, but others push things too far and make rude unnecessary comments. The worst thing you can do is reply to the post and try and stick up for yourself, you're only going to fuel these people's strange addiction with attacking people on forums. When upset you often don't think straight and the wrong words will be written, and they'll just pick on this too, plus your then pushing the post to the top of the page again!
You have to remember that the majority of the public never post on or use forums. When I play at a club for 3000 people, I don't see 3000 posts on a forum chatting about my set. I always remember a comment Judge Jules said to me about forums 'they make 90% of the noise by 10% of the people'. It's true! So remember that statement to help you.
The whole point of being an artist is to follow what's in your heart, just do your thing musically. If you're listening to others or changing what you do because of a post that you've read, then you're not following your heart of where you want to go musically. Remember the most successful people in this world have broken the rulebook and simply followed their passion may it be musically, as an artist, designer or whatever. If they listened to others telling them they shouldn't be doing something a certain way, then they wouldn't be where they are today. The great thing about music is that there are very few rules and there are endless opportunities for people to move the scene forward and be innovative. Look how dance music has continuously involved over the years, and this is done by musicians/DJ's following their hearts and dong their own thing creating new musical styles, genres and ideas.
Don't get me wrong Forums are great places that build communities for clubbers ensuring that our scene continues to grow, and they also support new talent. I just wanted to point out that tiny dark side of them that can seem so huge to the ones it can affect. I don't like to see new talent give up because of a few stray posts, and believe me this is happening; I've already talked a few people round who nearly gave up. I wanted make you aware of what you are getting yourself into when wanting to get into this music industry and that these kind of comments will appear on forums. Don't take them to heart and believe in yourself, at the end of the day if these 'brave' people where right all of the time and experts on music, they would be famous established producers/DJ's and wouldn't have any free time to go forums!!
Good luck in that wonderful but sometime cruel world out there.

3:01 PM - 17 Comments - 23 Kudos - Add Comment

January Diary

What am I going to play tonight?


This is a common question I get asked when I get to an event or club. To be honest, I never know until I get there. Every DJ works in their own way, some guys like to pre-plan their sets while others, like me, access the current situation of the dance floor. I don't think it's a good idea to pre-plans sets because you have no idea how the DJ will be playing before you. He could be playing as hard as nails, so then you need to play music accordingly to wine down the tempo so that you can get to where you need to be musically. If you pre-programme your set starting pretty slow and deep, you'll kill the atmosphere of the night taking over from the guy who's just been thrashing it out, and I've seen this happen many times.
Every club and every situation will be different as I tour around the world. Some nights will peak earlier than others, this all depends on licensing laws and this dictates what time people come out and go home. Some territories like music a little deeper, while others want all the candy thrown at them. It takes the skill of a good DJ to feel these vibes from the dance floor and then play accordingly to them. I like to get to a club/festival a good half an our before I play, then I go into work mode watching the dance floor and seeing how they react to the music the DJ is playing to them. I often feel bad when people want to come over and chat, I always (if I can ) hide myself somewhere so I can start concentrating on the job in hand. They have no idea I'm already working, so sorry if I come across unsociable. ;0)
Within the first hour I pretty much know how to handle the crowd in front of me, I have a very good idea of what is working and what didn't! This is why I hate short sets, especially one hour to one and a half. I've only just got to know everyone in front of me, and then it's all over. Often my first time playing at a new club or territory, it's a learning curve getting to know them and after I cant wait to go back as I know exactly what to throw at them the next time. I'm lucky in as I'm in a position where most people will know what music I will play to them as they hear my radio shows or productions, so this makes life a little easier for me. But for new DJ's reading this, I'd give the advice to not pre-plan set's, instead spend the time learning your music. This is your tool to enable you to take the dance floor; up, down, sideways and every direction you want, then you know exactly what section of your CD wallet to head for when you need to control the dance floor.
Diary
I'm know as a guy who speaks freely about what's on my mind and also about things going on in my career, and this can often be confusing for many, especially if release dates or plans change slightly...sorry about this! There I was chatting away last month about my triple CD for Euphoria covering all styles of Psy. Good news is the CD is all done and ready for release this month...phew! Things changed slightly when I got asked if I would like the 3rd CD to be an artist album of the tracks I've been producing with The Digital Blonde under our 00.db guise. Hell yeah, I jumped at it...I was going to use many of our tracks anyway. So to clear up all the confusion, yes this 3rd CD will be mixed but the tracks will be available to buy individually as a download BUT don't despair just yet they will be released on CD. Myself and Blonde have been working so dam hard we have too many tracks that need a home, so a second unmixed album will be released on CD shortly after with extra bonus tracks. Yes I know you're excited, we are too, but not wanting to push you over the edge a 3rd album will be released completing the story, this time with a different twist.... watch this space.
From the success of our live set at Gatecrasher's Magna event in December, we plan to do many more shows. We're already booked for Gatecrashers summer festival and some key clubs in the UK, once Mr Blonde gets his passport sorted I'll get him onboard a plane (he hates flying!) and we'll be happy to take this internationally. So keep an eye on my dates for these forthcoming shows.
January's predominantly a quiet month in the DJ world, unfortunately not for me. I was hoping to relax and enjoy some time at home. This went crazy due to me having to compile and mix my Euphoria compilation. Also the added edition of my artist album meant I had to quickly master the tracks ready for the mix, so it was a pretty intense few weeks. In between all this I had to jump on aeroplanes to play gigs, then rush back home as I had deadlines to meet. I have to say it's a relief to get to a gig away from all the pressures of those deadlines, kind of like a release to let all the stress out...hence why you see me smiling and going crazy while I'm playing! The highlight of this month had to be playing at Bangkok's first outdoor festival in the city. I've played for my good friends; Amp & Andrew many times in the past at various clubs so I was hoping they could pull this big beast of a task off. There was no need to worry as they had a 7000 strong crowd at this impressive outdoor location. I was playing alongside Dave Morales and Marco V, we all had our own stages. We all played for an hour then the police had to close the festival a little earlier than expected due to noise pollution, very frustrating. But hey, this is their first festival and you need to learn from your mistakes, I know next year all precautions will be taken to ensure the sound wont stop the party early! Still this was a massive event for Thailand and they put on a show on par with many of the big festivals I play around the world, I was very proud of Amp for making this happen.
Chi @ The Lodge in Dubai the following week was also a nice surprise as I was completely blown away by this venue. Having been coming to Dubai for many years I've seen how restrictive the local authorities have made club land. For many years clubs used to be located inside hotels for licensing reasons, and where usually part of a bar and restaurant. This was the only way they could operate a club night. Not anymore. This place is a purpose built club. I was impressed as we walked through the entrance in into the club. I was showing my voice of approval to the promoter when he stopped me and told me this was not the main room and one of the second rooms. He them took me outside to a huge outdoor arena that felt like the main room of a festival! Wow, this place was amazing. There I was playing outdoors under the desert skies of Dubai, what a treat. Even better the people in front of me where going crazy all asking for a dusting of Psy, I had no idea that they would be into this style.
I have another addition to my diary, having just got back from the re-launch of Slinky in Bournemouth I had to fire up my lap top to let you know how dam good this night was. The past couple of years I've been moaning wanting the good old days of UK club land to return. Well I think I see signs that they are. Up north Gatecrasher are filling arenas with full on clubbers, now Slinky are flying the flag for the South. Walking up to the Opera house I was confronted with a long queue of people waiting to get in. It wasn't until I got into the venue I discovered the club was already packed full at 11pm. The atmosphere was electric, reminiscence of the good old days. The Opera house is an old converted theatre, so as I looked out the crowd from the stage I was confronted with not only a packed dance floor, but another two levels of balconies all pack with people going crazy, this certainly made me feel emotional and put a lump in my throat. This was like the good old days, and here it was in front of me. I think they are coming back and I see UK club land being firmly back on the map. Amazing night!
That's it for this month, make sure you head down to your local HMV and Virgin mega store and get you copies of Euphoria! See you at a club very soon.

3:14 PM - 9 Comments - 13 Kudos - Add Comment

Yearly round up

For me this year has flown by. I can't believe I'm sitting here in 2008 writing this?! Looking back thought 2007 there has been many highlights and some sad moments too, overall it's been another very, very busy year for me. The UK Trance scene is slowly getting back on it's feet but not enough that it gives us English DJ's regular club nights, so that meant I had to jump on airplanes virtually every weekend. Yes it sounds great but I'm now feeling physically exhausted from this and for this reason I've decided to take it relatively easy for the first few months of 2008. This is done to refuel my body and to also catch up with my studio work. You all know my 00.db and solo albums are running way behind schedule and this is all due to myself not finding the time or being too tired to produce music. So for me its important I get these tracks done so you lot can enjoy them too :)

I played a whole load of festivals this year, each and every one in unique locations. I often get asked which was your favourite festival this year? To answer that is really unfair because they where all special for their own reasons. It's great to see the Electronic dance scene thriving in so many countries across the world, and I see it constantly growing especially throughout this year. Again every country is special for its own reason and I can't pin point just one territory.
I'm still not sure where Trance is heading? I still find it hard to find quality music from the regular Trance world hence why I look to the Psy world. But even here I'm seeing things heading a little generic and predictable, this has certainly been the case throughout last year. But the Psy/Goa scene has a habit of rebelling against such activities and I'm sure the best of the crop will head back in a more serious direction as they have done in the past. This is what I love about the Psy world; I was already starting to see this near the end of the year.
We lost two more major record distribution companies in 2007. This certainly indicates where things are heading and what format people are now buying their music. This only reassures me that I made the right decision a few years back to drop selling vinyl at JOOF recordings. At the time of the announcement it was taken with raised eyebrows and disgust that one of their favourite labels was no longer releasing on vinyl, but now people get my point.... I'm trying not to say I told you so ;) So now we must face it, digital is the way forward and the future, I think the year 2007 firmly stamped that in place.

I've begun to warm the DJ mag top 100 poll as it brings some colour to the scene, and this year didn't fail! At least it gets people chatting about the Electronic dance music scene before and especially after as most forums are packed with pages of peoples comments. It was like a soap opera this year with people on the edge of their seats waiting for the next twist and juicy piece of gossip. As with every year, once the dust has settled, it's all gone and forgotten about until the following year when every DJ suddenly wants to be your best friend and will constantly spam you for your vote.

Overall will 2007 be remembered for a good year for Trance music?...mmmm no I don't think so. I think it was the year of Electro. I think the Trance world needs to reinvent itself then people will come back. Its sad producers head for the safe option and follow the masses, gone are the days where producers sat in the studio and just made music they love. They now make music to sell to the masses. Maybe 2008 with change, who knows?!

Again I thank you for your constant support throughout 2007. You are the ones that fill the clubs/festivals I play, tune into my monthly radio show and buy my compilations and records. I work so hard to bring something a little different to the scene I'm in, sometimes it's bloody hard work in a world that follows the commercial masses, but the reward is having my true fans stand by me supporting me and that is priceless. I'm living my dream with the gift of my second life and without you all this wouldn't be possible and for that I'm truly thankful. In 2008 I will still stay true to my sound to bring you all Trance music with a different twist. I wish you all the best in 2008 and look forward to seeing you in a club very soon.

John

1:45 PM - 5 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

Electro phenomena!

Regular readers of my diary's and blogs will know that I'm honest when I put pen to paper. I like to write about what's on my mind even if it's good or bad. A recent post on my forum has lead me to writing this latest blog on Electro House where there was a huge discussion. I'm very open minded when it comes to music, I enjoy all styles of music even away from dance music, but I can't get my head around Electro and the sudden craze surrounding it. Firstly it has absolutely no connection what so ever with the original form Electro that we all know. I hear no Kraftwork or Manparish influences? Anyway Electro has a breakbeat that breakdancers use, and not a 4/4 beat used in todays Electro? I uncomfortably watched many DJ's jump on this sudden craze with a feeling of embarrassment, like when watching a politician on the TV trying to dance....that eeek feeling! Why? Because many of these guys had been leading the way musically for many years breaking new boundaries and where highly respected for this, yet now they are following the masses?
I'm trying so hard to get my head around this. I hear their side of the argument saying they find it challenging making something new and groundbreaking, but to me that doesn't make any sense. What's groundbreaking about making the same music that everyone else has jumped on, your doing the same as the masses. Some of my all time favourite producers are now making Electro, it seems such a shame as they used to be unique but now they are lost with the masses making the same stuff.
My only theory is that the media where looking for something new to write about, after all they need to sell units. Maybe Electro seemed to be the answer and the public got caught up in it. Due to changes in licensing laws in the UK pubs and bars could stay open to anytime they wanted, and these places soon become packed as its free entry and Electro House was the music of choice and certainly suits these places. It also had a huge effect on clublands attendance numbers. Is Electro pub music?
My other theory is that producers find it very hard to make a living out of music these days due to file sharing and poor record sales, so they jumped on this latest fad hoping to earn some decent money and roll with the sudden craze and maybe get a fruitful career from it? I also see that the fashion industry is involved with the Electro scene, all seems very glam indeed.

Maybe it's just me and I don't understand it. I'm not knocking it at all, Im simply trying to understand the attraction of this latest fad. Music is part of my life, so I try and understand everything that's going on around me, may it be Drum & Bass, Breaks or whatever, I like to keep an eye on things. Throughout my 22 year career I've seen many fads come and go; we saw piano House in the late 80's (Blackbox), bands sampling kids TV shows in the early 90's shortly followed by Diva vocals (M People) then Faithless introduced the 'plucked string' phenomena. Maybe Electro house is another one of these quick fads?
Something isn't clicking with it for me, so maybe you can help me understand it. I'd love to hear your thoughts on my forum/Myspace. Oh and don't worry, I wont be playing any of it soon ;)


Diary

As many have read on my forum I have some exciting news and plans for 2008. The first is my return to my Euphoria family in conjunction with the Ministry of sound. We where waiting for the right project to come along, and as we speak I'm compiling and mixing the next Euphoria compilation. The album will cover the Psy Trance scene. Many people who don't understand Psy Trance think its all 145 BPM noise made for people running around naked at a hippy festival!! When in fact the Psy world has many genres ranging from chill, Breaks, prog through to pounding Trance. So over 3 CD's I've explored all sides of Psy building nicely on CD 1 with some gorgeous deep progressive moving all the way to pounding driving Trance on CD3. A triple CD...wahhooo!! Expect to see this in the shops in February.
My other exciting news is that I have eventually have my own night up and running in London. After months of planning I've teamed up with a club that I've had a 12-year relationship to bring you four parties throughout the year. Make a date for February 8th 2008 at The Gallery, London, UK. We have a whopping line up for this launch; Astral Projection, Wizzy Noise, Yahel, Gavin Michyel and me!! It's going to be a killer show. It will also be a joint launch party for my Euphoria album, so lots of goodies to be given away.

Touring has been as crazy as ever starting with a trip to Montenegro. They tell me I was the fourth Trance DJ to play in this small country, so I was nervous not being sure if they would understand what I was playing. After 30 mins of playing I knew for sure that they just wanted to have fun and this place was absoluty rocking. The crowd where screaming and bouncing around like crazy. A short flight to neighbour Serbia the next day took me to a venue in a cave under the city of Belgrade. I've never ever played in a venue like this; it was really exciting giving the whole vibe an underground (no pun intended) feeling. Eastern European crowd have to be one of the best in the world, they just wanna have fun. It was a long weekend for me as I had one more gig to go in Malta. I hadn't been here for nearly 10 years. I used to playing Malta a good 10 times a year for a run of many many years and it was one of my strongest territories until the police clamped down on outdoor parties and clubs. I was really excited to be back, especially seeing Malta's number 1 DJ Ruby as we used to be very close friends. A whole new generation of clubbers had moved on since my last performance, so I was playing to a brand new crowd. Malta has a predominantly very deep progressive crowd so both DJ San and Ruby who where with me in the DJ booth warned me to keep things calm. They both nervously watched me as I opened fire on the dancefloor, pounding more and more energy at them. The reaction was immense, the crowd where jumping rocking and screaming! I had Ruby hugging me telling me this is a first for Malta having some Psy Trance thrown at them!
The following week to me to The Gallery in London. They asked me to play a special set in the backroom. This room is usually used to showcase new DJ's, but this week the mainroom was full of House DJ's and they wanted to do something different in the backroom, so it made sense to put an opposite style there...me! I really enjoy playing one off gigs like this, the whole room felt very personal and intense.
Next up was my India trip. This is a relatively new territory for me, but proving to be one of my most popular. People always ask me what's it like in India? They can't imagine what it would be like. Well wind back 10 years in the UK when the scene exploded, remember when everyone used to get excited on the dance floor no matter who or what track was playing, they where just happy to be there enjoying themselves. Well that pretty much sums up India. They are an amazing nation of people simply loving the fact they are experiencing music from a guest in their country. Another thing India is famous for is 'deli belly'. I love local Indian food and have been lucky so far....until this time. It couldn't happen at a worse time just before a gig. I got taken to a Chinese restaurant, so I blame them! I went back to my hotel for a short nap before my gig, then woke up feeling really unwell. I remember walking to the bathroom to splash water on my face; then I woke up on the floor being sick....yuk. I had a huge bump on my head and nasty bruise on my arm, so I obviously passed out. I have never felt so unwell in my whole life, it felt like all my life and energy was getting sucked out of me. These waves of sickness, sweating and shaking continued for the next hour, and I was due to play in 90 minutes. Nikhill my dear friend and promoter came to the rescue with liquids and potions to help dehydrate my body. Somehow I made it to the club, still very weak and wobbly and played my set. Adrenalin took over and I was jumping around like crazy, the crowd completely unaware what I had just been through. It was crazy thinking 2 hours before I had passed out and was feeling so Ill. That's the trouble with my job, I cant phone in sick! To make matters worse the next morning I had to take my flight to Australia. 25 hours later with three connections I arrived in Melbourne and was still unable to eat. I had 2 hours sleep then was driven 3-hours to the countryside where I was to play Earthcore. I played a 3-hour set then had to be taken straight to the car as I thought I was going to pass out. By now I hadn't eaten for 3 days, hardly had any sleep and was exhausted. It wasn't over yet?! 3-hour drive back to Melbourne then another 2-hour nap and it was time to head back to the airport the head to Brisbane for a daytime event. As soon as we landed I was taken straight to the venue to play a 2-hour set. Dam I was on my last legs by the time I reached my hotel room early evening....still unable to eat!! The rest of the Australian tour was exhausting but everyday that went by I got better and better and my body was able to hold down food again. I really love Australia and highlights had to be Earthcore and Ultraworld and not forgetting all who came down to Home in Sydney. I'm sorry for everyone at Earthcore who wanted to chat after, I lasted as long as I could to say hi to the regular faces than needed to get rest and warmth in the car.

That's it for this month; don't forget to make a date for February 8th 2007 for my new night at the Gallery, London :)

8:38 AM - 13 Comments - 18 Kudos - Add Comment

Diary November

I can't believe it's nearly Christmas?? My head is still thinking it's summer, where has this year gone too?! I've have had big changes this month; the main was changing DJ agencies. After 12 long years at my old agency it was time for a change. I wont go into detail, but my loyalties where pushed to the limit and my management company sprang into action setting up a new infrastructure. It's both exciting yet nerve-racking all at the same time, but I have a great team of people behind me and I'm excited for all the plans we have set for 2008. Expect to see many CD compilations, Fleming solo tours and eventually my artist album that got a much-needed push with all the changes. So promoters reading this (yes I know you secretly visit here!), take a look and my website for new contact details.
I've been working so dam hard in the studio recently, though these tracks wont see release just yet, they are in preparation for my album. I work alone in the studio and do all my own writing, engineering and mix downs. The advantages are being able to understand the physicals of how everything gels together, making sounds and making frequencies fit etc. I avoid preset patches that are swamped with fx's, and concentrate on the basic soundwave and understanding how certain sounds are created. This way I can tailor make sounds to fit in to the current mix. Presets take up so much space, especially with all the extra reverbs and delays that they load them with to make em sound pretty so that they sell the synths. Be careful of these. All synths are basically the same having multiple waveforms with multiple oscillators. Some synths become more unique due to how you can route each waveform to envelop, filters etc. Once you understand this you can make any sound from the route waveform from a bass drum to pads all from the same synth. You can custom make the sound to fit in the allocated space in your song, it will save you hours of painful searching through patches.
My DJ gigs have yet again taken me to 35,000 feet where I seen to spend most of my time travelling to various cities across the world. It's incredible how I've now got used to a 12-hour flight and treat it like a bus journey. Things started out in Las Vegas for a trip to Spundae for their gig at the music conference. I hear you saying wasn't that at Miami earlier in the year? The publicity machine needs to get behind the Las Vegas music conference, as it seems to be going on without anyone knowing! They are into their second year and again I think it passed without anyone knowing? It was great for the locals as they saw their entire hero DJs all in the same week, but not quite the impact they where expecting. A few days later I found myself sitting in Shanghai, China. I had a four-date tour here jumping from city to city. The scene here is slowly starting to move forward. The best clubs seem to be the ones that are steering away for booking 'top 100' DJ's. They've learned their lesson not only of going bankrupt, but they cant sustain a weekly crowd because it doesn't attract clubbers, just 'power' people turning up because there's and international person in town. Most Top 100 guys will admit it's not exactly a ground braking gig playing to business men sitting on tables and chairs on the DANCEFLOOR playing dice and card games!! So when I'm in town I'm playing to my fans that come to experience my music, give me these gigs any day!! Needless to say I had a cracking tour in China to full houses and rocking crowds….Even the club owners came out to thank me at the end. So I think they are eventually seeing the light and booking DJ's to programme their nights musically and not an number, this will give some of you other guys a chance to play out there ;)
After enjoying valuable few days at home I soon find myself preparing myself for yet another trip away, this time back to the USA. First city is Atlanta to play a gig alongside my good friend Christopher Lawrence. We where both hyped about playing together in the same club. For the past year or so we've been playing many cities on the same night, but different clubs! It's been a running joke between us and we never understand why they didn't book us together at the same club. Only last week we met for dinner in Beijing then parted ways to play at different clubs. As we approached the club in the car the promoter dropped the bombshell; they had a shooting at the club the previous night and one of the doormen got hit, thankfully he was OK. The TV news teams had been at the club all day broadcasting the news, needless to say it seriously affected the attendance that evening. We where both gutted, but the people their really made up for it. The next day I was back to Avalon in New York. My good friend BT was performing before me and I knew exactly what he would do as I arrived, no offence taken Brian ;) It happened to me a few months back and I was talking to the promoter about this on the way to the club. As I stepped onto the stage BT did a final goodbye trick then walked away from the stage without any indication it was his last track.....ahhhh Brian I wish you wouldn't do this!! We have a gentleman's agreement between DJ's to give the next DJ warning that you are playing your last track. There was another 20 minutes to go until I was supposed to be playing. To make things worse BT had one of the CD players taken away to make room for his computer set up. So the whole DJ booth needed rewiring and 2nd CD player installed. All chaos let loose as the promoter tried to find the sound engineer to get things up and running, by now 5 minutes of silence had run by as Brian chatted to his mates?! In the end I got Brian to play one more track to buy us time. I think many people thought the night had ended and left the club, meaning by the time I got on half the club had emptied...what a nightmare??? To top the weekend off we had a car crash on the way to the airport the following morning. This is the first time I've experienced being punched in the face with an airbag, dam what a feeling. We where all OK just a little shaken. Already running late for the airport, I had to leave all the smoke and debris on the road and hail a cab and just made it for my flight home. Could things get worse....mm..yes! Upon departure the plane aborted take off at the very last minute and hit emergency brakes due to one of the engines failing, so we sat on the tarmac for 5 hours until they fixed it. Who says we have a glamorous jet set lifestyle. After the accident with my hand swollen and in pain I just wanted to get home.
Thinking things would run smoothly the following week for my gig in the UK at Gatecrasher, Nottingham they decided to close the M1 motorway as I was on it! We where stuck for over an hour until it reopened. I was due to play after Marco V, but luckily the last DJ, Andy Bagley, had turned up early meaning we could swap sets meaning I could still play...pheew, thanks Andy!!
Make sure you make a date for Boxing day at Gatecrasher, Magna. I'll be performing a live gig with my fellow production partner, The Digital Blonde. This will be a cracking night!
See you next month :)

6:02 AM - 3 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment