The man who brought you The Door, Vellum and other massive tracks speaks to us about what he's all about. Read here to see what he has to say!

John Askew Interview

i:Vibes: John, you started your career in the early 90s with a residency at Code Red in London; that was over 10 years ago, what got you into producing?

John: My career in music started long before I got involved with Dance music. I played the flute when I was really young and then the guitar in a number of rock bands when I was in my teens, so writing and performing music has always been my main passion in life. When I traded in my guitar for a set of decks, I thought it was great as I didn’t have to rely on lazy drummers or moody singers to perform, but I still missed that feeling that you get from a crowd singing reacting to or singing along to a song you had written yourself. Nothing could ever replace that feeling, so I felt the only solution, taking into account my new musical direction, was to produce material to then play in the clubs. Having a crowd go mental when you play a big track gives you an amazing feeling, but when you have written the track yourself…. Words cannot describe what that is like.

i:Vibes: And how do you see your recent rise in fame in the production side, including "Vellum", which blew the lid of a lot of sets and then came "New Dimension" on your own Discover Label and Duty Free respectively, and then most recently "The Door", which has been well received?

John: I feel very fortunate that people have been so receptive to my music and the music of the other artists signed to my label - Discover. When your own dj heroes call you in person to tell you how much they love one of your records, it makes you feel pretty special. At the same time however, I have been in this business too long to ever take sit back and be lazy. Instead, this kind of feedback just makes me want to push forward even more, constantly getting better and better. I think all the Discover releases have helped to create an overall signature sound that is now being recognised by both the media and the big DJs. This means more to me than anything else. I would never go so far as to say that my material, or indeed any of the other material on Discover, is better than anyone else’s’, but in my opinion there is an incredible amount of shit music being released and so having my own label enables me to gather and release the exact sound that I love.

i:Vibes: Looking back at a few of your older productions from 2000, such as Movement and "Krusty the Klown", what ever happened to those? Any plans on pushing them out again?

John: Fuck, you have been doing your research! To be honest, although they were great for what they were and at the time, they bear little reflection to what I am into right now, so I think they are just best kept as simply fond memories for the era they were linked to. So no, no plans to release this stuff right now.

i:Vibes: You put together your own label not too long ago. Where did the idea of that come about and how has it been to be able to release freely on the label, avoiding much of the 'label politics' which many artists often refer to?

John: I’ve been very fortunate to be given the opportunity to A&R my own label and I have been even more lucky to work with such an incredible team as the guys at Discover/Recoverworld who look after all the business aspects of the label as well as exclusively managing all of my music. Politics can never be avoided in any business. I don’t think you can have any organisation, regardless of industry sector, without there being some form of politics involved, however, at Discover we all have a very honest relationship and above that a strong friendship based on our love for music. In terms of the artists on the label, we look after them as best we can and we are as honest as possible and I think they are happy with what we do. Well, if they’re not, they haven’t told me!!!

i:Vibes: You've been said to have a lot of tracks done, just waiting to be released; is this true? If so, how about give us a little scope of what to expect..

John: This is true. It’s hard to be really upfront every time you play in a club with 90% of the records you get sent ending up in the bin, so the only solution is to make as much of your own stuff as possible to fill this gap.

At the moment, as well as playing my tracks that have been released (The Door, Shadows, New Dimension etc), I’m hammering my next single “Skylab” whose release date is still t.b.c. (prob, late Summer), a remix I have just done of a track by Graham Fee called “Forever” which is out on the 19th May on Discover, a remix which I did for Ministry of a track called “Malaysia” which will never be released (due to politics) and also another new track which I have just finished called “Fuck Private Ryan”. In addition there are 2 other tracks which have not been titled yet and I’m also playing a few re-edits of a couple of tracks by other artists that I’ve altered slightly to fit my sound like my version of New Order’s “Blue Monday”.

i:Vibes: Any planned collaborations?

John: Yes, but you’ll have to wait and see as it’s not been 100% confirmed yet!!

i:Vibes: Who would you like to collaborate with in the future?

John: Matt Sorum (ex- Guns n’ Roses drummer). He’s like a fucking machine. Very powerful style and an excellent timekeeper which is obviously essential for dance. He creates such massive, tough rhythms, which is great because I am obsessed with drums. It would be great to put together some sort of breaks/trance live PA with him and then tour the festivals. A long-term goal I think!!

i:Vibes: The definitive artists / djs / producers in the scene at the moment?

John: My favourite producer is Pablo Gargano. He co-produces a lot of my material and is a dear, dear friend of mine. I feel very privileged that he is another artist on Discover – his recent remix of Misjah Helsloot’s “First Second” is just amazing and a regular in all my recent sets. There are loads of other talented producers that I respect. I really like Above and Beyond and Backbeat (who are now signed to Discover). Mirco de Govia is wicked and I also like a lot of Paul van Dyk’s stuff. I can’t wait for Mirco’s album which is coming soon on one of my fav labels - Euphonic. And while we are talking about Euphonic records, I also love Ronski Speed’s recent remixes. He’s really talented and one to look out for.
If I am going on a night out to dance, I’ll go and watch PvD, Marco V, Armin or maybe Adam Beyer or Jeff Mills if I want it a bit harder. Chris Liberator is a genius on the decks and I’m really into Matt Hardwick from Gatecrasher as well.

i:Vibes: Tell us a bit about your recent remixes, and also what tracks we can expect to see come with a John Askew Mix in the near future.

John: I have just done a remix for Duty Free of a track called “Godspeed” which came out on Monday. That’s doing really well. And I’ve also completed a remix of Graham Fee’s “Forever” which was on the first White Label Euphoria album. This will be out in May on Discover. There are a few other things I’m working on at the moment, but I’m going to keep them to myself for now to make them special when they are ready to be released. As for my own stuff, I have 2 new singles coming up, “Skylab” which will be out some time in the Summer and then “Fuck Private Ryan” which will be out later in the year.

i:Vibes: How would you describe "your" sound, and does the DJing sound differ from that portrayed by your productions?

John: My DJ sound doesn’t really differ from my production since I play a lot of my own material when I play out. My sound I guess is tough and emotional. Big kick drums and driving riffs. No cheese, no vocals and no predictable clichés.

i:Vibes: Are you going to focus more on the producing relative to DJing, with your recent infusion in the production scene being highly positive?

John: I love both so I will continue to put 110% into both.

i:Vibes: Your top tracks at the moment in the box.

John:
1. Misjah Helsloot – “First Second” (Pablo Gargano mix) (Discover)
2. John Askew – “Skylab” (Discover)
3. John Askew – “Fuck Private Ryan” (White)
4. Aly & Fila – “Eye of Horus” (Ronski Speed mix) (Euphonic)
5. Graham Fee – “Forever” (John Askew remix) (Discover)
6. Pulser – “Unknown” (Unknown remix) (ATCR)
7. Godspeed – “Godspeed” (John Askew remix) (Duty Free)
8. Henrik B – “unknown” (White)
9. Hydra – “Affinity” (Backbeat remix) (Discover)
10. John Askew – “The Door” (Discover)


i:Vibes: The "future hit"?

John: John Askew: Skylab (Discover)

Also, a wicked producer to keep an eye on is Adam Sheridan from Goodgreef. Very talented.

i:Vibes: What would you say to someone who's looking to start producing in the near future, either with software such as Reason, or start out on hardware..

John: I think, with the amazing software around at the moment, hardware is becoming less essential. Certainly for a beginner anyway. You don’t necessarily need hundreds of thousands of pounds of analogue outboard gear to write a good track. I use logic in my studio and the plug ins that you can get today are just amazing. I would advise anyone starting out, to spend as much as they can on a good computer with loads of memory and then to get a good software package with as many plug ins and virtual synths included as possible.

i:Vibes: What final words of wisdom do you have for all of us?

John: Too much cheese gives you bad dreams.

i:Vibes: Thanks John!

John: My pleasure!

John's latest release is New Dimension / Are you Reading me?, out on Duty Free Records now!