We are like this insane family. I love them; they are great.
Do you want to talk a little bit about the set that you just played? You are so willing to experiment. It was up and down, so many different tempos.
I have a bunch of exclusive material that I’ve been playing out. Now that I’m basically done with my album, I’ve been focusing on my club sets. I’ve put together a bunch of tracks that are set exclusives that probably won’t come out for ages. But it’s really fun to do that. It’s going back to my roots because I grew up making club music. I’ve spent a lot of time writing this album, which is not like club music, so it is kind of nice to take a step back and work on stuff specifically for my set.
What are some of your earliest club experiences that drew you to the scene?
What’s crazy is that I didn’t step foot into a club until I was maybe 19-years-old and I had already been releasing records for like three years. The first time I was in a club, I heard Armin play “Love Theme Dusk” which is a track that I did with Mike Foyle. So yeah, the first time I was in a club, I heard one of my tracks getting played by Armin. It was surreal; an out of body experience.
What goes through your mind when you are standing out there in front of everybody- all so into your music?
It’s just that in a really cheesy way. It’s just so nice to be able to play. With electronic music, you don’t get that much of a performance aspect, so DJing is your outlet. Seeing people’s reactions to the music that I legit tweaked less than 12 hours ago and was working on just for tonight is incredible. There’s not a whole lot of other ways to do that.
How did you become so involved with the label?
I signed with them when I was 18 years old, so I’ve been around for ages. I moved to England and started working with Above & Beyond directly right after I finished college and I think because I’ve been signed there so long, I’ve just been integrated. They are my family. I love them; they are great.
Who are some of your biggest influences?
I would say outside of dance music definitely Radiohead is my favorite. I just can’t think of an instance in which I don’t want to listen to Radiohead. I’m super into this ambient group called ‘A Winged Victory For The Sullen,” they are amazing. Pretty much everything on their label, it’s called Erased Tapes.
You have this album that’s coming out titled, “If It Were You We’d Never Leave” - it’s pretty ominous. Can you tell us anything about that?
It comes out in April, I’m so glad that we have a release date and it’s all going into motion right now. The album title is another entertainment reference, that’s what I’ll say as of now. My first one was a Blade Runner reference, and my second album is going to have plenty of Blade Runner references on it as well. It’s taken from a beautiful scene, in which a father and a son repair their broken relationship, and it’s really just amazing.
You know, everything goes a step further with Anjunabeats. That’s what we are trying to do with this record as well. It’s not just about the music; we are trying to connect it with emotions, stuff that people can relate to.
Your track ‘England’ was handpicked to be on the compilation, how does that feel?
It feels great. I wrote it in England when I was working with them, so that’s where the title comes from. I’m just super- pleased to be involved with volume 10. It’s a great compilation, there’s so much talent on it.