James Taylor’s DJ career began in 2000 when he was booked for his first gig at Circa Bar in Bondi Junction, Sydney. That all seems a distant memory now though, as his talents as a DJ have gained him notoriety far beyond his hometown. Having played it all in Sydney, including the coveted warm-up spot for Fatboy Slim on New Years Eve at Bondi Beach recently, James Taylor took time to speak with ITM’s SignalDrivers (Pete) before his upcoming tour to promote the Fuzzy Breaks Vol 2 CD he has mixed alongside Fingerlickin stalwarts the Drumattic Twins.
Pete: How did you make the step from bedroom to bigroom?
James Taylor: I got a residency at the Brooklyn Beat Boutique, which was a night that really pushed the breaks sound, it got quite a big following, and it all really stemmed from there.
Pete: What did you make of the breaks scene in Sydney at the time and what do you make of it now?
James Taylor: When I first got into the breaks scene it was tiny. There was only a couple of places that pushed breaks, Thursday nights at Beat-Fix at the old Sublime and the Globe were really the only 2 places you could hear breaks. Now you can hear breaks at most major clubs in Sydney. To think that we would have festivals with 20,000 people and a breaks act headlining was laughable 6 or 7 years ago, now it’s a reality.
Pete: You began your career playing a variety of broken styles from hip-hop to drum and bass, what attracted you to specialise in breaks in particular?
James Taylor: Not really sure, I think it’s a good tempo for people to dance to. It’s not too fast and not too slow, it’s just right!
Pete: You’ve been chosen, along with Drumattic Twins, to mix the latest Fuzzy Breaks CD. What can we expect?
James Taylor: The CD has been out for about a month now. Basically it’s a representation of what you’re likely to hear from me in a club set. It starts off on a more funky tip, progresses into electro areas and finishes off with more tech influenced breaks. It was a hard task trying to convey my sound in a 70 minute CD but I’m really pleased with the end result!
Pete: You’ve played all that Sydney has to offer, any comments about the scene around other parts of Australia?
James Taylor: I haven’t done much travelling around Australia yet, I’ve played Brisbane a few times and they seem to like their beats a bit tougher. My tour starting now just about covers every part of Australia, so maybe you can ask me that question in a couple of months!
Pete: You toured some parts of Asia last year, how did it go?
James Taylor: Yeah it was great, it was more of a holiday, but I managed to get a few gigs in the process. I played a gig in Bangkok and a couple of gigs in Shanghai, I’m planning on heading back again this year to do a more extensive tour. Shanghai is definitely going to be a massive clubbing hotspot in the next few years.
Pete: Out of the people you’re yet to support, given the chance, who would you like to support and why?
James Taylor: I’ll have to say the Plumps. Haven’t had the pleasure of playing with them yet but their music was a huge influence in what I do today. And DJ Shadow, I probably wouldn’t be the right support but he is my absolute idol, and that would be an amazing experience.
Pete: Tell us some goss… What’s some interesting experiences you’ve had DJing in Sydney?
James Taylor: Nothing too interesting has ever happened to me whilst DJing, apart form the usual hilarious requests from intoxicated punters. I’m hoping this tour is going provide me with a few stories though!
Pete: What’s the positives and negatives of trying to make a career of music in Australia?
James Taylor: I guess the negatives are that there isn’t a great population here, so the scene is a lot smaller compared to Europe and the US, which in turn definitely makes it a lot harder to make a decent living out of music. However, so much great music is coming out of Australia at the moment that it is quite an exciting time to be involved with the Australian scene.
Pete: Have you delved into the world of production?
James Taylor: To some degree, I’ve really only got as far as bootlegs and my own edits so far. Hopefully that’ll change this year.
Pete: Who’s “doing it” for James Taylor in the breaks scene at the moment?
James Taylor: There’s some really cool stuff coming out at the moment and the great thing is heaps of it is coming out of Australia. Guys like Nick Thayer, Bass Kleph, Hook n Sling, Dopamine and Klaus Heavyweight Hill (who we can call an Aussie now) are all releasing hot tunes. Overseas all the tech funk fraternity are on the top of their game as always, guys like Meat Katie, Elite Force, Atomic Hooligan and Trouble Soup have been releasing some killer records this year.
Pete: What do you the think is the future for the Austalian breaks scene? I really think we are one of the leading nations when it comes to breaks.
James Taylor: We’ve definitely taking a liking to breaks. For a style of music that is quite small around the world it’s great that it’s one of the leading dance genres in Australia. With so many talented producers in the breaks world coming from Australia I think we can safely call Australia the mecca of breaks. Judging by all this talent the future of the scene looks very healthy indeed!
Pete: What does the future hold for James Taylor?
James Taylor: Want to try and get through this tour in one piece, for the next 2 months I’m away each weekend in a different town, which is all very exciting. Then hopefully when the tours done, I’ll be able to get some proper studio time and really start trying to get my head around writing music. And at the moment its looking like I’ll be touring Asia in May and possibly onto Europe after that.
James Taylor is currently on the road, touring to support the release of Fuzzy Breaks Vol 2. If you’re a fan of breakbeat be sure to check out the CD, mixed by James and the Drumattic Twins, out now on Fuzzy Breaks/MRA.
Sat 14th Jan – Empire, Brisbane
Sat 21st Jan – Ambar, Perth
Wed 25th Jan – Savvy, Adelaide
Fri 27th Jan – Plantation Hotel, Coffs Harbour
Fri 3rd Feb – Fractured, Melbourne
Thu 9th Feb – La La Land, Byron Bay
Fri 10th Feb – Laundry, Sydney
Sat 11th Feb – Nutshell Breaks, Newcastle
Fri 17th Feb – Bustin’, Wollongong
Sat 18th Feb – Halo, Hobart
Fri 24th Feb – Baja, Gold Coast
Fri 3rd Mar – Twisted, Canberra
