Catching Up: DJ Q Talks And Delivers A Fresh FABRICLIVE Promo Mix

For a long time now we've been watching DJ Q and his never ending contribution to the expansive genre that some call UK bass. Purveying that playful blend of bassline, garage and four four, Q's not only one of the style's longest serving stalwarts but he's also by far one of the best. With second to none productions and even better selection skills, Q has not only been in charge of his own imprint Q Recordings but he's thus far been backed by the likes of Local Action and Unknown to the Unknown, with whom he's released a slew of EPs and two studio albums. What's more, he's put his name behind two additional projects: Trumpet & Badman, alongside UTTU boss DJ Haus, and most recently, the mighty new trio tqd alongside Flava D and Royal T. Set to join us here once again in Room Two this Friday, we caught up with Q to find out a little more about the long-time garage devotee at the same time asking if he wouldn't mind giving us a snippet of exactly the kind of blends he'll be donning inside the booth by way of a brand new and exclusive promo mix... Download: DJ Q - FABRICLIVE Promo Mix Looking back over your lengthy career, how do you feel about the path it has taken? It seems it's taken an interesting turn with the launch of The Bassline Festival. Has event curating always been an area of interest? DJ Q: I love putting on events but at the same time it’s having the time to actually put 100% effort in. I see curating as a way for the ravers to see music through your eyes. Bassline Festival was something we worked on behind the scenes for a while. We could of done it ages ago but we wanted to wait for the right time. You seem to deem your home town of Huddersfield as imperative to your career thus far. Does the idea of engaging young people such as those from your hometown in music production and that kind of thing appeal to you? Yeah 100%. It’s all about giving back especially to the younger generation because those guys are the next stars. I engage with a lot of musicians from the area and always offer help and advice. I was lucky to have that coming into music so I believe it’s only right I try help out when and where I can. There’s plans to do more community based projects in the new year. There’s a lot of musically talented young people here and I’m going to be looking at ways I can showcase that talent in a way that’s beneficial to them. How did the Trumpet & Badman project come about? It just came together out of nowhere. I’m friends with Rupert (DJ Haus), we was out having a beer and he just said we should make a tune sometime. We got in the studio then just bounced loads of ideas back and forth and left with 4 or 5 solid ideas. We turned them into full songs and then decided to release them. Would you say the alias has given you opportunity to distance yourself the garage and bassline sound your synonymous with? The alias was never really about distancing myself from the garage sound, it’s not even too far away from that it just sounds a bit more old school. What about what's next for you release-wise?  I’ve got a lot of music sat there. You’ll get to hear a few bits very soon. Beginning of the year there's a single track with Unknown to the Unknown, I’m still doing bits with Local Action so expect a few things throughout the year. There’s the tqd stuff on Butterz as well. There's a few other bits as well but apart from that I haven’t thought too hard about the production thing. I’m originally a DJ and that’s my thing at the moment. I fall in and out of love with producing all the time but I always love DJing, and at this moment in time, instead of being sat behind a computer producing I’d rather stand behind a pair of CDJs for 4 hours and just mix. Well, you've DJed a fair bit here in Farringdon over the years - what have been the best moments for you?  One of the biggest highlights for me was has to be playing at the launch of FABRICLIVE 71: DJ EZ. I had to play directly after a two hour EZ set. That would put a lot of people off but I really enjoyed it and I was buzzing off of the fact I was following one of my musical heroes. Another highlight was joining the Butterz crew at their event there. Those guys always know how to throw a party. And what about the upcoming night? We've got a couple upcoming names on the bill, who are some of the artists breaking through that have caught your attention as of late?  Both Killjoy and Holy Goof have had a decent year, I’m really feeling their stuff. Someone else to watch out for is DeadbeatUK, he’s very decent. There’s Notion and PVC too. Other names to watch out for I’d say Nina Wilde, RYN and Sirmo. They’re all making really exciting stuff.