Kristian Jackson AKA Mind Electric is not only one of Perth’s fastest rising talents, he’s also quickly becoming one of Australia’s most impressive DJ/producer prodigies. Discovered not long ago by local dance kingpins John Course and Andy Van who promptly singed him to their Vicious record label, his signing came at a time when he was returning to WA after several years of holidaying in Europe that saw him learning the tricks of the dance music trade. And my, doesn’t it show.

2008 has been a massive year for Mind Electric, and it’s seen him lending his remix talents to Kaskade, The Potbelleez, TV Rock, Dirty Laundry and more, as well as solidifying his presence in his hometown with high-profile residencies at Vegasmode and Frisk, the latter of which recently won the title of WA’s favourite club night in the inthemix50. But what’s really picking up steam is his massive reworking of the classic 1990 track Infinity from Guru Josh, and it’s sure to be one of the massive hits over the summer. ITM chats with Mind Electric.

How are you enjoying your residencies at Perth’s Frisk and Vegasmode? How does it feel to be filling dancefloors in your hometown?

Absolutely loving my gigs and it’s been an exciting ride watching both club nights build overtime to the successes they are now. Frisk won WA’s best club night in the * inthemix 50*, which is amazing to be a part of.

With the festival season about to kick off, where can people around Australia check you out this summer? Apart from your Perth residencies, that is.

I will be bouncing around Oz quite a bit this summer so people can catch me playing various club nights and festivals, including the Open Arms Festival in Coffs Harbour and Global Gathering in Perth, so it’s looking like a great summer ahead. Anyone can check my MySpace and Facebook pages for gig details.

You recently played the Ministry of Sound Clubber’s Guide to Spring tour next to Groove Terminator and Raye Antonelli. How was your experience?

Awesome! That was the first time I’ve seen GT play and was really impressed….. His DJ experience really came through. He rocked it! I always love playing the Ministry gigs, the crowd are always pumped up which enables us to push the music we love.

What can people expect from your live shows/sets these days? Are you mostly playing your own tracks and remixes or do you play a host of different tunes?

I play a lot of other peoples music, hence becoming a DJ but of course I always mix in my own productions and bootlegs to give it my own flavour, along with some shameless self promotion.

You’ve often provided live vocals during your shows with Fantine M. Pritoula. Is this something clubbers can still look forward to?

It’s been a while since I’ve brought live vocals into my sets, but with some new records on the way hopefully I will bring this back. It’s so much fun having live vocals and with Fantine being such an amazing singer, it just blows everyone’s socks off…. She’s also much nicer too look at.

What’s been keeping you busiest in the past year – recording new materials, remixing other people’s tracks or concentrating on live sets?

This past year has been all about my productions. I’m currently onto producing my third single, into the double digits on remixes, not to mention a half dozen or so bootlegs! So you can pretty much say my studio has got me whipped. When I get a chance I like to practice DJ stuff like learning to mix haha.

Having toured China recently, can you tell us what’s happening over there in terms of the electro scene? How did you enjoy your time and experiences there?

I spent most of my time in the ‘BladeRunner’ city of Shanghai. The club scene there is thriving. You can go out any night of the week and clubs are pumping with international DJs on the bill. With 20 million people living like sardines in one city, there are certainly no shortages of punters & places to go out. The crowds I played to didn’t necessarily know what I was playing, but that didn’t matter as they were so appreciative and went nuts.

How was it working on Cabin Crew’s Can’t Stop It? Do you think featuring on the likes of Ministry of Sound and Onelove compilations has opened up such opportunities for you?

I really enjoyed remixing the Cabin crew tune… The strings had me hooked from the very first listen. It’s always more fun remixing a track when you already like the original. Its a privilege to be featured on any compilation, and even more so for the bigger selling ones like Ministry. You can’t put a price on that kind of exposure. All a sudden thousands of kids know your songs and it always cracks me up when they say, “Can you play track 3 on disc 2?”

As well as Cabin Crew, you’ve recently been remixing for dancefloor legends and hot acts such as Kaskade, The Potbelleez and Dirty Laundry. What future collaborations are in the pipeline for Mind Electric?

Currently I’m working on a little project with Kaskade which is really exciting, other than that I will be mainly remixing other artists for now including an old classic from Sharam Jey. Who knows what else? Lets see what happens.

Do you find your background in working with musical instruments such as drums and keys was a great benefit when working on your tribute to Guru Josh Project’s 1990 classic Infinity?

I think my music background has helped, not only with Infinity but all my productions. Drumming taught me about rhythm and keys helped with melodies and chords, but at the end of the day I think the most important thing to have is a nusical ear.

You spent a number of years working the electro scene in Europe. How do you think your time there has influenced your work? In your opinion, how does the electro scene there differ compared to the one here? Do you feel you have something unique to offer having solid experience both here and over there?

I was really inspired to make electronic house music after going to lots of cool little clubs in Hamburg. It was awesome experiencing this fresh house sound for the firsty time in these little bars, and then later watching it burst into the mainstream in Australia a few years later. I guess my musical pallet may be more worldly from embracing the different cultures and seeing what Europeans get into…. so I try to bring this into my music.

Have you been pleased with the response to Infinity on a national and international level so far? It seems to be on the cusp of really kicking off this summer.

The response has been incredible. I’ve been receiving massive support nationally and internationally with artists such as Kaskade and Guru Josh Project smashing it everywhere. Infinity is currently sitting at #5 for its third consecutive week on the Aria Club Charts, so local support has been overwhelming and I’m excited to announce that it will be on Ministry of Sound’s The Annual 2009 CD coming out very soon..

People are saying 2008 has been Mind Electric’s year. What are your hopes going into 2009?

World dominaton of course! I really want to push the Mind Electric band overseas and Ihope to get to Ibiza for the first time. Get my Ibiza cherry popped! I also watch Dirty South’s career with much admiration. He has done Australian proud and proves us Aussies can make it big time.

You can catch Mind Electric weekly at Vegasmode on Friday nights and Frisk on Saturday nights. And keep an ear out for Infinity over the summer, here’s a clip of Moby dropping it…