Lee Burridge may jokingly claim to be “getting old”, but it doesn’t look that way from the other side of the DJ booth. Never one to trade on past glories or tired sounds, the man is as active now as he ever was. His extended sets are still the stuff of legend, with an evergreen love for the wonky, woozy strains of four-four. What’s more, he never gives the impression of going through the motions, with each club session his “own story with beginning, middle and end”.

On top of his insatiable tour schedule, in 2010 Burridge has conspired with fellow UK great Craig Richards to bring their fabled Tyrant partnership back to the fore and committed himself to the studio. He’s coming to get unhinged in Australia again this month, picking up where he left off in 2008. We took the opportunity to pick the brain of one of dance music’s true personalities, and he didn’t disappoint.

A couple of weeks back, you and Craig Richards brought Tyrant back to Fabric. How did that night go?
It’s always a pleasure to DJ with Craig. To this day, his musical choices confuse, confound and consume me. He has a very unique take on the whole thing and together, with what I have going on, we make a cake that tastes really weird and quite different to our own individual pastries. Neither of us is really like the other, yet we meet so wonderfully somewhere out in the middle of our own musical outskirts (and inskirts), then proceed to sprint headlong in the other direction.

Anyway, Craig and I are planning to do Tyrant more regularly again and also take it out of the UK. It’s very special to both of us and worthy of refocusing on. We’ve not really exported the experience in the past as the venues we decided to play in (Fabric and The Bomb) had a lot to do with the overall experience. We will, of course, choose carefully where our Tyrant marauds.

Every time I play with Craig it’s a little different and the particular night you mention was pretty great. This time we were fairly consistent with the energy and had bodies bumping and bouncing until around 8:45am. Perhaps my watch stopped though as I didn’t get to my bed until Tuesday morning and don’t remember what happened.

Having done Space in Ibiza as well this month, what’s the feeling like on the island this season?
I think it will be remembered as a great year. The clubs are busy. The music is great. The people aren’t that ugly this year and a girl groped me. Good days.

What’s the current status of the 365 Project? Is it a concept you’d like to continue?
Hibernation. It may rear its beautiful head once again, but I’m busy with dressing up the same whore in new clothes once again.

During the 365 Project, was there any destination that really surprised you or confounded your expectations?
Pittsburgh (well, it would have done if I went there).

Are there any Lee Burridge productions in the works currently, or is DJing taking precedence?
Oh yeah! I’ve actually been really busy in the studio, beavering away with my triangle and shouts of “more reverb!” I’ve found my production partner at last. My significant other. Matthew Dekay and I are in musical love and have been whittling away at the drum machine making some music that is hurtling towards you as you read this.

Our first release Wongel will be on Cecille, Nick Curly’s label from Berlin. It’s already been the closing track on this year’s Cocoon CD, played by many people with trendy haircuts and can roughly be described as a dubby house bomb ska thing. It seems to be blowing up, which is ironic as the sound that transitions certain parts of the record is kind of like a bomb exploding. We’ve also been working on newer tracks as fast as our little paws can muster.

I also have tracks coming out with Tim Green engineering – so, basically made by him them while I filed my nails and stared at squirrels out the window. First one of those is out in September on Leftroom and is called Here’s Johnny, as I was inspired by Johnny D’s fabulousness. Music production has been the one thing really missing in my life so prepare to be sick of me and my ‘attempts’ by summer 2019.

On inthemix, we’ve been looking at the art of the warm-up set. When you arrive to play at a club, what do you hope to hear from an opening DJ?
I did an interview a while back along with Craig and a bunch of other DJs on this very subject. It’s an ‘art’ that is mostly ignored these days or just not understood. To me, the night should be a whole musical experience. When you see a great film, hear a great album or read a great book, there is a pace to each. Things unfold and make sense of other parts of what ever it is you’re experiencing.

Therefore, if the warm-up DJ is just playing banging music – or worse, banging music slowed down (seemingly playing slower signals it is the warm-up) – the night has already gotten to a place it’s hard to come back from. Personally I don’t mind where the DJ before me goes either tempo-wise and energy-wise, as long as around 30 minutes before I play they take it down some.

I’m really all about 124-BPM these days, which is pretty slow for some people, but if you creep back there over that half hour period I then have a chance to say what I want to say musically and tell my own story with beginning, middle and end. To me, the night is a journey – a roller-coaster, and I don’t want to get on a roller-coaster in the middle of the ride.

Do you often get a chance to take control of a room all night, playing from start to finish and essentially ‘warming up’ for yourself?
Sometimes. Thing is, there are many talented DJs out there in all the places I play and I want to hear them and the people who come to see me should hear them too. We all know there are successful DJs out there who aren’t actually that good anymore. The younger generation of DJs put so much more passion, love and effort in because they have to and therefore can be pretty amazing. Some of the big names seem to me to just be on cruise control these days.

At the end of the day, though, it’s down to the knowledge of the promoter or club and their taste to make sure the warm up is appropriate for each DJ they book. It’s annoying for me though as mostly they get it wrong or the warm up person does great then the last three records are banging! To answer your question, I love to play as long as possible but sometimes I feel it’s important to showcase local talent and help them grow.

As a DJ, do you feel that the qualities you look for in a track have remained quite consistent over the course of your career?
Thud thud thud, bleep thud bleep, thud kshshshshshs. Yes, and there it is in words.

Balance 012 was your last commercially released mix, and there seemed to be great investment and care taken in putting it together. After releasing such a comprehensive package, would it be hard to return to a single CD format?
Totally. I don’t feel I can condense myself onto a single disc. I think if I were to do just one disc I would have to pick a certain thing to say. I like to think of CDs as home listening more than dancefloor though so I mostly try to create a feeling with one, two or three discs.

I know we are supposed to represent ourselves as club DJs but I tend to reach time and time again for CDs that aren’t just the most recent banging club tracks. I know some people want a rocking CD but, due to getting old, it’s not really my vibe!

It has been about two years since your last tour to Australia. Do you enjoy the feel of the parties down here?
I have never had a bad time in Australia. Can’t wait to come back! Come and give me a cuddle.

Lee Burridge tour dates:

Friday 17 September – Sunny, Melbourne
Saturday 18 September – barsoma, Brisbane
Friday 24 September – Ambar, Perth
Saturday 25 September – Chinese Laundry, Sydney