Interview with DJ Phantasy

Continuing the DROPTHEBASS.RU Innovation Report series — an interview with DJ Phantasy.

A renowned drum and bass pioneer, DJ Phantasy is a DJ with more than twenty years of experience, including as a producer and event promoter. The first jungle release featuring his track came out in 1991 on Liquid Wax Recordings. He is the owner and director of the successful Easy Records label, a member of the SaSaSaS project (Skibadee, Shabba D, Harry Shotta, Stormin, DJ Phantasy, DJ Macky Gee & DJ Alpha), and The Harry Shotta Show. DJ Phantasy has released numerous singles on the drum and bass scene that have become classics, such as his hit “44 MAG”. Phantasy performs at events promoted by Innovation, Warning, Random Concept, One Nation and Moondance.

DJ Step: Hi, Phantasy! What do you think of Innovation In The Sun 2015, and what are your thoughts about the upcoming week of drum and bass?

DJ Phantasy: Hi! I know it’s going to be really cool, as always here!

You released a great song, “Animal”, from The Harry Shotta Show, featuring you. Its video has had a huge number of views on YouTube. In it, you broke Eminem’s record for the number of words in a track. That’s cool — congratulations!

Yes, thank you! We love Eminem; he’s a good guy. But we’re not turning this into a competition. We wrote this track to promote the craft of MCing and show that there are great artists in the UK too; we want to bring this to the whole world. So I hope we’ll see drum and bass artists on the other side of the scene, from Russia, Moscow and Saint Petersburg. We’ve heard about a lot of great parties over there, you know — we’d love to come and put on a show for you. Show you what it’s like to party with us. We don’t perform onstage with our heads down; we jump around and go crazy at our shows! And we want to bring all of that to you.

I think that if you perform in Saint Petersburg or Moscow, a lot of people will come!

That’s exactly what we want! :)

A year ago, in 2014, Innovation In The Sun was really cool. I think this year it will be even more powerful!

Yes, it’s Innovation!

This year there will be a rave in a castle. What do you think of that idea?

A party in a castle is bound to be cool. I was at the castle and saw it during the day, and it was like: “WOW!” — it was amazing, it’s so big!

Do you think it will impress jungle fans?

Yes! It’s incredible — when you get there, you’re blown away for half an hour. It’s magnificent!

What do you think of Bangers & Splash, WavePool Party!, which takes place every year?

A party at the water park. If you’ve come to Innovation In The Sun, you absolutely have to visit the water park, because the water party is one of the festival’s highlights — you have to be there.

Last year I heard about and met around 5–10 people from Russia here in Lloret who had come specifically for Innovation. This year we’ve come to take photos and videos of what’s happening here, so that next year many more people from our country will come to Spain for Innovation In The Sun, because we love drum and bass and jungle!

Listen, in a year we want hundreds, or possibly thousands, of people from Russia to come here and join us! Because drum and bass is a global thing — not British, not European, not American; it’s a global phenomenon.

I also want to say that this isn’t just one side of drum and bass, jump-up, as many people might think. There’s everything here, all styles of drum and bass! Often there’s far too much division: this is one style of drum and bass, and you have to play this, or you have to play that! That isn’t right.

What do you think of other styles in England, such as dubstep or grime?

I work a lot with grime artists. Grime is very good underground music, and there are major artists in it. Dubstep isn’t as relevant anymore.

Five or seven years ago in Russia, grime and dubstep were gaining momentum, while drum and bass had quietened down... what do you say?

Wait a minute! Drum and bass may rise or fall in popularity, but it’s always here. Drum and bass and jungle have been with us for more than twenty years, and that isn’t by chance. Other styles come and go, come and go — drum and bass is always here!

Thank you!

Interview: DJ Step. Translated from the Russian translation by Mikhail Aleksandrov.