James D'Ley - Interview

The BPM show at the NEC this year was a first for me and as soon as I walked in the door I heard this sound from the Allen and Heath stand.  I walked over to find a face I didn't know playing some of the coolest music, using the XONE controller to the max.  His skills had me hooked and I advise you all go check him out.

The free download and video say it all but I couldn't miss out on writing something about this young man.  After watching him perform he then went on to spread his love for the music and technology he uses by talking to people on the Allen & Heath stand about the controller he uses and how he performs with it.  A great advert for the DJ World and it shows how James is very passionate about what he does.

After meeting him in the shop just outside the NEC, we chatted and I was lucky enough to get his contact details and this interview.

Ladies and Gentlemen we are proud to introduce you all to James D'Ley.

F1. How long have you been Djing?

JD. Hey, how you all doing :) Ive been DJing for about 12 years roughly I think, round about when I left school was when I first discovered decks & vinyl properly

F1. How did you get into djing?

JD. It was a school mate that first showed me a pair of decks, I then started exploring dance music in all its glory and it had me hooked. It was a couple of years later at an event called Homelands ( legendary in its day ) that I got fully bit by the bug that is being an electronic artist. It was two acts in particular, Black strobe LIVE followed by Plump DJs in front of 5k plus.. The way they had the crowd captivated to their every breath & the vibe they injected just had me hooked , to this day, I've not had too many experiences like it .I quickly bought a pair of Numark direct drives & started practising hard ( really hard, about 12 hours a day for two years, got my first residency & the rest as they is history :)  

F1. What equipment do you use?

JD. Currently I have two different setups when I'm out.. If I'm doing a XONE set ( which is something i pushing atm) my setup is a Allen & heath Xone DB;2 mixer with 2 Xone K2 controllers.. If I'm doing my normal thing , its the DB:2 mixer with three Pioneer cd'js, but as the XONE show becomes more popular, I'm finding myself making that inevitable switch quicker than i had anticipated :) 

F1. What style of music would you say you play?

JD. Electronic music with dominant bass & groove. I switch though genres & tempos like they went out of fashion , the tunes themselves are vessells for me creating a new sound out of an existing one.

F1. Favorite Dj at the moment?

JD. Ohh tricky tricky one .. Skism is & always has been one of my favourite DJ's throughout his various guises over the years. He goes in so hard .. EZ is another one that gets my pulses going when i see him on a lineup. Going back a bit, the likes of Zabelia,Eddie Halliwell & Steve Lawler do it for me on a technical level. 

F1. What label do you find the most exciting at the moment?

JD. The label I'm signed to, Funkatech records. You should go check them out .. www.funkatech.com

F1. Where can people see you play in the future? (we advise you check this guy out)

JD. Best thing to do is come check my artist page on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/DleyJamesDJ?ref=hl) or the page on Funkatech - , I try to put my dates up there as regularly as possible.. I have quite a few shows in London between now & xmas, but from end of October, I'm off on my travels, touring Asia for Halloween, then Dubai, & fingers crossed Germany also. Ill be celebrating new year in Australia playing a few shows.. so yeah, I'm busy busy, always great to see new faces at shows so come down :) 

F1. What is your guilty pleaseure when it comes to music?

JD. I don't really feel guilty about anything i like to be honest, although I'm sure plenty of my mates probably think that i should in some instances. I  was brought up on 80's rock & electro pop so i have plenty of hidden beauties haha :) 

F1. Where do you see the future going technology wise for Dj's?

JD. Tough one .. I see it going the way it is already going to be honest. The barriers of what format you use and how much that matters are starting to break down. And I think that's a good thing, now that various mediums aren't reserved for specific levels or types of an artists everyone can be individual ( or strive to be ) and the music should become the priority again .. 

F1. Thanks for your time James, please check out his soundcloud page http://soundcloud.com/jamesdley and this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdudSEP-DsU of James doing his thing.  We wish you all the best in the future and hope to see you soon in club rocking the floor.
JD. Nice one guys, pleasure to catch up with you . Hopefully see some of you at a show soon !