When I caught up with Jules on the phone, he was relaxing at home in London with the family – laptop at hand, answering one of the many thousands of emails he receives from fans around the world. Jules and wife Amanda (better known to us as Angelic) have just welcomed a new addition to the family, baby girl Phoebe who’s now 8 weeks old. I asked Jules how he and Angelic balance their careers with the demands of a young family “Well, once the initial stages of disruption are over, I’m in a pretty good position to be a dad – anyone working “9-5” probably leaves home at 7.30, home again by 7 or 8 if they’re lucky and hardly get to see their kids at all. When I’m not touring, I spend way more time at home than the average person.”
First-born Jake is now 5 years old and his love of the warm weather is the perfect excuse for Jules to play the more tropical locations. Last year, they made the trip to LA to satisfy Jake’s pursuit of sunshine – this year it’s Adelaide’s turn to celebrate New Year with the man known as one of the biggest crowd-pulling DJs in the world. So why Adelaide, when the choice of exotic destinations to spend the year’s biggest party night at are endless? “It really is just the way it worked out with dates, promoters and events”, says Jules. “The fact that it’s New Year’s Eve is almost irrelevant – if you have a good crowd who are really up for it, it’s going to be a great night regardless.”
I ask Jules about his status as “Superstar DJ” and how he’s managed to stay at the top of his industry for such a long time. “Definitely my accessibility. I personally answer every single one of the emails I get on my website and I keep a diary on that site too. It lets everyone know what I’ve been up to, what my upcoming tour dates are and hopefully see the human side of me.” And of course, share his hot tips like keeping cranberry juice in the car as a surrogate breath freshener when he’s on the road? “Yes!” he laughs. The website is testament to Jules’ broad appeal, with the Q&A page including questions on behalf of a reader’s mum, who’s a huge fan and requests for DJing tips from a budding 12 year old turntablist!
The CD versus vinyl debate is a hot topic amongst both DJs and dance music fans alike, and Jules is quite quick to point out that he’s one of the many DJs abandoning vinyl for their performances. And what’s been the reaction from clubbers? “I first flagged it on my website, which I use as my main means of communication, and I really was expecting a hostile reaction from the die-hard vinyl devotees. Surprisingly, there was overwhelming support from the start. Of course, there’s always going to be a few detractors, but I’ve been really well supported in this move. There’s strength in numbers too – the last gig I played at, to a crowd of 8,500, both the DJ who came before me and the one afterwards were both playing CDs. I truly believe the CDJ 1000 is the most amazing technological advancement in my world of music. It’s so advanced and has the most enormous potential. It’s interesting to look back on though, as not even 2 years ago if you’d told me I’d be playing CDs to the crowds – I probably would’ve fought you in the street for daring to say such a thing!”
As for the raging debate on illegal downloads, Jules is in two minds about making public comment. “On the one hand, it really does take away from the income of artists just starting out and I have a moral objection to that. These guys aren’t as lucky as some of us, who have our DJ work to bring in the cash. But if I went out there crusading against this from a financial point of view, it really wouldn’t look good – I mean here’s me that’s made a good deal of money out of music, complaining about losing a few pounds here and there to illegal downloads!”
While the proliferation of MP3 files has certainly revolutionised the way we promote music these days, Jules finds that the quality is just not there for professional-sounding production. “I get heaps of MP3s from people aspiring to break into the music industry, which is great for the purposes of sampling, but the richness, depth and warmth in the sounds you get from other formats can be lacking. People are still willing to pay for quality music – so from that aspect, I don’t believe the downloading trend will totally cut off the income stream for artists.”
The number of DJs who release work under other names seems to be prolific at the moment and Jules’ side-project “Hi-Gate” is almost as well known as Jules himself. I raised the point that many DJ’s who take this path are trying to escape pigeonholing, which restricts them to a certain style – trance, hard house or whatever. Jules says the Hi-Gate project came about more as a reaction to any conflict of interest claims against him. “With the number of different media commitments I have, there’s a real issue with me “feathering my own nest” as it were, by playing my own tunes on radio. So the project really came about as a way to share my music with listeners, without leaving myself open to claims of abusing my position.”
So what’s next for Jules? “I’m working on a new artist album, with 8 tracks done so far. Angelic features on vocals and I also sing.” Sing? I laughed and told him I was looking forward to hearing this newly discovered talent of his “Well, a lot of other people are sceptical too! I’m sure people will think I’ve just kidnapped some unknown singer with a great voice and made them sign a confidentiality agreement! To be honest, people probably won’t even realise it’s me, unless they read the CD cover very closely. It’ll be released in about March or April of next year, so you can hear for yourself then.”
Jules has also broadened his interests to “stop him progressing into the early stages of dementia” as he puts it. Becoming fluent in Spanish is one of those interests – due in most part to his business interests in the ultimate party isle, Ibiza. As well as Judgement Sundays in San Antonio, Jules opened a restaurant in April this year with friend and Judgement Sunday partner, Giles. Despite celebrity chef Rick Stein being a close relative, Jules insists that Rick hasn’t had any influence on the eatery and, in fact, isn’t allowed to set foot in the place for at least 3 years – Rick is notoriously picky and Jules says the restaurant doesn’t need that kind of scrutiny just yet!
So with Ibiza as his second home, what does Jules make of all the media talk about Ibiza becoming too elitist or losing its status as THE place to party in Europe. “The media do love to make things up, don’t they? Ibiza is still a great destination and the clubs are still pulling amazing crowds, big name DJ’s and holidaymakers from all walks of life. The media, especially in the UK, just loves to pick up these things for the sake of a story. It’s just crap really. You have to remember that the journalists writing these stories are at least 40 years old and not in touch with the scene in any way – so they aren’t qualified to make comment at all. Judgement Sundays is still my favourite place in the world to play – I’m not just saying that because it’s my baby, it really does have the most amazing atmosphere and it’s just such a buzz.”
Don’t miss your chance to see Judge Jules over the Christmas and New Years period:
Fri 24th Dec, Soho – Cairns
Sat 25th Dec, Bondi Pavilion – Sydney (BUY TICKETS)
Sun 26th Dec, Platinum – Gold Coast
Fri 31st Dec, St Paul’s – Adelaide
Sat 1st Jan, Nobby’s Beach – Newcastle
Check out Judge Jules’ website – http://www.judgejules.net – ask questions, read his diary and check out tour dates, or even just send an email to say hi. He guarantees you’ll get an answer!
