James Zabiela is somewhat of a notorious character around these parts of the world. Whether you were present or were just dealt a thrilling first or second-hand account of his amazing ability to bring a whole room to a state of complete madness. Known for his epic, fine tuned sets, which most recently included an unforgettable surprise back to back performance with ex-Radio 1 host Nic Fanciulli at Home Nightclub in Sydney on his last hoorah in these parts.
Now, just a few months have passed, and the memories are still just as clear. His touch has gone unsurpassed by anything else that’s hit or shores since. And now as we count our sleeps until the UK maestro drops in to shake his blonde locks on our shores again, as part of next month’s We Love…Sounds tour, ITM’s Vocal Assault fought tirelessly to pin down the blue-eyed mixmaster for a quick chat.
It’s just after midday on a Monday and I find Zabiela shaking off the last effects of tiredness from the night before, as he hungrily devours a McDonalds cheeseburger from a truck-stop on the way to the airport. This afternoon he’ll be flying to Kiev for a Monday night show. “Monday nights seem to be a growing trend lately,” he says in exasperation. “Last Monday I played in Germany, but that’s probably from all of the bank holidays happening around the place now, it’d be cool if Mondays did take off as a new club night. It’d be a fine extension of the weekend.”
As with any DJ worth their weight in gold, Zabiela remains hot-property on the global circuit throughout the year. A blessing which is keeping him busily globetrotting, right up until his Australian sojourn in June. “The amount of travelling I do these days is pretty mad, considering that before I started DJing, I’d never really been too much further than my hometown,” he laughs whole-heartedly. “I’m not a naturally born traveller. But now I think I have a bit of a routine worked out, where I manage to get at least a day at home here and there, just basically to pick up clothes and do laundry.”
He’s also worked out a way to make music on the move, as he spends no more than a night in most cities and has no real strong base throughout touring. “I have a mini-keyboard on the road, so I just program stuff into my laptop, I also use Ableton Live 5 with a few PSPs and plug-ins as a sketchpad on the road. It’s really intuitive and guarantees the easiest result,” he shares. Another thing that Zabiela credits for keeping his sanity on the road, is of course his ipod. Which is filled with a mixture of tracks from today and also has him secretly indulging a little, in some past classics and shockers from the 80s.
“Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Squarepusher and the Warp Records catalogue. There’s always a few 80s tracks in between of course. Some old KLF, along with the token cheesy moments from that era,” he laughs shamefully. “Actually, I watched a good program the other night, it was on 80s one-hit wonders. There was The Timelords (the KLF’s first band), Norman Greenbaum (Spirit In The Sky), DeeLite (Groove Is In The Heart), Carl Douglas (Kung Fu Fighting) were all on there, as well as Chesney Hawk (The One and Only) – who I get a lot of sh*t on my myspace page for looking like these days,” he giggles.
Hearing that Zabs still enjoys the odd indulgence in the cheesiness of his past, rather than turning his back on it and denying it ever slipped under his radar, is just another endearing quality to the man. Which makes us feel a whole lot better about our past dirty 80s music secrets, which include Tiffany, Collette, Debbie Gibson and Sabrina. “Ha! I remember Sabrina,” admits Zabiela loudly as he recounts that super-nerdy pool-romp of a clip, before slipping into a battle of 80s memories.
It’s hardy surprising he can recall it all so well, after all he did grow up on a good dose of it, before his electronic awakening at age 15. “My dad used to work in a record shop and got into the clubbing/rave culture back in 92. So my first memories of dance music, were hearing it thumping through the floorboards and shaking everything in my room,” he remembers. “It wasn’t until I did work experience at a record store, that I was really exposed to artists like The Prodigy and the KLF. Who really turned me, it was from then on that I realised there was something greater going on, on the dance scene,” he reflects.
From this point on, it didn’t take Zabiela too long to join the dots and move into the wonderful world of mixing. After a few years of honing his skills, he started to make a name for himself with a few well-placed mixtapes, from that point on, it all became a bit of a blur for the young deck deity. “It’s been an experience, one that I’ll never quite get used to,” he admits. “I’ve been lucky to make friends around the world and enjoy lots of time in places like Autralia, so I have nothing to complain about really.”
His love for Australia has over the years, resulted in a lot of craziness and debauchery. “You know, Australia was the first time I’ve ever been drunk and had to deal with a hangover the next day, I’m not usually a big drinker,” he laughs, before blaming the liquid he consumed so viciously. “I always have a lot of fun when I get out that way, the people are amazing. So I can’t wait to get back to it all next month!” he exclaims, before leaving us with some famous last words from the Darth Vader, “may the force be with you!”
Catch Zabiela’s blonde hair bobbing along to the beats, as he takes in dates around the nation as part of the ‘We Love…Sounds’ tour:
Fri Jun 2nd – inthemix is six, Canberra (BUY TICKETS)
Sat Jun 3rd – Sunny, Melbourne
Sun Jun 4th – Ministry of Sound Sessions Tour, Perth (BUY TICKETS)
Fri Jun 9th – We Love Sounds, Brisbane
Sun Jun 11th – We Love Sounds, Adelaide (BUY TICKETS)
Sun Jun 11th – We Love Sounds, Sydney (BUY TICKETS)
