One of the few DJs asked to do an album in these trying economic times, James has been on tour for his new album Sound In Motion on Hooj. It’s been almost a year since he last played Chicago, and before performing a diverse and exceptional set behind standard turntables, a Pioneer DJM600 mixer, two CDJ1000s and a Pioneer EFX-500, I met up with James at a trendy little sushi restaurant to get the lowdown on his hectic life.

RA: Where were some of the places you played before coming into Chicago?
JZ: Santo Domingo, Miami, and then flew here. I was at the closing party at Space in Ibiza. Before that I was in Ireland – Belfast and the city before that was Manchester.

RA: How many times have you played Ibiza?
JZ: I played there a year before – just once. Last year I played there twice and then this year I played Space every other week.

RA: When you’re on the decks – what is that rush for you – that thing that makes you say, “Wow. This is why I do it”?
JZ: I don’t know really. It’s that feeling you get – when you’re bouncing around and you can feel the bass.

RA: We’ve all seen you jumping up and down in the booth. What’s that all about?
JZ: Too much caffeine!
RA: What are you drinking right now?
JZ: This is just coke. I don’t drink. I get really hyperactive. When I was a kid I couldn’t have certain cough medicines, because they made me go nuts.
RA: Did you have ADD when you were younger?
JZ: No. AirDrawnDagger? [chuckles]
RA: That was...not funny.
JZ: Sorry. I’ll stick to my records. [laughter]
RA: I know that you don’t drink. I’d like to know how you’ve been able to keep yourself away from these temptations. Is it something in your personality, how you were brought up...? What keeps you such a good boy?

JZ: Um...my parents are so bad! [laughter] My dad goes out raving even now.
RA: You’re dad goes out raving?
JZ: Yeah.
RA: What does that mean?
JZ: Well...that he goes clubbing. We used to go to raves when I was 12 to go see Sven Vath and Carl Cox. He used to be a techno head. Yeah. My mum and dad [chuckles] are party animals. They know how to party. My mum and dad partied quite hard and so that put me off that forever.
RA: And how old are they may I ask?
JZ: My dad’s 45 and my mum’s 44.
RA: Do you go party with your dad now?
JZ: No [smiles]. That would be...that would be so not cool! [laughter]
Actually, I can’t help it, because he, my mum and my gran come out to my gigs in South Hampton.

RA: Your grandmother?
JZ: [nodding] My gran. My mum, my dad and my gran were all on MTV with me about 3 months ago. It was through the Homelands thing. They came in for that and couldn’t resist doing an interview with me and my crazy family.
RA: How did that interview go?
JZ: It was a half an hour of making me look stupid. Yeah...it was good [laughs].
RA: I’m assuming that you’re pretty close to your family.
JZ: I’ve lived in South Hampton where I’ve lived all my life and my family and all my friends are there, so when I am at home it’s nice.

RA: How often are you back home?
JZ: At the moment, this is the least I’ve been at home ever. I’m away quite a lot. In August, I played 21 days all together. That’s the most I’ve ever played in a month. Now, I’m away for 3 weeks before I go home.
RA: Do you miss home?
JZ: Yeah. I just miss being at home on the couch – watching T.V. – watching the East Enders, which is like a soap opera. I love it. [laughter]

RA: How’s your family’s reaction to your catapulting career?
JZ: They’re all really proud – really, really proud. Sometimes, it’s bad, because like this DJ Mag 100 poll thing. They want to know why I’m not number 1 and that sort of thing. Like, [with exaggeration] “Oh. Paul Oakenfold was in the national newspaper. Why aren’t you in the newspaper?” You know...that sort of thing. I just have to explain to them the differences between me and DJ...Tiesto or whatever.

RA: What do you think about the DJ Mag poll?
JZ: It sucks, but obviously it’s good if you can get in there I suppose.
RA: Do you think it’s a valid poll though?
JZ: Um...yeah to a certain extent. I mean it’s the only one where people can vote. I’m sure my mum and dad voted for me.
RA: They’re clicking away 10 or 20 times...
JZ: You can only vote once...[mischievously] I think. [laughter]

RA: Just in the past year, your popularity has risen exponentially...how are you taking this?
JZ: It’s pretty bizarre. It’s weird. Basically it’s amazing, but weird.

RA: People say that you have “the gift.” What does that mean? How would you interpret that?
JZ: I-I don’t know. I guess I just play around. I try to do more than just play records – try to make it more of a live act I suppose. Obviously, I’m not there to play the guitar, but I’m looping bits, editing tracks live – keeping it interesting. Like someone may hear a record that they may know, but in a different way – chopped up - mucked around with.
RA: That seems to be the big new wave nowadays...
JZ: Yeah, especially with those CDJ1000S. Everyone is embracing them now. You can use it like a record, but you can chop it up and jump from one part of the track to the next. You can do loads of little tricks and stuff. I just think that in this day and age, in this particular time, where record labels are struggling and clubs in some places are struggling, people want to see more than a guy spinning records. I know I do. I just try to do what I’d like to go and see.

I just started a record label. It’s a small thing where we take on unsigned artists - release their records and actually, that’s quite an amazing thing. I get given CDs all the time – great pieces of music. They haven’t got record deals, or their tracks will never ever come out, so that’s what I’m trying to do. That’s my next thing – to try to get some of these records out - to give them the break, the push they need to produce records. There is plenty of great music around, just not all on vinyl.

RA: Are you the one sifting through all of these CDs that come in?
JZ: It’s good fun. That’s the great part of the job.

RA: Where do you find the time?
JZ: Actually, I’m not running the record label. That’s all I do – go through all of the CDs and I pick out all the good ones and I give them to my friend Paul who’s gonna run the record label. I say, “Here’s a CD of good material that I found through such and such places...” – a hearing aid.
RA: Hm...a hearing aid. (I forgot to bring earplugs again...)
JZ: I’ve got some, but I don’t think you’d want to wear them. They’re all gooey. [laughter]

RA: I know that you’re trying to give people the opportunity to get their music out, but what about the present economic situation?
JZ: It’s not a wise time to start a record label [laughs]. No, but I mean our expenses are incredibly low. Paul’s running the record label and I’m not making any money out of it at all. I just want to do it so that we can get these records out. So he’s going to invest the money to the label and we don’t have an office or anything like that. He’s just going to run it from his bedroom on a computer. That’s all we need to do really. We’ll just press a few up to break even. That’s the aim – just to get it out. I think we can manage.

RA: Well I wish you good luck with that. Now, in regards to this tour you’re doing for Sound In Motion – how has it been coming along?
JZ: It’s good, but I’m pretty sad, because you know, it’s the last thing that Hooj is gonna release – the last album that they’re going to release. They’re finished now, for well, uh – their record label side of it is finished, kind of and then Hooj.com, their record shop is still gonna happen. I think that they’re going to reinvent the label in some way. But, it’s sad since they’ve been going since 1990. I was 10 years old when that label started. I grew up listening to Hooj records. I think one of the first records I bought was JX – Son of a Gun. You listen to that record, it’s super cheese, but at the time I thought it was amazing. So it’s a real honor to have the last album on that label. It’s amazing. It’s kind of sad talking about the record label. The people at Hooj are my friends. When I started this album, I knew this was going to happen. I’m happy to get something on their label – like I “just made it” sort of thing.

RA: Sound In Motion is one of those rare albums that keeps on getting better and better over time. What do you think?
JZ: [timidly] If you say so.

RA: How do you feel when people say to you, “James! You’re such a great DJ. We love your work!”
JZ: [laughingly] I think you just have to believe half of what people tell you or you’ll get carried away. For every person who’s saying that, there’s always someone saying, “That’s a load of rubbish,” or “No. You’re crap!” I’ve got good friends where I live and they all remind me, “You’re actually a load of rubbish.” [laughter]

RA: From the amount of spinning around the world that you’ve done, what do you see as the main difference between the audiences here in the US and overseas?
JZ: Obviously, you have the biggest Internet culture here than anywhere else. The message boards are quite fanatical. But it’s nice. You go to the Global Underground board, see what’s going on, see who’s played a good set or a bad set. So I think that’s the main difference – the fanatical people. But that’s great, because they’re really into it. I’m one of them. I’m always on the message boards. I’m on the tech-house boards, the Global Underground board...

RA: When did you start posting?
JZ: Actually, the first time was to defend myself. Then I began going there all the time. I’m really a geek sort of.

RA: A computer geek?
JZ: Yeah...a message board geek.

RA: I bet you don’t have time do that anymore?
JZ: No, but if I’m in the hotel, and I have my laptop with me, that’s not a problem.

RA: And what’s your take on these relationships that you establish within this medium?
JZ: Yeah, I’ll tell you what. It’s really good on getting feedback on mixes. Sometimes someone will say, “That was rubbish,” but they might have a valid point and you can learn from that. Other times, there will be people that just don’t like it and will say they don’t like it for the sake of it. But it’s good when someone actually makes a useful criticism and you can learn from that. It’s happened to me.

RA: And your true calling – is it DJing or production work, etc.?
JZ: I don’t know...It’s a weird term “DJ” isn’t it? I remember my gran, when I gave her one of my CDs, said, “You weren’t talking over the records.” [laughter] For me, that’s DJing. I don’t know. I guess what I do is somewhere in between DJing and being a turntablist...but I’m not a turntablist. I guess I bring the turntablist style to the smooth mixing of 2 records.

RA: What about your production stuff though? Are you going to concentrate on that aspect more?
JZ: Yeah, actually, I carry my laptop around. I’m always on the move, making music like that.

RA: What kind of laptop do you have?
JZ: A G4.

RA: Do you use Logic?
JZ: No. I’ve never used Logic actually. On my laptop, I have Reason and then a friend of mine from South Hampton has a studio and has a G4 Tower, Cubase and an actual rack.

RA: Will you be doing a lot of tricks tonight?
JZ: Yeah I will. I’ll be working 2 CDJs and an effects box.

RA: Chicago will be in for quite a performance...and what city have you found loving the most?
JZ: This is probably my favorite place to walk around. It’s really clean...it’s my favorite place in America. My favorite place in the world is probably Prague. My favorite place to play would be Northern Ireland actually...Northern Ireland and Budapest.
RA: Why’s that?
JZ: People are going nuts, jumping around and screaming. You can play whatever you want and they get pretty into it.

RA: Do you ever get annoyed or uncomfortable by people standing around the booth, staring at you noting everything that you’re doing, everything that you’re playing?
JZ: Oh no, no, no. There was a time though when I was playing at a record shop back in July, and that was kind of weird. No one dances in a record shop at 2 in the afternoon. So it’s weird when everyone is just watching, but it is kind of fun. I’m a geek, so a few years ago that would have been me in the record shop looking at someone else. I can relate to it.

RA: When does this tour end?
JZ: After this, the American tour ends in about 3 weeks. I get a weekend off, then go to Budapest, which I love and then I’ve got a lot gigs in the U.K., which means that I get to stay home. It’s going to be quite nice, quite mellow. The summers are usually busy.

RA: What kind of career stepping-stone do you consider this tour and the new album to be?
JZ: I don’t know [smiles]. I’m sure some DJs are good business heads and they know exactly what they’re doing and when. I don’t know how to implement or manage myself, so I’m just going to keep on doing what I do. If I carry on doing this, I’ll remain a happy guy.