We Caught Up With Skream to Talk Fabric, Mental Health, and Ten Years Since His Debut Album
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We Caught Up With Skream to Talk Fabric, Mental Health, and Ten Years Since His Debut Album

In the decade since his debut release, Oliver Jones has proven himself one of the hardest working DJs in the world.

We're not quite sure how it happened either, but an entire decade has elapsed since Skream released his landmark debut LP Skream! 13 years on from his first ever 12"s, Oliver Jones has refused to slow down—his breakneck lifestyle and boundless ambition don't leave much time for that, anyway. Since perfectly translating the dubstep sound he helped evolve to the charts with 2010's Magnetic Man LP (alongside cohorts Benga and Artwork), the Skream powerhouse has tackled disco, house, techno and beyond, encompassing everywhere from tiny basement clubs to enormous festival arenas.

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Deviating from his grimier Croydon beginnings, Skream is similarly beloved these days as a regular at flagship Ibiza institutions such as DC10, and a regular among the touring troupe of selectors attached to the wildly popular Elrow parties. He's also peppered the past few years with several 'Open to Close' sets, which see him take to the decks for an entire evening's exploration of his far reaching record collection. This November, he's taking the concept on tour across the UK, and as he sees off another successful summer in time to organize such an endeavor, THUMP caught up with Jones to briefly assess his musical and personal legacy thus far. Delving into his current headspace, his Bandcamp addiction and his public reputation, Jones is as enthusiastic and honest as ever, and is keen to never let us forget that after all, "it's just one big party."

THUMP: I listened to your September mix and really enjoyed it. I've seen you a lot over the years, but I was surprised with the very smooth, gradual tempo on this. I imagine it's different from the ninety minute sets you've been playing at festivals or out in Ibiza this summer?
Skream: Well, to give you a quick background, I first did All Night Long sets in America, to allow me to adapt. I could play a bit deeper. The thing is, I buy so much music, and especially during the summer, it is peak time, all systems go. But I've just got so much music, that I need seven, eight hours to feel comfortable and play completely across the board. It's all about dynamics, you know?

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I remember when you first did that US All Night Long tour, you made a video documentary explaining that you weren't simply going to play that dubstep or bass sound you were initially associated with. Years have passed, and I was wondering, do you think you're free from the shackles of that?
It feels like it's taken a while, but it's been nearly four years. It's got there, and I'm really happy with where I am now. I've made friends with a lot of other DJs before fully moving into their world. I was almost welcomed with open arms. I don't get passed phones saying, "Can you play "Midnight Request Line"?" It seems like it's a job done and some of the gigs I'm getting now are unbelievable. I've had two seasons playing Cocoon now, which is a hard booking to get. Things like that really made me feel happy and that it's paying off. A few years ago, I was playing stuff for free. I was bothered about proving myself.

Well, there's a new generation of clubbers now. The kids at Elrow probably weren't listening to Dubstep All Stars ten years ago. They're probably aware of your heritage but you've been able to reinvent yourself in that sense, at least.
I tell you what, in a way that's been quite hard. Because a lot of them haven't got a clue who I am! Definitely in London, it's taken a minute and I've had to really go for it and give it my best every time, because it's like getting a new fanbase. But after the summer, social media feedback has been kinda crazy. It feels worth it.

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On these eight hour sets, are you going to dip into your heritage? There's definitely been a reemergence of interest in your older sound. Do you feel a million miles away from that, or is it a place you can get back to if you want to?
In my head at the minute I'm a million miles away from it. It's just because I couldn't really make it work. It could almost be confusing to the majority of people who've been coming to see me now. Don't get me wrong, it crosses my mind, but to be honest, I haven't got a lot of that stuff, even if I wanted to. It's all on drives, three or four drives. So I'd have to get it out of storage. I could probably slip the odd tune in there that could work. But it would take me out of my comfort zone, and I know that's what long sets are about, but it's all about building dynamics. I've always amassed musical knowledge, so now's a good time to share all that, from disco back to when I was working in the record shop selling house and techno. It's finally a time to show that side off and get to play records that I never thought I'd be able to play.

After the sad death of Shaun Bloodworth recently, I was looking through some of his best known photos, and there's that particular one of you at a house party…
It's in Leeds, actually at the West Indian Centre. It was such terrible news about Shaun. And everything comes back to that photo.

You look like you're having a great time, but you also look uncertain of exactly what you're caught up in. I spoke to Moxie earlier this year, who had been present for much of the FWD era, and I'd wrongly assumed that perhaps she didn't realize she was witnessing something so special, but she felt she really did. Is it formidable to have created something so powerful at such an early stage in your career?
100%. At that time, everything was all so special. It was an uprising, and for me it will never be replicated. So when people say, "Oh, you should do something like you did then", it's just completely impossible. We came from literally being at school to being on the front of magazines, doing something that was sort of scaring people. And from that happening, then to touring America, then being in the charts, everything sort of came naturally, nothing was forced whatsoever. Looking back, I'm extremely, extremely proud. I think people see me as having dropped it all from my mind, but even Matteo from Tale of Us, he came up to me and told me he was a massive fan of a really obscure track of mine. Or Jamie Jones telling me how the La Roux remix was the biggest thing on the planet. That all makes me realie just how big everything was.

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That La Roux remix is an odd one. That was the sound of my Freshers Week, but really, it was quite unrepresentative of the scene you were leading. It was more of a D&B record than a dubstep cut, ultimately.
My thing used to be, I never had one sound. What would surprise me is that people couldn't see why I would ever move into another world. Because there are so many different influences. For a lot of people who knew me, it wasn't a surprise whatsoever, but towards the end of that era, people had become so diehard, and the power of social media just blew everything up. Whereas when Photek stopped making D&B and started making soundtracks, it wasn't even really talked about, it just sort of happened. But yeah, it was a different time, different headspace.

You've had a long relationship with Fabric in London. Following it's closure, even Ibiza is having issues with the authorities. And these are well established, mainstream operations. As a DJ, what do think we can attribute this attack on nightlife to?
I'm still trying to get my head round this Fabric thing. I'm just hoping something comes of this appeal. It's been a massive part of my family since I was sixteen, seventeen and I first heard one of my tunes get played in room three. I thought that was the main room at the time!

You've done your fair share of partying and I think that's something that people either positively or negatively associate with you, or did for a period. From your perspective, how can we be honest about drugs and have a dialogue in order to make things safer?
They need to get drug testing as a regular thing in clubs. Why that didn't happen fifteen years ago, I couldn't tell you. It seems to work in other places. For me it seems like this fucking war on drugs, which the government seem to be fighting and don't realise they've lost. It's not going away. Drug testing should be a standard at clubs. I remember years ago, at ADE in Amsterdam, when I was about eighteen, nineteen, having pills tested before I went in. I know The Warehouse Project did it, but it cost them a lot.

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When your former creative partner, Benga, came out and talked about his mental health issues partially as a result of drug use and touring, it felt like a real watershed moment in dance music, and from a relatively mainstream figure too.
100%, that was the best thing to come of it. The amount of people who came forward from it, it was a definitely a positive. Because it's definitely something that's been there, and it's not going away.

You shared that lifestyle with Benga, and you've continued to tour on the same level. Did his experiences, and witnessing that, change your perspective on that aspect of your lifestyle as a DJ?
Not really, because you only see the world through your eyes, don't you? And I've always felt alright. (Pauses.) It's a tricky one. Because everyone's wired up differently, right?

I think to have a decent dialogue related to drugs and excess in the UK, you need to have people who say that they simply enjoy that lifestyle.
Of course! It's one big party innit. And as long as you remember that and don't let it leak into your personal life, then I think you'll be alright. I've seen the world from every possible angle, and you either take the bull by the horns or you leave it alone, I guess. During those open to close sets, I'll have four or five drinks, in eight hours. It is literally just, I'm there, and the whole reason this idea came about in the first place is that it's purely for me to play tunes and build my perfect sort of party I guess. But we're all the same as people who are standing on the other side of the decks. We're all ravers at heart, and we're all out to have a good time. Everyone seems to see us out all the time, because that's when they see us. Look, I've just been at home, not partying, know what I mean? We're only seen out in public situations, at clubs.

Bringing it back round, what else are you up to out of the club at the moment? Have you been in the studio a lot, and how are you preparing for this tour?
I haven't been in the studio, just because it's been summer, and you don't really have a weekday. But I've just done a remix for Riva Starr, a remix for Alan Fitzpatrick, and one for Bastille. I didn't expect that name to come up. If you heard the original, you'd be very surprised, but it works. Then I've got "You Know", which is the main one for the summer, that's out in November. And I'm starting to talk with a couple of people about maybe doing some collaborations. But I've just been buying music for this tour, really. I've recently become obsessed with Bandcamp. You can lose days on it. I really like going through all the label collections, and you don't really get standard tracks on there, it's pretty obscure and not just peak time tracks. There seems to be a low rate of shit on there. And I tell you what is nice, you get a message from the label owner. Most of the September mix is made up of tracks from there.

Skream's Open to Close tour kicks off at Village Underground, London, on the 28th of October.

John Thorp is on Twitter