Page 12 - Zone Magazine Issue 015

No one embodies the twin genres of trance and progressive’s deeper, more complex side better than arch gatekeeper of the underground, John 00 Fleming.
Three years ago, through the release the of his epic 4hr-long JOOF Editions 2 album, John effectively tore up the mix-comp rulebook. Described, at the time, by MIXMAG as “a musical journey with no genre rules, but many twists and turns”, with the music bible further hailed it as “the sound of the underground”. A considerable mission in terms of buried treasure track discovery, arrangement and mixing, it has taken John close to three years to bring the third in the series to stores.
On its release, Zone Magazine’s Danny Slade sat down with John for a catch-up tête-à-tête. Touching on many subjects close to his heart, John’s aired his views on prog, trance and the broader electronic music scene, his passion for the extended set, his work outside dance music and what it takes to steer a near 5hr long album to the apex of Beatport’s all-genres chart.
Hi John, it’s been a long time since we last spoke. Hope this finds you well!?
It has Danny. Lovely to connect with you again after all these years!
You are so much more than a DJ these days with the production, film and TV music writing as well. Tell us what you’re working on as of this moment though?
I have no idea how I find the time some days, but wouldn't change a thing. I’ve actually been neglecting my regular DJ dance floor tracks, so most recently I’ve been working on some big Trance weapons. Real 140 BPM monster madness!
It’s been nearly three years since the last JOOF Editions. Is that down to the time it takes to put a near 5hrs mix- comp together or were there other factors?
I had a very manic couple of years of touring, along with a difficult year with my mum being very sick and eventually passing away. So this album needed to take a back seat until I
felt in the right frame of mind.
You are well known for playing long DJ sets but we live in a world where promoters seem to want to pack as many artists on a bill as possible. Has this caused you any problems?
Those short sets really frustrate me. I also think it annoys the fans too. In that hour every DJ seems to feel the need to throw as many hits as possible at them. I could imagine that becomes tiresome as a clubber. For those shorter sets, I do my best to create a miniature journey in 60 mins.
You are a producer as well so when you DJ, do you play mainly your own tracks or do you like to mix it up with other artists tracks as well?
I hardly play any of my own music! I always say I’m a DJ first. I like to perform DJ sets and not concerts of my own music. I never pre-prepare any set. I play to the crowd and let the dancefloor dictates it.
And with your own label and radio show and podcast, you must get sent an inordinate amount of music. How do you find the time to go through it all or do you have people to help you sieve through it all?
My team visually go through and weed out the obvious stuff that I wont play. Then I have the marathon task of going through what remains. To find just one gem though makes it all worthwhile.
DJ technology has changed massively in your career and indeed you work closely with Pioneer who supplies the industry standard equipment. Do you find that this has had a big effect on the way that you DJ these days with technology ever playing a bigger part in your DJ sets?
I’m a self confessed geek, I love technology. I was never comfortable with vinyl and one of the first to embrace CD’s. I use the technology to my advantage so that I can achieve more behind the decks, thus making my sets totally unique and feeling much more organized, in the same way we do in our day to day lives with iPhones etc, its no different in my playlists and the way I can quickly find the music that I want.
12 ZONE-MAGAZINE.COM
feature interview [uk]