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You’ve been on the forefront of the NW EDM scene for quite a while and always kept your ears open for multiple genres. You are known as a skilled tech house DJ, but more recently you have a lot of success with Booty and Trap music. What caught your interest in the Trap style?
I have some background in hip hop, Chicago ghetto house, and booty music, so it was a natural progression when I discovered trap. It’s 140bpm+ so it was right up my alley.
You have released a number of successful mixtapes named Booty By The Pound. Are you planning on doing a recurring podcast and/or radio show in the future, or are you happy with releasing a single mix every so often?
Naw, no radio shows for me. A podcast would be cool but I never have the time to really set one up and keep it maintained. I do a few guest mixes for some podcasts already so that’s good enough for me.
Describe the first rave you ever attended.
First party I went to was Dj Dan vs Donald Glaude in this warehouse space in 1996. I had really no idea what was going on but I knew that I wanted to dj after seeing Donald’s stage presence. That’s pretty much all I remembered from the party. I did however run into a friend from the graffiti scene and she introduced me to everyone and the rest is history.
In Europe, going to a dance event is pretty simple: you’re 18 and you can go in and drink all the booze you want. In the US it’s different where you have all ages parties, 18+ parties and 21+ parties. Is this division something that is counter beneficial to building a flourishing EDM scene?
The states has a flourishing EDM scene regardless of the age segregation already and there’s plenty of all ages large scale events that proves that. So I wouldn’t say that it hurts the building of the scene in the states. I do however feel that if you’re old enough to be an “adult” then you’re old enough to drink with adults.
Name 3 DJs who shouldn’t be allowed on a stage and tell us why.
I like to talk shit and call people out, but I’m not gonna throw anyone under the bus. I’m gonna let them be the ones who makes themselves look bad on the stage and that’s where you will get my answer.
Name one element the Seattle EDM scene excels in and one that leaves room for improvement.
Seattle’s EDM scene has its ups and downs. The up would be that it has a very diverse scene, there’s a lot of different shows going on in a night that showcase many different genres and that’s a great positive for Seattle. The down would be that Seattle is very small with a lot of djs and so that only leaves so many time slots to fill. A lot of djs who should be playing out aren’t getting booked because of it.
What is your current top 5 of record labels for recurring quality releases?
Dirtybird, Hot n Heavy, Sounds Of Sumo, Anabactic, Mad Decent are my top 5. Solid tunes from all 5!
Is there a certain sound from EDM that is really overdone and dated?
I’m gonna have to say electro house and brostep.
Do you feel DJs need some more stage presence? Rockstars jump around the stage with their guitars and mics.. whereas DJs are mostly confined to the DJ booth. Do you see possibilities to work around that?
Well there are djs now a days trying to go the whole “Im a rockstar” route already. Steve Aoki spends his time throwing cakes at the crowd and then goes crowd surfing. I think it’s silly and unnecessary. Djs are there to provide music for the crowd and look happy doing it.
Should there be more female DJs?
Of course! But there needs to be less trashy looking female djs. I love the ladies, but I prefer to see a female dj who can actually mix than a female wearing next to nothing and playing like shit.
Is there a goal you would like to accomplish within a year?
Produce a couple tunes. I’ve been djing for almost 17 years and I think its time that I progress to the next stage in this whole game.
How would you define success as a DJ? Is it A sold out tour? a Beatport top 10 hit? something else? What are your thoughts on this?
Success comes in many ways. Depending on what you set yourself out to do is gonna impact what success is. Some djs feel that matching a beat flawlessly is success, but others feel that a sold out tour is success. I’m just happy that I get to play for people who enjoy the same music I do.
How important is social media to you?
Very important. without it we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Social media is how I get my mixes out to everyone and it’s how I connect with people from all over the globe.
What do you feel distinguishes a DJ from a producer?
It’s easy. A dj plays the producers music. A Producer makes the music for the djs to play.
Which upcoming producer would you like to put in the spotlight?
Mike G from LA. That dude has been putting it down for a minute and needs to be getting some more play. Every Booty By The Pound mix I did has had a Mike G tune on it.
Is there a final thing you would like to say to our readers?
Keep it weird..
Connect:
http://www.soundcloud.com/jamesonjust
http://www.facebook.com/JamesonJust
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