We catch up with One Phat DJ!
By admin on May 11, 2008 in DJs and Producers
OnePhatDJ is a funky house DJ based just outside of London. Every fortnight he mixes up the latest tunes from the funky house scene for you to download for free in his Podcast. OnePhatDJ, also known as Simon Jobling, has run this podcast successfully for 3 years, and he is fast approaching his 50th Podcast episode.
Having received support from artists such as the Bass Monkeys and from industry leaders like Mark Doyle of Fierce Angels, we decided to catch up with him to find out why he got in to DJ’ing, why he continues to produce the Podcast and what we can expect from him in the future.
The following is a transcript of selected questions within the interview. To hear the full interview, please download the audio file using the “Quick links” box at the top right of this page.
How would you describe the type of music you play as a DJ?
Funky. If you want to keep it simple, it’s just funky. Don’t get me wrong I like all different styles of dance music. I love House, I listen to a lot of stuff like Electro, a bit of Drum and Bass, Garage and some Trance, but not the cheesy stuff. My heart is really in the big vocals, and soulful sounds of funky house. I like all the funky bass lines and synth leads. Last month a friend in America said “Are you sure you’re not some big, diva, gospel bird from Harlem?”, and I thought to myself maybe I was in a previous life.
What is your all time favourite track? Have you got one?
I think the one that always comes to mind is “Degrees Of Motion – Shine On”. Every time I hear that the hairs go up on the back of my neck. It’s an all round feel good tune. That’s my favourite, but it’s a close runner with “Armand Van Helden – You Don’t Know Me”. That’s another feel good tune, and I love it every time.
When you DJ in a club you can use the crowd to influence which direction you will take the mix. When you’re producing a podcast, there isn’t a crowd to gauge reactions from. Because of that, how do you decide what tracks you are going to play?
It’s quite weird actually. Like you’ve said you’d normally judge the audiences reaction. A lot of my podcast is based on my opinion. I talk to my friends, listen to my fans and listen to other people’s podcasts just to see what other people in the industry are listening to and I get a lot of inspiration from that. I spend so much time every month just downloading new music, listening to it over and over again, getting to know the tunes and deciding whether they should be included in the mix.
If you had to sum what being a DJ is all about in one sentence, what would you say?
It’s easy for us to jabber on isn’t it? LOL. Having control of the crowd and the music system but being able to please not only the crowd but also yourself, because every DJ should be doing it for the love and not for the fame.
1 Trackback(s)
Post a Comment