Interview with James Zabiela: tech house DJ

Check out James Zabiela's favourite music tracks

You’re wearing a Doves T-shirt.

I just went and saw them in Southampton [southern England], which is where I live. It was cool – I liked it. I like ‘Jetstream’ – it sounded quite like New Order. There’s more electronic stuff on this album than on the previous ones.

I didn’t really follow them after their one big hit, ‘There Goes the Fear’.

Yeah, they played that one last, actually. It was all really good, actually. Really nice visuals, and it was a really tight performance. It was awesome.

Tell me a little bit about your new EP, Darkness.

The main track, ‘Darkness by Design’ is kind of influenced by Joy Division and Depeche Mode and a little Nirvana. Stuff that’s on my iPod that people don’t really know that I’m into, but I sort of turned it into a house record. I actually did it over a year ago and it just sat on my hard drive. I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to release it or not because it was kind of different for me, you know. In the end Renaissance bullied me into releasing it so that was kind of how it came out.

Speaking of new Depeche Mode, have you heard their new album [Sounds of the Universe] yet?

Yep, I have. I like it. I much prefer it to their last one [Playing the Angel].

Have you seen the video for ‘Wrong’?

Yeah, that’s a strange one. I watched it on the plane the other day and I thought, this is kind of messed up [laughs]. It’s weird.

It’s really good, though. The guy in the car is actually the drummer for a band called The Liars, and I think he got the idea from the video for [Radiohead’s 1997 single] ‘Karma Police’.

Oh yeah, yeah, there’s a car chase without a driver in that one.

'Each time he [Richie Hawtin] plays a track it comes up as a Twitter post. I think it’s a great idea but...' 

I read that you’re a pretty big Twitterer.

Oh yeah, a little bit. I haven’t been on it for a few days.

Did you hear about what Richie Hawtin did with his Twitter? He’s got a new thing where all his followers see what he’s spinning, every 30 seconds.

Yeah, I saw it. I actually had to stop following him, though.

Why?

Because when I load up my Twitter on my phone, I just open it up and it’s just huge, huge tracklists. He should have one for his personal use and one for his tracklistings.

How does it work?

Each time he plays a track it comes up as a Twitter post. I think it’s a great idea but not something I’m interested in looking at every time I open up my account.

Yeah that’s true, it sort of swamps the whole screen with updates.

Yeah, that’s right. If he’s playing a three-hour set it’s just pages and pages worth of updates.

How do you like your iPhone, by the way?

I really like it, but there’s a few things that need to change and they probably will change. I was really sad – I had the first iPhone when it came out and for this one, I queued up at, like, six in the morning outside the Apple store.

You couldn’t pull any strings, like ‘Hey, I’m a DJ…’

Well, no. There’s an Apple store in Southampton about five minutes’ walk from where I live, so I just got up early and got in the queue. I couldn’t live without it now, though.

What’s your favourite iPhone game?

I’ve got Super Monkey Ball and Crash Cart, but I think it would be a bad idea for me to put any more games on it. I have an Xbox 360 at home though, I actually got this mark on my finger right here [shows cut on finger] playing Street Fighter 4, the new one. You have to wiggle the controller thing a lot.

Not a fan of the Wii?

I’ve got a Wii as well, but it’s been collecting dust since this whole Street Fighter thing came out.

'I think I’d probably get bored, if you have a nine-minute techno record or something. With the old ’80s records you have to keep them in time, all the time.'

What do you think of this DJ Hero business?

I don’t know. I suppose it could be good, I think if it’s successful it could be great because it’ll hopefully breed a new generation of DJs and that’s good for the scene.

You’re not worried about the negative effects it might have on musical creativity?

No, I think that’s definitely a positive thing, but it could go horribly wrong. It could be really bad, like it could have loads of really bad trance music on it.

You’re a bit of a gadget person, so I’ve heard.

Yeah, I’m a bit of a victim. I’m all for anything with lights and things.

If you had to go back to two turntables and a mixer, do you think you could do it?

Yeah, I probably could. It’d depend on what I was playing. I actually did a joke recently, just for fun – we played an ’80s party and I was just playing really old 12-inches and it was good fun. I could do it for something like that because it’s always a real effort to mix all those live tracks together if it isn’t, like, synced and stuff. But I think I’d probably get bored, if you have a nine-minute techno record or something. With the old ’80s records you have to keep them in time, all the time.

Have you tried the new Ableton?

Yeah, I’ve got it – Ableton 8. It’s got an amazing vocoder on it.

Do you find it annoying that there’s piracy protection software on it?

I think it’s a good thing. I mean, I’m lucky because they gave me mine for free. But if I could afford to buy it, I would. I think the people who can afford to buy it, and don’t buy it, and steal it – they’re the real evil people. Because there’s no reason why when they can pay for it.

Tell me three up-and-coming DJs to look out for.

Let me think of a couple of my friends. Tom Budden – I think he’s going to have a really good year – Carl Cox is playing a lot of his records now and he’s getting a lot of support from people who aren’t just me. KOS, whose records I play a lot – he’s on tour at the moment opening for Nic Fanciulli and he opened for us when we did our One + One tour a few years ago. And probably – I’ve been saying his name for forever, but it takes some time – Dave Robertson, but he’s actually working under another name now: Reset Robot, and Dubfire’s just signed him to his SCI+TECH label. He actually engineers for a lot of people, like Fergie, and he’s just done a track for Christian Smith…

Fergie?! Fergie’s still around?

Yeah! Actually he’s making some really cool stuff. He’s just done a remix of UNKLE that’s really cool.

Is it sort of hard house-y?

No, it’s hard – it’s techno, but it’s not very fast, it’s a little bit [imitates bass sounds] stompy. It’s good. Depending on how it goes tonight I might play it, but you’re right – it’s quite tough – one of those you save for towards the end.

Check out James Zabiela's favourite music tracks

Time Out Singapore web-exclusive