In this candid interview, John Digweed bares his soul and reveals all to Allen & Heath about how to run a successful dance imprint, turning down U2, the other world-conquering Mr. Digweed, wild times in Hastings, dealing with seagull poop, rising stars, and… err… his preferred DJ mixer. John is a gentle-natured, good-humoured English gentleman who’s risen to the top of his world with total passion and dedication, not aggression. The nice way. Easy-to-approach John is probably best known - and highly respected - for his solid support of young talent, his quality record label, his legendary Bedrock nights, Twilo and the occasional duet with Sasha, and a virtual lack of any known human form of boisterous behaviour. The following is not for the faint hearted amongst us: you have been warned.

A&H: You’ve got one show left on your “End Of The Summer” tour in Montreal this Sunday. How’s it been going?
JD: Very enjoyable. Good clubs and great crowds. It’s been a while since I’ve had the chance to do a proper North American club tour. The last time was I toured over here was on the Delta Heavy and Area Two tours. It’s important to get back to basics sometimes and play for the true club audiences.

A&H: This time you’re on the road with your good friend Desyn Masiello who’s been signed to Bedrock.
JD: Yeah, I’ve known Desyn for a few years and it’s a good opportunity to introduce a new talent to the American market. We’ve just launched a new mix CD series called “Bedrock Original Series” and Desyn’s first up. I think that’s what it’s all about at this level – encouraging new talent, and giving them a chance to shine through.

A&H: That’s what your label and your Bedrock nights are renowned for.
JD: Absolutely. I travel all over the world and get to hear some amazing new artists. Bedrock has given me the opportunity to give these artists some exposure, to give something back to the dance scene.

A&H: You obviously live for your music, and you must be given great new music all the time. Do you carry some of these tunes around with you to play out, whether you sign them or not?
JD: Yes I do. Again, that’s what it’s all about: keeping the ears open and looking for new talent. So many DJs rely on using their stage presence to excite audiences, but that’s not really my style – s you’ve probably noticed. I don’t exactly leap around in the booth! The music has to speak for itself.

A&H: You’re reputed to be one of the nicest guys on the circuit, but Desyn told me that you’re a nightmare to travel with. He said you’re always late for gigs, and make him polish your shoes every day.
JD: That’s not true! How could he polish my shoes when I only wear trainers? I’ll have a word with him…

A&H: You have another element to expose new talent, your weekly show on London’s Kiss FM.
JD: It’s being going for four years and there’s no sign of it tailing off. I think the show has a very loyal audience worldwide who tune in on the radio or on-line every Saturday night. I use it to play out breaking new tracks, some classics, and always feature superb DJ sets. I’ve been putting a lot of time and energy into my new website, too. I hired a new design team who won a big award last year because I wanted to give the site a whole new look. It’s very innovative and quite out-there for me. It’s got all these different elements going on and rooms you can go into. We’ll have all the Kiss sets and other radio shows archived, and it’s constantly up-dated with all the latest info. There are photos and video clips, and the animation’s really funky. There’s even a room where you can go in and do remixes of tracks. I’m very pleased with it.

A&H: Let’s go back to the early days. You’ve had a huge influence on dance music and it all started in Hastings, your hometown on the English Riviera.
JD: That’s where I first started doing my Bedrock events years ago. I used to book DJs like Carl Cox and Pete Tong to appear, and then I’d send out the flyers to promoters all over the UK with a note saying, “Look, I’ve appeared with these guys. Why don’t YOU book me?” It took a while, but it finally worked. After a while I moved the Bedrock events up to London and then it all took off. The timing was right, I suppose.

A&H: Are the Bedrock events still happening?
JD: Sure. We’re doing events in cities around the UK on a fairly regular basis. They mean a lot to me. I feel like they’re giving something back to the dance community, at a fair price.

A&H: Are downloads beginning to overtake vinyl sales?
JD: I wouldn’t say that download sales are taking over at Bedrock – vinyl is still our main seller – but when we noticed that our tracks were appearing on loads of different sites and there was an obvious demand for them we realized we couldn’t fight it, we had to join in. Go with the flow. People who download from the Bedrock site know that they’re getting music direct from the source, so they know it’s going to be high quality and the genuine article. The added bonus is that the money they spend will go to all the artists who’ve spent many hours, if not months, working on those tracks. They deserve to see some sort of payment for their work – I strongly believe in that. Fact is that for a young DJ in the Far East or South America to buy a Bedrock track locally with all the freight costs and import duties it can work out to be very expensive, whereas if they can get it legally at the click of a button without waiting for ages for it to turn up in the mail they can be playing it out that night.

A&H: Can’t argue with that. You get inundated with music. How do you deal with that?
JD: I try to listen to as much as I can, but usually after two minutes if I don’t get it I have to leave it out.
A&H: Like a new comedy show on TV?
JD: Right.

A&H: Your principal production partner has always been Nick Muir. Have you learned a lot from him?
JD: Absolutely. Nick’s a genius in the studio and he’s had a massive influence on me. We still work together all the time. We’ve been doing some work with Quincy Jones, which is a real honour, and producing an indie band called The Music.

A&H: You’ve been a very strong supporter of the Xone DJ mixers right from the start. What is it that grabs you about the mixers, and how do you use them?
JD: To me, it was always about the quality of the sound. Unless you had an old UREI to use, like at Twilo, the club market was really lacking in good sounding DJ mixers. When Xone came along I think Allen & Heath really addressed that problem, and also added artistic elements like the filters and more EQ control. There’s a lot you can do with so much control at your fingertips.

A&H: Mix CDs are difficult, aren’t they? In my experience, very few of them truly reflect live DJ sets.
JD: I know what you mean. Some labels tend to interfere with the track selection and that can get very awkward but thankfully that’s never happened to me.

A&H: You must have achieved many of your dreams. You’ve won countless awards, and become famous all over the world. What was your proudest moment?
JD: For me, it’s been great to achieve all the accolades and awards. Getting voted World Number One in the DJ Mag poll a couple of years back was amazing, so was playing live on Brighton Beach with Norman (Fat Boy Slim). To be honest, I think the most important thing is that even after all these years I’m still excited about getting out there and playing, and I enjoy it more now probably than ever before. I do genuinely love what I do, and I’m grateful to be living my dream.

A&H: What’s still to come this year?
JD: I’m doing the closing party at Space in Ibiza on October 3rd – It’s always a good idea to go down there at the end of the season and make sure all the lights are turned off! There’ll be some more Bedrock nights in the UK, and tours of the Far East and South America. Then Los Angeles for New Years Eve. (A&H)