Access All Areas
Hi J, welcome to planet DMC. Living in San Francisco now, but originally from Phoenix, Arizona where you grew up. Did you come from a particularly musical family, was there music drifting down the corridors? What artists were you listening to back then that got you hooked on dance music…?
“My family is fairly musical, but any genetic influence most certainly came from my Grandmother, who was a concert pianist. Unfortunately, she passed away when I was very young. As for getting into electronic/dance music, I was very fortunate to visit Switzerland when I was 14-15. A friend took me to a club (and this was 1998-ish, so we’re talking progressive trance here) and I was blown away by what the DJ was doing. I remember asking my friend Ambroise, ‘this music is very cool, I’ve never heard it before, but this guy has been playing the same tune for 30 minutes, when is he going to switch it?’ (naive, I know). When my friend informed me that the DJ had seamlessly switched it 5-6 times by then, I was smitten. So back then it was Sasha, John Digweed, this swiss guy DJ Energy, and the usual mainstream stuff from that era – Chemical Brothers, Prodigy, etc.”
Why the switch to San Francisco?
“Phoenix is a pretty conservative place, it’s hot as hell, and let’s just say the culture is a little lacking. San Francisco is quite the opposite on all fronts. I also had an opportunity to study composition with Ronald Caltabiano, a student of Aaron Copland and Elliot Carter, so that didn’t hurt!
It’s crazy to get your head around you are only 26, your discography just goes on and on and on. You are without doubt one of the West Coast’s rising star’s and has a huge career ahead, it all began with an entry into a UK magazine competition though, what was that all about?
“I think the electronic/dance scene in particular looks favourably on the young. To cite one example, Skream and Benga are still younger than me I think! And I hear al ot of the new London dubstep guys just keep getting younger. That competition you’re referring to was Muzik Magazine’s Bedroom Bedlam competition. I sent them a mix when I was 17, it was a nice progression that covered some nice deep house in the beginning and moved in a more progressive direction over the course of it. Placing third in that competition, as the only American, was huge for me. If nothing else, it gave me confidence that I was moving in the right direction. It also helped with getting gigs around Phoenix at the time.”
A big buzz swarming around at the moment concerning your new ‘Access’ full length album coming out in May, tell us about this long player…
“Well for starters, it’s taken a lot of willpower to hold back the material. I’m very active in the studio, and holding back originals to put an LP together, rather than release them incrementally as singles took a little effort. In general, I see the album as a consolidation and representation of my ideas about electronic/dance music. I am equally wedded to dubstep and techno, and this album shows that more than anything else: whether it be on the large scale with dubstep-weighted tracks following techno-weighted tracks, or on the order of individual tracks, each of which blending essential elements from the two genres. Obviously, I’m not the first to strike on this musical combination, but I think my take on it is a little different. Namely, I think my music aims for a more side-by-side combination of the two genres, staying true to the idiomatic elements of each simultaneously, rather than a more synergistic fusion of the two into a singlular sound.”
What is the San Fran scene like right now, what are the sounds’ that the clubs’ are jumping to at the moment?
“San Francisco is a very eclectic place. In my experience, techno and dubstep are still running things for the most part. Unfortunately, the two scenes are not as interested in getting together as I’d like. I’ve thrown many parties over the last few years trying to get the different crowds together and it hasn’t necessarily been a big success. I’d say dubstep people in SF are very curious about techno, and they would always show up in big numbers to check out the techno guys I was booking. The SF techno crowd, however, let’s just say they’re a bit harder to please. Either way, [KONTROL] has been the mainstay of minimal/techno/tech-house in SF for years and is THE SPOT for that kind of thing. And on the other side, Surefire Sound, the monthly run by dubstep booking agency Surefire, is the place for proper SF dubstep.”
What DJs do you hold as ‘heroes’?
“Mark Farina was a true ‘DJ hero’ for me in the beginning. I literally taught myself the subtleties of seamless mixing by listening to his mixes over and over again. Richie Hawtin is also a huge influence. Quite honestly, if it hadn’t been for his innovative uses of Ableton Live that showed me the way forward for electronic/dance performance, I would still be working 100% on “traditional/classical” composition, rather than splitting my time up more in the direction of the electronic work.|”
Tell us about your ‘Surya Dub’ baby…
To be totally clear, it isn’t quite MY baby. ‘Surya Dub’ was started in San Francisco by Maneesh Kenia (Maneesh the Twister) in 2005/2006, and it was pretty much paramount in breaking the dubstep sound in SF. But the idea has always been eclecticism. We run a two-room with the upstairs handling dancehall, bhangra, and dub; while the downstairs consists of dubstep, bass, and occasionally some DnB or glitch/breaks. The crew consists of myself, Maneesh the Twister, Kush Arora, Kid Kameleon, Jimmy Love, DJ Amar, DJ Ripley, and the CONTACT VJs. We’ve had some big people over the years including 2562 and Headhunter, and we’re doing a 3 Year Anniversary party in late May with Poirier.”
What are the big 10 tunes you are spinning at the moment?
“Well, the 10 tunes off my album of course! No… here’s some for you:
(1) J.Rogers – ‘Composite’
(2) J.Rogers & Antiserum – ‘Evil Spirits’
(3) DJG – ‘The Gate’
(4) XI – ‘Slippin’
(5) Headhunter – ‘Sex At The Prom’
(6) DZ & ROZANSKI – ‘The Tape’
(7) ROZANSKI – ‘Teeth Grinding’
(8) ShdwPlay – ‘Dis Vicious’ (J.Rogers Tech Stepped Mix)
(9) Ben Klock – ‘Subzero’ (Regis Remix)
(10) Daega Sound System – ‘SOS’
Who are the big San Fran DJs out there?
“There’s a bunch these days, SF is really coming up. My favourites among them are Nikola Baytala, DJG, Alland Byallo, Antiserum, Kush Arora, DZ, and Eskmo.”
Who has been the biggest overseas DJ to hit your home city recently?
“Thomas Feldman from the Orb did a DJ set at [KONTROL] recently, which was very cool to see. The Pan Pot boys come through here and there, which is nice. Shackleton and 2562 have stopped by Surefire in the last few months as well, always good to see them. Honestly, there’s so many these days, but those are the ones I care about off the top of my head.”
You graduated in music studies in composition, conducting and piano chasing that dream of producing and performance of electronic dance music. How has this helped you in the studio and on the decks?
“Obviously, the music is very different. However, my rigorous training necessarily affects every musical decision I make. With regard to performance specifically, I see my Live/DJ sets as being very related to conducting. For ‘traditional/2-deck’ DJ sets this is less the case, but generally when you’re getting multiple pieces of music to work in combination, the same sorts of challenges will present themselves in maintaining coherence and order in the musical presentation. When you see me play live, you will generally be hearing 2-3 full tracks being layered along with 3-4 individual elements/loops that I’ve prepared. Now each of these elements are self-sufficient in-and-of themselves, but in combination, with the wrong person at the controls, complete chaos is almost guaranteed. Likewise, when you’ve got an orchestra in front of you with 50-something musicians who all have their own instrumental parts, and also have their individual ideas about how the piece-as-a-whole should sound, unless you maintain tight control and strong interpretive communication as a conductor, it can quickly turn into a big mess.”
Loads of support from Mary Anne Hobbs, Laurent Garnier, Dubfire and Headhunter to name but a few, must make it all the more satisfying. What is coming next from the Rogers studio?
“Some nice remixes for Daega Sound System, DZ, and TKR. I’m very saddened to say that a certain 18-minute “Villalobos/odyssey”-style remix I did for Piltdown Sound was recently lost forever when my laptop got lifted in Miami at WMC this year.. Working on some new original material as well, but mostly trying to concentrate on bookings/touring in support of the new album right now. On the other side of things, I’m sketching a piano sonata and second string quartet at the moment. Always many things at work..
How would you compare the scene in San Fran to say, New York, Miami and Chicago?
“You know, every place is so different. I’d at least say this about SF: it is a very friendly scene. I feel like certain other places are a lot more standoff-ish, there’s a distance between people in the crowd, as opposed to the sense of community that I feel in SF.”
Best club you have ever played at?
“In terms of sheer sound, I’d have to say 222 Hyde in SF. It’s a very small club, certainly wouldn’t fit more than 120 people. But they have a fine-tuned Turbo Sound system that is just such an immense pleasure to play on. Especially in such an intimate space. Playing Smash! Out in Las Vegas wasn’t too bad either, but then again, what can possibly go wrong when you’re in Vegas!? (yeah, yeah…)”
What are the big 10 tunes you are spinning at the moment?
“I am actually quite the minimalist in the studio. People are normally very surprised to hear that I work in Ableton Live exclusively, and without a single VST! Minus the collaborations with Antiserum, Leon, and Kenneth Scott, every bassline and synth line you here on there is coming from Ableton’s instrument collection. (Ableton: feel free to send me over free sh** whenever!) The rest of it comes from a large sample library (BUT NOT LOOPS!) that I keep and results from the very meticulous audio manipulation techniques I put into use. I’m one of those people that wants to do something 100% or not at all. So everytime I hear about a new VST, I’m honestly like “ehh.. what I’ve got works fine for me, I could start using that thing, but then I’d have to take months to learn it properly when I could just be churning out new tracks..” As for DJing, I mentioned a bit about that before. Namely, I don’t DJ in the “traditional sense”. I control Ableton Live with a UC-33e controller and run 4 channels for whole tracks to be layered, and reserve the other four for percussive, ambient, instrumental, and accapella elements/loops. I’ve also got EQs and effects send/return lines setup for every channel so I can get busy on that as well. I’d say it’s definitely something to see. Kush Arora, a true Live master, definitely deserves credit in schooling me a bit on this front.”
Tell us about the Blipswitch Digital record label and Blipswitch online that you own and founded…
“I started Blipswitch.net with a software developer in SF as a community/forums site for the SF-Bay Area techno scene. There was something like that for Dubstep and DnB, but techno needed something. I’m proud to say that Blipswitch.net has played a huge role in the development of the techno scene here. Six months after launch, we started doing the monthly Blipswitch club nights, and six months after that I launched the Blipswitch Digital label. These days, the label focuses on dubstep/techno fusion (just as I do as an artist). Usually a typical release will be one dubstep original and 2-3 techno remixes, or vice-versa. I’m happy to report that we’ve been very successful. ‘Access’ is our 50th release in just three years! I’m in the process of expanding the company and enlisting A&R support from different associates in Amsterdam, New York, LA, Vancouver, and Miami. So definitely be on the watch, big things on the way!”
Thanks dude.
“Thanks for the support Dan”
