Show All Interviews

Interview with Bryan Jones by Ollie Brooke

As a producer and DJ base din Chicago you must be acutely aware of the influence your home has on the global house scene, what's it like in the city itself in terms of house music, how varied is the sound of Chicago house there?

A: Well, Chicago is big enough to have a decent scene for just about any kind of music or anything you can imagine. Most of the places I go to in Chicago like Smartbar, Zentra and a few others mainly play roughly the same kind of house music that I play and sometimes deeper as well.

These days it seems that to make it as a DJ you need to have a production background, do you think this is a valid way of separating the wheat from the chaff?

A: Well, I personally have always wanted to be able to make whatever kind of music that I like to listen to. I played drums for 7 years or so when I was younger and was listening to rock. Then when I started listening to dance music I immediately wanted to get turntables. Once I started to get a grasp of that I immediately wanted some gear and started building from there. Its obviously preferrable to produce as well if you're trying to get bigger as a dj, but I give props to the djs that have made it without much of a production backround as well because thats really hard to do.

Most DJs and producers travel a long road to make any success of their chosen career and there are many peaks and troughs along this journey, what is it that has kept you going through the bad times and what advice would you give yourself if you could go back in time?

A: Well, I'll start with the 2nd question first. If I could go back in time and give myself advice I would have told myself what gear to buy from the beginning. I started buying roland groove boxes and their low end drum machines because I didnt know any better and I grew up in Indiana about 3-4 hours from Chicago and didnt know anybody else that produced electronic music. Would have helped to know someone making house at the time, but I ended up figuring it out eventually. As for what has kept me going through everything, I suppose its just that I cant imagine doing anything besides music for a living so Im putting everything I have into making this my job for the rest of my life in one way or another.

Are you a DJ first or a producer first?

Well, I think I can honestly answer both on this one. I love making music and I love showing everyone the dope music I've collected over the years so I cant pick.

What are the best bits for you about both disciplines and where do they cross-over?

A: Well I use outboard sequencer, mixer, synths, effects, processing etc so its actually pretty similar to djing and using the effects on a pioneer 600 in some ways. When I record a song I have to essentially "perform" each song live and then edit it together. I think its ultimately keeps me in practice when I do either.

As a producer you've worked with some of the scenes biggest names, if you had to pick the single best remix of your career, either one you've done or one someone's done for you what would it be?

A: Tough one, I cant pick 1, but I suppose off the top of my head the most impressed I've been with someones' remix of me would have to be The Sound Republic's remix of Chicago Jack and Joey Youngman's remix of Baby Fever.

Who have you not yet worked with that you would like to  work with in the future?

A: Tons of people. I suppose mainly any of the producers that I have been listening to since I started listening to house. I suppose if I picked one person that I'd want to work with the most it would be Thomas Bangalter but I'm not holding my breath on that one.
When it comes to buying records there is a lot of attrition in that a lot of tracks you like on first listen may only get played out once or not at all.  Do you find that as you progress as a DJ you are better able to pick the good ones from the mediocre ones or do you still have the same hit and miss ratio as you did maybe 5 years ago?

A: Well, I'm not sure its that, but its more that now I get a ton of music all the time and it makes me pickier than I would have been 5 years ago. 5 years ago I could only pick from the stuff at the record store I was able to get to at the time. Now I go to record stores in various cities, there are online stores, there are places like stompy, and not to mention the ridiculous amount of tracks that I get through yousendit.com, ftps,  aim, etc etc etc. So now when I go to the record store I'm thinking "will I even play this if I buy it?" and I suppose it makes me pickier than I used to be. But I still buy my share of records, I'd rather pick up some of my favorite records that I dont have than just buy new records for the sake of having new records.
In your words what are the main differences between a High Caliber track and a Bryan Jones track?

A: Well, High Caliber is myself and Mike Gillenwater so its a mixture of both of our sounds. We were more influenced by people like Sebastien Leger, The Rhythm Masters, Paul Johnson, Le Knight Club, Alan Braxe etc etc. You can still hear a lot of the same elements in my songs now, but the majority of my solo stuff is a little deeper than the High Caliber stuff.

Your DJ mixes read a lot like a techno mixes in that you squeeze a large amount of tracks into the given time.  Can you take us through this method of mixing house and how you developed it?

A: Well, whenever I play out live I always have a short attention span and feel like i'm playing the record too long and not doing anything when i let it play all the way. I like to try to keep it a little more interesting and be doing something anytime I can. Sometimes it makes me play songs really fast.

According to your website you seem to DJ pretty much exclusively in the States, have you got any plans to tour Europe or Australia any time soon?

A: I'm actually answering this email from Maastricht, Netherlands in Europe. I just played Calgary and Vancouver last weekend in Canada, then Wednesday in Belgium, Friday right outside of Amsterdam, and last night I played here in Maastricht. I'm off to Bulgaria for 2 gigs this weekend and then back home. As for Australia, good timing on that question because I believe a full Australian tour is being lined up for September right now. Keep watching the site for more details on that.

Click here to buy Bryan Jones MP3s

Share On Facebook This interview has had 1398 views