John Askew

M8 Magazine / John Askew interview – November 08

1) Having raised the bar with your debut album ‘Lower The Tone’, how difficult was it to live up to people’s expectations with your follow up?

That’s very kind of you to say that about “Lower the Tone”. I’m not sure if it would raise any bars if it was released today. I think I was fortunate with that album in the respect that there were far less people making that style of music at the time. The number of producers making really high quality music now is so big that it’s a lot harder to come up with sounds that are original and that you are happy with. I’m really pleased with the new album and sincerely hope the people who support my music feel the same.

2) It has received critical acclaim from many of your peers, how much satisfaction does that bring?

A hell of a lot. Satisfaction and a huge sense of relief. It’s great to know other producers that you respect are into your music and tracklisting your stuff. There were numerous times during the making of this album that I questioned whether I was just “regurgitating the same old formulated bollocks” but this is a regular symptom of sitting in a small room listening to the same riff looped a million times until the early hours day after day. I had to take a 3 or 4 week break from some of the tracks before I could conclude that I really liked them. Now I love the album. I really enjoy listening to it and playing the tracks at gigs.

3) You regularly tour the world, playing at clubs and festivals; is that one of the reasons that you got into making music or an added bonus that success has brought?

Making music has always been, and will continue to be, my number 1 passion. I absolutely adore djing - especially playing my own music to clubbers that know it, but I don’t intend on being one of these decrepit old bastards still battering the circuit at 60. When the day comes to stop, I will do so. But making music, releasing records and having a hand in other areas of the business – I’ll always be deeply inserted into that.

4) What was the thinking behind launching your own labels, Discover and Discover Dark?

Discover was originally set up to have a means of releasing my own music and then it grew from there to incorporate other mates who were producers making stuff I loved. Discover Dark was the later addition to incorporate a harder, more techy sound – because I fucking love techno but couldn’t put it out on Discover. .

5) How do you manage to run the label, maintain your hectic DJ schedule and find time for the studio, have you found a way of getting more than 24 hours out of a day?

It’s very true that there aren’t enough hours in the day and if there was a medical process of counteracting the ever darkening rings under my eyes I would invest in it heavily.

6) Does running your own label put any restrictions on you as a producer?

No. None whatsoever.

7) You’re recording a live DJ mix in early 2009, will that be coming out on your label?

This will be the latest edition from the Live As album series and my 5th live album. The Series has already featured live recordings from loads of exciting events including John O’Callaghan at The Arches, Matt Hardwick at Lush, Sean Tyas in San Fransisco, Greg Downey from Planet love and I’ve done albums from Beirut, Los Angeles and Passion + Turnmills in the UK. They are all released through Discover.