DJ JUSTIN JAMES : INTERVIEW｜Exclusive Remixes & Edits

We caught up a bit recently with DJ and producer, Justin James to have a quick chat….

How did you get into music?

Well, its kind of a long story, but I will try to tell the quick version…

I’ve had a deep love for music ever since I was a young. I grew up in a small town in East Tennessee and was raised listening mostly to Country and Classic Rock.

When I was 14 I used to rollerblade to the local CD store and literally spend all day there listening to whichever albums (CDs) were new that week. The employees used to refer to me as “rollerboy” haha. I remember listening to Eminems “Slim Shady LP” for the first time there and being totally blown away by it. There were a lot of albums that I had this feeling about, but this one sticks out in my mind, specifically.

When I was 16 I moved to Fort Lauderdale, FL and that is when things really started moving in a different direction in my life… Besides being exposed to a completely different culture, I ended up (eventually) going to my first nightclub when I was 17 and it was basically a wrap from there. This is years before the smart phone, so back in the early 2000s when people went to a nightclub they actually danced and enjoyed themselves and the company of others, if you can imagine that haha. The way a group of strangers from different ethnicities and walks of life could occupy the same space and be completely equal for a period of time was really interesting to me. And all of this of course was orchestrated by none other than - the DJ.

Up until the time that I had graduated from high school, everything in my life had revolved around baseball (and girls). After graduation I quickly realized that my baseball “career” didn’t have anywhere else to go. Luckily, shortly thereafter I was gifted my first set of turntables (thank you to my old friend Michael Perez from Kaufman Rossin accounting firm in Miami) and I just practiced…and practiced...and constantly annoyed everyone around me with my new mixes and endless conversations about music. I never thought that all of this time I spent working and talking about music would someday materialize into a career…

Slightly off-topic, but in regards to playing on vinyl at the time…

Back in 2004-05, Scratch Live (now Serato DJ) wasn’t really a super mainstream thing yet, so most DJing at this time was still being done on vinyl (or very rudimentary CD players). I remember a DJ in Miami named Tom Laroc that used to show up with like 20 crates of records and an assistant. So yeah, that’s what people were doing at the time. That started changing in 05’-06’ with DJAM, Z-Trip, and a number of other well known open-format guys.

I digress…

Then when I was 19 I went to Ultra Music festival in Miami (Bayfront Park) for the first time and it changed my life. I was high on ectasy for the first time (lol) and saw a DJ named Junkie XL drop a remix of “Fight For Your Right” by the Beastie Boys. I remember there being like 30,000 people singing every word of the song, and it was at this exact moment when I realized that this was what I wanted to do with my life.

Everything since then has somehow been a pursuit of that moment.

Still in process…

Do you have any tips for up-and-coming DJs and producers?

Spend time learning how to do things the correct way…from the beginning. I can tell you this from experience, because I certainly did not. I wasted a lot of time and energy learning things the wrong way and correcting bad habits can sometimes be difficult. So… For DJs, 1 - Cultivate a style that is specific to you and your musical likings. We will always have to play stuff that we would prefer not too, but the difference is that a skilled DJ can find a way to own it and make it interesting. 2 - Keep your music organized. Im HUGE on this. Any DJ that knows me personally knows how I feel about this subject: High quality mp3s, proper tagging, tight track-markers, everything analyzed in Miked In Key (both for key and energy levels). Do these things and you are off to a good start. You can always tell how serious a DJ is by how well his library is organized. 3 - NO REQUESTS - Get rid of this mentality. I hate when DJs say this. If you didn’t have people annoying you with requests, you most likely wouldn’t have a job. If you don’t want to play someones request that’s up to you, but don’t be rude to patrons of the venue you are working at. 4 - Last… Be nice. You can be nice without being a kiss-ass or approval seeking. This also took me a long time to learn. Being friendly (and skillful) will help take you far in this industry. As for production… The premise is the same as my previous answer… Just put your time into it . There is no other way around it. The time and effort you put in you will eventually get back.

Top 10 Favorite Albums of All Time?

1. Korn - Issues

2. Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine

3. Limp Bizkit - Significant Other

4. Mount Sims - Ultrasex

5. Nirvana - Nevermind

6. Lil Peep - Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 1 and Pt. 2

7. The Faint - Danse Macabre

8. Godsmack (Self Titled EP)

9. Disturbed - The Sickness

10. Brennan Savage - Darkroom

Beer, Champagne, Wine, or Whiskey?

All of them haha. When I play shows I only drink whiskey; Blue Label or Hibiki (my favorite). When I’m just hanging out with friends then it’s beer. When I’m feeling fancy or I am in France - wine (red). Champagne I don’t really have a taste for. I mean, I will, but it’s not something I care much for. I use to have a residency where I had 2 bottles of Moet every time I played and I rarely ever touched them.

Tell us about the next releases that you have scheduled?

My next release is a cover of Kieza’s “Hideaway” with 22yr old French producer Yohan Gerber, out sometime, hopefully before the end of the year on Magic Records. And another with Brazilian bass and tech house producer, Delonge, out sometime around February or March of next year 2022.

Make sure to check out and follow Justin on his social media accounts, here:

DJ JUSTIN JAMES : INTERVIEW｜Exclusive Remixes & Edits

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