Jaimeson interview

• 25th Jan 2004

King of the ringtones and bridging the gap between commercial dance and underground urban garage, Jaimeson has taken time out for a chat….

How ya doing and what are you up to this week?
I’m sooo tired! I’ve been working! I got back from holiday on Friday night and I tried to get some sleep but I had an interview first thing in the morning. Then I’ve been in the studio working. I’m tired but at the end of the day I’m doing what I love so its cool

Take Control comes out on Jan 26th – has mixes from Lee Cabrera and Delinquent. What’s that all about?
The label sorts out the mixes, but funnily enough I met one of the guys from Delinquent before he did it, and he was really cool and understood what I was doing, so its really weird that his mix ended up on the recording

Working with Xara on the album… obviously you have known her for a long time now and have a great working relationship. Is it just simply she sings with you, or has she had any input into the songs.
Just the vocals. I wrote all the songs anyway prior to the studio. I usually write songs for the female voice anyway, primarily because it eliminates the need for me to sing: I’m not the greatest singer! I would just go to the studio and sing it and make it sound good. I’m a bit of a control freak so I told her the exact arrangements for every part

Have you ever heard someone’s mobile go off with your ring-tone on it?
Once! It was a kid who lives in my block of flats. I was in the lift and it went der-der-der der-der-der (imitating Urban Hero). I was really chuffed and he didn’t know who I was. I asked him where he got it from because it was quite a good version. I was really proud!

After two very successful singles, what are your hopes for the album “Think on your feet?”
In truth, I just want the album to sell enough so that I can get my deal renewed. I just want to carry on making music and being success, and whatever success I need to continue doing that is just fine. It’s a different journey now. The journey I was on before and for most of my life was in getting here. Now I’m here it all starts again – I’ve got it all to do. But I’m glad, I’ve got another 13 years or so of being at this level

How would you describer the sound on the new album? Urban garage doesn’t really do it justice…
It’s an urban producers take on a lot of different styles of music – a broad range. I was given the opportunity to make a body of work, an album, which to me didn’t mean twelve dance-floor smashes. I just decided to write and see what comes out, and one of the first songs I wrote with that mentality was Complete and that went on to be a single, so I went on from their and wrote stuff like Common Ground which is really far from what people expect from me. But it was a natural progression for me, pushing the boundaries.

What were the sounds that you grew up listening to?
All sorts. As a kid it was pure pop. At about 15 or 16 I got into dance and hard-core, and that’s when I started producing and I turned my back on pop. Then when I got my day-job in ’94 I got back into pop because the radio was on and it was all you heard all day long.

When you first started producing, your music was a frenetic jungle/techno sound. Has it softened just to be more commercial or does it reflect your own changes in taste and style
A little part was to be more commercial but that’s not why I did it. Some songwriters have no desire to write anything different to what they have done before and that’s fine, but I want to push myself and test myself. I honestly never imagined that I would be a songwriter, but I toyed with it before the album, and I’m really happy with what has happened.

Did you come up with the name Jaimeson… or was it the same person who thought up DJ Infinity?
It was the same person and they were both me! Before Jaimeson I had some really awful names! I’ve been Jamieson since ’98, I’m glad that I didn’t get to where I am now with one of those names because I would have been stuck with it!

Where would you see your music and career five years down?
I’m not sure if Id want to be doing thw artist thing. I might have a family and it might not be what I want. Definitely song-writing will still continue for me, but you never know what’s round the corner.

Is there anyone you would like to collaborate with that you havn’t done so already?
Of course! Obviously I’m unknown to the wider commercial audience, its mostly underground, mainstream people like Justin Timberlake (its never gonna happen!), Sean Paul, Dido, Norah Jones, Coldplay… weird things that people wouldn’t necessarily associate with me

Great website (link) – did you have a say in design/content?
It’s awful… I used to be really good with computers. I used to do programming… I used to be the bizniz with computers and now don’t do anything. Don’t check out websites or anything, but I’m glad the site is getting great reviews

What’s the best music experience you have had?
Ahh there are so many. The first one was when I had my record first played out in a club. That was brilliant. In recent memory, Top of the Pops which was absolutely fantastic! David Sneddon was #1, Daniel Beddingfield was there, Justin was there in fact but just for a recording. I was caught up in the moment – a great experience!