Sasha is not one to pine for the past. He may be revered for pioneering progressive house and ushering in the era of the ‘superstar DJ’, but his outlook has always been towards what’s next.

An advocate of new technology (despite reverting from Ableton back to the CDJs of late), Sasha’s latest challenge to himself has been the V_rtek live show. Working alongside visual artists Picnic Electronic and Immersive, the DJ takes centre stage in a vivid audiovisual rig that uses LEDs to heighten each build and release of his set. While we first saw the V_rtek set-up in action in the Boiler Room at Big Day Out last year, at Good Vibrations next month we’ll witness the “evolved” version.

When inthemix spoke to Sasha last August, he had every reason to be feeling fatigued. It was the Tuesday after a Bank Holiday weekend, the last big party marathon of the summer, and his schedule had been unforgiving. As you’ll quickly discover from Sasha’s 23-page dedicated forum thread on inthemix, the man’s sound is always on the move, taking him from festival mainstages to strobe-lit after-hours clubs. A little bleary but gracious all the same, the dance music maestro talked us through his latest adventures.

Just looking at your recent gig schedule makes me tired…
It was probably the busiest weekend of my summer and I lost my voice by Sunday night. Five parties in four days was probably a little much for the end of August. But to be honest, they were all amazing gigs, from beach party to Pacha to SW4 and Creamfields. I had to sleep for a few days after.

How do you feel about those big festival slots these days?
They’re fun to do, you know. You’re getting to play to a large crowd with all the production you get at festivals. It was a weekend of contrasts. I went from playing to 500 people on the beach to an after-hours with 200 people to mainstage at SW4 with 10,000 people [laughs]. It was a weekend of experiences.

No one wants to hear a five-hour set at a festival. No one wants to go and see David Bowie do his experimental albums. They want to hear the hits. But that’s festivals, you know?

Clubs are different. I heard Danny Tenaglia DJ for six hours inside Space at Ibiza and it was one of the most life-affirming, inspirational DJ sets I’ve heard in a very long time. I know people have written him off over the last few years, but he was absolutely phenomenal. To hear a DJ in control of a room for that amount of time and have the crowd in the palm of his hand, I mean, that’s what it’s all about. The festivals are a lot of fun, but this was like watching a master at work.

It must be rare that you’re on that side of the booth.
Yeah, it doesn’t happen very often. I have to choose my moments. But listening to Danny inside Space in Ibiza was a good call.

Looking at the line-ups for SW4 and Creamfields, it’d be hard to argue that the superstar DJ phenomenon isn’t stronger than ever.
Oh god yes. Someone spread a nasty rumour that the superstar DJ thing was dying last year, but they might not have looked at the facts properly…

So with summer over, is the focus now on the studio?
August is always the most insane month of the year, with Bank Holidays and so many events on. It’s a little overwhelming so I always give myself a break at the beginning of September, just to shake the dust off.

Your latest effort SparkyLives was made available for free on your website. What inspired that decision?
We were talking about how to put the record out and I was like, you know what, I just want it out now. I just think it’s important to do that stuff at the moment. I didn’t want to sit there and watch it get held up for three months. I wouldn’t do it for every record I make, as it would probably bankrupt me. I felt I had something that I wanted out there, it was just before playing at Glastonbury and I wanted people to know that record when I played it.