DJ Zinc Interview: The Genre Hopper

Image: DJ Zinc

DJ Zinc has been a figurehead of the drum and bass scene since 1995 when his track ‘Super Sharp Shooter’ spearheaded the emerging sound and thrust it into the mainstream. The track remains a seminal anthem to this day in the bass world and similar connected genres.

In the 20 years that have followed the release of that debut breakthrough hit, Zinc has firmly established himself as a legend in more than just that circle. In 2008, he instructed his booking agent to stop taking bookings for drum and bass shows. He returned with a new sound; he dubbed it ‘crack house’.

This new sound was more house oriented, but with further emphasis on his trademark chest-ratting basslines. It's gone on to take over club culture in recent times, albeit under the moniker of ‘new garage’ (check out one of his recent mixes below).

Zinc’s ability to restyle himself has seen him become a legend in his own right across many genres including: drum n bass, jungle, house and garage. We caught up with him ahead of the last event in the Pier Jam series. 

You appear on line ups along side artists from a wide range of genres, it's no longer strictly garage, house or drum n bass. Why do you think that there's more scope for a mix of genres now not only on line ups but within sets?

When it was all vinyl and you got tape packs, basically before the internet, you would have to spend a lot of time and money to follow a scene and people were into one thing, they weren't really into more than one scene at a time.

Then maybe ten years ago it sort of changed, you could get a USB stick with the top 100 dubstep tunes or the top 100 drum n bass tunes. In a few days you'd be - not an expert on the genre per say - but you'd know the big tunes and it was so much easier to acquire music and to follow different scenes.

It used to to be that people were into drum n bass, or house, where as now people have their own preferences, people are into genre-hopping. There's DJs now that will play different genres within one set, you never really used to get that if you look back a few years. It is happening more and more, and I really like it that way.

Recently you've been playing a fair few nineties and jungle sets (listen to one above), the majority of people listening wouldn't have been around the first time round. Why do you think the sets are so well received by younger crowds? 

I really like that era. My favourite thing though is just doing a mixed genre set. There's some places I play though and they specifically ask if I can play jungle for an hour. That's because they know their crowd and they've got something in mind for their night.

I think sometimes these people haven't heard the music before and sometimes they might have heard it on a tape pack from their aunt or uncle or a big brother or parents even. They might have heard some of this music when they were young but they've never heard it in a club environment. From like 1995-2000, that sort of era, there's just a lot of good tracks and I enjoy playing that music, it's a pleasure to be able to introduce people to it. I'm kind of representing, and it's nice to be able to play that stuff. 

Last night I was playing in Sheffield and I was playing a mixed set and I played some jungle in the middle and you could tell they didn't know the tracks. It was cool but they just wanted to hear stuff that they knew. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, I never know what I'm going to play, I just try and judge the crowd and see what works best. 

How have you seen club culture change throughout your career?

When I started DJing there wasn't really any festivals, there was maybe Glastonbury and only a few others - maybe five or ten in the country. As far as I know there wasn't any for electronic music so people would have raves in a field somewhere. So in that sense, the way that people go out and enjoy music has changed massively.

I think there's about 700 festivals in England now and I've done maybe 20 or 30 this year and it wasn't even a busy year for me for festivals, I did more stuff abroad. Sometimes I'll do 40 or 50 festivals a year in England and that just never used to exist.

It was all about illegal raves in fields when I started, and warehouse raves were really big then. I still get the occasional illegal one now but it's much more regulated. There wasn't really clubs playing the sort of music I was into when I started but now there are loads and loads. So yeah, festivals I would say are the biggest change. They just didn't really exist when I started playing. 

You play all over the world now, in weird and wonderful places, and Blackpool Pier is about to be the next one. Do you think that audiences are more interested in paying for an overall experience now and tend to prefer unique venues over your standard club space? 

I think ever since I started DJing there have been interesting locations knocking about for parties, it's just that they weren't licensed. People just went there with their set ups and speakers and said "this is where we're going to have a party tonight". I played on Hastings Pier in the mid nineties, and there was a regular club night there.

When you've got an interesting venue on offer, it does give the event another aspect that draws people in. If you get a club that is designed to be a club then usually the sound is going to be amazing and getting in and out is easy, everything is slick, but when you have a venue that used to be something else, it gives it a unique angle that you don't really get in nightclubs. 

'Super Sharp Shooter' (above) came out 20 years ago this year and you have without a doubt earned your legendary status in the game over that period. Do you think your ability to change genre has kept you relevant?

I think that anyone who wants to stay relevant can. You just have to be engaged and enjoy what you're doing. I mean, I don't think that I've got any particular talent, anyone can make music and can DJ. Maybe some people can't hear a beat right and mix, maybe for some people it's just not possible I suppose.

I've been doing interviews for years and they talk about talent and that and I don't think I've got any at all, I've found something that I'm really good at and I have just continued to be engaged and I really do just love what I do. I've had rubbish jobs when I was younger so I appreciate how much fun it is and how good it is to be my own boss and to do what I want and play music that I like. I think having excitement for the scene is what keeps DJs relevant, not necessarily the skills or talent.  

Like this? Try A Love Affair with DJ EZ.

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