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Veteran DJ and producerJohn Tejadais bringing his newly revamped live show all the way from the USA to Australia this weekend for shows in Melbourne, Sydney and the 5th anniversary of the Strawberry Fields festival. In anticipation of his arrival, we fired some questions John's way. Here's what he volleyed back.
Pulse: Can you tell us about your new live show in terms of the music you’re playing. It covers a lot of your older catalogue, correct? John Tejada: It does. I recreate some of my works with minimal equiptment, so while songs may be familiar to some, they are also different in lots of way as they’ve been built from the ground up again in order to be played back on my small hardware setup.
And what about in terms of ‘live’? What equipment are you playing with and what makes it live, so to speak? I’m using an Elektron Octatrack and Analog Four with nothing else, so it’s a purely hardware set.
Your music has a lot of dance floor function, but much of it is also heavily reliant on melody. Are you always striving for these two elements to be present in your productions? It just comes natural to me that way. I don’t think about it much when writing, but many times it ends up this way.
Being an American, I’m interested in your thoughts on the current ‘EDM’ explosion happening there. Do you think any good will eventually come from it? Or is it a fad? Or are you just so far removed from it all that you don’t ever think about it!? I thought at first this would have some sort of connection, but I really believe there is absolutely no crossover or new fans seeking out deeper sounds. Once you see one of these events, you realize how far off it all is. So yes, I’m also quite removed from it.
What was the decision behind returning to your own Palette Recordings to release The Anaphora EP after two albums on Kompakt? Well, it’s a label I’ve been running for 17 years so I’ve got to use it for myself some time. There is a new Kompakt already in the works and details should be announced any day now.
When was the last time you were on the crowd side of the DJ booth and dancing, not DJing? I’d say it was at Mutek this year checking the Wishmountain DJ set.
Which DJ is making you stand up and take notice at the moment and why? I don’t get to check out many DJs play or keep track, but its always a treat to hear my good friend Daniel Bell play.
Name three of your favourite tracks from this year. I’m playing live so much that I don’t really keep up as you might expect. I also shy away from charts. I have found that pretty much all my favs seem to be vinyl only labels. This just ends up being coincidence, but some of these very fast to sell out vinyl releases are at the top of my playlist.
What are you looking forward to on your upcoming Australian tour? Food? Sightseeing? Yes, all of the above, seeing old friends. I don’t get to come down very often so this is a special trip for me.
[John Tejada plays Strawberry Fields, Melbourne and Sydney this weekend. Purchase Sydney tickets here]
