EDM Life: We are at Exchange LA’s Friday club night, Awakening, to interview Jordan Suckley before his gig tonight.
EDM Life: Your music is typically categorized as trance, but there are several different genres. There is classic trance, psy-trance, etc. How would you describe what you will play tonight?
Jordan: I’d say my style is a mixture between techno, psy-trance and uplifting trance. I, basically, take all of the different elements I like from the different tracks and put them in my sound. Things like acid, banging baselines, big melodies, and nice little techie drops.
EDM Life: How would you say your sound has changed since you’ve been started performing, and why?
Jordan: It kind of keeps developing. What it is now is what it is now… but, imagine in a couple of years it might morph into something slightly different. The main thing is that I’ll never play cheese because I hate it, but what I play is always going to be trance or tech trance related. I think it’s because I used to like the Gatecrasher and Godskitchen CD’s, the Cream CD’s and stuff a few years ago. I used to love all of that, but now I prefer trance with a bit more of a tech edge to it.
EDM Life: Earlier this year you played at both EDC Las Vegas and EDC in the UK, and you’ve already played festivals such as Creamfields, Global Gathering, etc. Out of the ones you have attended, would you say there is a particular festival that you like the most? One that made you think, “Wow! I can’t believe I’m playing here…!”
Jordan: I’d say when I first played Creamfields it was like, “Oh my god, this is incredible”, but EDC is the main one which I thought, “holy crap”, because there are no events like that in England where they put on so much production in terms of the stage. I was playing inside of, like, a big monsters mouth or something at EDC and when the bass came on stage… it was incredible! I was up there up on the stage looking around and they had fireworks going off! I think EDC is one of the ones that’s got the main WOW factor thing and I was definitely looking around thinking, “Wow”.
Listen to Jordan’s set from Global Gathering:
EDM Life: Yes, that stage was pretty crazy! Now, do you get a change to walk around a little bit as just a “fan” at any of the festivals? If you do, are there any DJs that you would like to check out?
Jordan: I mean, I try to. The majority of the time I literally show up an hour or 2 before my set, do some interviews, go out on stage, and then leave afterwards because I have another gig the next day. So I don’t get much of a chance to look around. At a few other ones, yeah, I tried to check out James Zabiela and artists like Carl Cox. I love James Zabiela because he’s a really technical DJ, so he’s a great person to watch and I love Carl Cox because I love techno.
EDM Life: Do you find that the crowds who see your sets at the bigger festivals “get” your music as much as they do at the Luminosity events where it is mainly of a trance format?
Jordan: I think it’s very new out here in America compared to when you’re in Europe. They’ve kind of been spoiled with a lot of choice with all of the trance music that has been there for years and years and years. What I’ve noticed over here is a lot of people are around 21 and just coming of age to be able to attend the festivals, so it’s kind of fresh to them. It’s definitely a younger crowd out here compared to back in Europe.
EDM Life: Who would you say are some of the guys you have worked with that have given you good advice and helped you develop your career since you are one of the newer and younger guys emerging on the scene?
Jordan: I think I’ve always looked up to people like Paul Oakenfold, Paul Van Dyk, and then I met Armin van Buuren as well. I’ve done a remix with him and he’s been very nice and helpful for me, so I definitely look up to those guys.
EDM Life: Last year, you produced “Vanilla” with Simon Patterson which became a Top 5 track on Beatport. How did that collaboration come about?
Jordan: Well I’ve had five Top 10 tracks on Beatport, but as far as the one with Simon… he saw me spinning somewhere and he was really watching my technical abilities, like scratching and things like that. He asked me to play on tour with him in Australia, so I went out on two week tour with him over there and then when we came back he said, “Let’s do a collaboration”, so we recorded “Vanilla” over the course of about six months. After going down to his house every Monday, my liver took a beating, but we got the track done in the end, and it turned out really good. So it basically resulted off the back end of the tour.
EDM Life: So, you started a new label this year called Damage?
Jordan: Yes!
EDM Life: … and you have a radio show which is also called Damage. Where can your fans find more information on these?
Jordan: You can find all the information about Damage on Facebook. The main reason I started Damage was that I wanted to do something fresh for this year… something new to focus on. Also, I am still releasing tracks on other labels like Armada, but I wanted Damage to fill in the gaps so that I can release my own music and also uncover some fresh new artists. I will start hosting Damage events in America and all over the world starting in January 2015 onwards.
Check out his new single Contaminated on Damaged:
EDM Life: Sounds exciting! Just this week there was the Goodgreef triple mix CD that came out, and you mixed the first CD on it. We touched on this topic with Paul Van Dyk during our interview at EDC regarding the challenges with producing a mix CD. One is that by the time you get them mastered and released, sometimes the songs can be considered old. Also, another problem being that the artists can’t play exactly what they want to because of licensing problems. Working with those issues, were you happy with the final result?
Jordan: Yeah, I was definitely happy with how it came out, but that’s why I made some of my own tunes to put on it. That’s the beauty of being a producer. You can create your own work to include in it, and at least you’ve got some exclusives that nobody has heard yet. But, yeah, you’re definitely right about what Paul Van Dyk was saying there. It’s difficult to get which tracks you want and people hold them down. You try and contact people to send you a track, they lock them down for too long. And then finally say, “yeah”. Those were the best tracks I had available to me at that point in time when I made the mix.
EDM Life: So our last question is, what upcoming projects should we should be on the lookout for from you, specifically and new tracks?
Jordan: I’ve done a remix for Paul Oakenfold. It’s called “Ibiza” – Paul Oakenfold (Jordan Suckley Remix). I, also, did a remix for Gareth Emery on of one of his album tracks, and a remix for Giuseppe Ottaviani. I’ve got four other original productions as well that are coming out soon. They’ll have labels shortly.
EDM Life: Will they be released on your new label, Damage?
Jordan: No, they will be through other labels.
EDM Life: Sure. Looks like that’s all the questions we have for you today. We appreciate you taking the time to chat with us.
No Comment