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Well let's talk about this new compilation, Nightdubbin'. What was your role in putting this together?

That early '80s dubbed-out sound was a major influence for acts like Idjut Boys, Faze Action, Metro Area, also the Norwegian Disco guys like Lindstrom, Todd Terje, Prins Thomas... I was wondering why the subject was never thoroughly covered before. This was the music I started DJing with so I was very familiar with it. I wanted to present this as the source of many of the things we hear today. Pioneers like Francois K have to take credit for a mixing approach that is still relevant today.

I tried to give an historical angle to this compilation, and the selection reflects what I consider milestones rather than obscure tracks. Although hardly any of these versions have ever come out on CD, they are not all difficult records to come across, but it's the main vocal mix that people are usually familiar with.

It was essential to me that I get hindsight from the makers of those Dub mixes, so I'm really proud of the CD booklet that features my interviews with Paul Simpson, John Morales and of course Francois K (he also wrote the foreword) who were key players in crafting the genre.

Why did you pick the Idjut Boys instead to mix the first CD rather than do it yourself?

BBE preferred the compilation to be also in mixed format. Although I felt legitimate enough to take care of the selection and written content, I thought the mixing duties would be handled better by today's masters of the genre. I know the Idjuts from a while ago and I was convinced they would add that extra spaced-out crazyness to make my selection flow in a continuous dubbed out mix.

I was reading the liner notes and it's really almost a book. How important were the people you interviewed there to your own evolution as a producer and DJ?

Well each of the people I have interviewed has at least three of their mixes on the project, they're all responsible for creating the dance music Dub sound. The interesting thing is they all did it in their own way. As you can read in the interviews, they all had a somewhat different intention.

Francois K is the major influence to me. He inspired me to do what I do. His work was extremely technical but at the same time instantly accessible. Once I passed the first excitement of listening to one of his mixes, I could then spend hours trying to understand how he actually did it. He was able to do things that had several levels of "reading" or appreciation and that is what he mostly inspired me to try to achieve.

A lot of the people from that era have passed on. Who would you have liked to just sit down and talk with about music for this project who is no longer with us?

I would have really loved to talk to Walter Gibbons who himself was an influence to Francois K. He was laying down the basics of Dub mixing. I heard some of the songs he mixed in their raw multitrack recording form and it helped me realize even more how his work was groundbreaking 30 years ago.

There are 3 CDs in this release but I suspect 10 CDs wouldn't be enough to hold all the music that you'd like to put on here. Was there any heartbreak over something that you couldn't fit or get the rights to?

I made the selection based on what I thought were historical mixes while trying to achieve a simply enjoyable flow of music. Some labels were a bit difficult to work with and were asking unrealistic amounts of money to let us use versions of songs they wouldn't even know they had. It's unfortunately part of the game.

The love for music has long since left the industry as you may have noticed...

There are a lot of folks here in Chicago who really admire the hell out of you and what you've done for Disco and House. To my surprise, a lot of them also know you personally. How do you manage to keep your ear to the street?

I probably don't keep my ear close enough to the street, and I'm sure I'm missing out a lot. But really what I'm looking for is more people who are passionate about the music and who can keep me inspired and challenged too. Unfortunately I seem to meet too few of them and they're scattered around the globe. I would like to see more carrying the flame. It feels like there are just too few people who dig, rather than ticking names off lists posted on the web...

I take music and DJing very seriously, I was never in it for the partying, fame or money. I grew up wanting to share the music I liked with others, turning them onto other things.

I believe achieving some kind of notoriety is a good way to sneak in different sounds into people's ears. The system is what it is, and I'd rather use it than hopelessly fight it. I worked for years in a Top 40 "uncool" radio station, but that meant I could reach thousands with my own playlist, not theirs. The association with Playboy helped me put on the map a music that most clubbers had never heard before.

There are quite a few dance music oriented web outlets but they seem to be only preaching within their own little scenes and dissing whatever isn't theirs. It doesn't help music break boundaries. I've seen so-called music lovers diss me and other DJs because we were playing to the crowd and the programming wasn't what they and their buddies were expecting.

They just don't seem to see the big picture. I get to play to audiences from 100 to 3000+ people, I want to get the room going before anything else. These clubbers are a whole entity, they have spent their hard earned cash to have a good time. It is my number one goal to deliver to that entity. That said, if I can fit a few non-standard sounds in the mix and get the crowd to enjoy them, I feel I've accomplished a good deed.

I always say to music-minded people that most dance clubs are really not the best places to hear new music. Most people go there for the party, not to discover new things, but that doesn't mean we DJs should give up trying. That is what keeps me on my toes.

I've noticed you've done a number of collaborations with DJ Meme lately. It's really striking that you have such a similar sound and style. How did you meet?

I met DJ Meme four years ago on a holiday trip to Rio. A promoter presented him to me as, "He's our Brazilian you." He was right in the fact that we share a lot of similar influences as well as having both been in the industry for the same (long) time. We started talking shop and he played me his stuff which I thought was an effective mix of old and new sounds. He was Brazil's first remix producer as I was France's, and he's very well established in his country like I used to be.

After Nightdubbin', what can we be looking out for from you in 2009?

I have a couple of projects in the works with BBE, and there may be a compilation of my re-edits over the years to be released in Japan. That would be most likely around Fall.