When it comes to remaining relevant and popular throughout the dance scene’s many fickle fads, fashions and titillating trends, there are not many who do it better – or even half as good – as Armand Van Helden. He’s seen it all on his 20 years in the game, and he’s still right there releasing records that get people moving. Indeed, it’s the very same man who’s been behind the boards on seminal 90s hits like Tori Amos’ Professional Widow and his own U Don’t Know Me, as well as current fidget house bombs like Bonkers featuring Dizzee Rascal and Illin N Fillin.

Speaking one on one with Armand it’s instantly clear that he’s a guy who is confident and sure of his ability, but never to the point of arrogance. In fact – although it might seem otherwise during this very interview – he’s actually quite self-depreciating, joking that he takes it so easy nowadays he’s basically retired, and warning you “don’t even let me in” if you’re running a club that’s doing interesting stuff, because all he wants to do is steal your ideas.

Hey Armand, thanks for speaking with me. How are things for you at the moment; what’s on your agenda right now?

These days I like to take things [slow], like I’m retired. Probably for the past 10 years I’ve been on that mindset. You have the choice to balance ‘work’ and ‘play’, and my needle leans into ‘play’ more. If that makes any sense.

You’ve been on the dance scene for a long time now, so you’ve witnessed a whole heap of sounds and scenes come and go. What’s been exciting you musically of late?

The past two years the indie rock thing has really taken off. I mean, even before that [it was around], but rock and electronica has come together. It really hit about two years ago, and most rock records now are kinda mixed with dance music or electronica, whatever you call it. That’s kinda the norm now, and that’s cool. Because of that it has brought me into a new headspace. I’m interested in seeing bands and going to shows, whereas before I was not interested. It seemed before like everyone had that ‘tattooed skateboarder’ thing going on. But for the past two years I’ve been pulling myself away from going to rap clubs or boring commercial rock clubs and hitting up that scene more.

Your album Nympho from 2005 had a bit of a rock influence. Is that when the sound first started to grab your interest?

I don’t know. My main thing is, like, I’ll check out MSTRKRFT at Webster Hall – and I’ve known those guys for a long time – to see how kids react to the music, no different to if I go to a rap club – and I’m not even up on rap these days – I need to physically see with my own eyes how people react to certain songs. Sadly, of course, they react to hits, and that makes me think I have to focus on making those kinds of records. I’m doin’ [that with] all these scenes that I don’t really belong to… so if you see me at your little indie bar and you’ve got a good scene, if you see me there don’t even let me in, because I’m probably just gonna steal your ideas! You get what I mean? It’s not a good thing to let me see stuff. I’m very visual, I need to see how people react.

Your most recent studio album, Ghettoblaster, had a real old school 80s electro and hip hop vibe, and now your latest singles – like Bonkers with Dizzee Rascal and Illin N Fillin – seem to be along the lines of fidget house, which is blowing up everywhere. Is that a sound you’re feeling at the moment?

You have a whole crew of older school people, obviously you could put me in there, but those ‘back in the day’ cool people, you could call it progressive house or minimal, whatever they call it. You’ve got that little world, and I have friends that are in that world, and they come to me and say ‘oh, you gotta have this record and this record’. They kind of agree on the same record that’s hot. Tribal, progressive, soulful, whatever! And then you have this other world, bassline, fidget and everything else that falls between that – like indie electronica, whatever – where the DJs play maybe only two minutes of the record. Between the two I definitely don’t want to be in with the whole tagged out progressive house, minimal thing. I’ve lived that shit 15 times, that music never changes. But then again, the bassline thing isn’t that amazing, musically. It’s cool and it gets people partying, throwing around vodka, it’s fun, but it’s also not that important. If I had to pick I’d hang out with A-Trak. I’d rather hang out with that crew… they’re much more fun.

Do you ever think about what it would be like if you were a new DJ or producer now trying to make a name for yourself? Are you glad you came through a few years ago, before it got so competitive?

A good example is this; think of, like, the hottest new group that you’ve heard of. Let’s call them ‘Windex’. They have about a two or three year run and they’re over. It’s sad, but that’s the way the industry is these days. Usually they drop their first album, the press goes crazy, but by the sophomore album they’re dropped [by their label], they’re gone. So in that two or three years they tour like crazy, they have a blast, but that’s it. When you’re a DJ, though, they won’t let you stop spinning. They’re like ‘we’ll book you forever!’ Marshall Jefferson still spins! Danny Tenaglia still spins! These people are in their 50s and 60s. When you’re a DJ it’s the best way to be, but when you’re in a band you’re almost fucked if you try to make it really last. As long as you continue to, every so often, drop some kind of record that ends up rotating on Radio 1 in the UK, just to keep people updated that you’re back around, you can spin the rest of your life.

As a DJ I imagine it’s pretty different ball game now, too. Do you find you’re able to keep up with it all?

I have a huge problem getting my sets together these days! It was so much easier back in the 90s. Back then you’d go to the record store, they’d have every record that’s being pressed so it didn’t take long to go through and walk out with maybe 25 or 30 records. That was all you needed for the next month. It was expensive, but it was brainless. Now, for me to prepare my DJ sets, oh my god! There’s so many people making music, it’s turned into a 10 hour job to get anything happening. You’ve got to download a billion emails, and by the time you’re done downloading, checking charts, it’s just so insane. My problem is that I don’t spin a lot, so every time I do it’s like a whole new job. If I was spinning like three times a week, like everybody else, then it’d be easier because you’ve already prepared your set, you know where the start points are on Serato, you’re like a robot. But I spin maybe once every two months, so I need three days prep to get ready for an hour and a half set!

Armand Van Helden hits Australia on a whirlwind tour this June, don’t miss the legend in action:

Sat Jun 6 – We Love Sounds, Sydney
Sun Jun 7 – Warehouse Music Festival, Canberra
Sun Jun 7 – Winter Sound System, Melbourne
Mon Jun 8 – We Love Sounds, Adelaide