Oris Jay

Q. If you weren't Producing/DJing what would you be doing?
A. Music has been in my life for that long that it’s hard to answer the question. Since I was 15, I’ve been raving and Dj-ing. For a while music was a hobby. Before it became serious, I worked in a Hi-Fi shop, so maybe if it had never become serious I would be doing something connected to that…

Q. Tell us about “Brand New Flava”, how did it come about, who was involved, how successful it was, etc...
A. MC E.LL is the vocalist on that tune. It was a follow-up to "Biggin Up The Masses" but wanted to use an MC from where I was from instead of from London. It sold a little more than my first release ("Biggin Up the Masses", with MC Ranking) and it did alright all over cos it exported.

Q. What are some of the highlights and low lights of your career?
A. Playing out in Estonia at the Sundance Festival to about to thousands of people and Forward, playing to 300 people who are not afraid of new music.

Q. Who are your closest friends on the circuit?
A. Lombardo from Leicester, Mark One from Manchester, Phreak from Nottingham, all the Forward >> Crew and the Bigga Beats Family.

Q. Which producers do you rate?
A. Artwerk, Zinc, Ghost Crew, Zed Bias, Mark One, Horsepower

Q. What is your favourite tune at the moment?
A. Darqwan "Metro" or "Rank" by Artwerk

Q. What is your favourite piece of studio equipment?
A. My PowerBook G4

Q. Who has inspired you?
A. As a child, I was inspired by Bad Manners and Madness then later I was inspired by the old acid house days and then, all the Jungle raves

Q. What is in the pipeline musically? Any new projects on way?
A. Yeah, Said the spider on my label Texture (no.3) is out September 30th, and Test Dis’ in conjunction with Ms. Dynamite, not sure on the release date on this one!

Q. Tell us about your record labels and the big tracks you have been involved with...
A. Texture is my record label, which was established in 2001, and is a cross-between UK Garage and breaks. The first release was the biggest one, to date…"Confused?"…"Said the Spider" has been getting more pre-released play so it will hopefully do even better…

Q. We know you also produce as Darqwan. How did this alias come about and is there any others?
A. There is no other. With Darqwan, I just came up with the idea one morning. Dark-One, which is my more experimental name. There was a while where I was releasing more under that name, so it did become better known as a production name. Remixes normally go out under Oris Jay.

Q. Where do you hang out and where can you we catch you playing if Aussy peeps come to the UK?
A. Forward at Plastic People, every first of the month on a Thursday, apart from that I’m all over the place

Q. How would you describe your DJ Style?
A. Energetic, I like to mix up the rough with the smooth. In my set I haven’t got any fillers, every tunes a big tune…I try to be all about vibes

Q. Where do you see UK Garage heading in the future? Where do you see Breaks heading in the future?
A. I think the soulful garage, the more vocally stuff will end up being part of the R&B scene and I reckon the more underground garage will blend eventually, with the breaks and the drum & bass.

Q. Which MCs do you enjoying working with?
A. E-LL, all the MC’s from the Virus Syndicate and Juice Man

Q. What do you think about the violence in the scene?
A. Don’t believe the media hype!!!

Q. What do you think about the darker side of UK Garage starting to become more popular? Do you think its lost its soul?
A. Has it lost its soul? I would say that depends on the soul of who’s making the tune.

Q. The UK Garage scene in Australia is still underground. With very little access to UKG records and little or no airplay - what do you think needs to happen for a bigger UKG scene to emerge down under?
A. Perseverance is key because every scene starts somewhere and remember, once the sound was very small even in the UK , so I think what you lot are doing is the way forward.

Q. What can the Australian crowds expect when you tour Australia later this year?
A. Vibes, fun and heavy weight BASS!!!

Q. Any shouts?
A. Big, big shout to all the international two-step ravers, big shout to the DarkSyde crew, all the Forward>> Crew and Profile Agency.

Q. Can you give us a quick discography?
A.

Oris Jay feat: MC Ranking "Biggin up the massive" Relentless
Oris Jay feat: MC E-LL "Bran nu flava" Props
Darqwan "Pipe Dreams" Soulja
Darqwan "As we enter" Soulja
Darqwan "Confused?" Texture
Darqwan "Disaster" Texture
Darqwan "Nocturnal" Texture
Darqwan "Friday @ the limit" Texture
Oris Jay presents Delsena "Trippin" Gut/Gusto
Darqwan "Said the spider" Texture
Darqwan "Elevate" Texture

Remixes
Ladies First "Messin" Polydor
Visionary "Acid flex" Mainframe
Warren Stacey "My girl, my girl" Def jam/Def soul
Menta "Sounds of da future" S.O.T.F
London Dodgers "Down down bizniz" Locked On
No Love "Up in the club" Big life