Uberjak’d is at the forefront of the new wave of Australian club producers impacting the global electronic scene, with freshly signed deals across Steve Aoki’s Dim Mak, Ministry of Sound Australia and Laidback Luke’s Mixmash. In 2014 alone Uberjak’d has toured the US twice, including tearing the roof off a sold out Webster Hall in New York and playing both the Dim Mak and Mixmash pool parties at WMC. Having made his debut at the legendary Tomorrowland in Belgium this year, Uberjak’d is heading back to Europe for the season closing party of Pacha in Ibiza, continuing to take his Uber-style brand of bounce to Asia, Europe, South America and everywhere in between
Can you share with us a bit about yourself and how you were introduced to music?
So I probably got into music and DJing like 3 to 4 years ago. I didn’t really get into clubs and stuff when I was younger. I grew up in a small town of like 500 people out in the middle of the no where in Adelaide. To be honest, I didn’t even know what a DJ was until I was like 18 or 19 years old. So I got into university, started going clubbing with my friends and thought to myself ‘man this is sick!’ because all I used to listen to when I was a kid was just drum ‘n bass like The Prodigy and hip-hop like Dr. Dre. So I sort of got introduced to club music and thought it was really really sick. I thought it was so simple and it was really just like make it yourself since it’s just simple riffs and stuff so thought maybe I’d have a crack at it. So I got a copy of Ableton and the first few songs are always like well you know they’re okay. I showed a couple people my tunes after I started working for awhile. I eventually got some support from Laidback Luke on this remix of ‘Rattle’ I did after I’ve been producing for awhile. From there one thing sort of just led to another. The latest thing to happen at the moment is I’m over here in the States and I’m touring! Which has been awesome so far – everyone has been super friendly and the gigs have been crazy. Totally amazed the support of ‘bounce’ over here. From something that literally just started from like 3 or 4 clubs in Melbourne – playing this underground sound that’s really techno-influenced to now that’s evolved to something like being played on the other side of the globe just fully freaks me out.
Who or what would you say is your biggest musical influence?
I sort of don’t have like any one person or any particular sound. You can be inspired by like anything like you can just be walking down and street and have this feeling of like being inspired by like a tree you saw. I think it’s important to be inspired by other things not just another person’s music, especially in your own genre just to keep things creative. At the moment I think there’s so much copycat syndrome in the industry. I guess it will always be like that and you can never get away from it but I think it’s important to always get inspiration for your music.
Describe to us your sound.
The best way to describe my sound so people know what I’m talking about is just that I’m ‘Melbourne bounce’ but just a little bit different like I’m UBERJAK’D.
People say you are the leader in Melbourne Bounce! How do you feel about that title?
To be honest I don’t like the same ‘Melbourne Bounce’. I think just ‘Bounce’ is the best way to describe it. I guess that’s the feeling that you get when you listen to it. I’m not from Melbourne. I remember when I started DJing my first big gig was in Melbourne at this club and I played heavy electro which was popular there. I think the DJ that played after me dropped this track called like ‘Donald Trump’ and it was really sick and I was like wow. I think from that moment I thought that was really cool and wanted to incorporate that into my sound.
You play and produce Electro House & Melbourne Bounce. How would you describe your own music in just a few words?
Energy, together, memories
Your single “The Moment” is awesome. What inspired you to write this?
It’s my second track with Sarah. I think we called it “The Moment” because it was literally made in the spur of the moment. I had the EP made for Dim Mak and it needed 4 tracks – I had 3 written. So I was like ‘shit’ I really needed something for like the title of the album and I wanted something with a vocal you know. I wanted the EP to feature a broad spectrum of my sound like the more hardstyle influence to the Melbourne to the techno, sort of like a mix mash of all those sounds. I wasn’t living in Adelaide I just moved to Sydney and called Sarah. I was like ‘we need to write a track and we need it to be like from start to finish in a week’. So I called her over and we weren’t even in a studio. I was just staying at a friend’s place. She just came in there and was just throwing down like lyrical ideas. We got a vibe going – “The Moment” and sort of just build from that. She went out and did her thing – we couldn’t work in the same studio and I was like back in Sydney. Just from that vocal I wrote the track in like a couple days. So yeah I guess that’s how “The Moment” was created it was just the spur of the moment.
https://soundcloud.com/uberjakd/flute-uberjakd-remix-new-1
You stated that Deorro is your favorite producer. What do you enjoy about Deorro’s tracks?
Deorro is absolutely smashing it right now!, the move to take a step back from djing is a controversial one, a lot of people might not understand it, touring can be really straining not only on your personal life but as yours as an artist, i know that as this year has been a busy one touring wise, on my third tour of the USA right now, finding the time to write music can be challenging, a lot of really busy touring guys aren’t as active as producing their music, using ghost producers and stuff which is another thing a lot of people are talking about right now, i know deorro, as i do produce all our own music so having that time to really get into a creative space in your studio for a period of time is only going to be a good thing for the fans as its going to mean more new music!
What is something that you are currently obsessed with?
Food over here in the States. There’s one thing you know how to do over here is food. I’ve eaten way too much food. I had this steak the other night actually. Just enjoying life you know.