In the closing days of 2007, Caspa and his compatriot Rusko put out their FabricLive 37 compilation, the release that’s credited with bringing dubstep out of the obscure underground and pushing it out to a wider audience. Fabric’s decision to showcase the sound was an influential one, because Caspa is now considered one of the giants of the dubstep scene, with his Dub Police label one of the dominating forces in the genre and home to major players like N-Type and The Others.

It’s now time for this dubstep soldier to make the rest of the known world sit up and listen, as he’s just dropped his debut artist album Everybody’s Talking, Nobody’s Listening, again through the Fabric crew. ITM catches up with Caspa to find out how he’s making himself heard.

Heard you were in Perth recently, but you didn’t get to play Sydney or Melbourne?

I was actually in Sydney for three days but I wasn’t DJing. I’ve honestly just been too busy. But I might be coming back over in December. It’s 50/50 at the moment, but I’ve had an offer to come over and play out there on New Year’s Eve. So get the clubs on the go and get your speakers out.

In 2007 you said: “I’ve got the confidence to say that in a couple of years we’ll be the ones in room one and the other stuff will be in room two”. At the recent launch party of your new album, Dub Police took over room one of Fabric in London, so your prophecy has come true.

I don’t remember saying that, but I’m glad I did. It was a brilliant, brilliant launch party. At 9:30pm they had 1,100 people outside, and at 4am there were still 700 people outside waiting to get in. I’ve never seen anything like it and even the promoters said it’s probably the craziest Fabric night they’ve ever done. Room two was Andy C, Fabio and High Contrast. Dave Rodigan played and he tore it to bits, he smashed it up. And Skream and Benga were crowd surfing – someone dropped Benga on the floor. It was crazy, it was absolutely mad, really enjoyed it. So yeah, the prophecy came true. And it hasn’t even been two years – it’s come a long way since doing the Fabric CD a year and a half ago.

Dubstep has become a lot more mainstream, where do you see it going in the next couple of years?

Honestly, I don’t know where it’s going in the next couple of months. Hopefully it’ll be in the same place with producers making great music and still enjoying it. But people are picking up that there’s something big over here and they want to know what’s so big about it. I had an email from one of Snoop Dogg’s managers today and he’s asking for some tunes for their new album. It’s mad. So who knows where it’s going to be?

You’ve done quite a bit of collaborating on this album, for instance with David Rodigan. Anyone you’d like to work with in the future?

Yeah, I’d love to work with Dizzee Rascal. There are a few hip hop guys I’d like to work with. Down south [in the US] I’d love to do some Screwed and Chopped, like in Houston there’s a guy called Mike Jones, I’d like to work with him. Obviously though I’ve got to be realistic. But then again, who would’ve ever thought that Snoop Dogg’s manager would be hitting me up asking for tunes?

There’s a lot of room in dubstep for crossover stuff. Have you done any experimenting on the new album?

Yeah, I’ve got about four vocal tunes on there; I’ve never done vocals before. Really, I’ve just made whatever’s come into my head while I’m in the studio but I think it’s quite diverse. There are some experimental tracks on there and a few chilled tunes that I think people will quite vibe with. There’s a tune called London City, and Victoria’s Secret, and a tune called Back to 93 as well. And they’re kind of different to what people might expect of me.

The track London City is clearly about London, where you’re from. What’s the scene like there?

I think the crowd in London can be way too spoilt with music in general, not just dubstep, because there are so many nights that happen and because it’s the city where dubstep started. So it’s definitely a more demanding crowd. When you play in London you’ve got to play fresh, fresh tunes. People are looking for that new sound – what’s hot, what’s new, what’s going to be happening in the next year. So London’s quite hard like that but it’s also nice, there’s no place like this city, it’s where the music’s from.

Do you think a more knowledgeable, critical crowd pushes musicians to do better?

Not necessarily. With the power of the internet now, it’s not like it used to be. You make a new track, you play it on the radio or in a club and the set gets recorded, and two or three hours later it’s up on YouTube. And then suddenly you’ve got people on the forums going “I think its rubbish,” but they’re sitting at home in front of their PC or their Mac, they haven’t actually been in the club where the tune is getting played and haven’t felt it on a massive system. That’s why the album’s called Everybody’s Talking, Nobody’s Listening. There’s too much talking, and the music is taking a back seat. So just go and give the album a listen. Don’t listen to what anyone else is saying about it, go listen to it yourself.

Right. And what are you career goals for the future?

To take over the world. That’s it. One club at a time.

Caspa’s Everybody’s Talking, Nobody’s Listening is out now through Fabric and Subsoldiers, and distributed in Australia through Inertia.