DJ Q on Bank Robbers, Builders & English Patriotism: F**k Off!

"I remember after one of my first paid gigs in Dublin, going back to the hotel and throwing the money on the bed, feeling like a bank robber. It was a great feeling thinking 'Thank f**k, I'm not working anymore'. It felt like a big dark cloud have left me."

Straight-talking Glaswegian DJ Q (known to his folks as Paul Flynn) has been DJing since the beginning of acid house, though the 28 year old's first work experience involved erecting false ceilings for the princely sum of £160 a week. Nowadays running his own label and DJing internationally, he's also recognised as one of Scotland's finest house producers, a position he's likely to enhance with his new album Music As We Know It. Featuring real musicians and an impressively varied palette of styles, it's a serious album with a simple theme.

"The concept of the album is to be more musical," says Paul. "Because I like lots of different stuff. I love New York jazzy house and also Detroit style techy house and that's what I wanted to show. Albums are also expensive these days so for me to do eight similar tracks wouldn't have been good value for money."

Chatting to Skrufff's Jonty Adderley he opened up about his wife ("we're just wanting to enjoy married life"), his life ("you have to realise you're only a bloody DJ not a brain surgeon") and the age old rivalry between the Scottish and the English ("I've got loads of English mates.").


Skrufff: You've been working for two years on the album, was it an easy record to make-

DJ Q (Paul Flynn): "It didn't really take me two years, more like eight months but it stretched over that period because I switched labels. I didn't really start working on it properly until I'd signed to Glasgow Underground a year ago. The concept of the album is to be more musical, while for DJs I'll be producing harder versions of the songs on 12 inch records."

Skrufff: What prompted this emphasis on songs-

DJ Q: "It's just because I'm a musician, not in the sense that I'm a master of the keyboards but I programme and engineer everything myself so this is more of a progression by working with proper musicians. It's not totally live though. I'm learning in life, technology's changing, so I'm always picking up new ideas."

Skrufff: It has a real jazzy, late night melancholic feel to it, and feels very much like an adult record more than for teenagers going out 'avin it..

DJ Q: "Yeah, the reason for that is that I'm a house fan, not a purist but I've been listening since I was 14, back in 1988. I'm 28 now and I've been brought up with house music. If you were born in the 60s then you can say you were an original hippy whereas I'm an original house head. This album has a lot of different styles of house music, because I like lots of different stuff. I love New York jazzy house and also Detroit style techy house and that's what I wanted to show. Albums are also expensive these days so for me to do eight similar tracks wouldn't have been good value for money."

Skrufff: The album's called Music As We Know It, what do you make of all the changes coming along to the music scene right now-

DJ Q: "It's strange right now because a lot of vinyl sales are right down now. I'm doing my own record label and we pressed a thousand of our last release but have only sold 500 so far, despite it being a really good record. I think a lot of DJs are starting to get too many free promo records. You're getting stuff from Josh Wink's label Classic Records and from 20/20 Vision Records mailed from America; these are small labels and people should really try and buy the vinyl.

The CDR factor is also coming into play, the new Pioneer CD TF1000s (mixers) are almost as good as a turntable so if one guy spends £70 on vinyl, he can burn the records onto CDs and swap them with friends doing the same thing for him. I don't know how things are going to go because record labels are going to stop investing in acts because they're not going to make their money< Tags

• DJQ