DJ Ilogik Interview: Cold Logic

Innovative DJ Ilogik is often considered one of the most groundbreaking around, but he still thinks most hard dance is formulaic.

Ask any hard dance fan to highlight the scene's most forward thinking, groundbreaking new artists, and along with the obligatory props for BK, Ilogik's name will inevitably get mentioned. His sets, which incorporate dynamic scratching routines, loop mixing with CDJ1000s and live VJing, are setting the scene on fire. One the eve of his latest Oz tour, Inpress caught up with him.

You're starting a new sub-label of Elasticman called Platinum, based around releasing classic hard house tracks. What pearlers do you have lined up for release-
Where do I start- At the moment I've got Gridlock 3000 Fantastic Thing, Ian M Deep Swarm, Andy Farley The Killer, Ian M No Way, Dave Holes Devotion, Paul King Odyssey 1, UK Gold Cuz the House gets Warm, Star Child Redepmtion, Ilogik Bounce One Time, Mark Kavanagh Bad Boy and DJ Alici Ankhesenamu! As you can see there are some really good tracks here, so watch this space! The first release is due out when I get back from my tour of Oz and New Zealand and will be the Gridlock 3000 with an Ilogik and Paul Janes remix.

It's been said that hard dance is sometimes a little too eager to reference from the past, with a steady flow of remakes kicking around the scene. Do you think this in unfair-
I think it really depends on the tracks; if it's time for them to get a new remix, then that's fine. But when people just rinse a track it's a bit silly.

What sort of imagery is inspiring your VJing- Are you a film buff- Are you interested in art- Is it the abstract or the psychedelic that inspires you-
All sorts of stuff really. I get my ideas from films, music videos, art and psychedelics too.

Speaking of things psychedelic, the sound has made quite an impact on the hard dance scene in the past 12 months. You're coming to Melbourne to play Earthcore where Infected Mushroom is headlining. Are you a fan of psy-
Yeah I really like it - not all of it, but I like a lot of the elements in the genre and do play some stuff depending on the crowd.

For those heavily involved in it, the dance scene is both a wonderful and frustrating industry to work in. What inspires and pisses you off about it-
I get inspired when I spread my sound and get new people into the music. Also when I do a corker of a tune and I play it out and the crowd goes wild! The thing that pisses me off about the industry, is that some agencies have a tendency to push the wrong DJs; not all the time, but it happens. Sometimes DJs that aren't good enough and haven't really done anything get pushed by agencies to fill their pockets.

Tell us about your new studio project with Paul Janes.
Me and Paul are cracking on with lots of remixes for Elasticman Platinum, plus we have a really good male vocalist and we are doing quite a bit of stuff with him. We are doing housey stuff but also harder stuff with vocals, doing lots of different mixes etc.

You've sighted Sasha as an influence. What do you think of the whole Ableton craze-
I really like Ableton but not for DJing. I think it's excellent for doing a live PA, as acts can actually play as live as they possibly can with their own style of music. With the DJing aspect, I think it takes something away from the [traditional] DJ set that's been with us for years.

When I last interviewed you in late 2004, you made reference to wealth of average hard dance productions flooding the scene, saying tracks had become too formulated. How do you see things in 2006-
Umm I don't think my view has changed that much to be honest - it's still the same. The sound has not really moved anywhere. It's split up into styles more, but each style has not developed into too much which is a shame. That's why I am trying new things with original vocals and also the VJing thing.