‘Judge ‘Jules’ O’Riordan is undoubtedly fond of Australians, and our country. So much so that he’s been here sixteen times at last count. ITM catches up with the shop-a-holic DJ for a chat on the eve of his tour with Two Tribes 2003.
You’re playing at Two Tribes, which has to be one of the best dance festivals in Australia. How would you rate the Aussie festivals to say, your homelands’ and gatecrashers’?
It’s a difficult comparison for me to make. I am fairly certain I’ve DJed in Australia more than any other DJ in that this will be my sixteenth time here. I consider myself to know the Aussie scene quite well, but I have only really done a handful of festivals as I’ve generally done more clubbing events. I think there are an awful lot of similarities (although some would like to deny it!) between the persona of the average Aussie and your average British person and in what they expect from a festival or club night. Its just Aussies are lucky enough to have the weather – only the most insane Aussie ever stay in Britain permanently!
Australia draws some great internationals that seem to love the weather and the up for it crowds. What is it that brings you back so regularly?
There are a lot of reasons I come back. I usually come over in October and March so not necessarily the best time for the great weather, although even the worst seasons in Australia are always better than in Britain! It’s not only the weather and that it’s such a nice holiday place that brings me back, Australia is the all-inclusive package. It’s got the best food in the world and the Australian people have the most similar sense of humour and outlook on life to young British people. It’s a very beautiful country and with all the cities on the coast, Australia is blessed with a wicked beach-based lifestyle. I also love the mixture of European and Asian culture. I think the only downside is the time difference and the 24 hour flight!
I read you love shopping on Chapel St in Melbourne?
Yeah, both Chapel Street in Melbourne and Oxford Street in Sydney are superb for clothes. I think Australia is very good for men’s clothes. In Britain, there’s not that many stores that cater both for male and female fashion, at the same time that is. It seems like 70 percent percent of the shops on the better shopping streets have both men’s and women’s clothes in the same shop which is quite different to Britain. I don’t know why that is? Maybe your average Aussie male spends more money on clothes than they do in Britain!
What do you think of the growth of the Australian dance music scene?
I think it mirrors what’s gone on in the UK really.
So, do you think that the supposed downfall of the big super clubs has had an impact in Australia?
There aren’t so many big clubs in Australia; the only big club really is ‘Home’ in Sydney. Then again, I think the downfall of dance in Britain has been overstated and I think many journo’s have had to backtrack a bit in the last few months. It’s become quite apparent that maybe things aren’t actually that bad. Cream went down the progressive road and they tried to dictate a musical genre to people who weren’t into it and it caused them to shut down in the end. Then there’s Gatecrasher who have been the busiest they have ever been since they went monthly. People constantly ask me if dance music is dying in Britain but it really isn’t! The thing with Australia is that you haven’t got big clubs that have gone down the whole corporate path of branding, merchandising, t-shirts, club tours, you name it. The club ‘Home’ is a great venue that does what it does well and doesn’t attempt to stretch itself down every different avenue that it can just to make a quick dollar. Which I think is great!
You’ve recently completed the new Hi-gate album ‘Split Personality’ which is due for release in the UK on April 14? Is this due to be released in Australia?
Yeah, it’s definitely something we’d like to do but there is no date set as yet.
There are some great collaborations and guest vocals on the album. How did these collaborations occur and how did you originally team up with Paul Masterson?
Hi-gate sort of came together as a project by chance in that Paul ‘Yomanda’ Masterson and I live in the same part of London. Paul sent me a demo record and I saw that his phone number had the same area code and we literally started making tracks by chance. The first two things we did went on to be huge hits: ‘Saints and Sinners’ by The Clergy on Manifesto Records and ‘Pitchin’ (In Every Direction) by Hi-Gate on Incentive Records.
The record label then drove us down the album path and we thought if we are going to do this we don’t want to create an album that lacks personality. Unfortunately, a lot of house and dance and trance album’s do lack personality because the producer makes a succession of tracks with the same bmp and the same style which is no better than your DJ mix albums really. We wanted to explore different avenues, so part of doing that involves writing songs and bringing in singers for whom we have a lot of respect. Boy George was definitely top of the wish list as he has an amazingly emotive voice. Then we enlisted an assortment of other vocalists.
Diane, the singer from Moby also appears on the album doesn’t she?
Yeah, we sort of knew her voice originally from Goldie’s record ‘Inner City Life’, which I think is a fantastic record, and we took it from there. We got in a few more people and just wanted to create something that was rounded and different. When you try to do something different there is inevitably some people who don’t like it but, certainly from my own perspective, the barometer of success or failure with this album will be in 5 – 10 years time when I play it to my son and see if he’s embarrassed by what his daddy did years ago!
Are there plans for a Hi-gate tour??
It’s difficult because there are so many different singers that it makes it quite a tall order to take it on the road! There are going to be a few live performances involving the stuff that George has done but whether we can do a tour is more questionable just because of all the people involved.
Do you have any special plans for Judgement Sunday in Ibiza this year? Any surprises in store in the DJ line-up?
Its more a case of ‘if it’s not broken don’t fix it’. I mean this will be our fourth year and, certainly in San Antonio, we are by far and away the biggest night. I think in Ibiza the one thing we can put our hand on our hearts and say is that we have the best club atmosphere. There will be a few different DJ’s but essentially there’s not much point in changing things around when the formula has worked so well up to this point.
What do you like to do when you have time off?
My wife Amanda travels with me on some of my long haul gigs but I’m away from my 3 year old son on average between 7 and 10 days of the month, so when I’m home I like to spend as much time as I can with him.
Do you have plans to do any more tracks with your wife Amanda in the future?
Yeah, definitely. She’s going to do another angelic one for sure!
What is your favourite item of clothing?
It varies according to what trip I’ve just been on. My most recent DJ tour was to the east coast of the US and I bought a few nice hippie, embroidered shirts from New York.
What book/s have you read recently?
Colin Butts: Is Harry Still On The Boat?
Ben Elton: High Society
Do you have a favourite saying?
“Like toilet paper, we’re on a roll!”
Judge Jules’ Australian tour kicks off in Byron Bay on February 26th, Adelaide 27th and Brisbane 28th. He is playing at Two Tribes in Sydney on March 1st and Perth on March 2nd.
The new Hi-Gate album is due for release in the UK on April 14th while Yomanda’s new release ‘You’re Free’ is due for release in Australia in May and will be available through Central Station Records.
