Judge Jules Interview

Judge Jules Interview

25 May, 2010
by: Spoonfed Festivals

Kristan J Caryl catches up with Judge Jules ahead of this weekend's Dance Crusade Festival.

Judge Jules is one of the headliners at this weekend's massive Dance Crusade Festival. We catch up with him ahead of the mayhem.

How important is your radio show to you? What do you aim to achieve with it?
 
My weekly BBC Radio 1 show is everything to me – not only is it a crucial platform for showcasing new music, but allows me the opportunity to gas on a bit!
 
What does a track have to make you feel before you play it?
 
I listen to my final selection of new promo tunes about 5 times over before I play them out. It’s simple really – each and every track really needs to have that WOW factor.
 
Why does trance get such a bad rap?
 
I don’t think it does personally… or certainly not currently anyway. Trance, just like any genre of music, goes through popularity ups and downs. At the moment I reckon it’s in a particularly good place, and others seem to agree… 99.9% of the gigs I play are packed.
 
What is it about machines vs. real instruments that excites you?
 
With the vast amount of music-making ‘VSTs’ for programs such as Logic/Cuebase/Ableton etc, for me it’s all about the machine… BUT I do love to use elements of live instruments in some of my tracks.
 
What are your current top 3 tracks?
 
Heatbeat and Exit – 'Go' (J.O.C Remix)
David Forbes and Alan Nimmo – 'Samui'
Tristan D – 'Passing Judgement' (Guy Mearns Remix)
 
And what can people expect from your set at Dance Crusade?
 
When it comes to large outdoor events, I really carefully put together my set, combining a bit of musical familiarity with a hellava lot of musical personality… you can expect some chunky, techy and uplifting beats and a very lively DJ.
 
What are you working on at the moment?
 
I’ve just finished a new tune called 'Verano Loco' (‘crazy summer in Spanish’) which will be out very soon. We’re also just putting together the final plans for Judgement Sundays in Ibiza which starts just around the corner on 13th June.
 
So the last question: who would be in your fantasy crowd, dead or alive?
 
I would love to have spun a set at the stadium (or in the streets) immediately after England won the World Cup in 1966… I can imagine the atmosphere would have been like something we’ve never experienced. The closest I’ve got is playing at the Emirates stadium in North London a couple of times for Arsenal’s end-of-season parties.

Dance Crusade Festival is at the Orsett Showground in Essex this Sunday 30th May.

Click here to see all London DJ music.
Click here for things to do in London.
Return to Spoonfed's London Clubbing homepage

Spoonfed Festivals