You are one of Canada’s biggest DJs creating a dance floor of bedlam at Toronto’s Circa club. What have been some of your best night’s there and what guest DJs have simply lifted your spirits at the venue?
“Some of the best night’s have been the unexpected nights, I remember one in particular which was in January after a huge New Years Eve. Typically, clubs tend to be down in numbers and energy in the beginning of January due to everybody being burnt out from the holidays. That night was the total opposite, one of the busiest nights the club has seen. And the energy on the dance floor was incredible. A lot of talent has rolled through the door at Circa over the last 12 months, some of the highlights have been Danny Tenaglia’s marathon set, he started at 1am and went on ’till noon. The road block Bob Sinclair caused when he rolled into the club, itseemed like people hanging from the rafters that night and David Guetta’s appearance which saw the largest turn out to date. Not sure I should put the numbers in print… it was very large…”
What DJs inspired you in the first place to get into clubland chaos?
“When I got into Djing it was back in 1988 – I was young kid who loved the art of turntabilism. I liked DJs like Cash Money at the time. Then I discovered house music in ’89. I loved the music coming out on labels such as DJ International, Traxx Out of Chicago etc. As for particular DJs that have inspired me, I can’t name one in particular. I believe it’s the music that’s inspired me most.”
September 15th sees ‘Everything’s Gonna Be Alright’ released on Positiva – a take on Red Carpet’s classic underground anthem ‘Alright’ complete with the piano hook from Ce Ce Rogers ‘Someday’ – we hear Tiesto has been the only DJ over the last twelve months to have a copy? How did that all come about?
“I made the record to play in my DJ sets, I always loved the ‘Alright’ record but felt it never had the right peak-time mix. I was playing around with it in the studio, played the Ce Ce Rogers piano line, built some decent beats and road tested it in the club and it worked a treat. I passed a copy onto Tiesto before WMC 2007 and he loved it. He has been a great supporter of it and has been playing it in his sets for a good part of 18 months now.”
Ever owned a glo-stick?
“HA HA HA…Lol… Never!!!”
Canada has come in for a bit of a hard time this side of the water – our scene is on a low ebb in the UK at the moment – what’s the real story of what’s happening in your home country?
“I think our country is exporting some of the best musical talent at the moment, you have the success of such artists as Deadmau5 which has firmly put the spotlight on the Canadian dance music scene. Canada has always been a great exporter of music in general, we have had some of the biggest artists in other genres of music and I think we will do the same in the dance music genre. I think the club scene here is great though radio has a lot to work on with supporting dance.”
“What’s Circa owner Peter Gatien like? I mean, does he shake his arse on the dancefloor ever?
“An interesting character, he is quite the visionary.Shakin his arse? Now that I would like to see.”
“Your sets are mind boggling, incorporating Ableton, Serrato, re-edits and live bootlegs which ensure 3500 clubbers waving their hands like they just care at Circa every week. Over in the UK, we have James Zabiela who does similar stuff, why did you decide to go down this DJ route style-wise?
“I like the fact I have the ability to remix music live. What is better than having 4 things going at once, dropping in accapellas on the fly, cutting in effects, dropping out parts of tracks, creating massive build ups and watching the crowd go nuts. Plus I find it challenging and fun.”
What’s future wise on the horizon for us release-wise James?
“Release wise I have the first single with my band project Doman & Gooding tracks called ‘Runnin’ which will be promoted in the very near future. Then the follow up single to ‘Everything’s Gonna Be Alright’ and that is gonna be a surprise – one definitely to look out for.
