In anticipation of a massive night at Fabric on the 12th, which sees legendary turntablist DJ Babu gracing the decks of the Doctor's Orders' room alongside Ty and The Nextmen, Tomas Olesen got a chance to fire off some questions at the Dilated Junkie himself.
So you're coming over to play at Fabric, are you promoting new stuff?
Well, first off, I'm really looking forward to spinning with my man Spindoctor at Fabric, it's definitely one of my favourite joints to play around the world, and yeah there's lots coming in 2010. For me personally, February 23rd, Beat Tape vol. 2, is dropping. Something I'm really excited about. It's 39 beats, a bit of a look at what's been going on in my production world over the last year or so. I've also been putting out these really funny stop motion movies, shot on my Iphone, to go along with it, so I encourage anyone out there who right now wants to go into what my record sounds like to check them out on my you tube channel.
What about a Dilated album in 2010 and what's going on with the rest of your crew?
A new Dilated Peoples album should be here for the first quarter of 2011. But first off in 2010 Rakaa Iriscience is dropping his album Crown of Thorns, and Evidence has one called Cats and Dogs coming out. I'm all over both of those albums so I'm excited about that. J Rocc has an album coming out too and we're going to be doing a Beat Junkies world tour, like a kind of live mix-tape
Duck Season 4?
I'm not quite there yet, but I'm doing Duck Season 3.5. When I put out the last Duck Season I loved it to death, no regrets, but it was kind of difficult for DJs to play music from the album being that it was a DJ mix. I'm going to put out an album of unreleased material that didn't make Duck Season 3 and the package will also include duck season 3 unmixed and the instrumentals.
Do you remember what the first record you bought was?
Well I really can't remember but I vividly remember one of the records that I first possessed. I'm an '80s baby so I grew up watching MTV birth on cable television and I think technically my first record where I said to my mom “hey take me to the mall” was Cheap Trick - 'One on One', believe it or not.
How did you get into DJing as opposed to just being a fan?
I must've been about 7-8 years old and I was already drawn to hip hop culture, I was trying to be a B-boy and a popper and well...I sucked. But I loved it, I was super into the music and I remember even back then I was very attracted to the DJ side of things. You know I remember doing dumb shit back in the day like taking a Jane Fonda workout record and scratching it back and forth, “1...2...1...2” on a horrible turntable. But really the music was just the soundtrack to what I was doing with the rest of my life, I was a real hobbyish kid, skateboarding, riding my bike, and playing basketball, it wasn't until I was about 16 that it was the motivation for me to get a job and get off my ass. I remember being 15, getting my first job as a stock boy at the mall in the shoe store, working at the gas station, just different odd end jobs, and it was over a year before I could buy my first turntables. That was maybe 1990 and it's just been a mad scene ever since.
A little while ago Lily Allen made a big deal about retiring from music because of illegal file-sharing. How do you feel about it, does it effect you?
I can't really speak for lily Allen and put myself in her shoes necessarily but I imagine that, for an artist on that kind of level, file-sharing probably really hurts them. Being an underground hip hop artist, free file-sharing and all this internet shit, for me it's just like mix-tapes...only times a hundred.
So you see it as a good way to reach people?
Right! I've never been opposed to people putting my music on a mix-tape, I've always looked at it like a blessing. Honestly you have to adjust. This is the reality of technology in our society today and if you make music to make money, and that's the whole entire spectrum of what you do, then yeah step away from the music business. My mentality towards putting music out now is the same mentality traditional music labels would apply to putting out a video. You know, every artist does music videos, but nobody gets paid for doing videos, it's a promotional tool and you hope MTV base or whoever is playing it. Now I look at my music as a way to promote my brand, promote my groups, promote my lifestyle. It's so much more personal now, especially when you play at this level, you've got to have a close personal relationship with your fans and nurture it and build it. Now if you're Katie Perry, or Metallica or Lily Allen or whoever it's a different story. I'd tell them where they are in the industry they're catching the short end of the stick, you know the major labels are sticking the pole up them. I'd tell Lily, yeah quit. Quit making music on a major label, try and find a way to put out music on your own terms, besides which she'll sell out Wembley stadium and see $100,000 just off her merchandise! So what the fuck is she complaining about!
How would you like to be remembered?
I guess first and foremost I want to be remembered as a good father, husband, son, brother, and friend. Then as far as my musical endeavours go I'd feel blessed to be mentioned at all in the same breath as my idols. You know I dreamed to carry the torch for the people I looked up to and continue what they did and pass it on to the next generation. I hope I'm remembered as an influential DJ and producer and that I made my mark on hip hop, but then I've got a long way to go yet. As far as my music goes I have a lot more to accomplish, I look at what my idols did and I'm nowhere near where they are, I think about where DJ Premier is or where Pete Rock or DJ Muggs is and I realise I've done a fraction of what my idols have done so I still strive and I'm under no illusions as to how far I've got to go.
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