Interview: John Dahlback

There’s only one thing worse than resting on your laurels, and that’s resting on someone else’s.

John Dahlback is a Swedish producer. At the age of 18 he started label Pikadoll records (now Mutants), home to the work of a range of artists; Sebastien Leger, Robbie Rivera, Dada Life and Style of Eye. Jasper Dahlback is his cousin, and somewhat of a pioneer in dance music.

With a shared surname, this connection is indeed a double-edged sword, because the last thing the genre-hoping artist intends to do is “ride on the wave of his last-name”. Not one to veer from the truth Dahlback says it was his cousin who inspired him to produce house music. But since then you can be sure he’s been doing it on his own.

John Dahlback talks to Jasmine Phull about the woes of living in a small country where an equally small music community breeds a somewhat judgmental vibe.

You’re originally from Sweden, but uprooted to London. Explain the idea behind the change in location.

Actually it's all a misunderstanding. I'm still in Sweden but when my management wanted to upload stuff on my Myspace they changed the country to the UK to get the site in English. It's kind of funny because many people think I moved there a couple of years ago. And it's all because of Myspace.

You’re founder of Pickadoll Records. Explain how you juggle such a time consuming role while still producing.

I have people around me who do the "boring" work of running a label such as contracts, planning etc. I love to listen to music and demos from people and decide what's going to be released or not. Mutants (old Pickadoll) works more as a platform for me nowadays, and not as much signing other artists.

When selecting artists to release, what does your selection criteria look like?

The artist doesn't really matter, the track just needs to be in the Mutants’ criteria. It needs to have that special thing that brings the track out of all the other 100000 releases that week on Beatport.

You released debut album Mutants in 2010. What was your goal when starting the project and did that change upon its completion?

It was a fresh start for me. I renamed Pickadoll to Mutants and wanted to kick off the label with a compilation. It's not really a best of album, more of my favourite moments in my career so far. I also wanted to show people that only knew the recent releases what I've done in the past.

Did you have to experience ‘struggle’ to get to where you are today? Is that an important factor in making a ‘great’ artist?

Of course, I guess everyone experience struggles on the way. Sweden is also a very small country and dance music is (or at least was) a very small community, so people here are very judgmental. Either I'm riding on the waves of my last name (my cousin Jesper is a Swedish pioneer in dance music), or I'm too young, or I'm simply just releasing too much music, or I'm not releasing enough music, and the list goes on. It happens to everyone. Either you listen to what everyone says or you don't. I never bothered to be honest.

Is there something that’s missing in the music industry that was there 10-15 years ago?

Well there are things in the past that were better than now, and vice versa. It's really easy to get your music out there nowadays, but it's also a problem because there is too much music being released every day. Something I really miss though, is the A&R at the record label who honestly told you if it was good or not and if it was worth releasing or not. Now anyone can open their digital label and put out any kind of music without a second opinion. It was harder to get something released before, but when you did, a lot of people would listen to it. But the list of pros and cons just goes on and on… but one thing is for sure, house music is just getting bigger and bigger so I'm very excited!

One track that makes you feel elated?

It's difficult to choose just one track, so I’m going to choose an entire album. Miles Davis - Miles Ahead. I listened to it so much when I was younger and listening to it now brings back a lot of good memories to me.

Which do you prefer: studio or stage time? Why?

I prefer the combination: making a track in the studio one day, and playing it out on a club the other day to see the reaction. It's really amazing.

What should the crowd expect from your Sankeys’ gig on 28th Jan? Do you put a big importance on the live stage set-up?

I love Sankeys. It's a place I love coming back to and see the great reaction from the crowd. I get very hyped up when I play there, so I'm going to try some new stuff I've been working on lately.

Interview by: Jasmine Phull

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