Written by the B&B Crew
Saturday, 24 December 2011 15:44
Q&A -
Resident DJ of Ibiza's white hot We Love nights Jem Haynes talks about his Colour Series label, new studio output, and the benefits of his Synaesthesea condition...
Written by Jimmy Coultas
Jem Haynes is no Johnny come lately to electronic dance music. Back in the nineties he was making drum n bass as the genre was in its nascent period, blossoming out of jungle and into the rave fest it has become today. His records, then under the pseudonym DJ Search, caught the ear of the late great John Peel and kick-started a career that would later take in djing across the world as part of breakbeat collective Precision Cuts.
The past few years has seen Jem’s sound evolve into groove heavy house music, a style he has been championing as resident of Ibizan party starters extraordinaire We Love. Jimmy Coultas caught up with him ahead of him playing for the We Love crew on New Year’s Day at Ministry of Sound, discussing his record label, the first live performance of his Second Line project and the rare case of Synaesthesia that affects the way he hears music.
Tell us how your 2011 has been then. It's been great, I have spent a lot of time over the summer producing music for my label Colour Series and also played some ridiculously good gigs at We Love Space.
Can you go into more detail about Colour Series? And the condition that gives it the name? Colour Series is based around a condition I have called Synaesthesia, which makes me visualise sounds in colour. During the summer months I produced a series of tracks with various colours in mind and I will release a different colour E.P every month from January 2012.
So how does this affect the way your produce; have there been big colour clashes with records? And are their certain sounds and processes you have to completely avoid? I usually tend to avoid big lairy sounds as I find the colours I imagine offensive! So I guess that lends to me producing a more subtle style. It usually ends up with me turning down the filter quite a lot! There are certain records that I can’t play because in my head the colours just don’t work!
You’re hooking up with your We love comrades again for their NYD bash at Ministry. Excited? Yes! Very much so; I played last year’s New Years day event at the Ministry and we were told it was the best party they had at Ministry in ten years; so it's going to be an absolute belter!
A lot of your productions are with fellow residents of the Ibizan club as well. How important is the family atmosphere there amongst you all? I think it’s very important and definitely makes me want to play to the best of my ability every week; it is the defining feature that helps make the party so special. We hang out together a lot, go to the beach, swap music, watch TV shows, chat about who was amazing the Sunday before and generally have a nice time of it.
There’s also the premiere of your Second Line project to look forward to. Can you elaborate more on that one? Yes, Second Line is a collaboration between me and fellow We Love resident Ian Blevins. I lived upstairs from Blev during the summer and our mutual love of the HBO series "Treme" inspired us to incorporate some samples from the show and mix it up with a House and Techno style. The first release on Colour Series will be from Second Line called ‘Big Chief’.
Although it was a distant memory for you now, how was the Ibiza season? Are you now itching to do it all over again? It was my best season so far, and an absolute pleasure to play alongside some of the best artists in the scene every week. The sound system in the Discoteca is probably the best in the world, which gives me an amazing way to test my productions before they get a release. I can’t wait to do it all over again and have plenty of tunes in the pipeline designed specifically for the club.
You’ve had a wide and varied past as a producer and DJ, being heavily involved in the nascent drum and bass scene as well as breaks. Do you think that times now are less restricted with genres or are we becoming more and more segregated by sound? I would like to think people are more open to various styles of music in a set now. I think it all depends on how you present it to people. When I used to produce and DJ drum n bass it was in its early stages and because of its tempo and mood some people would run for the exit as soon as they heard it. I think it’s different now as it’s an accepted genre and as soon as people hear something fast and heavy they now recognise it as drum n bass. I’ve seen James Zabiela and Claude vonStroke dropping DnB this past summer in their sets and it got an amazing reaction every time!
Finally; dream situation time. You’ve got a set and it is at any club in history, during any time period, and you’ve got whoever else you want on the bill with you. Who would you pick and what record is going to take the roof off? Fantazia, Castle Donington 1993, Jem Haynes, Public Enemy, James Brown, Grooverider, The Prodigy, Leftfield and Carl Cox. I would have to play Knights of the Jaguar by DJ Rolando even though it wasn’t made yet! IMAGINE!
Q&A - 
