Speaking to James Holden, even for just 15 minutes on a telephone call from the other side of the world, a few things jump sharply into focus. He is untouched by the super producer status that many label him with. He is friendly and down to earth. He giggles, a lot, at the start and end of sentences almost as a replacement for punctuation. He genuinely seems to love music and the fact that he can support his friends and the sounds he believes in.

As a dance music producer, James Holden needs no introduction. The original bedroom producer wunderkind who first burst into view in 1999 with the now classic “Horizons” has in just four years made an impact on the scene of which many and older producer can but dream, with a string of consistently stunning tracks and remixes for just about every label which matters – Loaded, Bedrock, London, Positiva, Lost Language, Direction, Nu Life, Hope, Deviant. The revelation that they were all made using merely a PC and freeware music production software which anyone can download (legally!) from the internet sent waves across the old skool production industry and opened doors for a whole new generation of young producers to follow him.

With his own tracks a fixture in the sets of every major DJ from Sasha, Digweed and Warren to Tong, Oakenfold, Tiesto and Armin, his collaboration on the track “Bloodlock” appearing on Sasha’s “Airdrawndagger” artist album, his recent full vocal track hit “Nothing” with Julie Thompson and his own brand new buzz label Border Community, Holden has cemented his reputation as quite a force to be reckoned with in the production world. Many people would be satisfied at that, but with a period of hard work behind the turntables and heavy tours across the world now behind him, people everywhere are now beginning to sit up and also take notice of James Holden the DJ.

Guesting on Oxygen FM and in various clubs around the Oxford area whilst at university, the demand for James as a DJ grew naturally as word of his phenomenal productions spread. He has since played in North America, Asia, Australia and all over the UK and Europe, including residencies at Amsterdam’s Kremlin and the UK’s Passion, and regular appearances at clubs as diverse as Plus Soda (Athens), the now legendary Elements (London), Slinky (Bournemouth and Bristol) and the club which started it all off, Slide in Oxford. With plans for first tours of the United States and South America in late 2003, James is very much a DJ to watch for the future, one of a handful of young DJs of a similar age to the majority of club punters who’ve been allowed to rise up the ranks in recent years.

Melodic and driving, dubbed out and hypnotic, his sets take in techno and deep trance, house and breaks, along with his own tracks, special edits and remixes put together in his studio and a good deal of sampler wizardry, making his sets every bit as individual and genre-defying as the sound of his productions. It is this often unorthodox coupling of tracks which the purists have traditionally grouped into distinct genres along with James’ dedication to hunting down exclusive new tracks from astounding yet undiscovered young production talent which makes Holden’s sound a unique one as yet unrepresented across the musical spectrum. A DJ who has in the past often be inaccurately pigeonholed as “progressive” or “trance”, James Holden is through hard work, dedication and an unerring belief in his own vision slowly converting all those who take the time to actually listen to his sets to his own as yet unclassified hybrid of the music we call house.


Bing: Of all the labels you have worked with and have access to throughout the UK, why did you choose a label on the other side of the world as the place to do your first proper mix cd with (excluding the label mix for Sliver Planet)?

James Holden: Haha, good first question. I guess it stems from last time I came out to Australia to play at Earthcore I must have made a good impression on some people. It has been the best thing that could have happened really because they have been excellent to work with. All the people at the label are really open minded about music and wanted me to put my exact tastes on it and really gave me free reign, I couldn’t ask for more freedom really.

B: So Stomp/EQ suited your eclectic DJing style?

JH: Absolutely. Without a doubt.

B: And what can people expect to hear when they get their hands on Balance 005?

JH: Haha, you are going to find out very quickly that I am shite at describing things! I’ve tried to encorperate everything, well not everything, but most of the things that I love about music. The tracks that I chose are all interesting and innovative and it is a good representation of what I am into. There’s straight up house and progressive (not actual progressive, you know what I mean?), deeper stuff, and some things that are a bit twisted and experimental. I tried not to limit myself in any way when choosing songs for the album so there is an indie track on their that is pitched up a lot to make it fit. If someone hears it and goes out and hunts it down like I did, then buys five copies for their friends I will be very impressed. I wasn’t trying to make a CD that you can close your eye and drift away like in a perfect progressive kind of way, it is more about the music I believe in.

B: Is it a coincidence that the artists that appear on the CD are also popping up in your charts and as link on your website?

JH: I am really lucky to be in a position where I can surround myself with some absolutely amazing music because my friends are just so fucking talented. Take Petter. Everything he touches is absolute genius. He sends me these emails with half finished mp3’s, he never finishes anything, but they are just so good. Nathan Fake is a similar talent. They are so young and so very talented, far more so than I was when I started producing five years ago.

B: So will they be making an appearance on label, Border Community?

JH: Yeah, Nathan’s song Outhouse is the next scheduled single and I’d like Petter to do an EP, maybe four tracks, just let him have free reign to deliver whatever he pleases. These guys have rekindled my love for music and my faith that it can be amazing. When I was shackled to Silver Planet I felt like all I could release was progressive house because that is what they specialize in. When I first started producing dance music wasn’t my only focus and that is where my taste for ambient mixes and downtempo tracks comes from. Later in the year I will be doing some production in that vein for Kirsty Hawkshaw, which will be amazing, she is such a talent. Hopefully during the next year I’d like to write a whole bunch of new stuff and put out a mini album. Hopefully the people who are into my dance music will like this just as much. They might listen to it and say nah that’s shite.

B: With the production knowledge you have gained over the last five years is there any temptation to go back to an early track, like Horizons, and polish it up?

JH: I think at the time it was great and the track means a lot to me. Musically I still love it and I am still very proud off but the production is shite. So I could toughen up the kick and stuff but I think if I loaded it up very quickly I would realize that it is best to leave it alone. And it is ok to have shitty production on some things. Look at Acid House. That is the best music in the world and for the most part the production is shite, worse that shite.

B: How much has your production technique changed over the years?

JH: Quite a lot I guess. These days I am a perfectionist that works on a tiny little edit for three and a half days that turns out to sound wicked when I am stoned and wicked for other stoned people that are listening to it. Maybe that sort of dedication to minor little things is a bit over the top but that is the way I work.

B: On the first Border Community release, your own Break in the Clouds, you released a beats tool, ambient mix and a fluffapella, is this a tradition you would like to continue through further releases?

JH: Definitely. One of the major aims of the label is to give DJ’s the opportunity to take DJing to the next level. We want to give the DJ more control over the music. I love the fact that more and more people are realizing that DJing isn't as godly and untouchable as it once was. The sooner the superstars get knocked off that pedestal the better it will be for the scene. Superstar DJ’s are just a bunch of fat old guys playing other people’s music. There is no need to scream and try and touch their hand like some sort of worship right. Touching the hand of some trance DJ, what a joke! Sure, shake their hand if you enjoyed the music or had a great night, but the DJ worship thing is a scary one sometimes. There is definitely no need for people to pay massive entry fees just to stroke some old fat guy’s ego and coke habit.
There are other DJs that are worth seeing. When I saw Jeff mills they just had a camera on his hands the whole time and that was all you needed to watch, it was amazing. Not my kind of music, although I like techno, I wouldn’t play it for six straight hours!

The funny thing about Break in the Clouds is that I haven’t got sick of playing it yet because I have all those other options available. I love playing two copies of the same record together at once and being able to combine all four pieces has given it some real lasting power.

B: These dinosaurs will have to move on one day, they can’t expect to keep up with the kids forever. Can you foresee a day when someone like yourself or James Zabiela or whoever might get thrust onto the king of DJ’s thrown?

JH: Fuck I hope not. I don’t think it will happen because the scene is changing. And there are so many awesome DJ’s out there; it is far more widespread than myself and James. Quite often I find that the resident DJ’s at clubs across the world are far superior to the touring stars. For ages they were trying to get me to come and play at this Dutch club called Kremlin. Everytime there would be a request they would mail me a copy of their resident’s latest demo and it was just the best music, so fantastic to listen to.

B: The song that people really know you for is Nothing. Did you expect it to have the impact that it did? Has it opened doors and allowed for new opportunities or is there a pressure to have to produce Nothing part two at some point?

JH: yes it has opened doors in some ways. I kind of feel like a write a really good track every three years so if you give me a call back in another two then we will really have something to discuss! The funny thing is the xylophone part started as just a small loop I made one night when I came home drunk. I played it for a friend of mine and he said if you put a vocal on that it could be a really big record, so that is where the initial idea came from. Julie Thompson and I have gotten back together recently to work on a follow up and I think we were both a little daunted at first. But when we actually started it all fell into shape quite quickly. What we have in store is far better than Nothing, I think, because my songwriting has improved and there is some better production on it. Basically I have to master it and maybe turn in a remix and it will be out after that.

B: I read on your website that you have been spending a bit of time in the studio this month?

JH: Yeah, to be honest I have been working on some new ideas but they are a long way from being ready for release. There are lots of little projects and ideas floating around at the minute, you will have to wait and see which eventuate. Things are going really well.

*Weird beeping noises like the robots from Dr Who going off in the background*

JH: Ahhhh, oh no, it’s going to do that four times now. Ah, make it stop! (Giggles)

B: What are you passionate about besides music?

JH: Umm, I like books and films and hanging out with my friends, that is really important to me. But mostly it is just music.

James Holden will be appearing in Hobart at MoS Breaks 03 with Steve Gerrard and Kid Kenobi on Friday October 10th. Check the Club Guide for more details.