After a rapid rise to fame as one of the most consistent producers in trance, where does 2011 find Simon Patterson? The high-flying DJ will soon arrive in Australia as part of the Creamfields road-show, having proven his big-room credentials on the Trance Energy tour in 2009.

As he tells inthemix, his chief focus is now DJing, having struck something of a dry spell in the studio. “I haven’t been able to generate any sort of inspiration at all,” is Patterson’s frank assessment.

He certainly has no trouble generating inspiration on the world’s dancefloors, though. His tough, driving sets go straight for the jugular, making him a valuable asset at a festival. Here’s what he had to say about his inspiration lull, his next frontier as a DJ and why Dogzilla’s never getting back together.

Did you envision music being an integral part of your life from a young age?
Probably not. My whole family was involved in music, so it was part of my family life but I wasn’t really thinking about getting involved in music at all. Till about 16 I used to play football semi-professionally so that was really where I was hoping my career was going to take me.

I had a car crash when I was 16 so then that forced me to get into music. It wasn’t really my aim to get involved in music, so to speak, but obviously I’m glad it turned out the way it has.

How did the interest in trance begin?
When I was 16 all my friends used to listen to Judge Jules. He used to have a radio shows on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons. I just grew up listening to that really. From then I started going clubbing and just fell in love with trance music. What Jules was playing at that point was predominantly trance. There was always this constant access to it, listening to the radio show. Sort of went from there really.

Are there any other artists that influenced your current style?
Not really, to be honest. Well, I guess Paul Van Dyk was an influence. When I was going clubbing I didn’t really tend to go to too many events and festivals. It was all the same clubs every week. They didn’t really have Armin and Van Dyk too much. I grew up just listening to other DJs really, but Armin and Paul Van Dyk were two names that really stood out for me.

Apart from that, there’s not really anyone who’s influenced me. I love Eddie Halliwell as a DJ and I love certain psy-trance producers and DJs, but not anyone who really influences me in terms of DJing. I love that psy-trance style. That’s where I generate most of my influences.

Producer or DJ? Which do you most strongly identify yourself with?
Probably DJ. Production for the last year or so has been tough for me to generate any inspiration. I’m sort of in a middle ground of what I want to be making music but just getting the time to make it is really difficult. It’s been a really, really tough year. I haven’t been able to generate any sort of inspiration at all. So right now I’m just focusing on DJing.